As a nation we urgently require to have our sinfulness and inadequacy and our desperate need of God’s mercy revealed
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| lovinggospel.com |
Have mercy on our broken nation
We, who once your love would share
Have fallen into disrepair.
In Proverbs 14:34, it says: Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
In Psalm 33:12, it says: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
Our forefathers knew what it was like to believe in God. They weren’t perfect but they did acknowledge that God was the supreme ruler over man and over government. Nowadays things have changed dramatically.
Alex Phillips from CBN News Channel in Britain said that the number of Britons describing themselves as Christian has now dropped below 50% with the vast majority of them identifying as having no religion at all. Interestingly he points out that statistics reinforce that, children brought up in the Christian faith are less likely to take drugs, get divorced or get into trouble with the law. He also says that even though Christianity is forced into decline, more and more are eager to have what it provides. For example, parents fight to get their children into church schools. In other words, we want the trappings of Christianity without committing to the faith itself.
I read somewhere that ‘When Christianity retreats, evil steps in to fill the gap!’. That is just what is happening in our nation today. Many churches have become worldly and false religions increase all around us. We need to heed God’s wake up call to become a Christian nation again.
Donald Scott summed it up in this poem, which he wrote when his daughter was a victim of a massacre carried out by 2 teenage boys. Admittedly this took place in America but is relevant to our nation too.
Your words are empty air.
You’ve stripped away our heritage
You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms
And our precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere
And you ask the question why.
You regulate restrictive laws
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand
That God is what we need.
Lord, have mercy on our nation and forgive us for our waywardness we pray.
Reveal to this our fallen nation
The truth that’s written in your word
Our only hope is Christ the Lord
Restore the hearts of this dear nation
May we turn away from pride
And in your perfect will abide
In Isaiah 65:1 it says: I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
In Psalm 85: 4 the psalmist’s cry from the heart is: “Restore us again, O God our Saviour”
In I Kings 18:37 Elijah prayed: O LORD, answer me, so that these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.
We desperately need to see God’s glory fall on our nation today as it often fell on Israel in the Old Testament and on the Church in the New Testament to reveal Himself and restore them back to their right relationship with Him. As a nation we urgently require to have our sinfulness and inadequacy and our desperate need of God’s mercy revealed. We know that God can restore what is broken and change it into something amazing. There is nothing that God can’t handle. He is sovereign. He is omnipotent and omnipresent.
Pride is a big problem in our nation. The Bible warns us that God hates the sin of pride and will discipline the proud!
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| bibleportal.com |
In Romans 12:3 Paul says: For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
It is a very strong message in the Bible that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Pride considers what’s best for me, pride looks down on others, pride ignores the Lord’s counsel, pride promotes self, pride rebels against authority, pride is quick to speak and slow to listen. This is so often our culture today and is something that needs to change.
Lord, reveal yourself to our nation and restore us, we pray.
We believers in this nation
To our shame ignored the sin
Thereby letting Satan in
We live in a culture that normalizes sin and the church is not innocent in this matter too. For a Christian to speak clearly about what the Bible calls sin is sometimes considered to be ‘hate speech’. There can be pressure from society to ignore that which God forbids but if we do ignore it, we are not doing what God requires. We are just putting people at more risk of being ‘left to their sinful desires’. Eli, in the Bible ignored the sins of his sons. Eli grieved over the sins but did nothing to correct them. God was not pleased and he punished the house of Eli and appointed a faithful priest from another family to serve the people. So when we speak out against sin we have to use scripture. It is God’s word that is doing the judging. We are simply the messenger wanting to help people to find the right path. I read somewhere recently that the fear of pointing out sin is Satan’s plan of sending more people to hell.
Lord, forgive us when we have ignored sin and let Satan in, we pray.
Forgive the Christians of this nation
Through your Spirit help us stand
Against injustice in our land
In Micah 6:8 it says: He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
The Hebrew word for justice is “Mishpat” which means giving people what they are due or deserve, whether bad or good.
In the Bible, this instruction to do justice was especially given in regards to the vulnerable, those who were being persecuted or taken advantage of stronger groups. Christians like John Newton and others considered it their Christian duty to fight for the injustice of slavery. To do justice in our fallen world today, is to stand up for those who are denied their human rights. Jesus is committed to justice so we must be too. We can’t give the Good News of Jesus to the people around us if we ignore the injustice to the marginalised in our society.
Lord, forgive us for allowing injustice and not standing up for the marginalised, we pray.
You say there is no condemnation,
If we love you, so let’s go
Tell the lost. They need to know!
In Romans 1:16 it says: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
If we claim to be a man or woman of God we must act on that faith. We can’t sit on the fence or ‘be ashamed’ of the Gospel. We know that bringing someone to Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit but when we live our lives as Jesus would want us to do, when we show the love of Jesus to someone or when we share the Gospel with someone, we partner with the Holy Spirit in that work.
Lord, help us to bring your Good News to the lost, we pray.
Author: Thelma Cameron
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