TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS – A Prayer on Lincoln’s Birthday

 

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union and the Director of its destiny:

On this day, in memory of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, we praise you for your past providence which has raised up for our land leaders with the honesty, leadership, and farsighted wisdom of Lincoln.

In this day of political folly and fanaticism, of hate and corruption, raise up for us men like Lincoln who would work solely for the good of our citizens:  to protect the law-abiding, and to punish the law-breakers.

To that end, endow our elected representatives with ample wisdom to govern by transforming their minds through your biblical law and gospel passages, so that with your divine help they may aspire to act morally and unselfishly in the position entrusted to them!

Thank you for all of your past, national mercies!

Forgive us of all our present, national sins and of our national ingratitude toward you!

We pray this prayer with confidence and conviction, heavenly Father, because we pray it according to your stated will, assured by your express promise, and in the blessed name of our divine Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, hear us!  Remember your pledges to help!  Act on them!  Amen!

* * *

Lincoln Quotes

 

In his first, inaugural address Lincoln correctly advised, “Intelligence, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him will adjust all our present difficulty.”[1]

 

“We know that the Lord is always on the side of the right.  But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”[2]

 

To the blacks of Richmond:  “Don’t kneel to me!  You must kneel to God only and thank him for your freedom.”[3]

 

“There has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father of his Country… I turn, then, and look to the American people and to that God who has never forsaken them.”[4]

 

As Lincoln substantially summarized the situation in a statement equal to that of the best keenly perceptive and articulate clergyman:  “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in number, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown.  But we have forgotten God.  We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.  Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.  It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”[5]

“As Lincoln visited the sick and wounded among avenues of hospital tents at City Point that week, Adelaide Smith, the nurse, heard the camp talk that when the President’s party came to one set of tents young Dr. Jerome Walker of the Sanitary Commission pointing at them said, ‘Mr. President, you do not want to go in there’.  ‘Why not my boy’?  ‘They are sick rebel prisoners’.  ‘That is just where I do want to go’, and he strode in and shook hands from cot to cot.

“Shot-torn in both hips, lay Colonel Harry L. Benbow, who had commanded three regiments at Five Forks.  And according to Colonel Benbow:  ‘He halted beside my bed and held out his hand.  I was lying on my back, my hands folded across my breast.  Looking him in the face, “Mr. President,” I said, “do you know to whom you offer your hand?”  “I do not,” he replied.  “Well,” said I, “you offer it to a Confederate colonel who has fought you as hard as he could for four years.”  “Well,” said he, “I hope a Confederate colonel will not refuse me his hand.”  “No, sir,” I replied, “I will not,” and I clasped his hand in both of mine’.”[6]

 

President Lincoln’s testimonies from experience.

 

On the problem which Lincoln puts forth:  “If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it,”[7] Lincoln himself answers:  “The pilots on our western rivers steer from point to point, as they call it – setting the course of the boat no farther than they can see.  And that is all I propose to do in the great problems that are set before us.”[8]

“I shall stay right here and do my duty.  Here I shall be…. I shall never desert my post.”[9]

“The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance.  We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise.  We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our own error therein.  Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains.  Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.”[10]

“The will of God prevails.  In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God.  Both may be, and one must be, wrong.  God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.  In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party; and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are the best adaptation to effect his purpose.  I am almost ready to say that this is probably true; that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet.  By his mere great power on the minds of the new contestants, he could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest.  Yet the contest began.  And having begun, he could give the final victory to either side any day.  Yet the contest proceeds.”[11]

 

[1]Carl Sandburg, “Abraham Lincoln” (Pleasantville, New York:  The Reader’s Digest Association, 1970), page 188A.

[2] Sandburg, 471B.

[3] Sandburg, 561B.

[4] Sandberg, 175B.

[5] Walter A. Maier, Christ, Set the World Aright (Saint Louis:  Concordia, 1945), page 368.

[6] Sandberg, 559f.

[7] Sandburg, 342A

[8] Sandburg, 454A

[9] Sandburg, 454B.

[10] Sandburg, 455A.

[11] Sandburg, 273Bf.

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – A Prayer on Washington’s Birthday

 

“On April 23, 1891, in the city of Philadelphia, a book of only twenty-four hand-written pages was purchased at public auction…. The tiny volume mentions no hidden treasure, no secret formulas, no quick roads to wealth; rather its title, The Daily Sacrifice, and its contents show that it is a prayer book, with petitions planned for the morning and the evening of each day in the week.

“Listen to only a few of its contrite pleadings:  ‘Pardon, I beseech Thee, my sins, remove them from my presence, as far as the East is from the West, and accept… me for the merits of Thy Son Jesus Christ’!

