Confession on behalf of the Family, Church and Nation

Today, God directed me to read chapter 9 of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.  I was amazed at the similar theme being expressed by God in each of these books, in the same chapters.  It led me to begin confessing on behalf of myself, my family, the church and my nation as the sins that God exposes is prevalent in our society.  I was also interceding with God for our hearts to be changed, starting with mine, so that we would seek Him with all our heart and to know Him since He wants to be known by us.

Isaiah 9 is used primarily during the Christmas season, but there is a lot more in that chapter than just the prophecy concerning the incarnation of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God through Jesus.  He exposes the heart of God and the breakdown in the relationship between Israel and God.

In Isaiah 9:2 says:

The people who walk in [spiritual] darkness

Will see a great Light;

Those who live in the dark land,

The Light will shine on them.

We as a people and nation are in spiritual darkness, we have turned a blind eye to God and instead turned our hearts towards ourselves and our independence.  But God has brought us a great light - Jesus - who is shining on us so that we see our sins, the kindness of God, and to repent and turn to Him for salvation and relationship.

As you continue reading chapter Isaiah 9, the following accusations are leveled against God's people - I am including myself, my family, the Church and our nation for the purpose of reading Isaiah 9.  I agree that this was written to Israel, but I also believe that these versus are relevant to us as well.

The accusations are:

• Stubborn
• Turning our backs on God - turning away from Him
• We don't seek Him or ask where He is
• Our pride states that WE can rebuild rather than turning to God for our refuge and defense
• Violence in the land
• Our leaders and fathers are leading the people astray
• Wrongness is burning up the land
• We are defiled
• We are evil
• We are teaching falsehood

Oh God, we stand in the gap and confess our wrongs to you and repent.  We seek your mercy and ask that you heal us.  Open our eyes to see the evil of our ways.  Open our ears to be able to hear your voice.  Teach us to humble ourselves before you and to confess our sins to you.  We cannot clean ourselves up, only You can change us.  We turn to you and cry out "Here we are, where are you?"

You are the great light shining in America. Open our eyes to see you with purity.  Purify my heart and mind, purify your church, our cities that we would see your great light and draw near to you.

Jeremiah 9 continues expressing the sins of the people towards God.

The accusations are:

• We have deceitful tongues
• We teach falsehood
• We are evil and becoming more evil
• We boast in our wisdom

But God also provides us hope in Jeremiah 9:24

but let the one who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me [and acknowledges Me and honors Me as God and recognizes without any doubt], that I am the Lord who practices lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight,” says the Lord.

Oh God, we have deceived ourselves and the people in our nation to believe the lies of the enemy by putting our trust in ourselves instead of trusting You and Your Word.  We have taught Your Word falsely by saying that different parts of the Bible do not apply today, or that your power through the Holy Spirit is not active.  We are denying who you are, and we are evil, becoming more evil.  We believe that our wisdom is what is right, and our pride is blinding us to your wisdom and to your ways.  I ask that you teach us to know You, that Holy Spirit, you would give us understanding, and that we would turn to you for wisdom and understanding.  We want to delight in you and have a deep and lasting relationship with You!

In Ezekiel 9, Ezekiel is in a vision with God in the temple.  God calls forth destroyers and an angel with an ink pen.  He basically says destroy everyone who is not grieved over the evil that is being done in the nation.  It breaks Ezekiel's heart, but God is so fierce in His Love for His People, that He is passionate about protecting them from evil, and is willing to destroy the lives of the ones who are promoting evil.

Ezekiel 9:4

The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, throughout all of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh [in distress] and grieve over all the repulsive acts which are being committed in it.” 

Oh God, do I and your church cry and sigh over the abominations being done within our families, church, cities, state and nation?  Please, Oh God, may our hearts match your heart.  May we seek you with all our hearts and be found by you.  We turn away from the abominations that we have committed and turn to you with everything that we are.

Then I turned to Daniel 9, and there is the prayer of Daniel confessing on behalf of his people their sins of their fathers, leaders, cities and nation.  He was personal in His confession, seeking God to forgive, to listen and to act in mercy towards the nation.  He expressed the righteousness of God and that God was just in dispersing His People for turning away from Him and being independent and self reliant.

Oh God, I come on behalf of myself, my family, my state and the nation of America, and confess how we are living for ourselves, to gain power, prominence, status, and recognition.  We are a proud people, and you tell us that you resist the proud.  We have setup idols in our heart and have become blind, deaf and dumb to You.  Oh God, you are our only hope.  I pray for my generation and the generations that follow, that we would humble ourselves before you.  That you would purify us that we may see you and to welcome you into our lives.  Teach us to lean on you in everything, and to bring glory to You as the creator, savior, and comforter of our lives.  Thank You for the work of Jesus, the Messiah, has done on the cross already, and for resurrecting Him on the third day, that we can be saved and have eternal life starting while we live here on earth.  Let your Kingdom come, and let your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

Praying for the Generations

On August 30, 2022, I was reading Proverbs 30 and came across Proverbs 30:11-14 which says:

There is a generation rising that curses their fathers and speaks evil of their mothers. There is a generation rising that considers themselves to be pure in their own eyes, yet they are morally filthy, unwashed, and unclean. There is a generation rising that is so filled with pride, they think they are superior and look down on others. There is a generation rising that uses their words like swords to cut and slash those who are different. They would devour the poor, the needy, and the afflicted from off the face of the earth!

Holy Spirit highlighted these versus to me and brought to mind the state of our churches, relationships between groups of people with competing ideas as well as the larger relations between the nations. As I am writing this, there is currently a war in progress between Russia and Ukraine, and the source of the conflict is related to what Proverbs is talking about. Even the politics in America is following this pattern. There is so much hurt and pain being expressed that is destroying the lives of so many people.

So I am asking that we all intercede for our children and grand children, our pastors and teachers, our political leaders and the nations. The following is my prayer:

Dear Father God, 

I come in repentance for my generation that has degraded, ostracized, and spoken evil of our parents and our children.  We have denied a deep relationship with you, by declaring that portions of scripture doesn’t apply today and thus have lived according to the flesh, in unforgiveness, and in selfishness.  You are our hope and you generously forgive because of the work of the cross through your son Jesus.

I come to you and ask on behalf of our children, grand children, church leadership, our political leaders and the nations, to be people who bless their fathers and speaks well of their mothers. I ask that we would be humble and pure in your eyes. I ask that we would reject pride and would view others as more important than ourselves. In the name of Jesus I release a blessing into each generation with words that are healing, helpful, repentant, forgiving and brings unity to our families.    I love you, and thank you for hearing and being generous to answer this prayer.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.

God bless you and let us continue praying for our families and leaders.