Each morning, (from 7:00am – 8:00am) All Nations begins with an hour of humility, repentance and contrition. As we come before the holy God, we revere the honor of His majesty by considering the grace that He extends to us to come into His Presence. We consider our own unworthiness, the mercy He has shown us, and our persistent appreciation for His salvation, the bearing of our cross, our awareness of His judgments that are on the earth, and the call to walk in Christlike meekness and lowliness. This is our way – the way of prayer – before God, and others in our world.

This part of the morning is often more quiet than the rest of our time together. Feel free to join us as we sit quietly before the Lord, listen for His Voice, humble ourselves in prayer, and bring our weak hearts before His eternal strength and glory. 

HUMILITY

We begin our morning by assuming our eternal posture of humility before the Lord. He is our God. And we are His people; His daughters, and sons. As we enter into His courts, we become aware that we are in a holy realm, an atmosphere of pure beauty and majesty.

PRAYER: We bow before You, holy Father! We humble our spirits, our minds, our emotions, and our agendas before You, and Your perfect leadership. Holy Spirit, help us to embrace humility; the attitude that Jesus had toward the Father. We are glad that we belong to You. We yield ourselves to You, and all that You have for us today. Help us to walk without presumption, toward You, and others. Clothe us with this supernatural quality, that we may walk and live and breathe like Jesus.

REPENTANCE

In an evangelical culture that honors self-justification, image-management, and conspiracies more than humility, contrition and the fear of the Lord, the household of God desperately needs to rediscover the blessed wisdom and strength of “radical repentance”.

The latin word for “radical” literally means “to get to the root”. Because sin is primarily a heart issue, and not just a surface issue, repentance, by definition should always be, “radical”.

So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.  (Joel 2:13) 

The word that the Bible most often uses for “repentance” is the Hebrew word, “SHUBV”. SHUBV is a radical term that literally means “to put fire to your house and leave with God”. The Hebrew characters in the word (Hebrew being a pictorial language) actually visualize the activity of a man setting fire to his house.

SHUBV is making a radical life-correction, abandoning an old way of living, to do life God’s way, with God Himself.

It’s the Lord’s kindness (Romans 2:4) to expose the dangerous inadequacy of our ways. His call to SHUBV repentance is an invitation for us to leave our rickety, self-constructed, self-governance and walk under the soundness of His leadership.

In this part of the morning we continue in a spirit of humility, acknowledging our personal sins, and owning the corporate sins of our culture. This is a time of tender listening to the Spirit as He faithfully brings issues and offenses before our minds for us to confess to the Father.

Over the last few years the King has been “burning down our old normals” so that He may bring us into the order of His new, dawning normal. Throughout numerous contentious events He’s been asking us: “How willing are you to have Me? Do you see that through plagues and race-riots and political treachery I am helping you to ‘burn your insufficient house down’ so that you may live in My superior dwelling? Do you understand that I am dismantling your meager perception and human-powered reasoning in order to bring you into My eternal realm? As I am bringing My government to this world I want you with Me, thinking My thoughts, understanding My emotions, agreeing with My judgments and thriving in My wisdom.”

PRAYER:
Father, we ask for You to give us the spirit of repentance; that we would see ourselves, and our ways in the light of Your assessment.
We specifically confess and repent of the following:
• We repent of our culture’s devaluation of human life, from conception to the grave.
• We repent of our culture’s dishonorable norms, values and attitudes toward sex, family, and marriage.
• We repent of our culture’s insensitivity, and often hostility toward Israel, and the Jewish people.
• We repent of the ways we have dishonored people and families of different nationalities and cultures. We ask that You forgive us for being apathetic toward the enmity that we’ve allowed to exist within our hearts re: various people-groups in our nation, and region.
• We repent of our hostile socio-political ways, and our nationalist pride. We ask that You would entirely disentangle us from the idolatry that so easily entangles us.
• We repent of our abusive, manipulative ways that does injustice to the identity and destiny of others with whom we fellowship, and are called to live in humble unity with.
• We repent of the ways we have transgressed Your Son’s explicit exhortations in His Sermon on the Mount. Forgive us for considering these majestic assertions as so small and inconsequential.
• We repent of harming and abusing others as we have considered the issues that flood our world. Forgive us for being impatient, and not trusting You way of “meekness.”

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you other issues in your own heart that need confession and repentance:This is more than a general confession. Your sins were committed one by one; and as much as you are able, they ought to be reviewed and repented of one by one. This is a spiritual work. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and show you what is out of line with the character of Jesus’ heart.

Ingratitude. 
Unbelief. 
Lack of Love for God.
Neglect of the Word. 
Lack of Humility Before the Word of God. 
Lack of Prayer.  
Neglect of Fellowship. 
Casual Compromise in Pursuit of God. 
Lack of Love for Souls. 
Neglect of Family Duties. 
Lack of Care forthe Poor. 
Lack of Love for Other Races/Nations. 
Lack of Watchfulness Over Your Witness. 
Neglect of Your Cross. 
Vanity. 
Pride. 
Love of Things and Possessions. 
Sexual Lust and Sexual Immorality. 
Envy. 
Bitterness. 
Slander, Gossip and Condemnation. 
Self-Determination.
Lying and Deceit. 
Alienation.  
Lack of Forgiveness and Repentance. 
Cheating. 
Hypocrisy. 
Hostility. 
Intolerance. 
Violence. 
Idolatry. 
Dissension. 
Mockery.
Open Defiance.  
Lack of Worship and Praise.  
Self-Justification. 
Evil Entertainment. 
Participation in False Religion.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:6-10)

CONTRITION

Once we have confessed our sins to the Lord He graciously gives us forgiveness, power to be free from our sin, and a heart-attitude that is sorrowful for the ways our sins have injured His Kingdom, and others.

For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment of wrong!
(2 Corinthians 7:11)

This heart-attitude is an essential safeguard against spiritual pride – an ever present enemy to our walk in the Lord. Contrition also cultivates a humble zeal within our hearts, a zeal that quietly enthrones the values that make for future righteous relationship as we increasingly give ourselves to living faithfully unto the reign of Jesus Christ through our lives. We’re not merely “sorry for our sins”. We live with an enlightened passion to live differently, to live like Christ, under the holy power of the Spirit.

____________________
JSB • August, 2025