If My People Part 5- The About Face

by Keith Gardner

2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people, who are called by my name, will 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.”

In the protocols of the remediation, we have emptied ourselves of all our pride and arrogance. We have earnestly cried out to our Father God with a longing of closeness. That closeness levels us as we realize the depths of our sinfulness in the light of His holiness. And we have studied the face of our Heavenly Father learning His joys and His sorrows. These protocols may seem prescriptive; they are not. These are a natural reaction to one who finds he has wondered so far from his Father, and the lashes of rebuke and correction get the intended attention.

It is possible to humble ourselves without turning from our wicked ways. As difficult as it may seem, it is possible to spend countless hours in prayer and yet never turn our backs on the very sins we are confessing. How many times have we sought the face of God, knelling in His very presence, but never really relenting on the behavior that brought about our rebuke?

Our last step in our remediation is the turning away from our sinful deeds. While the words may roll off of the tongue with great ease; the reality of changing ones behavior is impossible with self-effort alone. It will require yielding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and learning from His corrective instructions.

Most often our retraining comes through the crucible. We are taught and tested, trained and tried. The testing comes in various forms. Some physical, some financial, some emotional and some spiritual, but they all are intended to point us to the same solution; a greater understanding of who we are in relations to our Heavenly Father.

Heb 12:4-11 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

It is in the learning, during our Heavenly discipline that we develop Godly character and are able to turn from our deep seeded wickedness.