I believe that there can be a great national returning to the LORD. It is not too late to advance the Kingdom of the Living God in the increasingly secular and pagan United States of America. I believe that the LORD will surely bring disaster on this country if we do not turn back to Him, but it is not too late.
Joel 2:12-13
"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Part of turning is confession. It is important for people individually, but it is also important for nations collectively and the God-fearing people within a nation. We have many biblical examples to follow. Here are two examples of righteous men who confessed the sin of their nation:
Daniel 9:3-6
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
Nehemiah 1:4-7
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said: let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
So, will you join me in confessing national sin at least twice a week? If you are willing to take up this challenge, reply to this entry. If you want to be encouraged as others sign up, when you post check the box to receive an e-mail of each new post. If you would like some ideas to get started, here are some of mine:
A Prayer National Confession
O LORD, I confess that as Christians in the United States of America we have allowed evil to gain ground and we have not aggressively taken ground for the Kingdom. We do not strive for excellence, but are OK with offering you a living sacrifice of mediocrity. In fact, mediocrity is promoted because excellence makes people look “out of touch”.
We are destroying the innocents and their blood and souls are crying out against us! We allow children to be killed so that we can be more materialistic, more sexually immoral, and more self-centered. We have allowed our children’s souls to be destroyed at day-cares and public schools for the sake of money and fitting in and because of apathy. 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 not trusted your scripture to be inerrant so we have become pluralist saying Judaism and Islam are both paths leading to you.
We Christians have not been God-seekers, but only God-accepters. 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. We do not embrace you as Lord, but only accept you as savior. So there are thousands of churches that are full of physically 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 your church. Only that will change the face of our country.
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 self-sacrificial love by doing good for a person’s body, mind, and soul.
We have not been good stewards of our time and money. We are the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen. Help us to use these resources to advance your Kingdom.
There are so many fronts to fight on. Help me to stand firm. Help me know my assignment in the battle. O God, guide me. Help me to see with your eyes. Help me to see the spiritual battle all around me.
