A prayer based on Nehemiah 13.

<aside> 🙏🏻 Lord Jesus, We long for that day when You return to judge the living and the dead. The day You come to save Your people and welcome them into a new creation. The day You punish and cleanse the world of all wickedness. How we long for this future when sin won’t be present in this world or in our lives.

Gracious God, You know the struggle we have with sin. That it so easily entangles us. We so often don’t separate ourselves from the ways of the world. We err and stray. We backslide and are prone to wander. We feel the pull of temptation to embrace the attitudes and actions of our culture and society. We are not as committed to You. We are not as devoted to Your church and the cause of Christ in this world, as we should be. Lord, we so desperately need Your forgiveness. Lord, we so desperately need Your help to be holy as You are holy.

Thank You Jesus, that You are the perfect Saviour and the only Saviour we need. That You loved the church and gave Yourself up for her. Thank You for Your life – Your full obedience to the law of God. Thank You for Your death – dying in the place of sinners, dying in our place, to take the punishment our sins deserve. Thank You for Your call to come to You by faith and be rescued.

We thank You that You don’t leave us where we are. As well as dealing with the cause of our sinful actions, You bring the deep cleansing, heart change, that we need. You can and will change us so that we are able to resist the pull of sin, to obey God, and to live lives that please HIm. Expose our sin we pray. The times we don’t separate from worldliness. The times we don’t worship You faithfully. The times we don’t love one another or the lost who so badly need Jesus. Rebuke us, correct us, convict us as we hear Your Word; when we read it on our own, hear it preached, or spoken to us in conversation. Draw us back in love to Yourself. We plead for Your Spirit to help us to not only confess our sins but also to mortify it. To put to death the misdeeds of the body. To discipline ourselves so that if our eye cause us to sin, we cut it figuratively out.

And please make this church one that takes sin seriously. Which will act to discipline us when we fail to discipline ourselves. May we not hear as a church, our Good and Great Shepherd say to us, “I hold this against You” because we tolerate immorality in our midst. Instead, knowing that one day we will be presented as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, increase our desire to be holy and blameless now, so that Christ is glorified in and by us His people.

Amen.

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