Father in Heaven, You are the one whose mercy endures forever. You have forgiven and restored other nations more guilty than we are, and other nations less guilty have proceeded on to perdition. We know that salvation is from You, and from Your sovereign good pleasure alone. We know that we are dependent upon Your mercy alone. And so, as Your covenant people, in the midst of an adulterous generation, we ask You to have mercy upon us, upon our sinful nation.
We know, Father, that if we in the Church regard iniquity in our own midst, or in our own hearts, this prayer will be ineffectual.
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Father, we know that we have a tendency to think that because we have kept ourselves in some measure separate from the sins of the outside world, that we are therefore home free. But Father, we confess that if You show mercy to our nation, that mercy will extend also to us, Your separated people who are nonetheless part of this nation. Forgive us for any complicity in our nation’s waywardness, we pray.
Father, we confess our own sins to You now—and Selah . . . We pray in the wonderful name of Jesus, and amen.
God is the God of all mercy, and He has promised that mercy to all who call upon Him in the name of Jesus. You have done this, and so as a minister of the shed blood of Jesus—I declare to you that your sins are forgiven through Christ.
Congregation: Thanks be to God!