15“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless
sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit,
that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs
from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad
fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce
good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down
and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit,
so you can identify people by their actions.
21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will
enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father
in heaven will enter. (Matthew 7:15-21 NLT)
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the many blessings
you have given your children and this nation.
We want to give you all the honor, glory and praise that only you deserve. We thank
you that we can freely come to the throne of grace and seek forgiveness for our
sins against you and each other. Lord, we want to cleanse our hearts of all the
worldly things that are getting in the way of worshiping you, we want to be in complete obedience and follow your will and not our own. We want to bear good fruit; we want people’s lives to be left better than before we met them. We pray that people would seek you because they can see you in us and they want to have your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control in their own lives. We pray for our leaders to bear good fruit and not the bad fruit that
has fallen off the tree, full of moral decay and rot. Only you can change
a heart, so please Lord, soften the hearts of the lost, the wayward and our leaders
– challenge them to seek after you and your will instead of their own. We pray
for a passion to be stirred in all believers, a passion for you, a passion to
follow after you with their whole hearts and not just lip service – to be
counted as a laborer and leading many to salvation. We pray for a reconciliation
of lives to you, that people would check themselves against your Word and
account for their thoughts, words, and actions – and if a heart softening,
nudge, or change would be needed that they would make a move into obedience
with you. We see the changes happening Lord; we see eyes, ears and minds opened to you and your truth. We thank you for the revelations happening in lives
and in our nation. We thank you that your son Jesus told us 'that it shall be
done for us as we believed', so Lord we are believing that our nation would
continue to be blessed by you, that we would continue to see your favor and
hand upon our land; that many would come to a saving knowledge of you, that the
truth would be spoken with great boldness and that your name would be made Holy
in the lives of all the people. In your
son Jesus’ name we do pray ~ AMEN
