JCRB Fall 2007 National Conference
October 18, 2007 -- Prayer of Repentance -- Seventy Neil Simmons

O God the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we bring this prayer to thee. We enjoin Thee to see us not only as single individuals stripped of our pride and the vain glory of petty pretenses, but also as a congregation of thy saints—a single body, called by Thee into covenant, to take the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, upon our hearts, so that He shall be engraved into our souls as He has engraved the remembrance of us into the very palms of His hands.

Thou art the God of Our Fathers. May, your name be upheld in glory forever and ever. For thou art upright and just and holy. In joy our forefathers came to this land obtaining the opportunity to worship and serve thy Son as the God of the land. And thou didst bless them, and uphold them and their descendants with many precious blessings, unto many many generations.

We know that all your deeds are true, all your ways are righteous, and all your judgments are just. By thy righteous judgement You have given to us the sacred privilege to live upon this land. We acknowledge to thee, that we have been blessed above all the peoples of the earth for these many generations. Nevertheless because Thou art Just—true judgment shall ever flow from thy Hand. It blesses Righteousness; but it also condemns Evil. It especially condemns those who have covenanted with thee, and then, taking those agreements lightly, have violated their covenants.

We are the Saints who have promised to serve you. Yet we have sinned by deserting you, yea, we have run away from Thee and our appointed labor. We are greatly in error, because we have not listened to your commandments, neither to teach them to others, nor to our own children, nor have we ourselves observed them.

Frequently, we have not done that which you have commanded, even when it was for our own good. Yea, all the wickedness and uncertainty which has come upon us, all the distress that has happened to us, is fully justified by our wickedness. We confess that in our day, we are not submissive to Thy Holy Power, for we are fallen under the power of the Enemy. Our congregations are filled by thy children, who may be worse than the godless—for they claim to know and honor Thee, although many of us honor only with our lips, keeping our hearts far from Thee.

We groan under unjust rulers, in a wicked nation. But we have no right to protest to Thee, for shame and dishonor are always the just and proper recompense to those who have been content to give Thee only the utterance of the words of our mouths, but not the true and proper dedication of our hearts.

We have so many damaged homes, and many wives and husbands who have ruined their marriages, and so many, many children devastated by the shattered home life they are forced to accept.

We have stiffened our necks to one another and sought self justification as the road to happiness and the good life. Our terrible failures have not successfully called us to repentance, but rather to more anger, and to further pride in our self centered ways.

Still, we plead unto Thee, hear thou our petitions! Do not abandon us forever. For the sake of your name you did not repudiate your ancient covenant people of Abraham. Jacob became Israel because you gave him his name, by which reason you are called the Holy One of Israel. Thou has kept thy holy promise to make their descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as numerous as the sands of the sea. In these last days, Judah and Israel are not the least among the nations, but among the great.

Nevertheless, in our transgressions we do not rejoice in the redemption Israel, nor in the gathering of Judah. Because of our transgressions thy Spirit has withdrawn from being the mighty power in our midst, which so many of the early Saints enjoyed. Indeed, we now have no leader, no prophet; and where then, are the righteous princes of thy priesthood to serve Thee?

The incense of mighty prayer has been taken away from thy people, while many of thy children follow after strange gods and into false worship, straying so far away from the Kingdom, that they can make no true offering unto you.

How then may we win thy favor? May the contrite soul, the humble spirit of this assembly, be as acceptable to you as the ancient burnt offerings of rams and bullocks, as thousands of fat lambs. Such let our sacrifice be to you today, and again on the morrow and again on the next day. For it may happen that it shall please you, that we may follow your commandments whole heartedly once again.

Let these, gathered this morning in this house, those who trust in you—let them dedicate their whole hearts to following you, to fearing you, to loving you, unto the obeying of your commandments in the great—and also in the seemingly small—things of their lives. May they righteously seek your face and your favor once again. May they seek thee from the morning to the night, and in the night unto the morning may they be found in humble prayer before Thy throne of majesty. Do not abandon us forever to uncertainty, but bless us according to the greatness of your mercy. Rescue us in accord with thy wonderful deeds of yore. Succor our nation, Resurrect you Church, heal your saints.

Let despair seize all who ill treat your righteous servants. Let their wickedness be exposed to view. Let them be deprived of any power to hurt and discourage, and may their evil strength be broken. Do not permit them to unduly vex either these thy saints, or thy church or this nation. Let all evil doers understand that Thou knowest that thy Son is yet regarded as the God of this land, of thy Church and of these saints, for we confess that He is Lord over all.

We bow in humility offering this prayer even in the beginning years of a new century—and as the new millennium begins. May this day certify the ending of our long absence from thy presence. May we be ever found from this time forward, closer to thee—in prayerful walk with thee until our Master comes to rule among us, as Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.

Hear O God our prayers of Thanksgiving! Hear O God our prayers of Petition! Hear O God our prayers of Repentance.

And may all honor and all glory be unto Thee, as we serve anew thy Son, whom we claim even now and forever to be our Lord and Master, Jesus the Christ, Amen.