A Prayer of Repentance for the Church--September 9, 2012

O Lord, great and awesome God, Who Keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him and do what Jesus commands:

We, the church, have sinned in open and secret ways, often vile beyond mentioning, and been overwhelmed with a sense of our own importance, not remembering that it was for Your good pleasure that we have been created, all this is a demonstration of our rebellion.

Our rebellion is so shameful in light of what Your Son, Jesus, has done for us: bearing in His own body the consequences of our sin and paying the price for that sin which was a shameful death upon the cross.  By our rebellion we have trampled underfoot His precious blood; the thought of which is shameful to us.

That shame is reflected in the fact that many of the buildings constructed to reflect Your glory, by Your presence there, do not even welcome your presence there, even consider such presence an intrusion—this is apostasy of the worst sort.

In a place where the preaching of Your word should be so precious and so highly esteemed, we pay it scant attention.  In our arrogance we have risen up to stand in judgment upon Your word, when all the while our greatest protection is that we should let Your word stand in judgment upon us.

We have trifled with Your word, boldly and ignorantly setting forth new meanings for what was clearly intended.  This has led to “self-deception”, the worst of all kinds of deception, that immediately comes to all those who “hear” your word and do not “do it”.

From the church outward, all about are consequences of rejecting Your word—it is shameful to us.  By contrast we are to be the city on a hill.  We are to be the light of the world. We are to be the salt of the earth.  Have we not failed in all these?  Your kingdom is not about to topple, but our country is and the best way we can set our country right is to turn in humble repentance to you.

And so we do, Lord.  We ask that You would bare the might of Your right arm on our behalf.  We ask that You would turn and have mercy upon us and that the power of Your might would chase away the sin that brazenly shows itself in our midst and all about.  Burn the sin out of our own hearts.  Take away from us a spirit of compromise that keeps us from loving You with all our hearts.  Create within us a zeal for holiness and a zeal to see Your kingdom come and Your Name exalted in every place.

Turn, turn and have mercy upon us; then shall we rejoice as Your kingdom is exalted among us.

In Jesus’ mighty name, we pray.  Amen.

O Lord, great and awesome God, Who Keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him and do what Jesus commands:

We, the church, have sinned in open and secret ways, often vile beyond mentioning, and been overwhelmed with a sense of our own importance, not remembering that it was for Your good pleasure that we have been created, all this is a demonstration of our rebellion.

Our rebellion is so shameful in light of what Your Son, Jesus, has done for us: bearing in His own body the consequences of our sin and paying the price for that sin which was a shameful death upon the cross.  By our rebellion we have trampled underfoot His precious blood; the thought of which is shameful to us.

That shame is reflected in the fact that many of the buildings constructed to reflect Your glory, by Your presence there, do not even welcome your presence there, even consider such presence an intrusion—this is apostasy of the worst sort.

In a place where the preaching of Your word should be so precious and so highly esteemed, we pay it scant attention.  In our arrogance we have risen up to stand in judgment upon Your word, when all the while our greatest protection is that we should let Your word stand in judgment upon us.

We have trifled with Your word, boldly and ignorantly setting forth new meanings for what was clearly intended.  This has led to “self-deception”, the worst of all kinds of deception, that immediately comes to all those who “hear” your word and do not “do it”.

From the church outward, all about are consequences of rejecting Your word—it is shameful to us.  By contrast we are to be the city on a hill.  We are to be the light of the world. We are to be the salt of the earth.  Have we not failed in all these?  Your kingdom is not about to topple, but our country is and the best way we can set our country right is to turn in humble repentance to you.

And so we do, Lord.  We ask that You would bare the might of Your right arm on our behalf.  We ask that You would turn and have mercy upon us and that the power of Your might would chase away the sin that brazenly shows itself in our midst and all about.  Burn the sin out of our own hearts.  Take away from us a spirit of compromise that keeps us from loving You with all our hearts.  Create within us a zeal for holiness and a zeal to see Your kingdom come and Your Name exalted in every place.

Turn, turn and have mercy upon us; then shall we rejoice as Your kingdom is exalted among us.

In Jesus’ mighty name, we pray.  Amen.

O Lord, great and awesome God, Who Keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him and do what Jesus commands:

We, the church, have sinned in open and secret ways, often vile beyond mentioning, and been overwhelmed with a sense of our own importance, not remembering that it was for Your good pleasure that we have been created.  All this is a demonstration of our rebellion.

Our rebellion is so shameful in light of what Your Son, Jesus, has done for us: bearing in His own body the consequences of our sin and paying the price for that sin which was a shameful death upon the cross.  By our rebellion we have trampled underfoot His precious blood; the thought of which is shameful to us.

That shame is reflected in the fact that many of the buildings constructed to reflect Your glory, by Your presence there, do not even welcome your presence there, even consider such presence an intrusion—this is apostasy of the worst sort.

In a place where the preaching of Your word should be so precious and so highly esteemed, we pay it scant attention.  In our arrogance we have risen up to stand in judgment upon Your word, when all the while our greatest protection is that we should let Your word stand in judgment upon us.

We have trifled with Your word, boldly and ignorantly setting forth new meanings for what was clearly intended.  This has led to “self-deception”, the worst of all kinds of deception, that immediately comes to all those who “hear” your word and do not “do it”.

From the church outward, all about are consequences of rejecting Your word—it is shameful to us.  By contrast we are to be the city on a hill.  We are to be the light of the world. We are to be the salt of the earth.  Have we not failed in all these?  Your kingdom is not about to topple, but our country is and the best way we can set our country right is to turn in humble repentance to you.

And so we do, Lord.  We ask that You would bare the might of Your right arm on our behalf.  We ask that You would turn and have mercy upon us and that the power of Your might would chase away the sin that brazenly shows itself in our midst and all about.  Burn the sin out of our own hearts.  Take away from us a spirit of compromise that keeps us from loving You with all our hearts.  Create within us a zeal for holiness and a zeal to see Your kingdom come and Your Name exalted in every place.

Turn, turn and have mercy upon us; then shall we rejoice as Your kingdom is exalted among us.

In Jesus’ mighty name, we pray.  Amen.