If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

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I want to talk to you this morning about healing. As I look around, I see so much sickness; sickness of the body and of the soul. The enemy seems to be having a field day not only in the world at large, but in the lives of the children of God as well.

I have always looked at Chronicles 7:14 in light of the healing of a nation, and indeed, it is relevant to our country and our world. But, until now, I have never given much thought to how this promise might extend to each of our lives.

I invite you to take a few moments and look out over your “land”. Where do you need healing? Your marriage, your children, your job, your finances? Is there an addiction, a physical illness, an emotional struggle, a broken heart?

The LORD has given us very specific instruction on what we are to do.  (You  will want to give special  attention to the order of God’s instruction, it’s important).

• Submit The first step to healing is submission, humbling ourselves before God. Now, that’s a hard one; being submissive goes against our grain because we want to be in control. Of course, we need to remind ourselves that doing it our own way is how we got to this point in the first place. It is only when we humble ourselves before the Lord, submit our will to His, that healing will begin. It is then that we will feel the weight of our burden being lifted.

•  Pray  Next we must seek God’s face.  So often, our prayers are a  laundry list of our needs – “Here’s what’s wrong God, this is what I want and this is how I want you to do it.” Sound familiar?  The Hebrew word for seek is bâqash (baw-kash’).  It means to search out, to beg, to plead. Seeking the face of God is not some nice little meek, gentle petition we offer up on the off-chance that God might find favor with us. To seek God’s face is to beg Him to show us His mind, His will, His desires, His way.  Seeking God’s face is what Jacob did in Genesis 32 when he wrestled with God and would not let go until God blessed him – and the blessing was given.  Jabez was seeking the face of God in 1 Chronicles 4:10 when he cried out to Him “enlarge my border, be with me and keep me from harm” – and God granted his request. The blind man of Luke 18:38 was seeking the face of God when he would not be silenced, but continued to cry out to Jesus for mercy – and Jesus heard him and healed him.

• Repent Finally, we must repent. Notice, the scripture doesn’t say “tell God you’re sorry”, it tells us to “turn”. True repentance isn’t simply a matter of apologizing, repentance is turning back, laying down. Repentance is a broken heart caused by our sin against a holy, righteous, loving God. It’s all well and good to say I’m sorry, but repentance requires change, otherwise all you have are words that mean nothing.

Our having done these things, what does God promise? He promises He will hear us, forgive us, and heal us. He will restore us and make us whole. The healing may take some time, complete healing always does, A wound must heal from the inside out. Imagine you have a cut on your finger. After a few days, the cut may seem to be well, but if you were to peel back the scab you would see that the wound underneath is still red and raw. That’s how it is with the wounds in our lives. We must allow God to heal them from the inside out, layer by layer restoring that which has been damaged.

What in your land needs healing? Put your trust in God. Repent of those areas in your life that are preventing your healing. Ask God to be your Jehova Rapha – The Lord Who heals.

to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26:18)