National Repentance

Joel 2: 12-17

“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. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing – grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priest, who minister before the LORD, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byward among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

LORD, this nation was founded on belief in You, and the recognition that people have God-given rights of life, freedom, and the opportunity to make of their lives what they will. We recognize that You have favored this nation above all others with abundant provision, strength, natural resources, natural beauty, and a government that supports the ideal that every individual is important.

And still, after all this, in recent decades we have taken your blessings for granted, become complacent, and allowed sin to overtake us. Under the guise of love and compassion we allowed through our doors gross sins, like perversion, pornography, glorification of sodomy, pedophilia, the celebration of self-centeredness, greed to the point of hurting others, and so much more. Our children are corrupted by social media and violent video games. Perhaps the worst of all are the murder of millions of babies and the redefinition of the sacred union of marriage, both by the Supreme Court of the land. These things are abhorrent to You. Please forgive us.

Some of us in the church have fallen asleep and some of us have become so self-focused on our own comfort and success that we couldn’t be bothered to care about what is going on around us. Your church has become indistinguishable from the world system. We’ve been deceived! These things have happened because we did not stand up to speak against it. Lord, how we are sorry for what we have done. Our hearts are broken and grieved. Please forgive us.

But now, we are reminded of how much You love us and are eager to extend Your hand of mercy. Our desire now is to change, by Your grace. We will set ourselves apart for the work of Your Kingdom. We will again become the salt and light in our culture. We will pray and work so that Your will be done in our country, and through her to other parts of the world. We will no longer permit Satan to rule in this land. We oppose his every attempt to subvert Your desires, Lord. We reclaim the territory Satan has gained. We now pray that every evil tactic is exposed and corrected. As we turn our hearts back to You, Lord, we pray that our nation returns to You.

Thank You, God, for hearing our prayer, for ‘Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory.’ Amen.

 

Examples in the Bible of Prayer for National Repentance:

Ezra 9: 5-15

Neh.1: 5-7

Neh.9: 5-37

Dan.9: 4-19