“‘Remit my transgressions … and cover them all with the absolute obedience of Thy dear Son… Jesus Christ, offered upon the cross for me’!

“‘O blessed Father, let Thy Son’s blood wash me from all impurities… that I may know my sins are forgiven by His death and passion’!

“‘I humbly beseech Thee to be merciful to me in the free pardon of my sins, for the sake of Thy dear Son, my only Savior, Jesus Christ, who came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’.

“Who wrote these reverent prayers, expressing a deep consciousness of sin, yet even more, a victorious faith in the mercy of God’s Son….  These were the prayers of George Washington.”[1]

 

A Prayer On Washington’s Birthday

 

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union and the Director of its destiny:

On this day, in memory of George Washington’s birth, we praise you for your providence which raised up Christian leaders, such as Washington, the father and the saver of our country.

Bless us today with similar, Christ-confessing statesmen who will govern our Republic wisely in agreement with our Constitution, in order to preserve our civil and religious liberties, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life protected from all enemies both foreign and domestic, both spiritual and political!

To that end, endow our elected representatives with ample wisdom to govern by transforming their minds through your biblical law and gospel passages, as Washington’s was, so that with your divine help they may aspire to act morally and unselfishly in the position entrusted to them!

Thank you for all of your past, national mercies!

Forgive us of all our present, national sins and of our national ingratitude toward you!

We pray this prayer with confidence and conviction, heavenly Father, because we pray it according to your stated will, assured by your express promise, and in the blessed name of our divine Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, hear us!  Remember your pledges to help!  Act on them!  Amen!

* *

“If we would preserve our liberty as a nation, we must educate our youth religiously” (George Washington).

* * *

“George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Va., on the 22d of February, 1732.  His father and mother were considered good church-members of the Church of England and had the reputation of being active in its affairs.  His grandfather on his mother’s side was also a vestryman [a layman who, in an assembly of others, would act upon the business of the church].  A number of his ancestors made special gifts to the Church.  He had been baptized within two months of his birth, and how he valued Holy Baptism is shown by the fact that he mentions it in his records.  When still a boy, he wrote some stanzas in honor of Christ’s birth.  Before he was twenty, he was repeatedly chosen as sponsor for the children of his neighbors.  His marriage to Martha Ball was solemnized in the parish-church of which he was a member and a communicant as long as he lived.  It is said that, whenever he had an opportunity, even during his travels and military campaigns, he would attend divine services.  According to the records he was a vestryman of his church for more than twenty years.  His writings indicate that the fear of God was in him.  There is no reason why we should not believe that he was a man like the centurion in the days of St. Peter of whom it is said that he was ‘a devout man and one that feared God’…. He died on the 14th of December, 1799, at Mount Vernon.”[2]

* * *

“Washington was so completely dedicated to his Redeemer that he wrote the Marquis de Lafayette:  ‘I am not ashamed to call myself a Christian, and I earnestly try to be one’.  In a memorial address, commemorating the first President’s death, General [Henry] Lee [III] declared, ‘Washington, the savior of his country, did not disdain to acknowledge and adore his great Savior’.  The United States experienced its mightiest benedictions when its leaders most reverently exalted the Lord Jesus, and, conversely, our heaviest hardships came upon us when we opposed and neglected the Gospel of His grace….

“The climax in Washington’s struggle for our liberty came … when our cause seemed hopelessly lost.   Many of our troops perished in below-zero weather at Valley Forge; others, half-starved and only thinly clad, were being urged to desert.  In comfort and warmth at Philadelphia, Americans, enemies of Christ, attacked Washington, trying to undermine his leadership.  Now, where did our country’s father find strength to carry on?  His officers noted that once every day, often after their staff meetings, Washington would walk into a secluded, near-by woods – but for what purpose none of them knew.  Then one day pro-British Isaac Potts, a millowner and minister, passing through that grove, heard a solemn, pleading voice, and stopped.  Peering through the thickets, he saw Washington, commander-in-chief of our revolutionary forces, kneeling in earnest prayers, tears streaming down his cheeks.  Reverently Isaac Potts listened to the end of the intercession, and then, as Washington arose, he quickly returned to his home, no longer a Tory, but pledged to the American cause; for, he wrote, ‘If there is anyone on this earth to whom the Lord will listen, it is to George Washington… Under such a commander there can be no doubt of our eventually establishing our independence, and that God in His providence has willed it so’.”[3]

“Do you believe that Christ is your God and Savior?  George Washington had the victorious faith which unhesitatingly and uncompromisingly answered ‘Yes’, and it brought him power, guidance, blessing, and finally heaven…. Have Christ’s assurance chiseled on Washington’s granite tomb at Mount Vernon, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life’.”[4]

 

[1] Walter A. Maier, Go Quickly and Tell (Saint Louis:  Concordia, 1950), page 63.

