2 Chronicles 7:14. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY U.S.A!
Oh Friends, I don’t know if I’m being obedient or not here, but when I opened the Good Book, I saw a passage that seemed suitable for Today’s Bit. I even researched it. But deep down I was drawn to 2 Chronicles 7:14, especially since I’d just sent the e-mail that dealt with it. So, in my indecision, I turned to it. Next thing…I was researching and writing on it! Them’s the ways our God moves! Before we get into it though, let me wish all our Friends and Families in the U.S. a Happy Thanksgiving Day! Eat, drink and be merry! But please, also give sincere thanks for all you’ve been blessed with, don’t just use it as an excuse to stuff your faces and party. For those of who don’t realize it, our Bit is part of a covenant the Lord made with Cousin Sol when he dedicated the newly built temple. And the amazing thing Friends, is that the wording is so simple and straightforward that even a first-grader could understand it. That brings to mind something I read today about faith and belief, where the author stated that when we were children it was so easy for us to believe, but as we get older, and potentially smarter, it gets much harder to believe. And there’s a lot of truth to it. But anyway, let’s check out our Bit and see if can understand it, but more importantly, believe it and put it into practice. ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’ Oh mih breddren, what part of that don’t we understand eh? Let’s break it down: ‘If my people, which are called by name…’ From way back when Moses told the Israelites: ‘The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.’ (Deut.28:9-11) Oh Friends, the Lord kept His promise to the Israelites, and also to our more recent forefathers on this side of the Atlantic. And we believers of today are the inheritors of that promise. But unfortunately, along the way we’ve regressed; become soft, indecisive and wishy washy, till now, nobody is any longer afraid of us. That’s why Lucifer and his evil-doers were able to turn the land to such unprecedented heights of ungodliness while we just stood idly by and watched, possibly complaining in low tones, but doing nothing to really stop it. Now listen to Isaiah, as he talks of the Lord, the only redeemer. ‘Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west…. Even everyone that is called by name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.’ (Is.43:5,7) Yes Friends, all the redeemed are the Lord’s, and since we consider ourselves redeemed, then we are indeed the Lord’s, called by His name. So the first part of the Bit definitely pertains to us. Now the second part clearly states that if those called by the Lord’s name, ‘shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways…’ Again Friends, plain, simple, straightforward words. And the first thing required to gain the Lord’s attention is to humble ourselves. Absolutely nothing will be achieved if we seek Him in pride and arrogance, in our own strength, since He has no time for those who consider themselves too good or too big to bow to Him. Hear the Good Book tell it. This is during Shishak’s invasion of Judah. ‘Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The Lord is righteous. And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.’ (2 Chron.12:5-7) That’s self-explanatory my people. But just in case; (smile) unless we humble our selves before the Lord, admit that we can do nothing in our own strength, all our prayers and other efforts will be in vain. James puts it thus: ‘Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.’ (James 4:10) Nuff said there mih breddren! And having humbled our selves, then we need to pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. As we’ve been saying all along, that’s the only way our immediate land, our society and the world at large will ever regain some modicum of lasting peace and prosperity! But who’s listening eh? Certainly not Lucifer and his evil cohorts, for the world in wicked upheaval benefits them. So it’s left up to us, those who claim to be the Lord’s, to do the dirty work and clean up our world, which we can only do with the Lord’s help, and He will only help us if we clean up our act first; meaning consistently and sincerely humble ourselves before Him, search Him out with a right heart and fervent prayer, which hopefully will cause us to change our evil ways. Then, and only then Friends, does the Lord promise and proclaim: ‘then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’ Oh Friends, those conditions were based on Cousin Sol’s entreaty to God when he dedicated the temple. (2 Chron.6:26-27,30) But since I know your short attention span for things godly, I won’t make this too long, so you can read them for yourselves. (smile) Ah mih people, our world is undeniably heading for more strife, division, dissension and possibly all out war, but let’s make this U.S. Thanksgiving Day, the 25 November 2010, a red letter day in History nuh! A day when History will proclaim that God’s people rose up as one, sincerely humbled themselves before Him, diligently sought His face, prayed fervently, and renounced their wicked ways…and the Lord heard them from His throne in heaven and began to heal their land. Oh Friends, please, I implore us to make this day the one that will always be remembered as the day the healing of the nation, of the world began. It’s up to us, Christ’s followers, to pull our world back from the brink of destruction. Till tomorrow then, God willing, go in peace and LOVE with Him. Much LOVE!…and all God’s people, humbled themselves… then prayed fervently…became righteous…and the land was healed…Glory Hallelujah!
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