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Why The National Day Of Prayer Does No Good Without Repentance
GeoffreyGrider on May 4, 2011 at 10:47 pm

America doesn’t need to pray so much as we need to repent

When our kids are very young, we teach them over and over to “say you’re sorry” when you make a mistake. It’s a very simple premise. But when they get older, and you can reason with them, you take it to the next level and teach them that being “sorry” is good, but ultimately it’s about changing the behaviour that led to the problem in the first place. This is the definition of what it means to “repent”. It’s a change of heart and action, and not just a simple apology. And that’s where America is now. We need to repent both individually and as a nation.



Definition of REPENT – intransitive verb

1: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life
2a: to feel regret or contrition
2b: to change one’s mind

The National Day of Prayer

When people talk about the National Day of Prayer, the bible verse they usually like to quote is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chron 7: 14. Now, this a great verse and very inspiring, but is really far too general for what America needs. America has been blessed of God to such a high degree that the standard that we are rightly held to is also very high. The prayer that needs to be prayed in and over our Nation’s Capital on the National Day of Prayer is found in Daniel 9. But you won’t see any politician or Laodicean pastor praying this anytime soon on the National Day of Prayer. Read it to see why…

“We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness [belongeth] unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, [that are] near, and [that are] far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us [belongeth] confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God [belong] mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.” Daniel 9: 5-10

Daniel knew that if he expected God to hear his prayers and the prayers of his people, Israel, then simply doing more than “saying sorry” was in order. God is teaching us in this passage of the need to repent of our national and personal sins, and to stop committing them. America will not be held guiltless for the over 250,000 abortions that are performed each year “legally” in this country. It will not be held guiltless for the endless streams of pornography, drunkeness and blasphemies that pour from our television sets and computer screens. America was started a Christian nation which honored the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, and the Promised Messiah of Israel, Jesus. But that is not the nation that we are today. Listen to what our President has to say about that very topic.



Yes, America needs to REPENT, and honor the God of Heaven. Simply saying “sorry” will never get God’s attention. We do not need the “purpose driven life” nor do we need to know how to receive our “best life now”. No, what America needs is to fall on her knees and confess our sins to a just and holy God, and then STOP committing the sins that we commit day in and day out. Clean up the filth. Take out the trash. God will not stay His judgment on us forever. We are praying for the wrong things, with the wrong attitude, with blood on our hands. We need to repent. Without true repentance, God is not listening. Daniel knew that over 2,500 years ago, why don’t we know that today in our modern “information age”? We are on the wrong track, and simply having a feel-good day of prayer will accomplish very little. Repentance, not apologies is what we need.

America, are you listening?

This entry was posted by GeoffreyGrider on May 4, 2011 at 10:47 pm, and is filed under US, Washington. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.