Friday, March 16, 2012

Romans 1:21, 28-32
Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

King of Creation,
Your invisible qualities have been clearly seen since the beginningof time. The heavens proclaim Your perfect nature. The skies display Your brilliant handy work. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make You known. Even though their voice is inaudible their message has moved through the whole world and their words to the ends of the earth. Everyone everywhere sees Your glory. There's no excuse for not knowing You. You, O God, deserve our praise forever and ever.

Even though we know You perfectly well, we fail to accept and worship You as the One and Only True God. We pretend to know it all, but are really quite stupid. Foolishly, we've traded Your prosperous, pristine beauty for worthless, tarnished trash. We've shrouded the Truth with lies.

Pornography, homosexuality, and adultery have become acceptable standards. We tolerate the killing of unborn babies, while viciously fighting to save animals. We cry out, "God bless America", but we've removed You from the classroom, the courtroom and the currency. We deny Your intelligent design, deliberately, spitting in Your face, as we invent new ways to ruin the rich life You intended for us. We're a nation full of senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless fools who expect blessing despite our defiant disobedience.

Something has gone terribly wrong! This isn't the way You created it to be! Have mercy on us for disrespecting and desecrating your Holy Name, O God. There's no fear of Your sacred laws or holy judgment. It's a free for all world. Though Your Word is freely and readily available, it also freely and readily rejected. We've rebelled against You, our Creator, and we don't deserve to live.

I'm thankful that Your Word convicts me of my wrong beliefs and behaviors. I want to relinquish my tarnished treasures in order to live happily in your beautiful, prosperous presence. By Your strength that's within me, change the desires of my heart and mind. With all due respect, I'll love and obey You, bringing honor to Your perfect nature, Jesus, my Creator King. Amen.

Will you acknowledge and cry out to God for the sin of our nation today? Will you pray for changed hearts and transformed minds? Will you admit and turn from your own wicked ways?

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