[2] Martin S. Sommer, “Bicentennial of the Birth of George Washington,” The Concordia Pulpit for 1932, Martin S. Sommer Editor-in-Chief (Saint Louis:  Concordia, 1931), page 501.

[3]Maier, 64-65.

[4] Maier, 80f.

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – Some-Prayers-for-National-Holidays (1)

 

A Prayer for Armed Forces Day.

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the true almighty Lord, head of the army of angels, and the real Defender of our nation:

Before we would come before your holy face, we must confess our sins, and cleanse ourselves in Christ’s blood and righteousness. Then we could come boldly to your throne of grace to obtain mercy and to find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Today is Armed Forces Day. It is a day which our lawmakers have set aside in order to honor and to support our military personnel.

Amid the festivities, keep this day from becoming simply another May Day parade in which our nation would glory in its weapons systems, proudly display them before the public, and put its trust in them! Rather have us humbly realize that we must put our trust solely in you, our mighty Shield and Defender, who has pledged your legions of angels to surround us with protection (2nd Kings 6:17) personally and nationally, if only we would believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Thus we plead for the protection of our military youth who are endangered and embattled in far-flung areas. Be their Guard and Shelter! Safely bring all of our troops home! Keep them united with their families where they belong, not separated! Likewise keep our daughters off the battlefield, for they could do the most good in their God-given roles at home.

Hence the best way in which we could salute and support our troops today, will be for us to pray to you for their well-being, that is, to pray above all for their conversion into the soul-saving belief in their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; to have you protect them not only from physical harm, but also from spiritual assaults on their souls; and then for us personally to do whatever else we could to help them.

Likewise, move our lawmakers to support our military properly in good faith, not to neglect their welfare or safety for petty political reasons! To that end, keep our national leaders from sending our forces into unjustified wars under the guise of legitimacy, in which our men unnecessarily are killed, maimed, or mentally scarred for life!

To defend our land, give us more servicemen like pious Joshua, who unashamedly confessed, “As for me and my house: we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15); like David, who willingly professed before all, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5); like the centurion of Capernaum (Matthew 8:8) who, in simple faith, confidently relied on the words of Jesus to do their job; like Cornelius who wished to hear more of the gospel, to share it with his family and friends, and to have them baptized in order to wash away their sins (Acts 10); and like the centurion beneath Christ’s cross on Calvary who openly confessed before his soldiers, “This was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54); for such gospel-believing servicemen will possess that God-pleasing “righteousness which will exalt our nation” (Proverbs 14:34), not degrade it, and will move you to fulfill your pledged blessing of protection and deliverance! Indeed, this will be the highest form of patriotism.

Furthermore, show us how in your anger you have threatened “to break the bow and to cut the spear in two” (Psalm 46:9), that is, to demolish decisively the military might of any nation which boastfully has rejected you along with your gospel news of salvation! Yet assure us that as once in Old Testament times you kept this threat, and destroyed three armies which had arisen against the defenseless nation of faithful King Jehoshaphat (2nd Chronicles 20), so whenever any nation would repent of its sins, and believe your gospel pledge, you likewise will keep your promise to protect it, even if it would take a similar miracle!

Above all, teach us that in order for our nation to have outward peace from war, it first must have peace with Heaven by believing your gospel pledge of deliverance from sin and from its eternal punishment through the punishment load-bearing of our holy, crucified substitute, the Son of God; for without having this gospel belief, a state of war will exist between you and our unbelieving nation! As a result, you will punish such unbelief beginning already in this life by raising up enemies to attack us. This is our greatest national crisis. Therefore, to avoid all this, we confess our national and personal sins before you; plead with you to forgive them through your gospel grace, and humbly request of you patiently to remain at peace with us!

Grant all these requests, for we ask them confidently in Jesus’ saving name! Amen!

May God bless our servicemen today!

 

* * *

A Prayer for Memorial Day.

 

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet almighty controller of our country’s destiny:

On this Memorial Day, which has been set aside for our nation to recall and to commemorate with gratitude those military veterans of ours who have paid the supreme sacrifice in order that we might retain our constitutional freedoms, show us all how shameful the sin of ingratitude will be if we would take not even a moment to consider the high sacrifice which these men have made, but would look upon this day merely as a time for pleasure.

