Confession

A Prayer for Our Land

August 7, 2018 by Terry M. Buster, Sr. Leave a Comment

Heavenly Father,

You are the God of all blessing and giver of every good thing. We are amazed at the grandeur of Your greatness and the intimacy of Your love.

As Your people, we have a wonderful heritage of faith. In Your Bible we read of Prophets, Priests, Kings, Disciples, Apostles, and Beloved Saints whose faithfulness and courage stir our hearts. Our spiritual history speaks of men and women who carried the Gospel throughout the world and are doing so to this day. In our land we are blessed with the freedom to exercise our faith and to share Jesus with everyone. We give thanks for those who secured this precious liberty.

We are blessed to live in this land of freedom, education, health, clean water, bountiful crops, and comforts that would astound even the greatest rulers of centuries gone by. We know that billions in the world today do know know or enjoy what we have. We confess that our status is a matter of grace, not merit. Help us to never lose sight of this.

When we survey our culture, our hearts grow weary. Lord, as a nation we have fallen into the pit of self-seeking pleasures neglecting the unalterable truth of Your Word. In increasing measure, our vision is limited to ourselves and our desires. We have forsaken the way of the Cross as we seek the way of the world. Our gods are many. We pursue wealth and the empty promise that we can secure our future. We seek the pleasures of the moment with little to no regard for the consequences of our actions.

Our homes are unstable. Your plan for one man and one woman in marriage raising one family as the foundation of society is crumbling before our very eyes. Human life holds little value when it conflicts with personal convenience.

You created us in Your image as men and women. Our sin has marred that image as we erect a modern day Tower of Babel declaring the foolish notion that we can create gender; we can create morals; we determine ethics; and that righteousness comes from our hearts not from You.

Father, we have fallen.

Our churches are in decline and have little impact on our communities. As the saying goes, the church is no longer in the world for the world is now in the church. The lines of distinction are blurring. Our effectiveness is waning. We are reaping what we have sown and the harvest will not be pleasing. We have no hope unless it comes from You.

Your Scripture makes it clear that it is not a matter of legislation nor judicial review nor executive order by which our land can be healed. Our hope is found in Jesus Christ and Him alone.

We beseech You to open our eyes that we might see ourselves and our culture as You see us. Open our ears that we will hear the cries of hopelessness across our society…..from those who have little as well as those who have much. Please soften our hearts to feel the despair of the age. This despair leads to so much anger in our society. We ask for faith so that we will not give in to this despair. Take away our anger and defensiveness. May the hope we have in Christ be the shining light of our lives.

Father, give Your church the humility to know and confess our sin before You. May we have the courage of conviction to repent of our worldly affections. May we seek Your Word, Your Way and Your purposes in all we do.

Give us patience and determination as we take Your Gospel to our land. If You see fit, send a great revival among Your people so that we might show Jesus to the world with our words, our attitudes, our deeds, and our love. Lord, all is in Your hands and we trust Your unfolding plans. Revive Your church so that the songs we sing of Heaven and eternity do not reflect a mere desire to escape the turmoil of our times. May the songs of our eternal destination become our motivation to share Jesus and live passionately and wisely in order to see souls saved for Your glory.

Amen

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My Own Little World

February 11, 2016 by Terry M. Buster, Sr. 1 Comment

O Heavenly Father,

How easily I slip into my own little world. A world that revolves around me, sometimes, not always, just sometimes. I’m fully aware that I don’t know it all. (It’s Your job to know it all.). But I like my place of solace and comfort. It’s that sheltered spot where I look at life around me and I’m glad I’m not like them. Now most of them aren’t too bad, they just dont’ get it like I do.

When I retreat to my tiny cosmos everything is so simple. It all makes sense there. You know if people would only listen to me (and maybe even listen to You a little) I suppose things would go much smoother in life. After all, I’m a pretty good guy. I’ve been around the block a few times. I have life experiences that certainly qualify me to take special note of what’s wrong and what’s right. Surely my insight counts for much more than most people give me credit.

