Will you heal our Land? Or shall we perish?

sermonindex Jul 4, 2014

Forgive us Lord in this land for our willful disobedience to your word. We are not ignorant in this land, we are rebellious. We ask for spiritual awakening yet we have no desire to do justice. We ask for mercy yet we show none. We cry to the heavens and complain about the flood of evil, yet we do not repent that we ourselves unlocked the flood gates for our own wicked gain. We cry out to you for unity of thought while we remain behind the walls that we ourselves built for our own glory. Lord, tear down the walls that your people have erected to separate themselves from each other and build a name for themselves.

Lord forgive our pride that deafens us to the cries of the laborer in the field. Can it be Lord that you would hear us when we refuse to hear them? We jealously guard this land that you made available. We reject the tired, the poor, the huddled masses, we the oppressed have become the oppressors and it causes us no shame. You say to us " I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins, you afflict the just, you take a bribe and you turn aside the poor in the gate from their right," and Lord we do it all with pride and are justified in our own sight, forgive us Lord and heal our land.

You have counseled us Lord to seek good and not evil that we may live and that you may be found with us. Lord forgive us for we have not sought that which is good and desired to see the oppressed relieved. You have counseled us Lord to hate evil and love good and establish a righteous judgement in the land that you may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Forgive us Lord for we do not hate evil and love good. We desire that you move on our behalf but we have no desire in ourselves to move away from idolatry. Lord we worship our country more that we worship you, forgive us Lord. Lord we worship our freedom more than we worship you, forgive us Lord. Lord we worship our mighty men and their writings and systems more than we worship you, forgive us Lord for those idolatry's and so many more.

Lord, what good will it do us to flee from a lion and then meet a bear in the way? Shall we find refuge behind a door only to put our hand on a snake? We cry out for the day of the Lord yet we do not know what we cry for. Great darkness comes. We offer you feast days and offerings and worship music that perhaps the evil shall be remembered no more. Do you rejoice in our days and feasts? Do you hear the praises of a people who refuse to tear down their high places?

And we Lord, who dwell in Zion, we dwell there in pride and security and ease. Forgive us Lord that we have become fat in the land of ease. Lord you despise the excellency of Jacob for they despise the afflictions of Joseph. We are proud of our achievement's and our position in the world. We are self made men and we love that we are so, it is a virtue in the land, Lord forgive us. We have forgotten that without you we are nothing. Lord forgive us.

We are in the midst of a famine Lord and this famine we have brought upon our own heads. A famine of your word and of your presence. The cares of this world has besieged us like grasshoppers and devoured our desire to seek righteousness.And now we hunger and the things that you formerly added unto us you have withdrawn. You sent these grasshoppers because you gave us the desires of our hearts. Forgive us Lord and give unto us the desire of your heart that they may be our desires. Send us fire in the form of prophets who have heard thy voice and bring truth before thy people Lord. Let that fire fall from heaven and let the grasshoppers be consumed that the people may rejoice in your word and in your truth and in your presence.

Lord, Jacob was brought very low and indeed his hip put out of joint. He wrestled with you all night long yet he could not run. Before the sun came up what was left of Jacob became Israel after he encountered you. Lord will you be gracious enough to put our hips out of joint that we could no longer run from you? Lord would you come to us that we would wrestle with you and have a heart that will not let you go until we are blessed by an encounter that changes us forever? Give us a heart oh Lord that either desires to live wholeheartedly unto you or simply die in the desert. Give us a heart that would be either hot or cold but God deliver us from luke-warmness.

