The Family Research Council is kicking off 21 days of prayer today to repent for Americans’ “failure as citizens to stand up to politicians, and elected officials who have overstepped their authority to impose special homosexual rights, including marriage upon the American people.”

Pierre Bynum, the FRC’s chaplain and national prayer director, told members in an email today that conservatives are facing “this evil hour” as a result of their “failure as believers to defend marriage, countering the coordinated effort by homosexuals to advance an agenda to redefine marriage in society, by boldly speaking the truth in love.”

“If the Supreme Court rules wrongly, the fight for everything relating to faith in God, His moral and spiritual laws, and the very gospel will be under accelerated assault for the rest of our lives,” Bynum wrote.

During the next few months the U.S Supreme Court, could rule again, on four same-sex marriage cases, and declare same sex marriage a constitutional right in all 50 states. We all share guilt for having arrived at this place. Our only real hope is God!

As we pray and fast for the next 21 days, asking God to raise up His standard to protect and preserve marriage in our land, we must begin by confession, repentance and cleansing, if our appeal to heaven is to be heard.

With humility and repentance, may we confess our personal and collective sins before God!

1. Any and all personal sin that could hinder our prayers (Is 59:2);

2. Our failure rightly to revere the institution God exalts in Scripture as a picture of Christ and His Bride, the Church, to be united with Him in Holy Matrimony for eternity (Eph 5:32);

3. Our individual and collective failure rightly to revere His sacred marriage covenant with which mankind has been blessed for 6000 years, the profound gift and privilege of marital love, commitment and communion, and the opportunity to share with our Creator the joy of bringing children into the world to love, nurture and raise to love Him and others (Mal 2:13-16; Eph 6:4).

4. Our active and passive failures to be salt and light in America through the way we live out our own marriages (Mt 5:13);

5. Our individual and collective failure to be witnesses for Him, faithfully sharing with our countrymen the gospel of Christ; which, had we done, we’d not be in this place (Acts 1:8).

6. Our own role in allowing the diminishment of marriage in our nation during our lifetimes, whether by our sins of commission or omission (Lk 11:42);

7. Our failure to act to be sure our own churches hold to a biblical standard for marriage (1 Timothy 3:15; 2 Tim 4:1-4);

8. Our failure as believers to defend marriage, countering the coordinated effort by homosexuals to advance an agenda to redefine marriage in society, by boldly speaking the truth in love (Pr 24:8;1 Tim 6:11-12;)

9. Our failure as citizens to stand up to politicians, and elected officials who have overstepped their authority to impose special homosexual rights, including marriage upon the American people (Pr 28:4).

Let us confess all these things and more, and repent before the Lord. And may God grant us forgiveness and cleansing (2 Chr 7:14).

Whatever the Supreme Court may rule, may we consecrate our lives firmly to stand for Christ over this fundamental foundation of Christian faith, and arise to be that Standard the Lord promised to raise up in this hour! We must be prepared to stand, at whatever cost, on this matter (Ps 11:3). If this foundation is removed from American public life, everything related to God and his moral and spiritual truth and authority, including his laws (Ten Commandments) and the gospel will be under vicious assault for the remainder of our lives. We must fight for the sake of our children and grandchildren (see the Manhattan Declaration; Christian Leaders Prepare)

Let us resolve, at the outset of this fast, that whatever the Supreme Court rules, we will arise and be that Standard the Lord promised to raise up in this evil hour. If the Supreme Court rules wrongly, the fight for everything relating to faith in God, His moral and spiritual laws, and the very gospel will be under accelerated assault for the rest of our lives. We must fight for the sake of our children and grandchildren, should the Lord tarry! (Neh 4:14; 6:9). Let us spend ourselves before Him to prevail in prayer (Lk 18:1-8;Jas 5:16-18)!