Nehemiah 1:6 NKJV
please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my fathers house and I have sinned.
I spent many years proclaiming the sins of the church. I pointed at the stories of adultery, child abuse and theft and said "look at them! look at them! Look at how terrible so called Christians are."
But over the past few years my perspective has changed. Since I know that none of us are without sin and that we all come from a place of brokenness my "I"s have become "we"s. Hands that used you point at others now desire to hold them in a loving embrace.
What would the church look like if we decided to stand in the gap for our neighbors. What if we confessed their sins before God, prayed for their healing and asked God to use us to help restore them to the place that God would have for them.
What if others did this for us as well? Oh how the world would be filled with God's love and truth!
Let us pray.
God we thank you for the example of Nehemiah. We ask that you forgive all of us in how we have fallen short in loving You and each other. Please hear us as we cry out to you for forgiveness and restoration of love and unity. Please show us how to rebuild those walls of your protection and love so that we can walk boldly forward in the purpose you have laid out for us.
In the name of Jesus we pray.
Amen.
please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my fathers house and I have sinned.
I spent many years proclaiming the sins of the church. I pointed at the stories of adultery, child abuse and theft and said "look at them! look at them! Look at how terrible so called Christians are."
But over the past few years my perspective has changed. Since I know that none of us are without sin and that we all come from a place of brokenness my "I"s have become "we"s. Hands that used you point at others now desire to hold them in a loving embrace.
What would the church look like if we decided to stand in the gap for our neighbors. What if we confessed their sins before God, prayed for their healing and asked God to use us to help restore them to the place that God would have for them.
What if others did this for us as well? Oh how the world would be filled with God's love and truth!
Let us pray.
God we thank you for the example of Nehemiah. We ask that you forgive all of us in how we have fallen short in loving You and each other. Please hear us as we cry out to you for forgiveness and restoration of love and unity. Please show us how to rebuild those walls of your protection and love so that we can walk boldly forward in the purpose you have laid out for us.
In the name of Jesus we pray.
Amen.
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