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Victory Through Repentance
“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command thelocust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and 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, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:13,14 (NASB).
“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:7-8 (NASB).
“Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time…Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith…” 1 Peter 5:6,8 (NASB).
As we look at the world around us, we see the wars, catastrophes and violence that are taking place. We may feel helpless and cower in fear or we may feel angry and try to fix it through our human efforts. The problem is that we find ourselves divided on how to fix the problems. For every person, there is an opinion to which everyone has a right.
However, there is only one opinion that matters, and that is that of the One who has made the heavens and the earth and knows the end from the beginning – the Lord God Himself. He is the one who has the strategy for victory. This strategy is found in His word – the Bible. In this article, we will look at God’s plan and His strategy for us to walk in victory in the midst of what seems to be chaos.
His Plan
In my previous article, I described in detail the lengths that God took to ensure our salvation. This salvation was not just about attaining eternal life but that our relationship with Him would be restored. It is the restoration of relationship with God that insures our place in heaven. It is God’s desire that all have the opportunity for this great gift of salvation. 2 Peter 3:9 KJV states, “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
He also has a plan for the earth. It is that all that has been ravaged by sin would be restored to the perfect glory of its original creation. So, there is an aspect of His plan that is still yet to be fulfilled. Scripture states that the earth anxiously waits for it (Romans 8:19). This plan will be fulfilled when Jesus returns as the conquering king and takes His rightful place on the throne of David where “He shall reign for ever and ever.”
This will be the perfect kingdom. There will be no wars, no violence, no sickness or disease, no oppression, no sin of any kind and no catastrophes. All will live in harmony. There will be a perfect government that will rule in fairness and love for all. There will be no poverty, injustice or partiality. This will be heaven on earth. It will not be a democracy or any other earthly political designation. It will be a theocracy where God rules and all respond in obedience to His voice.
Before this occurs, however, trouble and tribulation will occur in the earth (Mathew 24 & Revelation 6). In the midst of all of this, we have a foe that is a spiritual being exerting evil influences on the earth. Scripture tells us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”(Ephesians 6:12). We cannot fight spiritual foes with physical weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4). We must do it with spiritual weapons under God’s Divine strategy. So then, the question is - What is this strategy?
His Strategy
The above verse from 2 Chronicles 7:13,14 is the simplified version of God’s strategy for victory in these troubled times. Let’s take a closer look to see what God is saying to us. In this verse, God is calling for His people to turn from their wicked ways and seek His face. Who are His people? In the time in which this verse was written, it was the children of Israel. They had continuously worshipped idols thus forsaking the one true God who had blessed them and chosen them. They were His covenant people. Today, this verse is still relevant but it includes those of us who have been brought into covenant with God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We who were not a people are now a people of God (1 Peter 2:10).
As much as 2 Chronicles 7:13,14 is a call to prayer, it is first a call to repentance. For it says to “turn from their wicked ways.” What were their wicked ways? It was the exchange of their devotion to God for idols. Any evil deeds they may have committed arose out of this misplaced devotion to idols.
This call to repentance is as relevant to us as covenant people as it was then. We have forsaken our pursuit of God for the pursuit of prosperity, comfort, power, pleasure and the “American Dream.” We have put political, ideological, and socio-economical allegiances ahead of our allegiance to Christ. The former are carnal, whereas the latter is spiritual. The former fosters division which causes us to be ineffective in the true battle, whereas the latter – allegiance to Christ- fosters unity and victory. Jesus said “a house divided against itself cannot stand” (Matthew 12:25).
James 3:13-18, contrasts the wisdom from God to the wisdom of humanity. The wisdom from God fosters peace and unity. The wisdom of humanity fosters strife and division. That wisdom is described in James as “earthly, natural, and demonic.” The true foe cannot be defeated by carnal means. 2 Corinthians 10:4 states, “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” The fortresses are not physical. They are spiritual.