Lord I take comfort in the sure knowledge that you have ears to hear the contrite and the broken of heart. You know the hearts of men and when they take away the cause then you take away the effect. Lord give us eyes to see the cause of our calamities. Let us see Lord and let us repent from our wicked ways that you may bless the remnant of Jacob that they may shine their light into the darkness and the coming gross darkness. Let us stand as one. " I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment." ( 1 Cor 1:10)

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit””just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call”” one Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Eph 4:1-6)

"That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:21)

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." (Phi 2:1-3)

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.(Rom 15:5,6)

"There is one body and one Spirit””just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call" ( Eph 4:4)

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" (Psalms 133:1)

ADisciple Jul 4, 2014

"Lord I take comfort in the sure knowledge that you have ears to hear the contrite and the broken of heart."

Frank, I notice that the verses you quoted at the end of your post are all an appeal for one thing-- the unity of the body of Christ. Oh the deep need for this! Jesus says that it is this-- unity-- that is going to cause the world to believe (Jn. 17.21). No, not an ecumenical kind of unity all the while continuing to maintain separate denominational identities, but something far beyond that-- the very unity of the Father and the Son being expressed in and through those He has redeemed.

In the other thread, AbideinHim wrote, "We pray that our hearts would be broken with that which breaks the heart of God."

Are we broken hearted for the divisions in Christianity? God is.

Many are the breakings that have divided God's people. What about the breakings that bring us together? The bruisings, the crushings, the breakings, that bring about the broken and the contrite heart that becomes, with others, God's very Dwelling Place.

That's the meaning of the word "contrite"-- broken, bruised, crushed. I used to work in a limestone quarry where rocks were put through a crusher and crushed and pulverized, some of them into dust. My brother, who also worked there, used to call the crusher the contriter. And so, let me say that the hard things that are at hand, it's the Contriter who is coming... to break us not apart, but together now. In fact many are already going through hard things. But let us recognize the hard things-- and the very hard things that are just at the door-- for what they are. (It's liberating when we can see this.) The Contriter is at hand to bring into being His own Dwelling Place, the beautiful unity of the Father and the Son, in-- yes, this is what our Bible says-- ALL those who believe. Amen.

AbideinHim Jul 4, 2014

Amen brothers!

Father, we ask you to remove the scales from our eyes that we may see.

Lord you have said that judgment must begin in your House.

Father, we ask you to search our hearts, for we do not know our own hearts Lord. Father, we thank you for the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit that will burn up all that is not of you.

Lord, we repent of our idols. Forgive us Father for putting our own comfort before you. We thank you Lord for not leaving us to ourselves but for chastening us so that we might be partakers of your holiness.

Father we ask you to purify our hearts that we might be vessels of honor, fit for your service.

Father, we give our bodies to you for they are your temple. We are yours Lord, and we thank you for your precisous blood that has redeemed us from the hand of the enemy. Father, we thank you that you are faithful and that you will have a people that are without spot or blemish, that are walking in your ways, a purified bride that walks in the love of God, a crucified people that are filled with your Holy Spirit.

Father, make us one. Let us see your glory Lord that we might be changed and conformed into your own image and likeness.

In Jesus name we pray!

"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." (Revelation 3:17-19)

sermonindex Jul 4, 2014

Hi brother Allan,

Yes brother, unity of the Body is God's desire for His children and not, as you say, some ecumenical unity where all respect the walls of division, but a true unity that will undoubtedly be forged in fires of God's making. Great story about the limestone being crushed. As an old stone mason I used to be covered in limestone dust as I cut each piece to size. Yes brother, who will stand in the day of the " contriter?" Shall it not be the broken and the contrite? If we want God's forgiveness we have to identify our sin and lay it before His alter. The Lord has burned John 17 into my bones brother and in that high priestly prayer the Lord is calling us to be one so that the world would know, so that we would stand as a witness in these last days as stated in Matt 24 that we would be a witness and then the end would come. Those days lie ahead of us. It will be a glorious thing to behold when it comes to pass. To the world it will be reprehensible and stand in opposition to a false unity, to God and that cloud of witnesses , it will be the Church's greatest hour.........bro Frank

14And it will be said, "Build up, build up, prepare the way, Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people." 15For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite. 16"For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made.… (Isa 57)