As I studied and prayed over this verse, I realized that there were Four If’s and Three I Wills.

Okay, are you ready to see what He is asking us to do?  Here goes:

Number 1–

If My People — WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES:

* The yellow highlights are on words He highlighted to me through the process.

To HUMBLE themselves: God is saying: Take the place of full submission. Surrender to My life, My understanding, My Word, and My Spirit.

God is asking for FULL submission, a laying down of ALL of our agenda, likes and dislikes and to be willing to take on His.

Number 2–

Humility is not enough, He wants us to PRAY:

Well, we all know what prayer means right?  Or do we?  Here is what He’s asking us to do:

PRAY: To verbally Speak, asking Me to establish My Governmental Order, Authority, Instruction, and Control over a circumstance.

To Pray then is to: Ask Me to establish MY will.  (I think most of our prayers are focused on our will, how we think things should be.  They may be ‘good’ but they may not be ‘His best.’)

Moses, Ezra, Daniel, Jesus…all prayed for and identified with people who went against God and His word. If we truly represent God, we have compassion for others and plead their case before God for His mercy and blessing.

Here is part of Daniel’s prayer:

Daniel 9:2-10  In the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day — to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.

Daniel 9:14-16 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day — we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.

Daniel 9:19  O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Daniel, Ezra, Moses, and Jesus all knew what true intercession/prayer was.  They pleaded the case of others, as if it were their own.  Can we do any less and call it prayer?

Number 3–

And SEEK:

SEEK: To have a strong desire for My House, My Word, My Holiness, and My Fire to consume the enemies of your soul.

When we go before Him in prayer are we there to tell our story, or hear His?

He asks us to SEEK His FACE. Now what could that possibly mean?

And this is how He put all of it together:

MY FACE unpacked:

Come before Me wanting

• My new government—My rule
• My Life—ready to do life My way
• My Grace—instead of complaining about how hard it is
• My Revelation-instead of human reasoning

Are we ready to say what David said?

Psalm 27:8
“When You said, ‘Seek My face,’
My heart said to You, ‘Your face, Lord, I will seek.'”

Are we ready to say, “Lord, I want Your rule in my life. I want to do life Your way. Forgive me for complaining and help me lean into Your grace.
Yes, Lord, I want Your revelation. My human reasoning isn’t getting me nearer to You. Lord it is Your Face that I seek.”

Number 4–

Coming in for the final ‘if’ we have, “and TURN from their WICKED WAYS.  Let’s look at TURN first:

TURN unpacked:
To Return to Me in repentance, wanting Victory of Good over Evil and for Me to consume the enemies of your souls.
A desire to Return and be Secured again in My House and to My Word.

“Repentance is not when you cry, repentance is when you CHANGE. ” The change requires our cooperation, our obedience to His leading. Tears are not enough…We must Turn around and see Who it is that loves you more than life and do what He tells us…the result, True Repentance.

Let’s finish this up and find out what “their WICKED WAYS” are:

WICKED unpacked:

• Any area where Human Reasoning is honored more than Obedience to My Word.
• Placing anything (even ‘good’ things) as More Important or Head above My Word or My Spirit in your words or deeds.

How about when we put our children or our spouse or our pets or our job or our leisure before God?  How about when we put our ministry before spending time with God and ministering just to Him with our presence and attention?

God wants to be Number ONE, 24/7, and only He can tell you how He wants that to happen in your life.  There isn’t a one size fits all model or five step plan.

Now the last word, that I didn’t even consider to be a word to be concerned with.  It was as if Holy Spirit tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey, what about ‘IF?'”

“If?  You’ve got to be kidding.”  But He wasn’t.  I posted it earlier in a One Word Treasure but will re-post it here to bring out it’s importance to this verse:

When I asked Him what He was showing me, here is what He held out a white gift box with a red ribbon and said,

“Every ‘If’ that I propose Beloved, is a gift. IF you respond in obedience out of love and trust, you will discover the Hidden Truth of My Strength and character within to enable you to do what I am asking you to do.”

In other words in everything God proposes with and ‘IF’, it comes like a DIY kit, full of everything we need to complete the project.  All that is required is our response.

In Part 3 we will finish this all up and I will share with you some of the promises He spoke to me concerning our nation and our future.  I trust that you are being blessed and stirred to start responding to His call.

Until next time, Shalom.