January 25, 2022
Corporate Repentance
Lord’s Prayer Focus: The Father’s Forgiveness
After Jesus addresses requests in prayer, he moves on to repentance. He continues the Lord’s Prayer saying: “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.…” (Matthew 6:12). As we focus on witnessing and evangelism, we are boldly calling others to repentance. If we are going to prophetically call for repentance, we must be sure that we also are repenting of our own sins. We must also repent of the sins that keep us from effectively witnessing to those in our circle of influence. Each topic in this section will call for repentance for a common sin. The questions and prayer points in the coming weeks aren’t meant as condemnations or accusations. Rather, they present an opportunity for self-reflection and humility as the Spirit reveals our sins.
Daniel 9:3-15 (ESV) “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. ”
When we think of repentance, many times we think of individual repentance. David sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah and so he repented of his sins. Jesus does call us to repentance of our sins. But there is another kind of repentance that appears in the Bible. In this prayer from Daniel, we see an example of corporate repentance. Corporate repentance is repentance of a group of people or on behalf of those people. In every story we have of Daniel, he is always doing the right thing. He always obeys. He always walks by faith. He always believes in God. Yet when he prays, he doesn’t pray for forgiveness of “those people’s sins.” He repents from “our” sins, crying out saying “we” have sinned.
It is important for us to note here that the United States is not in the position of Israel. Our nation does not have a covenant with God the way Israel does so cannot just copy Daniel’s prayer word-for-word for the US. However, Daniel does model for us what it looks like to cry out on behalf of one's own nation or even one’s own culture. We can repent of our country’s self-centeredness, of our community’s pride and anger and division. We can cry out over the discarding of human life; from babies killed through abortion, to neglected elderly in nursing homes, to the rejection of the poor and the immigrant. We, like Daniel, should mourn and repent on behalf of our nation’s sins.
Consider:
Prayer Points
Lord’s Prayer Focus: The Father’s Forgiveness
After Jesus addresses requests in prayer, he moves on to repentance. He continues the Lord’s Prayer saying: “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.…” (Matthew 6:12). As we focus on witnessing and evangelism, we are boldly calling others to repentance. If we are going to prophetically call for repentance, we must be sure that we also are repenting of our own sins. We must also repent of the sins that keep us from effectively witnessing to those in our circle of influence. Each topic in this section will call for repentance for a common sin. The questions and prayer points in the coming weeks aren’t meant as condemnations or accusations. Rather, they present an opportunity for self-reflection and humility as the Spirit reveals our sins.
Daniel 9:3-15 (ESV) “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. ”
When we think of repentance, many times we think of individual repentance. David sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah and so he repented of his sins. Jesus does call us to repentance of our sins. But there is another kind of repentance that appears in the Bible. In this prayer from Daniel, we see an example of corporate repentance. Corporate repentance is repentance of a group of people or on behalf of those people. In every story we have of Daniel, he is always doing the right thing. He always obeys. He always walks by faith. He always believes in God. Yet when he prays, he doesn’t pray for forgiveness of “those people’s sins.” He repents from “our” sins, crying out saying “we” have sinned.
It is important for us to note here that the United States is not in the position of Israel. Our nation does not have a covenant with God the way Israel does so cannot just copy Daniel’s prayer word-for-word for the US. However, Daniel does model for us what it looks like to cry out on behalf of one's own nation or even one’s own culture. We can repent of our country’s self-centeredness, of our community’s pride and anger and division. We can cry out over the discarding of human life; from babies killed through abortion, to neglected elderly in nursing homes, to the rejection of the poor and the immigrant. We, like Daniel, should mourn and repent on behalf of our nation’s sins.
Consider:
- What are the sins of our nation?
- What are the sins of our communities?
Prayer Points
- Mourn and repent for the sins of the nation.
- Mourn and repent for the sins of your community.
Posted in 2022 Prayer and Fasting