Teach us, in the second place, that wars result from unchecked sin; that when men refuse to be transformed by the moral-changing power contained in your holy gospel pledges regarding Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, they remain corrupt sinners, who resort to brute force whenever they could in order to satisfy their sordid appetites for revenge and greedy gain!

Thus, not only keep us from a brazen disrespect of our veterans, but inform us also of your clear warnings in the Bible that we will have no hope of avoiding the divine punishment of a war in the future fought on our own soil, if we would persist in the greater sin of rejecting your pardoning gospel pledge: the salvation of our souls from eternal torment accomplished by Jesus after he was punished in our place on his torturous cross!

Therefore, make us realize that the high sacrifices made by our departed veterans alone could never preserve our national blessings which have been handed down to us from Heaven, that is, our constitutional liberties, and our peace and prosperity! Indeed, if we truly would carry on with the task performed by those whom we commemorate today; if we really would resolve: “They have not died for nothing,” we must put ourselves on the Lord’s side humbly, so that he will bless our nation with peace and prosperity, not punish us in his anger with a war. To do this personally and nationally we must repent of our sins in our thinking, desiring, speaking, and acting, and believe his biblical, gospel pledge that God the Son, Jesus Christ, took on our guilt and punishment and paid off their sentence fully when on his cross he suffered the torments of hell in our place, for only then could we truly be transformed to put off thoughts of hatred, vengeance, and killing.

Thus make this a spiritual Memorial Day for us!   That is, help us commemorate the highest self-sacrifice of all time: the death of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, on Calvary’s cross, by professing: “Christ poured out his blood in death so that I could be free to live in a blessed hereafter”! Amen!

 

* * *

 

A Lesson from History: Realize that four days prior to the entrance of the United States into the First World War, “President Woodrow Wilson had asked for the war. He had appealed ‘for the rights and liberties of small nations’, ‘for democracy’, for people throughout the world ‘to have a voice in their own government’. When he pleaded for conflict and cried out, ‘the world must be made safe for democracy’, Congress rose in applause. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court led the cheering. Senators who had opposed the president rushed up to assure him that he had made his name great. Yet that evening in the White House Woodrow Wilson told his secretary: ‘My message today was a message of death for our young men. How strange it seems to applaud that’! Later that same night the President laid his head on the Cabinet table and sobbed bitterly. Well might he weep if he could have foreseen that the world would not be made safe for democracy, that the rights of small nations would be cast aside, that streams of blood would flow in vain and billions would be futilely squandered. For in 1939 the powers that were, decreed that the struggle was not finished; that the whole gory thing must be done again, that youth must die again. Once more it was the same applause, and we sent a third of a million of our physically strongest men into a war from which they never returned. We destroyed one evil influence, only to see others take its place” (Walter A. Maier, Global Broadcasts of His Grace [Saint Louis: Concordia, 1949], page 229f.)

To be sure, Wilson, in bad faith, plainly had lied about the real reason for wanting war. “An allied commission, it may be recalled, came over shortly before the war declaration and called on the President. The President summoned a group of advisers. The head of the commission spoke. Stripped of its diplomatic language, this is what he told the President and his group: ‘There is no use kidding ourselves any longer. The cause of the allies is lost. We now owe you (American bankers, American munitions makers, American manufacturers, American speculators, American exporters) five or six billion dollars. If we lose (and without the help of the United States we must lose) we, England, France and Italy, cannot pay back this money… and Germany won’t.

“’So….’

“Had secrecy been outlawed as far as war negotiations were concerned, and had the press been invited to be present at that conference, or had radio been available to broadcast the proceedings, America never would have entered the World War” (Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC, retired, War is a Racket [Last Word Press], pages 10-11).

Indeed, a few years back a book came out with the title, “Twelve American Wars: Nine of Them Avoidable” (Eugene G. Windchy). I contend that all twelve of them were avoidable. Yet as a Louisiana father once described it in his own earthy way in a letter to his son in the Confederate Army, “This war was got up drunk but they will have to settle it sober” (Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln [Pleasantville: The Reader’s Digest Association, 1970], page 366).

Thus a few years after World War I, Woodrow Wilson saw this and came to the following conclusion, “Our civilization cannot survive materially unless it be redeemed spiritually. It can be saved only by becoming permeated with the spirit of Christ and being made free and happy by the practices which spring out the spirit. Only thus can discontent be driven out and all the shadows lifted from the road ahead” (Walter A. Maier, The Airwaves Proclaim Christ [Saint Louis: Concordia, 1948], page 18). Indeed, only thusly will the Almighty use his power to prevent our government from unwisely declaring war, and to prevent others from making war on us.

