“Now it happened that when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah 1:4 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/neh.1.4.LSB
Brothers, meditating on Nehemiah’s prayer (Neh. 1) as I ponder the state of post-Christian America after a second assassination attempt on a presidential candidate. On receiving bad news about Jerusalem, Nehemiah wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed (Neh. 1:4). Christendom, the economic, political, and social life as inspired by Christian principles, also known as ‘the west’, appears to be dying in America.
I pray we weep, mourn, fast, and pray for our country. My wife and I are doing a 3 day fast and prayer focus. I pray we learn to fear God rightly, grow in our love for God and hatred of evil (lawlessness or sin) as we should (Prov. 8:13, Ps. 5:5, Ps. 45:7, Rom.12:9), and I pray we proclaim the gospel (Mark 16:15-16 , 1 Cor. 15:3-8, Acts 2:36-38), reject apathy and complacency, and stand in Christ’s righteousness against lawlessness (Eph. 5:11,6:10-18).
“Now it happened that when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, “I beseech You, O Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and fearsome God, who keeps the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your slave which I am praying before You today, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your slaves, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. We have worked in utter destruction against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been banished were at the ends of the sky, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ They are Your slaves and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your slave and the prayer of Your slaves who delight to fear Your name, and make Your slave successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” Now I was the cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah 1:4-11 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/neh.1.4-11.LSB
““The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the mouth of perverted words, I hate.” Proverbs 8:13 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/pro.8.13.LSB
“The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all workers of iniquity.” Psalm 5:5 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/psa.5.5.LSB
“You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of joy above Your companions.” Psalm 45:7 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/psa.45.7.LSB
“Let love be without hypocrisy—by abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good,” Romans 12:9 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/rom.12.9.LSB
“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/mrk.16.15-16.LSB
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. After that, He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/1co.15.8.LSB
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men, brothers, what should we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”” Acts 2:36-39 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/act.2.36-39.LSB
“And do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead even expose them.” Ephesians 5:11 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/eph.5.11.LSB
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, also receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,” Ephesians 6:10-18 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/eph.6.10-18.LSB
THE GOOD NEWS
There is a God that created the heavens and the earth. We humans are created in His image.
We are sinners, we have rebelled against Him, our Creator. Our rebellion has brought “all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice… envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness” to the world. Romans 1:29-31 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.1.29-31.ESV
Therefore we justly deserve our due punishment of death and damnation, “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” Romans 3:10-12 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.3.10-12.ESV
But good news! God is merciful and loving. Jesus is God the only begotten Son and He took our punishment upon Himself in our place. Jesus rose from the dead, defeating death and securing the hope of our salvation.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/1co.15.3-8.ESV
““Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”” Acts 2:36-38 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/act.2.36-38.ESV
We need only repent and believe it. Repent: turn away from our sins, proclaim Jesus is lord and savior, and we will be forgiven our sins and have life ever after! “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”” Romans 10:9-11 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.10.9-11.ESV
There is hope. Believe in Jesus! ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.3.16.ESV
It doesn’t matter who you’ve been or what you’ve done, God stands with arms wide open, ready to forgive you. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/1jn.1.9.ESV
Dobra Family Ministry 