July 11, 2016
A prayer for a nation divided
By J. Matt Barber
Dear Heavenly Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth, today we grieve for a nation divided.
The wages of sin is death, and we are a culture of sin and death.
Lord, we mourn and pray for the families of innocent men in Dallas, slaughtered for the whiteness of their skin and the shield upon their chest alone.
Comfort them.
Console them.
Love them.
These brave heroes were slain as they served and protected the very souls who now dance upon their graves and mock their compatriots.
We also pray for these reveling enemies of life and order who exult in death and disorder.
"Pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
"From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits.
"They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression" (Psalm 73:6-8).
Open their eyes, shut their mouths and soften their hearts, oh Lord.
We have become a Romans 1 nation.
And so we, Your Romans 8 people, repent on behalf of corrupt leaders and an entitled, quarrelsome public.
"Just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of [You], so [You] gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
"They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
"They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
"They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
"Although they know [Your] righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them" (see Romans 1:28-32).
We likewise pray for the loved ones of those whose lives have been needlessly taken by a miniscule minority of peacekeepers who have betrayed a sacred duty.
They are not the rule.
They are the exception.
The exception proves not the rule.
Yes, black lives matter.
Yes, white lives matter.
Yes, all lives matter.
The time is once again at hand, King Jesus, for we the people, as did our forefathers before us, to declare our dependence upon You.
Please hear our prayer, oh Lord.
Today we are divided. Our leaders, the powers and principalities, have sown seeds of wickedness, violence, chaos and division as we the people reap the poisonous fruits of strife and discord.
Lord, today we reaffirm both our temporal independence – our national sovereignty – and our eternal dependence upon You and Your supreme sovereignty.
Father, rebuild this house upon your rock, who is Christ Jesus.
For America labors in vain.
As surely as Your benevolent fingers hold together the fabric of the universe and every cell in our temporal bodies, it is by Your grace and Your grace alone that a nation divided, a nation in rebellion, can endure.
We are indeed a nation in rebellion.
We are indeed a nation divided.
How, then, shall we endure without You?
We cannot.
For You are just.
And Your justice demands judgment.
Have we entered Your judgment, Abba Father?
If so, Your judgment is just.
We, too, have sown seeds of wickedness, rebellion and division, Lord Jesus.
And for this we repent.
Though the hour is late, we now fall to our face, humble ourselves, pray and seek Your face.
Lord, though our public policy may lag behind, we, nonetheless, turn from our wicked ways.
Hear us from heaven, oh Lord.
Forgive us our sins.
Please heal our land.
Setback our death throes, we beg of You.
We declare, once more, America's dependence upon You, King Jesus.
For without You, we are lost.
Without You, all is lost.
Yet with You, all is gain.
© J. Matt Barber
Dear Heavenly Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth, today we grieve for a nation divided.
The wages of sin is death, and we are a culture of sin and death.
Lord, we mourn and pray for the families of innocent men in Dallas, slaughtered for the whiteness of their skin and the shield upon their chest alone.
Comfort them.
Console them.
Love them.
These brave heroes were slain as they served and protected the very souls who now dance upon their graves and mock their compatriots.
We also pray for these reveling enemies of life and order who exult in death and disorder.
"Pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
"From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits.
"They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression" (Psalm 73:6-8).
Open their eyes, shut their mouths and soften their hearts, oh Lord.
We have become a Romans 1 nation.
And so we, Your Romans 8 people, repent on behalf of corrupt leaders and an entitled, quarrelsome public.
"Just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of [You], so [You] gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.
"They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
"They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
"They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
"Although they know [Your] righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them" (see Romans 1:28-32).
We likewise pray for the loved ones of those whose lives have been needlessly taken by a miniscule minority of peacekeepers who have betrayed a sacred duty.
They are not the rule.
They are the exception.
The exception proves not the rule.
Yes, black lives matter.
Yes, white lives matter.
Yes, all lives matter.
The time is once again at hand, King Jesus, for we the people, as did our forefathers before us, to declare our dependence upon You.
Please hear our prayer, oh Lord.
Today we are divided. Our leaders, the powers and principalities, have sown seeds of wickedness, violence, chaos and division as we the people reap the poisonous fruits of strife and discord.
Lord, today we reaffirm both our temporal independence – our national sovereignty – and our eternal dependence upon You and Your supreme sovereignty.
Father, rebuild this house upon your rock, who is Christ Jesus.
For America labors in vain.
As surely as Your benevolent fingers hold together the fabric of the universe and every cell in our temporal bodies, it is by Your grace and Your grace alone that a nation divided, a nation in rebellion, can endure.
We are indeed a nation in rebellion.
We are indeed a nation divided.
How, then, shall we endure without You?
We cannot.
For You are just.
And Your justice demands judgment.
Have we entered Your judgment, Abba Father?
If so, Your judgment is just.
We, too, have sown seeds of wickedness, rebellion and division, Lord Jesus.
And for this we repent.
Though the hour is late, we now fall to our face, humble ourselves, pray and seek Your face.
Lord, though our public policy may lag behind, we, nonetheless, turn from our wicked ways.
Hear us from heaven, oh Lord.
Forgive us our sins.
Please heal our land.
Setback our death throes, we beg of You.
We declare, once more, America's dependence upon You, King Jesus.
For without You, we are lost.
Without You, all is lost.
Yet with You, all is gain.
© J. Matt Barber
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mbarber/160711
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