“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 I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Not only did I not follow the recipe, I ignored it all together. No wonder my cooking plans did not turn out like the box. Funny thing is that I did not notice my failure until the dish was already done and we tasted it. Wow, that was not the way it should have looked or tasted.
Most of the time we seem to get ourselves into messy situations. As a Christian you should know the recipe for getting back on track. Before we go into the recipe the Lord lays out, we need to get one thing clear. We are the people of God and we are called by His name, then we are not some wandering people group that keep looking for purpose. The Bible tells us that we are a royal priesthood and a holy nation. My wife was reading some of Exodus 20 this morning and her study Bible laid out something we should all let sink in. It says that the eye for an eye law was not for revenge but for just punishment under the law for an offense. In other words, the Lord knew we would get into messy situations and we would need to have some guidance in order for us to keep moving forward in life and not get stuck on past offenses. So if you find yourself in a messy relational situation the following list is for you. Here you go:
Your to do list from the Lord:
1. Humble yourself,
2. Pray
3. Seek the Lord’s face
4. Turn from your wicked ways
The Lord’s response:
1. He will hear you
2. He will forgive your sin
3. He will heal your land
It is always a good idea to follow the steps in order from 1 to 4. If you have ever baked anything you have to follow the order of preparation or your muffins will not turn out looking like the Pioneer’s woman’s muffins. We must remember that the Lord tells us He will heal our land after He has heard you and forgiven you. Most people would like to just clean up their act and be like “Alright God, where is the good stuff? I did my part!” Turning from your wicked ways is what will happen after you have fulfilled steps 1-3 above, which are humble yourself, pray, and seek the Lord’s face. If you start with step 4 you will repeat the folly like it says in Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.”
Your to do list from the Lord is a heart issue. We can all sweep the ugly stuff under our bed and shove it into our closet so no one will see it but as my mom always said, “is it clean like I like it?” Most of time my room was not clean the way she liked it. The Lord wants to clean up your heart and mind so that you can effectively hear the Lord when He is speaking. Jesus said the that His sheep hear His voice and they follow Him. Just sweeping the ugly under your rug won’t make it clean. The Lord promises to clean up your mess but you first must to your part. Follow the steps. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Let It Go 
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