wash and make yourselves clean

2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.

10 Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?” says the LORD.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.[a]
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.

18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land;
20 but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

isaiah 1

false peace

¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.
¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the LORD.

jer 6:14-15

have mercy on us, LORD. give us the spirit of conviction. give us the fear of the LORD. let your kindness overwhelm us. for your kindness leads to repentance. we want to be clean before you. we want to be holy as You are holy.

purify your bride

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ⁴Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'

⁵"For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, ⁶if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, ⁷then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

⁸"Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'—only to go on doing all these abominations? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD. jer 7:3-11

²⁷"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. matt 23:27-28

Jesus, would you purify your bride. we come before you as the church, as christians, with sober spirits and humble hearts. forgive us for our hypocrisy. oh the many times we would live in sin, come before your presence saying "we are delivered", only to go back into sin! let us not in a mindset of false grace! forgive us for the ways we are so easily prone to make peace with our sin and compromise with our sin. forgive us for the ways we subconsciously reason our ways around sin. make us unusually uncomfortable with our sin, let us be ones who hate sin and every impure and unholy desire. let us be uncomfortable even with 99% holiness, not that we can ever be perfect and without sin, but that our hearts would be at war with sin, set to pursue complete holiness. let us be 100% holy as you are 100% holy.

Jesus, forgive us for the pharisee mindset we are so prone to live in. woe are we who are like whitewashed tombs (matt 23:27), the ways we think we are okay because we look good on the outside--the ways we appear to be holy with our religious masks, and cover-ups, yet on the inside we are full of judgment, sin, and compromise. oh, the ways we think we are okay just because we are in "ministry", and the ways we hide behind our religious activity and make peace with our own personal areas of sin and compromise. oh God forgive us for the ways we point fingers and judge others when we have a plank in our own eyes! teach us God, how to live from the inside out, and not from the outside in! forgive us for the ways we pursue outer beauty, fame, reputation, and outer acceptance rather than internal purity and internal holiness. woe are we who have turned our hearts, your internal house of prayer into a den of robbers!

Jesus, let us be ones who pray that which david prayed, that you would search us and know our hearts, try us and know our thoughts, and see if there be any offensive way in our hearts, that we would be led in the way everlasting. Jesus, come and let your jealous love root out everything and anything that hinders you from fully possessing our hearts. make known to us our hidden sin, those sins that are not obvious, (you said that even the thought of adultery is committing adultery), the ways we subconsciously judge others or think of ourselves better than others--those sins!

Jesus we repent from our ways. we set our hearts to pursue holiness and purity. give us grace, that we would awaken from our subconscious habits of sin. expose every impurity in our hearts. let us not wait until tomorrow to repent. come LORD Jesus come.

not done yet

LORD, i believe that you have not given up on UCSD. i believe that you love UCSD more than i do. i believe that every bit of darkness, brokenness, and sin are under your dominion. Jesus, i believe you have the power to send revival and an outpouring of your Spirit without effort. i believe that you don't even need to make an effort to set every soul free and open the eyes of every heart to your beauty and your love. i know that you can easily have, at this very moment, every knee bow and every tongue at UCSD confess you as LORD. i know that because you said it will happen at the end of the age. but that time has not come yet.
in your love for man and your desire to honor free will, you wait patiently until more at UCSD will recognize their lack and depravity without You and turn to you.

Jesus, you said blessed are those who aren't offended in you (matt 11:6) i will not be offended by your leadership. i will not be offended by the ways you have yet to answer our prayers. i'm trusting your perfect wisdom and perfect sovereignty. your timing is perfect. your leadership is perfect. you love UCSD.

until then, let us not stop crying out. give us justice. will you not give justice to those who cry out to you day and night? will you delay long over them? You said that you will give us justice speedily. (luke 18:8) we hold you true to your word. Jesus, send justice to UCSD.

God, send revival to UCSD.

rise up, O God, and defend your cause

¹ O God, why have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
² Remember the nation you purchased long ago,
the people of your inheritance, whom you redeemed—
Mount Zion, where you dwelt.
³ Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins,
all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.

⁴ Your foes roared in the place where you met with us;
they set up their standards as signs.
⁵ They behaved like men wielding axes
to cut through a thicket of trees.
⁶ They smashed all the carved paneling
with their axes and hatchets.
⁷ They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.
⁸ They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”
They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

⁹ We are given no signs from God;
no prophets are left,
and none of us knows how long this will be.
¹⁰ How long will the enemy mock you, God?
Will the foe revile your name forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!

¹² But God is my King from long ago;
he brings salvation on the earth.

¹³ It was you who split open the sea by your power;
you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
¹⁴ It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
¹⁵ It was you who opened up springs and streams;
you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
¹⁶ The day is yours, and yours also the night;
you established the sun and moon.
¹⁷ It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made both summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember how the enemy has mocked you, LORD,
how foolish people have reviled your name.
¹⁹ Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;
do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.
²⁰ Have regard for your covenant,
because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
²¹ Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace;
may the poor and needy praise your name.
²² Rise up, O God, and defend your cause;
remember how fools mock you all day long.
²³ Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries,
the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.

keep waiting, UCSD

² The nations will see your vindication,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
³ You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
⁴ No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,
and your land Beulah;
for the LORD will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.
⁵ As a young man marries a young woman,
so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.


waiting for the rain

we give ourselves no rest

1Awake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion;
put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city;
for there shall no more come into you
the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2Shake yourself from the dust and arise;
be seated, O Jerusalem;
loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
isaiah 52:1-2

arise, intervaristy
arise, UCSD
come LORD Jesus, come