 

* * *

A Prayer for Flag Day.

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all powerful director of our Union’s destiny, who raises up nations and casts them down:

On this day we commemorate the adoption of our national flag in 1777. Though this banner started out with just thirteen stars, representing a weak, war-weary, and impoverished union of colonies, you, the ruler of the heavens, gave this Union new life as a nation, and raised that number to fifty. During this period you also blessed our Union with a golden age of gospel belief with its accompanying peace and prosperity. Thank you for all of your past mercies!

Nevertheless, in the very midst of such amazing growth and success, our people treacherously turned their backs on you, discarded your priceless, soul-saving gospel, and despised their sin-removing Savior. As a result, a new, dark chapter has opened in our history. America now has joined that long list of nations which have done the same thing in the past, and now has to pay the awful price, not only by suffering from its own self-imposed miseries of a heathen, gospel-less society, but also because of America’s backsliding, you have been put in a punishing mode, and for decades now have sent your biblically-threatened punishments of bad government and of plagues, for instance. Though our national coins still say, “In God we trust,” the vast majority of our citizens no longer do that.

Just the same, on this memorable day, as we commemorate that point in time when our infant nation’s existence apparently would have been short-lived, you listened to the cries of our gospel-believing people, and in your grace aided them with unusual success in the face of defeat, and raised up our nation out of the ashes of war. Do so again! Turn our people once more to you! Use your current punishments to awaken our nation out of its pride and have it kneel down before you in sorrow, shame, and deep regret over its damnable sin of gospel unbelief! As our land now enters one more dangerous chapter in its history; when for the third time again our Union is no longer “one nation under God,” but divided bitterly, and our national flag, in effect, has been torn again into three parts representing the left, right, and the non-committed political factions, remind our people of your pledge, “If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2nd Chronicles 7:14)!

Therefore, enlighten our land with the sober realization that its core problem is spiritual, not political; that its political and societal problems are merely the symptoms of a much deeper evil of gospel rejection, which every American must address!

Then direct our hearts to Christ! Reassure us that by believing that the Son of God died on his cross as our Substitute in order to satisfy Divine Justice with the full payment for our sins, not only will we escape Judgment Day and the sentence of hell, but then we will possess that God-pleasing righteousness which alone will exalt our nation (Proverbs 14:34) and not degrade it in the public eye; which happily will move you to fulfill your pledged blessing of protection and deliverance! Indeed, this will be the highest form of patriotism.

So “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; and deliver us and purge away our sins, for your name’s sake” (Psalm 79:9)! Amen!

* * *

Also consider the following on Flag Day!

While Denmark was the first of the Scandinavian countries to adopt a white cross on a field of red for use as its national banner, in time this design was adopted by the other Scandinavian countries as well:  Sweden and Norway, as well as Finland.  Iceland adopted it, also.

 

This cross has been termed a “Nordic cross” because of its uniqueness.  That is to say, it is a Latin cross which has been laid on its right side.

This national flag unashamedly represents Christianity.

While Israel inserts the star of David on its flag; while Muslim countries display the Islamic crescent on their flags, to put a Christian cross on a national banner, though not biblically commanded, will be a commendable national testimony of gospel belief.

As you may recall from history: The flag which Columbus planted on the shores of America was neither the star of David, nor the Muslim crescent, nor the swastika, nor the hammer and sickle, but the cross of Christ.

Indeed, at this point in time; at this crucial moment in American history, when our very national existence is threatened again for the third time, our people would do well to insert in spirit the saving cross of Christ back into their national thinking, return their repentant hearts to their Savior, and confess publicly, “Without his gospel grace we are nothing”; hence the following picture of the holy white cross of Jesus Christ overlaid on our premiere national flag of 1777.

Have a God-blessed Flag Day!

 

The American Flag of the Cross

 

 

* * *

A Prayer for the Fourth of July.

It is clear from the various passages in both the Old and in the New Testaments that it is the will of God that believers should also pray for their government and for the citizens of the land in which they live.  With that in mind the Christian residing in America could and should pray for his country. Pray this prayer, then! In fact, the whole purpose of prayer is to exercise your trust in God’s promises!

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union, and the Director of its destiny, who raises up nations and casts them down:

On this Fourth of July, the day on which our Continental Congress formally signed the “Declaration of Independence”, make our souls surge upward to you in thanks for your divine mercy in that you used such events to form a new nation! Indeed, as one historian has praised you, “God never showed more visibly his gracious providence and love” than when he blessed our Union with a successful birth (George Bancroft).

