Michael Youssef - We Must Repent Every Day
Lorna Dueck: So, Dr. Youssef, we're jumping in again with your wonderful book on Nehemiah. How does one man, in a position of influence, begin on an enormous problem?
Dr. Michael Youssef: Well, the reason I wrote the book and the reason I want all the believers in Jesus, those who love the Lord, to learn what this one man, how he went about it. And to me, it's a pattern, because he's not the only one. In fact, you see it as a pattern throughout the Scripture. And he begins by a broken heart, by praying, by confessing not only his own sin, but the sin of the nation, and he cries out to God.
Lorna Dueck: There's something very powerful in his broken-hearted prayer. You actually break it down into... really, you want us to say, "This is how a broken-hearted prayer needs to sound". Tell us about that.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Well, you know, we have forgotten how to repent, and I'm not talking about the non-believers who need to repent and come to Christ. I'm talking about us as believers. We say, you know, "God saved me. Goody"! And we run around and do our own thing, and we think this is it, you know? That's salvation. That is not the Christian life. A genuine believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, he or she must learn and live the spirit of repentance every single day. And that is the spirit of humility and not brokenness that comes from outside. It's a brokenness that comes from the inside, that I am broken over my sin. I was, again, referring to these pastors in London, and they were so wonderful and gracious to invite me. And we were talking about some of the great names in the realm of missions, and we mentioned a name that they all knew. In fact, he mentored all of us, and that's John Stott. And they said... and we were trading stories about John Stott. He's been a dear friend of mine since 1971. And he said, "Do you realize", this is one of his associates, was with him for 20 years. He said, "Did you realize that he spent hour or 2 every day grieving over his own sin"? And I did not realize that. He was a bachelor, never married, and he lived his total life for Christ, but that was really a revelation to me. It was an encouragement to me that here's a great man, wrote 100 books, probably his books on the shelf of every pastor from Africa, to Asia, to Latin America, the U.S., everywhere, Canada, and yet he always grieved over his sin. And that's where it begins, I begin to grieve over my sin before I can grieve over the sin of Canada.
Lorna Dueck: You also say, though, that when we're broken-hearted, you put this to three Ps in your wonderful book, you put praise, persistence, and preparation all need to go into the broken-hearted prayer. Why?
Dr. Michael Youssef: Because praise lifts God up, not me. We always been taught in the West to put yourself up, believe in yourself, all self, self, self, self. But when I begin to praise the name of God, and we're gonna think about the faithfulness of God, and the mercies of God, and all the attributes of God, and I begin to praise him, it puts me in my rightful place. And then, you know, I always say to people, "Don't think prayer is an excuse for doing nothing". Then you have to get up, and you have to prepare, and you have to be willing to say, "Here am I, send me. Open the doors for me so I can go and serve you in the way you want me to serve you, not the way I want to serve you". And so, all of these things go together hand-in-hand. "For a broken and contract heart," David said, "God will not despise".
Lorna Dueck: And persistence is not, this is not a short walk in the park.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Yeah, and look, whenever there is a world crisis, national crisis, whether it be September 11, or this, or that, or the other things, people flock to churches. When there's a personal crisis in people's lives, my goodness, they are at every prayer meeting, they're every... but then when the crisis is over, God answered their prayers or doesn't answer their prayers, they're gone. See, that is a thing that insults God, 'cause God is looking for a consistent prayer life, a persistent prayer life. Today, tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, and it's not something you do on occasions or as-need basis.
Lorna Dueck: Dr. Michael Youssef, that is exactly the kind of help you will find when you get our book of the month this month, "God, Help Me Rebuild My Broken World," by Dr. Youssef, with us every day this month, teaching us on rebuilding the areas of our lives that need to be repaired.