As part of the National Day of Prayer observance, my pastor asked me to pray for our nation. My prayers are usually extemporaneous and informal (someone once told my wife: "Timotheus' prayers are so unusual. He prays like he's talking to a friend!" and I don't know that they realized what a compliment that was) but this was such a solemn topic that I thought it best to prepare my words so as to give them the proper weight.
God of our founders, Your almighty hand has made and preserved our nation, bringing it up from an undeveloped colony to the richest and most powerful nation on earth. But we confess that in our pride, we have turned away from You, forgetting those principles that made us exceptional. We have turned toward the religion of secularism, believing in the greatness of man rather than the holiness of an omnipotent God. We confess that we are no longer one nation under God – indivisible, but instead we are a nation that is divided – and as Your Son taught us, “every house divided against itself shall not stand.” We confess that we have become so tolerant of worldiness and sinfulness that our culture has been engulfed in a virtual tsunami of sin. We have denied our sin; we have distorted the fact of our sin; we have defended our sin.
As a nation, we have become so fiscally irresponsible that we are on the brink of national bankruptcy. We have become disengaged in the affairs of our government and as a result we have a governmental elite that is out of control. We confess that we have become so materialistic that we are much more focused upon material things than spiritual things – We repent as a nation that has turned away from God and we pray for a national revival like the revival of Israel in the days of Josiah. We ask for another Great Awakening among believers. We pray for American Christians to turn to You in repentance and reconciliation. We pray for an outpouring of Your Holy Spirit upon our nation that will revitalize believers who have lost hope and even those who have lost faith. We ask for a visitation of the Holy Spirit upon our land that will sweep across our country in these latter days before the appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. in Whose blessed and holy Name we pray.
