"I'm Sorry"

As I prayed this morning, I couldn’t get past “…Hallowed be thy name,” before I grieved and lamented just short of weeping profoundly.

“God, forgive me. You are Holy. You are to be hallowed—revered. Yet, your church is not very much like you…is it? I’m sorry for my prayerlessness. I’m sorry for my indifference. I’m sorry for my greed. I’m sorry for my lusts. I’m sorry for my ungodliness, and for grieving your Holy Spirit.”

“Father, your church is stained and blemished. May we earnestly repent! We need you to forgive us, and REVIVE US!”

“My God…MY GOD! Renew a steadfast Spirit in us. As our Pastor admonished us last weekend, we NEED your Holy Spirit. We are barren and empty and weak—without you.”
“I am so glad that you are enthroned forever and that you never change. Thank you for mercy. Thank you for grace.”

“God, some of us celebrate victory this morning with the homosexual and pro-abortion community. We saw it more appropriate to align ourselves with Bruce Springsteen, Alec Baldwin, Whoopee Goldberg, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Louis Farrakhan, Paris Hilton, Al Sharpton, Oprah Winfrey, and Madonna, than with James Dobson, Ed Young, Ravi Zacharias, Josh McDowell, Chuck Swindoll, Michael W. Smith, Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel), etc., when many of us voted. For some reason, we are rejoicing along with Planned Parenthood, and the Black Panthers. We are glad, along with many of our enemies in the Middle East and abroad, even as they themselves continue to plot our demise, and plan our destruction.”

“God, our hope was never in John McCain or Sarah Palin, in Barack Obama or Joe Biden. Our hope has always been, and continues to be in you. Forgive us if we’ve acted differently.”

“It concerns me that the people who are called by your name, considered to be the salt of the earth, the children of light, defenders of the word…are often times pathetic. I am pathetic. I don’t fight for righteousness as I should. I don’t pray with the passion and the consistency and the depth that I should. I need to pray for my president and president elect and need to do it for real. I refuse to be like the rest of the world.”

“Quite frankly, I’m reminded of Eugene Petersen’s paraphrase of Isaiah one: (10) 'Listen to my Message, you Sodom-schooled leaders. Receive God's revelation, you Gomorrah-schooled people.’ This is us Lord. Your church is so much like the world. Following the same passions, excited by the same things, pursuing the same causes. Isaiah continues to record God’s words in verses 13-17, ‘Quit your worship charades. I can't stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—meetings, meetings, meetings—I can't stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out! I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I'll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I'll not be listening.’”

We talk a lot of trash Lord. When it comes down to it; we are selfish and we love the world more than we care to admit. GOD REVIVE US. PROTECT US. USE US. I believe the wake-up call is truly about to sound. History has shown us that Christianity thrives under persecution, and the church becomes invincible when it is purged. Even so, come Lord Jesus!