We have done everything, seen everything, tasted everything, and yet there is so much darkness inside of us. The heart of our nation is empty and its soul is void. Sin runs rampant in our culture and there is no fear of God. We have transgressed God's law and considered it our right to do so. We face financial collapse. We have recently escaped a downfall of major proportions, a hole full of snakes and spiders. We have come to believe that men can ignore Your law and yet save us from the penalties of our sins. We elect men to office on the basis of who can promise us the most. False prophets preach their false gospels and the depths of Hell only fill up more quickly. Lord, we live in the worst of times.

We murder our babies in the womb and call it the right to choose. We sanction sodomy and call it an alternative life style. We debase the currency and call it managing the economy. We steal from the poor and the orphan and call it capitalism. We burden our children with debt and call it social security. We create trust funds and they are empty. We transfer wealth and call it taxation. We gamble and call it funding the education of our children. We buy things we cannot afford. We are more concerned about our impression than we are about our confession. We are more allured by beauty than we are by duty. We fill our heats with lust while our Bibles gather dust. The dignity and good name of our neighbors we steal, while a broken heart we do not heal. The way of sin we teach, while we are told we have no right to preach. Our God and Creator we insult, because His word we do not consult. With sin we do play while our hearts are full of decay. The warnings of God we will not hear, while the ways of the world we consider dear.

O Lord, sometimes we are afraid not of the world outside of us, but of the world inside of us. We can become so cold to the things of God. Even worse and maybe even more dangerous, we can become lukewarm. Where is the fire that we saw in the eyes of our forefathers? Where is the soldier of the cross? Where is the man who has lost his own life in this world that he might gain it in the next? Where is the man who has denied himself and who is carrying his own cross? Our love for Thee can wane. We quickly learn just how little we can get by with, and yet keep up an appearance of righteousness. Rather than die for Jesus, we find that we are living for ourselves. Just enough to get by! Just enough to get by!

Lord, we pray for ourselves. Keep us from becoming bitter. We may have been hurt by others and we may have decided never to get close to anyone again. We may have concluded that there is no one in this world we can trust. We may even be close to leaving the Church. God forbid, but we may even wonder if God is real. Is He really there? Lord, it is not the witches and devils of unholy days that scare us. It is us. It is who we are that scares us. It is the sin in our own hearts that threatens our souls.

O Father, because of these things, we come to cast ourselves on the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh yes, the way is hard and the gate is narrow, but Lord to whom else can we go? We know that Thou art the Son of God and that You speak to us the truth. There is no one else. There is none other. You have the words of eternal life.