Your sins have been your downfall!
Take words with you
and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
"Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
Assyria cannot save us;
we will not mount war-horses.
We will never again say 'Our gods'
to what our own hands have made,
for in you the fatherless find compassion."
I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.
There is a huge problem in America, and it's been created within the past 100 years. The problem is that we have a generation of people who think that they are "okay with God" because at some point in their life they 'prayed the prayer.' It's a difficult situation in the sense that no one really knows the heart, but one gets the sense that people are resting in that prayer.
BUT - I don't know what the solution is, or if there is one, because in Hosea we DO find a version of "the prayer." (I think you have to have been in Christian circles for a while to know what I mean by "the prayer.")
In Hosea 14, after years of backsliding, the people of Israel are encouraged to return to the Lord, stripped of everything but their words. We don't bring anything to the table of grace before the Lord except our offering of words - and even then only He knows the true intention of this offering.
It's a wonderful prayer, and I think I will use it when witnessing. The person comes to the Lord without anything in his hands, and simply prays: "Please receive me in your grace. I've tried to do it in the world (Assyria) but found that it cannot save me. I've tried to do it on my own but found that my hands cannot save me. I am Fatherless - and I desire to be Your son. Please have compassion on me."
That version of 'the prayer' is a pretty good one. If you're witnessing to someone, and struggling with how to actually lead them in prayer - this is an excellent starting point. Even the part where all they can bring is words.
I don't like the false security of 'the prayer' but what else can the sinner bring?
2 comments:
its true a sinner can bring nothing but a prayer to God. at the piont where we come to God in the relization of our need for him we have already decided to give everything else up. we have decided that everything we've already tried didnt work. we have nothing and that is how we present ourselves to God. we give it all to him and make ourselves nothing. and is there any other way to approach God? if we come to him and give him 90% of us what is he to do? only by giving up all of ourselves to God can he really fill us up. thats how God wants us to approach him, empty of ourselves to be filled with him.
you're right, in this process it is only between the seeker and God to know the truth of the heart. its not worth it to put energy into the concern for that which is not our business. by wondering if this person or that person is really a Christian it causes us to judge one another. yes, we are known as christians to the world by the way we outwardly live our lives and God knows we are his by the condition of our heart. instead of wondering if other so called Christians are really in a relationship with God or if they are only relying on a meaningless prayer, let us as those who are truly His continue to live our lives for him as we told him we would when we first entered a relationship with him. let our love for Him be seen in the way we live so that other christians are encouraged to do the same, those in sin will turn to God, and those who rely on a meaningless prayer, who also live in sin can realize what it really means to have a relationship with God and truly turn to Him.
Pete you really seem to be growing out there at Temple.
I agree - we can't spend too much time worrying about the sincerity of the other person - especially because it's usually in a negative way. Almostl like we revel in their hypocrisy instead of loving them.
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