To be downright honest, I like my own little world. You know I love You. But to be honest, that standard of righteousness You place before me is pretty demanding. Let’s get real. You know I can’t be perfect. When it gets down to the nitty-gritty, I really don’t want to be perfect. There are times I don’t even want to be close to perfect. In my little world there are things I want to do …… things I want to say ….. things I want to feel that I’m more than willing to let slide for the time being even if You aren’t pleased with them.

Truth is, I don’t live in that safe, cocooned world, do I? That little world is all in my head. More’s the pity for all too often, it’s in my heart as well. I’m really not that smart. When it comes to the events and people around me, my perception isn’t nearly what I think it is. I look at myself and have to admit that I’m not that wise nor capable in taking care of me. What makes me think I can figure it out for anyone else?

Somebody bigger than me is going to have to figure it out. Figure it out for me. Figure it out for everyone. Someone wiser, stronger, and smarter needs to be in charge. Hey, that’s You! You created it all. You give us life and all Your goodness. You made it and You set the tone. You made it, so You must know how it works. It’s at this point that the wheels fall of the wagon. I try to take charge both in my little world and Your vast creation. I choose to be imperfect. If something is imperfect, it’s not right. It’s not what it was created to be. Truth be told, if it’s imperfect, it’s flawed, it’s wrong. If it’s wrong, it needs to be made right. It needs to be fixed.

Wow, so that’s why You sent Jesus to die on the Cross. He paid the penalty for my imperfections. For everyone’s imperfection. You call our imperfection sin. If anyone has the authority call it sin, it’s You. I’ve just got to trust You in this. I’m glad You sent Your Son on my behalf. I’m glad He volunteered His life to take my penalty. I’m glad You give me faith to trust You. I’m glad You gave Your Bible to show me the Way. I’m glad that You have saved me from myself as I trust in the work of Jesus.

So Lord, give me Your wisdom and strength to burst the bubble thin walls of my own little world. When I want to retreat, give me courage to live in the world You made. Give me a burning passion to think, to love, to speak, to feel, and to act in the real world in a manner pleasing to You. May my own little world decrease exponentially as I live in the only world there is until Jesus comes again to set all things right.

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Forgiving Myself

January 15, 2016 by Terry M. Buster, Sr. 1 Comment

Through the years I’ve struggled with the concept of forgiving myself. Like so many others I’ve discussed the notion of how hard it is to forgive myself when I’ve done wrong. I see the harm my deeds have caused realizing that I was in the wrong and it hurts me to know the pain I’ve caused. Even if I was acting in response to things that happened to me, I am responsible for my sin and the harm it caused.

I read a lot in the Bible about forgiving others, but I can’t recall anywhere the Scripture expressly calls on me to forgive myself. Unless someone proves me wrong I have to believe that it’s just not in there.

So, how do I deal with my sin that has harmed another and myself? I go to the example of one of the greatest sinners we see in Scripture, King David. David whose sin included adultery, conspiracy, and murder when he fixed his eye on Bathsheeba and yielded to temptation (2 Samuel 11-12). When confronted with his sin, David confessed his sin in a penitent, God-given manner in Psalm 51. In this psalm he poured out his grief stricken heart before the Just and Merciful God. In this act of contrite confession and seeking God’s mercy, He received forgiveness from God. He was then able to move forward having been cleansed of his sin by God Almighty. The apostle John addresses the kind of forgiveness David received in 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I believe that if the notion of forgiving oneself exists, it exists in deep, complete confession of sin before God. If our confession is more than just an attempt to tattle on ourselves then we have admitted the wrong we’ve done to God, to others, and to ourself. We have agreed with God the horror of our sin knowing the consquences we should rightly expect from Him. We neither deserve His mercy nor grace, but He is faithful. Like David, our genuine confession of sin lays it all at the Throne of Mercy and the Spirit of Jesus within forgives us on our behalf.

If I try to take God’s place on the Throne, I may try to punish myself, do penance, or continue to help the Accuser drag me down. When I sin against others, I have clear instructions in Scripture to seek forgiveness from them. I have no such instruction to seek forgiveness from myself. I have already dealt with this in my confession and His cleansing.

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