Two questions:

What do you have to believe to be Evangelical?

What do you have to believe to be orthodox (not Greek, just normatively Christian)?

The boy just wanted to be popular,
The popular kid wanted to be the quarterback,
The quarterback wanted to get into a good college,
The college graduate wanted to be an industry leader,
The magnate wanted to be a senator,
The president wanted to leave a legacy,
Alexander the Great conquered the world and wept.

All you need is repentance:

"Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
" 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD,
'I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,' declares the LORD,
'I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt...
...Return, faithless people;
I will cure you of backsliding."

Jeremiah 3:12-13, 22

I'm always struck by how God doesn't require that we fix our problems, only that we admit them.

State of the Union: are we okay, America?

...Yet in spite of all this you say, 'I am innocent;
he is not angry with me.'
But I will pass judgment on you
because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

- Jeremiah 2:34, 35

Reading the prophets scares me. It concerns me personally, but it particularly worries me when I consider our nation.

Psalm 55:

...
16 But I call to God,
and the LORD saves me.

17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.

18 He ransoms me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me...

Not by effort, but by rest.

Watchman Nee states in "Sit, Walk, Stand" that we cannot advance in the Christian life until we rest in Christ. He says that all "effort" at the spiritual life is doomed to fail because of the flesh. However, he says that when we cease trying and instead trust in God to work in us and have faith that God already accomplished all things for us in Christ, then almost unconsciously we will begin to exhibit the divinity that lives in us via the Spirit.

The other approach I've seen to advancement in the spiritual life is through the spiritual disciplines: prayer, fasting, meditation, study, etc.

On one hand, I've seen the benefit of the disciplines. On the other hand, the disciplines are always undermined by the very thing they seek to master - the flesh (e.g., I fail to pray because my flesh is too lazy). This makes Nee's proposition particularly compelling to me. But it also seems dangerous to stop "trying" to improve at the spiritual life.