A prayer for us, and our country

Dear people of God,

In our worship service last night we read these verses from Scripture [Isaiah 59:1-3], and I can't help but hear them as a call against our sinfulness.  

Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

     or His ear dull, that it cannot hear;

but your iniquities have made a separation

     between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden His face from you

     so that He does not hear.

For your hands are defiled with blood

     and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies;

     your tongue mutters wickedness.

Of course this applies to ​us as individuals and collectively as a nation.  Our "iniquities [sins] have made a separation between [us] and our God."  It is our sins which may have caused God to turn away, to hide His face from us and to not hear for a time.  O how terrible are our bloody hands, our sinful fingers, our lying lips and our wicked tongues:   you, me and US!

But God has already addressed this separation; He sent His Son Jesus to be one of us, to live perfectly without sin, yet to accept punishment of all sins on our behalf!  Because Jesus died to take your sins away, to forgive you and save you, God turns His face TOWARD you and God HEARS us when we cry to Him.  Please join me in a prayer of repentance for our sins.

​Dear Heavenly Father,

Hear our cries​ and allow us come before You, for the sake of Jesus, Your Son.  Amen.

O Father, we have sinned against you in more ways than we can know or imagine, with our hands, fingers, lips and tongues.  Forgive us, we pray, not because we are deserving, but because You love us and have accepted Jesus' death instead of ours.  Heal our nation, O God.  Draw every person to You, showing them their sins and leading them to confess their sins to You.  Turn your wrath and punishment away from our country and her people, we pray.  Instead, raise up prophets and teachers who will turn us away from sin and Satan's temptations.  In all we do, let Your name be glorified and proclaimed to all the people of the world.

In the name of Jesus we pray,  Amen.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Burton, Michigan

office:  810.744.1188

mobile:  248.881.7627

Pastor Mark's blog page

Pilgrim Worship blog page

Soli Deo Gloria

"The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.” Psalm 118:14

Psalm 95

 Hello, Pilgrim Family!

Today, I encourage you to pause and take a few minutes to read Psalm 95, slowly and pausing to absorb each verse.  The Holy Spirit ends this beautiful and praising Psalm with a reminder of our sinful natures, how often we harden our hearts and turn away from our awesome and loving God.  Join me in prayers of thanksgiving, that the LORD is the rock of our salvation, and forgives us for our hardened hearts!

Psalm 95 

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;
      let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
      let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

For the LORD is a great God,
      and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth;
      the heights of the mountains are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it,
      and his hands formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
      let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

For he is our God,
      and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Today, if you hear his voice,

      do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
      as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

when your fathers put me to the test
      and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

For forty years I loathed that generation
      and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
      and they have not known my ways.”

Therefore I swore in my wrath,
      “They shall not enter my rest.”

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Burton, Michigan

office:  810.744.1188

mobile:  248.881.7627

Pastor Mark's blog page

Pilgrim Worship blog page

Soli Deo Gloria

"The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.” Psalm 118:14