Repent !

REPENT!

Daniel Chapter 9 verses 1-19

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— ² in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

³ Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴ And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. ⁶ Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. ⁷ O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
⁸ “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. ¹⁰ We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. ¹¹ Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. ¹² And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

¹³ “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. ¹⁵ And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!
¹⁶ “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. ¹⁷ Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. ¹⁸ O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. ¹⁹ O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

During my times with the Lord I am working my way through the Book of Daniel.  This morning I was struck by Daniel's attitude towards God in a time when the nation of Israel was in great difficulty.  At this moment in our own lives we are seeing many difficult situations arise around the world, including our own nation of Great Britain.   If it God required the nation of Israel to repent then it falls to reason that we as a nation need also to repent for failing to follow God's laws and precepts.  Over the years Britain has become less and less a Christian nation, rejecting God's laws, wanting to go our own way and do our own thing.  We have followed after other god's, we have allowed high places ( places of worship to other 'gods') to flourish in our land.   By placing our nation under EU rule we have submitted to man made laws, preferring them to Gods.  Equality, Civil and Human Rights have become  more important than God's name and reputation.  It is no wonder we have fallen under His judgement, our most treasured economy is suffering, our crops are failing because of the wrong weather at the wrong time, we have endured floods, storms and other disasters.    To add to our sins we can now add the determination of David Cameron to push through the Bill on Gay Marriages.   Our lack of support or more often or not our condemnation of God's people Israel does not bode well for our Nation.

 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
 1 Peter 2:9

The Christian Church in the UK has, on the whole, been silent.   God has appointed us as Kings and Priests over our Nation.  It is not only the David Cameron's Queen Elizabeth's or Prince Charles' of this world that will be held responsible for the behaviour of this Nation, but we too as God's watchmen, His spokemen and women.  We have been  indifferent, we have kept silent, but most of all we have not prayed or interceded enough for our Nation. Where has the weekly prayer meeting gone ? How well is it attended? If the Christian Church in England had done its job sufficiently, witnessing to God's truth's perhaps the leaders and government of our Nation may have made different choices.

World events show us that the time of the Lord's return is short.  We need to 'redeem the time' whilst we still can.   The Church needs to repent for being so weak and indifferent.  For not being God's voice in the Nation, for keeping quiet when God's laws and precepts are threatened.  For keeping quiet and meekly accepting false teachings, doctrine's and other gospels  into the Church.   Our Church is spiritually sick.  We need to get on our knees, repent and pray for God's mercy, firstly on ourselves as individuals, then on the Church and then on the Nation.   Let their be a return to intercession, to a love of God's word, to seeking His face and His will. Let the church of Great Britain return to its first love instead of being luke warm.  Let us submit ourselves to God before it is too late