Holy Father, in the beautiful, powerful, and majestic name of the Lord Jesus Christ I bless and praise You. You are the Most High God whose throne is established in the heavens and whose Kingdom rules over all. There is none like You. You are holy, righteous, perfect in all of Your ways, good, loving, faithful, kind, gentle, and patient. You are the King of glory who is strong and mighty in battle. Your name is a strong tower that the righteous run to in the time of trouble and are safe. God, You are our refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble. You are our light and our salvation - whom shall we fear? The Lord is the stronghold of our lives - of whom shall we be afraid? You are our only hope in these dark and desperate days that we live in.
In the midst of all that is going on in our nation and world, You desire to use the Church of Jesus Christ to glorify Your great name, bring about Your Kingdom and Your will on earth as it is in heaven. Yet we seem so divided in the way that we view things. We have ideas of what we would like to see happen that have little or nothing to do with Your Kingdom agenda and will. God, give those that You have anointed and called to lead and preach Your Word wisdom and discernment to navigate Your people in these last days.
God, what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 seems to characterize many who profess to belong to Christ. God, many have turned away from Your Word and are following the philosophies of this world. For many prayer is a rarity and often a last resort wanting You to grant a request with no desire or thought of fellowship with You. Our sins against You are many and wicked: We have been complicit, in agreement, and silent as much innocent blood has been shed through the murder of preborn babies. We have placed different values on peoples lives based on their ethnicity, color, gender, education, jobs, wealth, and other things instead of treating all others equally because of the truth that each and every person is created in the image of God. We have trampled and trivialized the institution of marriage, which You created and ordained, through sexual immorality, divorce for any and every reason, and same-sex marriage. We have abandoned raising our children to chase after money, relationships, sex, careers, and other worldly sources of pleasure.
We have put our trust in government that You established rather than You God, the One who is exalted and rules over all nations. We no longer fear You nor honor those You have placed in positions of authority in the home, government, and the church. We have taken Your commands to love You and and our neighbors as suggestions as we pick and choose when and how we'll love You and what neighbors are worthy of our love. Forgive us for putting our hope in man, in government, in the economy, in technology and science, and even in a New Year. Jesus, You are the only Savior, the God who is great and mighty to save.
God, are You judging this country that wants Your continued blessings while living in blatant disobedience to You and rebellion to Your Word? Are the increase in plagues, pestilence, natural disasters, famine and poverty, and hostility between people groups due to the failure of Your people to live for You? O God produce a godly sorrow in the hearts of Your people over our sin and cause us to repent individually, corporately, and on behalf of the United States of America.
O God bring revival to Your people and use Your people to bring a great awakening to this nation that will shake every segment and sector of our land reverberating to the nations of the world and the isles of the sea. Cause a mighty outpouring of Your Spirit upon the nations like a category 5 hurricane bringing destruction to the kingdom of darkness as multitudes of people are delivered from it and transferred into the Kingdom of Your dear Son Jesus.
Help us, Your people, to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with You, our God. Help us to love righteousness and to hate wickedness, to stand against injustice and to speak up for those who are oppressed. Give us Your heart for the broken, hurting, and hopeless all around us.
God, would you work a work in our day that if You told us in advance that we would not be able to believe it? Teach us to number our days and to apply our heart unto wisdom. Make us like the men of Issachar who understood the times in which they lived and knew what to do (1 Chronicles 12:32). Cause Your glory and the Kingdom of Jesus to be revealed through the Church. In Jesus' name. Amen!
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