I want to take you down “Memory Lane” for a few minutes in this podcast. Back in 1995 Bob Russell, who was then the Preaching Minister for the Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky wrote a prayer of national repentance. He offered it at the Kentucky Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Frankfort Kentucky. The prayer was adapted by Joe Wright and presented as the prayer to open the Kansas House of Representatives in 1996.
That prayer was also read in the Nebraska legislature. It stirred controversy everywhere it was read. Paul Harvey even reported on it. He said it was one of the most requested readings he had ever had.
That prayer of twenty-six years ago is relevant today. God’s spokesmen have been speaking but Americans haven’t been listening. Let me read that prayer today. I will also make this into a blog that you can share with your friends.
O God, we know that your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism and New Age spirituality.
We have committed adultery and called it an affair.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it frugality.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn children and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have failed to execute justice speedily, as your Word commands, and called it due process.
We have failed to love our neighbor who has a different color of skin and called it maintaining racial purity.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have made the Lord’s Day the biggest shopping and entertainment day of the week and called it free enterprise.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our parents and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us of every sin and set us free. Though our sins be as scarlet, may they become white as snow. Though they be as crimson, may they be as wool.
As you can see, that prayer was short, to the point, and on target. There are things we can add to it today, like:
We have ignored standing against evil in our culture and have said, “We just preach Jesus.”
We have denounced your sovereignty through Critical Race Theory and Transgenderism.
We have rejected your authority and called it “submitting to government.”
We have traded our Liberty for security and called it wisdom.
We have chosen fear over faith and called it obligation.
We have compromised your word and called it “loving our neighbor.”
We have ignored our schools’ curricula and called it necessity.
We have avoided political responsibilities and called it trust.
We have failed to hold our leaders accountable because we have been too busy.
We have turned our church services into entertainment and called it worship.
We have worshiped our worship and called ourselves faithful.
We have been seeking your blessings and not your face and called ourselves spiritual.
We have treated your word as an option and wonder why lives are falling apart.
We are about to enter a time we call “Thanksgiving” followed closely by “Christmas.” Maybe it’s time we rethink our priorities and our relationship to God. Maybe it is time for some national repentance and resolve to:
“. . . seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
[Don’t forget:]
and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33, ESV)
Keep The Light of God’s Priority Burning!