Called~Humble~Pray~Seek

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 7:14 (King James Version)

“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.”

Pray

Those who are called by His name are called to a lifestyle of prayer.  When we pray we are bringing our lives to intersect with God and in the moment that we meet with God something amazing happens; He pours Himself into our lives. 

Prayer is the foundation of a growing relationship with God and without prayer that relationship will suffer and never truly grow. We must go deeper with God if we ever want to experience power in our lives. Every day we make a decision to either build up that relationship with God or to settle for where we are in our relationship with Him.

Prayer is our time with God.  It brings us into a oneness of heart with Him.  When we pray we are able to experience His heartache over the lost, His compassion for the hurting, and His love for others – even our enemies.  Prayer changes people and situations.  Therefore if we want to experience true forgiveness we must pray and ask our Heavenly Father for forgiveness. 

Seek the Face of God

If you pay close attention to someone's face you can see a lot of things.  In their eyes you can see if they are at peace.  In their countenance you can see if they are happy, sad, mad, scared, or indifferent. You can tell what they think about you. When we are seeking God's face we are seeking His heart and His mind.  David was anointed King because "the Lord sought out a man after His own heart..." (1 Samuel 13:14).  Most people that are "seeking God" are seeking His hands, not His heart. They are seeking what God can do for them. Their prayers to Him consist(s) of please heal, please give, please fix... This is not "seeking God" and this is definitely not "seeking His face." In fact, in order to seek God's face we need to step way out of our daily routine and comfort zone. We have to be ready to set aside any ideas and thoughts we already have about God. We have to be ready to accept anything that God illuminates to us. We need to let go of everything. As long as we are holding on to earthly things we will never ascend to the level of stepping into heavenly things.

The Hebrew word for seek means to intend to find or to deeply desire. To seek something from God means to have the burning desire to see it happen and then to actively and persistently pursue it.  Many of us will never see the miraculous movements of God because we don’t want it bad enough. We are content with things the way that they are.  To see the kind of miracles we read about in the Bible means we must open ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit and then obeying what the Spirit says.  God is waiting on us to sincerely and whole heartedly seek His face.  Doubters don’t seek the face of God.  God has not changed.  If He did it then He can do it now.

 God said these words to Jeremiah (Jer 29:13): “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” We will only truly seek the face of God when we truly desire that which only He can give us.  Once that desire is there, then we must pursue it.  Only when we seek God urgently and whole heartedly will He be found.