To be sure, that “Declaration” was also a declaration of war, in which the peace would be broken, and that death, destruction, and the devil would begin their reign of misery.  Indeed, teach us that this war, as any other, comes down on the unrepentant evils of the people as your punishment for their gospel unbelief, yet as a divine wake up call to their repentance and faith!  Awaken our generation today to this realization!

Remind us also that in this War for Independence, when the end of our new nation was in sight multiple times because the colonies could no longer sustain their war of resistance, you kept your biblical promise ultimately to listen to the cries of your people for help (1st Peter 3:12), no matter how deep their guilt, and how dark their sin, and, by the miracle of your might, you formed this nation out of the ashes of war, and gave it a subsequent golden age of gospel belief with great spiritual blessings, along with material prosperity and peace! Thank you for all of your past, magnificent mercies!

Just the same, over time our nation fell away from a love of your priceless gospel pledge, which delivers us from sin’s guilt and punishment, and stubbornly has refused to hear your warning calls to repent and to return to this gospel faith on a nation-wide basis. Keeping your threat to destroy any nation which would reject your gospel, our land currently is subject to your unrelenting anger which you have been pouring out on our land through spiritual and political enemies both foreign and domestic. Yet we deserve it. We have no excuses to offer.

To this end, keep our citizens from a false sense of national security without you, and by the divine power of your almighty Word, assure our hearts of your promised favor after we would confess our national sins, sorrow over them, and apply to you for full pardon and mercy to spare our land from the punishment which it so justly deserves in your holy eyes! Reassure us in praying thusly for the peace of our land (Jeremiah 29:7), that such prayer could and should avert your punishment in the form of a devastating, third, internal war (Psalm 10:17; Ezekiel 22:30-31)!

Thank you for all of your past mercies!

We pray this prayer with confidence and conviction, heavenly Father, because we pray it according to your will, according to your promise, and in the blessed name of Jesus, our Savior.  Therefore, hear us! Keep your pledges!  Act on them! Amen!

* * *

A reminder regarding the birth of our nation:

God had kept North America unsettled until rather late in the history of the world.

What was God’s purpose in keeping North America unsettled?  It was what his providence has always been in regards to man:  it was in view of man’s afterlife:  That the Lord of heaven and earth wants all those born in time to recognize their sins, to be sorry for them, and to receive from him his promised gift of salvation, obtaining it by an act of faith.  After that the Lord will take all those who have believed in his promised salvation home to be with him.  In this case God kept North America unsettled in order to provide a home, a nursery, if you will, for those followers of his recent Reformation in Europe.  That is, he had reserved a promised land in which his gospel could grow and spread, indeed, to become one more westward stepping stone from where the gospel could proceed full circle around the globe before the end of time.

After the handful of explorers of the 1500’s and 1600’s, settlers started to come to North America with the intent to establish a permanent home.  Just the same, of these initial settlements some were disastrous failures; others barely survived.  Of those that did survive, even these amounted to little more than tiny outposts which clung to the shores of the Atlantic.  Hence it appeared that nothing much would ever become of these homesteads.  At this time, 130 years after Columbus, immigrants came in only as a trickle as compared to the waves of immigrants from northern Europe and Scandinavia in the latter third of the 1800’s which poured into this country in the hundreds of thousands.  Thus America was settled in the beginning in various places sparingly, in fact, in human estimate, randomly and haphazardly, with no unified intent or purpose with a view toward any future consolidation.

Yet, unknown to these settlers, God had a different plan in mind.  In his providence he kept his sheltering arms over the infant years of our land, and supported it with his hand as it labored to take its first steps.

As it is the will of God, according to his Ten Commandments, that men should live peacefully, and accomplish their goals and projects accordingly, as when Canada, for instance, became an independent nation in the 1800’s in a peaceful manner, so America could have done the same.  Nevertheless, certain men refused to have it so, and plunged this land into desperate war in 1775, not one against foreign invaders, but of brother against brother.  Far from meeting up with a quick success, the rebels paid a heavy price for their rebelling. In fact, things looked so hopeless for their cause that in late 1780 Alexander Hamilton admitted that if they could not get yet another loan from France, the rebel army would have to be disbanded, and they would have to “make terms with Great Britain.” Despite this, the Lord listened to the cries of his believers to deliver them, kept his biblical pledge to do so, and, with an intent unknown to the colonists, by his marvelous might raised up an American Union out of the ashes of war.

Therefore, realize that in his fathomless plan of mercy, the true and triune God of heaven had kept this continent as a trackless wilderness so that, as it is obvious from its subsequent history, he could provide a home for his followers of the Reformation, which had restored the biblical gospel, to be guided by him from inception to form a Christian nation, and to be blessed by him with a golden age of gospel believers, who could and should be a soul-saving beacon to the rest of the world! This is exactly what transpired.

