Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Ezra hears the word of God. He's trembling at the words of God. And at how he and the people of

God, and even not just in his own life, or the people in that day, but the people of God in

the days leading up to that day, his predecessors among God's people, how they had turned

from God's word, how they were not obeying God's word. He hears these words from God. He's

convicted about sin and his life and the lives of the people of God around him. And then he rises

from his fasting, which we had talked about, prayed according to yesterday in Ezra chapter 8,

with his garment and cloak torn. And he falls on his knees, spreads his hands out before God,

and just starts to pray. Oh, God, I'm ashamed and blushed to lift my face to you. What a powerful

picture of a humble, right, contrite response to the word of God and conviction about sin

in your own life individually and in the lives of the people of God around you. There's a weeping

in a morning over sin here. And I read this and I just think how long has it been since I,

since you responded to God's word like this, with conviction over sin in our hearts and our lives.

And not just our own individual hearts and lives, but conviction over sin in the people of God

around us to the point where we're just on our faces weeping before God, asking pleading for

his mercy and his grace and our lives and among God's people. I mean, we see this all over,

the Old Testament and New Testament, but this picture of God being glorified and honored

and his people hate sin and mourn over it and weep over it and fall on their faces before God,

pleading for his mercy and grace and his forgiveness and receiving it, by the way.

And we know, first John 1.9, we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins,

cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Think about a conference where I was at recently,

passion where a stadium full of 55, 60,000, 18 to 25 year olds,

...