Confession of National Sin

I have been reading the end of the Old Testament recently. It struck me that those leaders (Daniel, Ezra, etc.) are mentioned confessing for the nation. While I am certainly not a leader, I thought it would be a good thing to start including in my daily prayers. I am sure that there are more things to add and will probably do so in the future.

O LORD, I confess that we Christians in this country have allowed evil to gain ground and we have not aggressively taken ground for the Kingdom. We allow children to be killed at abortionists' hands so that we can be more materialistic, more sexually immoral, and more self-centered. We have allowed our children’s soul’s to be destroyed at day-cares and public schools for the sake of money and fitting in and because of apathy. We do not strive for excellence, but are OK with offering you a living sacrifice of mediocrity. We have not kept our promises to stay married and have gotten divorced for no scriptural reason. Because of divorce our children have suffered yet again. We have not trusted in your scripture to be inerrant and so have allowed our children to be taught that they came from hydrogen gas and will turn to dirt when they die. We have allowed them to be taught that they are soulless animals acting only on instinct and intelligence. Because of this many of our children lose faith or never find it. We have become dependent on preachers for our Bible knowledge, youth ministers to develop faith in our children, and programs to bring people to you. So there are thousands of churches that are full of mature people who have been Christians a long time and yet are not mature spiritually and do not participate in the harvest of souls. O LORD, change the face of our country and your church. There are so many fronts to fight on. Help me to stand firm. Help me know my assignment in the battle. Forgive your Church for losing your passion for the lost. Forgive us for being divided and divisive. We have sinned on both extremes and compromised scripture to be “unified” while at the same time holding on to traditions of men instead of embracing unity. O God, our sins are piled up like a mountain before us and we are largely blind to the mountains existence. We have not stayed separate from the world and so are blind to our worldliness. We have bought the lie that love means having good feelings about someone. We have not lived out love by doing good for a persons body, mind, and soul.