* * *

Some quotes for the Fourth of July

Former President Rocca of Argentina confessed, “The immense superiority of North America came from the Bible, which the Pilgrim Fathers brought to Plymouth, while the South American invaders placed their faith in force and violence.”

“The Reformation of Luther introduced the principle of civil liberty into the wilderness of North America” (Daniel Webster at Bunker Hill).

“See how the Almighty directed America’s course from the outset! He kept this continent undiscovered, preserving it for us. We might have come under Spanish rule, but He directed birds which led the ships of Columbus to the West Indies. We might have been brought under French rule, but God’s wind destroyed a mighty armada of French ships which set sail from Nova Scotia to capture the New England colonies. We might have stayed under British rule, but He gave unusual strength to the ragged regimentals, pre-eminent wisdom to our leaders, and we became a free, vigorous people. We might have been split into two or three opposing nations, but the Lord kept us together” (Walter A. Maier, America, Turn to Christ! [Saint Louis: Concordia, 1944], page 90).

“I believe the fate of a republican government is indissolubly bound up with the fate of the Christian religion; and that a people who reject its holy faith will find themselves the slaves of their own evil passions” (Lewis Cass, Secretary of State under President Buchanan).

Think on these things, and have a God-blessed Fourth!

* * *

The following musical selection is recommended for your listening edification: The American Centennial March by Richard Wagner (1876).

* * *

A prayer for Labor Day.

 

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union and the Director of its destiny, who alone could “establish the work of our hands for us” (Psalm 90:17):

On this day our nation commemorates the labor of its citizens, though most Americans will view this day simply as another time for vacationing. That is all.

Just the same, from your commands and pledges in the Bible, first of all teach us that ever since the beginning of creation, when you took Adam “and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15), it has been your will that man should “labor, working with his hands the thing which is good” (Ephesians 4:28), holding up to us both the dignity and the worth of faithful labor by assuring us, for instance, that the laborer is worthy of his pay (Luke 10:7), and the workman of his food (Matthew 10:10)!

Show us, in addition, that our toils will be a means by which you would supply us with our daily bread! Then encourage us to be diligent in our work with your pledge: “When you eat the labor of your hands, you will be happy, and it will be well with you” (Psalm 128:2)!

Nevertheless, remind us that without putting ourselves first on your side through true repentance of our sins, and also with trust in your gospel pledge of salvation for our guilty souls, even the cleverest of our efforts will be unsuccessful without your approval and your blessing, for “Unless the Lord would build the house, they will labor for nothing who would build it” (Psalm 127:1)! So keep your promise: “Blessed is every one who fears the Lord…. And it will be well with you” (Psalm 128:1)!

To be sure, the highest work which we ever could perform will be to grieve over and to regret our shocking crimes of rebellion against Heaven, and to obtain possession of a pardon from you, by trusting your pledge that Jesus Christ, our Savior, has undergone our sins’ punishment for us.

Indeed, as our divine substitute from above, Christ’s guilt-bearing and punishment-suffering work is the highest labor of love which anyone anywhere ever could do for us, and could and should be commemorated above all else on this day.

Therefore, awaken in us the motive to thank Christ by performing our daily tasks gratefully out of love to the divine Savior “who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Revelation 1:5)!

Finally, help us to solve the question: “What has man for all of his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all of his days are sorrowful, and his work grievous” (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23), by assuring us of your promise of the “rest that remains for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9), that is, the complete rest in heaven with you!

We pray these things confidently in the Savior’s saving name, since your promises to us are certain. Amen!

* * *

 

Today our nation will commemorate the labor of its citizens. Most Americans, however, will view this day simply as a time for relaxation. Indeed, many regard work as something to avoid, or to get done with as quickly as possible. Even in ancient times the people commonly had this attitude. For instance, the Egyptians said: “Labor is degrading; idleness is honorable.” Likewise 2,000 years ago work commonly was held to be fit only for slaves, or for the lower class, but not for gentlemen.

Nevertheless, labor is not degrading or something to be avoided. The Bible gives the proper view toward work, and commands regarding the necessity and the nobility of labor: “Work with your hands… so that you may command the respect of outsiders and be dependent on nobody!” (1st Thessalonians 4:11-12.

 

* * *

A Prayer for Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.

 

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union and the Director of its destiny, who has revealed yourself through your sacred Scriptures as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in one essence:

Before we would come before your holy face, we must sorrow over our numerous sins, confess their guilt, realize their damnableness, and cleanse ourselves from them with Jesus’ blood and righteousness before we ever could get a hearing with you.

