Why pray for the repentance of our nation before we have repented ourselves?

Many believers will be joining together during the National Day of Prayer. In some cases I have to confess, the activity reeks of hypocrisy.

Worse, such base abuses of the faith among those with an ungodly agenda – I mean those who tangle, grapple and bite at each other in our daily news cycle – are not great representatives of the faith. One day we see them savaging the President then next day, we see they are leading a prayer breakfast.

In James 4:1-6 we read:

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When…