What we see happening today –the wars, the violence, the immorality and disease are the manifestation of the war that is going on in the spiritual realm. Jesus did His part to secure the ultimate victory over death, hell and the grave but it is up to us to usher in the victory in these earthly skirmishes but it can only be done God’s way.
So, the first part of God’s strategy for victory is for believers to repent. We must be honest with ourselves and invite the Holy Spirit reveal where we have become distracted and even in some cases deceived as we allowed other priorities take the place of our pursuit of the one true God. How can we take the speck out of another person’s eye when we have a board in ours? (Matthew 7:4, 5).
Once we are honest with our spiritual condition then we must confess it as sin (1 John 1:9) and turn from it back to God. Colossians 3:1-2 admonishes us to “keep seeking those things that are above where Christ is seated….Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth.” The use of the word “mind” here does not just refer to our thoughts but it involves the affections of our heart as well. This leads us to the next phase of God’s strategy for victory.
The victory in these battles comes by lifting up HOLY hands in unified prayer. Once we have repented, received God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9) and set our affections once again on Him, then we must come together in unity and pray. Jesus’ final prayer in the garden of Gethsemane was that we would be one as He and the Father are one (John 17:21-23). No army can win a war fighting among themselves.
While we have been fighting among ourselves over politics, economics, ideologies, etc, the enemy has been advancing and taking territory all over the world. The enemy’s tactics of division are not new. For years, he used denominations and race to divide the body of Christ. Now, he is using politics and ideology to divide and using financial and worldly pursuits to distract us. In the last several years, many of us have been lulled to sleep and/or distracted by empty pursuits, growing powerless by the day.
Let us remember that we are citizens of heaven and ambassadors for Christ (Philippians 3:20; 2 Corinthians 5:20). Let us turn from empty pursuits and with one accord seek first the Kingdom of God trusting Him for our provision and promotion (Matthew 6:33 and Proverbs 18:16). Let us humble ourselves under His mighty hand so that He may exalt us at the proper time (1 Peter 5:6). Let us first cry out to Him that we may speak His words, hear His voice and love with His heart. His kingdom is not yet earthly. It is spiritual.
Jesus alone will usher in the earthly manifestation of it when He returns. Right now the kingdom is simply “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17) Since we are citizens of this kingdom and the Holy Spirit is in us, those qualities should invade everywhere we go, everything we say, and every choice we make. Then God gives us the promise of victory which is the final part of His strategy.
2 Chronicles 7:14 goes on to say that “then He will hear from heaven and will heal their land.” Once we as believers have repented, turned our affections back to God and come together in true unity with one another across all barriers then our prayers will be affective. James 5:16b NKJV states “the effective, fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much.” 1 John 5:15, tells us that if we know that God hears us, we can be confident that we have what we have requested.
God’s promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is that He will hear and heal. The battle is the Lord’s. Heaven is waiting for us to come together as a holy, unified front in prayer, so that the power of God may be unleashed on the earth. This doesn’t mean that we do not take any physical actions. It means that whatever actions we take must be directed by God, therefore must arise out of repentance and unified prayer for He alone has the strategy for victory in these closing days.
There is an old song that says, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.” It is time for us to be honest concerning our spiritual condition, be unified, be still and know that He is God, and be obedient to His commands. Let’s pray.
Prayer:
“Lord Jesus, reveal by the Holy Spirit where I have been distracted to follow the idols of this world system that I may confess it and turn my heart once again to You. I desire to once again sanctify You as Lord in my heart (1 Peter 3:15) and embrace fellow believers as my sisters and brothers overlooking our differences. I desire to be a part of prayers of agreement and unity that Your power may be released on the earth. I ask not only for myself but for all believers in the United States and across the globe. Thank you for the cleansing and restoring power of Your word. This day, I submit to You. Align my heart with yours in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Photography by David Sullivan (www.ciophoto.com)
Copyright © 2008-2015 Shermaine Jones
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