There’s No THEN without the IF

I’m a geek. I love me some Microsoft Excel.

My whole personality mirrors Excel… I like my life in orderly rows and columns. I like preset formulas so I can get the results I expect. Anyone else? I like life neat and orderly and predictable. One of my favorite things about Excel is the multitude of formulas that I can use. I can add, subtract, multiply, divide, order, count, get an average.

But what I love is that I can make a formula that, and I quote, “allows you to make logical comparisons between a value and what you expect.

So, an IF statement can have two results.

The first result is if your comparison is True, the second if your comparison is False.”

So, IF this, THEN that…

Why is this so exciting to me? Why does this get my blood boiling? Well, I’m a geek… No. Well yes, but that’s not why.

You see, this theme, this principle, this condition, is found throughout God’s Word. IF this THEN that.

I know what you’re thinking, I know what scripture you’re thinking about. I do!

2 Chronicles 7:14

Yes, that a good one. But there are so many others. Let’s look at a few before we get back to 2 Chronicles.

One thing we need to realize is that sometimes the ‘IF’ is implied as well.

We won’t always see it.

Here’s a good one…

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Ps 37:4 ESV) What this is saying is, if we delight ourselves in the Lord, then He will give us the desires of our hearts.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jer. 29:13 NIV)

You see, there’s a ton of different ways to see it. This is an “IF, THEN” “IF you seek me with your whole heart, THEN you will find me.”

John 14:15 NLT: “If you love me, obey my commandments.”
John 11:40 NLT: “Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?””
Romans 10:9 NLT: “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

There’s plenty more, but we’ll stop here for now.

I don’t recommend you study the Word this way, but in your personal time, see it, and understand when the promise you’re seeking has an “IF” in there.

When we look at and read these verses, what the one thing that comes to mind?

What comes to my mind is the word IF. These promises are not unconditional.

** Some unconditional promises of God are:

He loves you with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3)
He will never flood the earth again (Gen 9:8-11)
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23)
He will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5)

God will not heal our land and we won’t find Him, and He won’t give us the desires of our hearts unconditionally. IF. If we seek Him. If we delight.

And if we humble ourselves and pray. Amen?

Here’s a dirty little secret. I hear us too often say that “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, then…” NO!! That’s not it!

We can’t expect to receive the ‘THEN’ if we don’t know or do the ‘IF’.

Here’s a question for you… how do we triumph over the dragon, or Satan, in Revelation 12? You see there’s this battle, and Satan is cast down to earth during the last days. There’s a verse of promise right in the middle of this scene.

Revelation 12:11 NIV

“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”

2 Chronicles 7:13

Is a direct response of Solomon’s prayer in chapter 6. We don’t have time to read it all but let’s look at a few things from it.

The prayer is 28 verses long (vv.14-42)
He prays 8 mini prayers within
8 times, he asks God to “Hear from Heaven”

2 Chronicles 7:13

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,

(Another direct response to Solomon’s prayer)

When I shut up the heavens… drought, plague, disaster. The Lord states when He will. “In this world you will have trials, but take heart, I have overcome this world.” John 16:33

Life is hard. With Jesus life will be hard. A life outside Jesus is even harder. With Him, we have promises to hold onto. We have the creator of the universe, the lover of our souls on our side. He is for us and with us and His promises are to prosper us and not to harm us. Jer. 29:11.

Jer. 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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Too often we read a portion of scripture and find the promise of God but tend to skip the all-important things. IF’s

If this, then that.

If my people, if you delight, if you confess, if!

Again, many times we’ll consider some of the “ifs”. We overcome him by the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. If my people will humble themselves and pray.

Finish the word! Finish the thought:

“They did not love their lives so much to shrink from death.” / “Seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.”

So, what now? Here’s why the Lord gave me this word for today. Well, today is the day to get reacquainted with Him. Maybe someone has been fighting, believing for something. Do you need your sins forgiven? Have you been believing for a promise and need prayer in doing the IF’s? Drop me a line!!

Do you need your land healed? Who will stand in the gap for our country this morning? Who will stand in the gap for our community? Who will stand in the gap for their family?