On this day our federal government commemorates the formation of and the signing of our national Constitution, and also recognizes the efforts and the responsibilities of its citizens.

While we lift up our hearts today in rejoicing over the high gift of our national Constitution which you gave to our citizens at the birth of our Union; a form of government freer perhaps than any other society ever has known, remind us that as with all of your gifts, this one was not to be used shortsightedly, that is, for this life only, but to bring our neighbors and ourselves into that greater citizenship in heaven!

Though numerous American Christians in the past dutifully did this, starting in the last century many citizens began to use their freedoms, along with your blessing of peace and prosperity, merely for their own worldly purposes. As a result they ignored willfully the consequence that any people who would reject your gospel pledge, will become immoral, and hence slaves of their own evil desires, producing governmental leaders with the same bent.

Therefore, Constitution Day and Week should be canceled because, for all practical purposes, this document is dead: our federal government no longer has the will to abide by its provisions, unless it would be to their own advantage. Likewise some citizens only wish to retain the Bill of Rights so that they could pursue their “Me first!” attitude, not to use it to serve you or your church in the saving of souls for heaven.

Thus we apologize for our national guilt in the destruction of your gift: a constitutional republic.

Now that our land no longer is a Christian nation, you biblically have threatened to punish. Show our citizens that it is their biblical duty to pray for the peace of our land (Jeremiah 29:7); that is, they are to confess our national sins, to plead to you for their forgiveness, and thereby to act as a firewall between your destroying fury and this guilty, God-defiant land (Ezekiel 22:30)!

Scatter those citizens who are quick to hate and to retaliate, preaching violence against fellow citizens and elected officials in order to solve our nationally moral problems!

Admonish the hot heads in our society that if treacherous tyrants in our government would need to be toppled, you will strike them down yourself in your due time, after you have used them first to punish the lesser, “Me first!” tyrants that abound in our citizenry!

Thus protect us in these precarious times, not merely from political enemies foreign and domestic, but especially from domestic, spiritual traitors to you who are obsessed with hatred, with retaliation, and with being “Me first”!

Direct America’s heart to Christ so that willingly our citizens regard him as their Savior from damnation, humbly confess their sins, submit to the Holy Spirit’s biblical guidance for righteous behavior that only could bring peace and harmony to this land, while they wait for heaven! Amen!

* * *

Lewis Cass, the Secretary of State under President Buchanan (1857-1860), once observed, “I believe the fate of a republican government is indissolubly bound up with the fate of the Christian religion; and that a people who reject its holy faith will find themselves the slaves of their own evil passions and of arbitrary power.”

“Liberty has not existed outside of Christianity” (Lord Acton).

“If we would preserve our liberty as a nation, we must educate our youth religiously” (George Washington).

“Nobody knows how to teach morality effectually without religion. Exclude religion from education, and you have no foundation upon which to build moral character” (Charles Eliot of Harvard).

* * *

A Prayer for an election eve.

Realize, beforehand, that the purpose of prayer would not be to inform the Almighty of our wants since he already would know them! Rather the purpose of prayer will be for us to put our trust in those promises of the Lord which already would cover the matter at hand, namely, the thing for which we are about to pray.

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union and the Director of its destiny:

As our nation prepares for a critical election tomorrow with anxious hearts and with high hopes, move our citizens to make a choice which, under your divine power and guidance, will bring peace to our land, not strife!

Bring our voters to the realization that as once you gave the wise man Solomon to a nation to govern in peace without enemies foreign or domestic, so you could do the same today for America, if only our citizens would humble themselves, admit their sinfulness, and with remorse receive divine pardon from you!

To this end, assure the voters that you are in control of this election, and that your plans will be carried out on earth as they are in heaven!

While some voters may keep their distance from the polls because of corruption, voting fraud, and broken campaign pledges, remind them of their biblical duty to seek the peace of their country, and to work toward it!

Above all on this election eve, enlighten voters to choose you as the leader of our nation’s souls! To accomplish this, impel our people by your biblical words to have heartfelt regret for the damnable wrong in their lives, but to rejoice that the substitutionary suffering of their Savior, Jesus Christ, on Calvary’s cross, has removed your divine punishment from them! Thereafter, prompt them to declare themselves for Christ!

Despite our land’s selfish endeavors and its neglect of you, you have kept our Union together for these many past elections. Thank you for all of your past mercies and blessings! In Jesus’ saving name: Amen!

 

* * *

A prayer for Veterans’ Day.

 

Before 1954, this day was observed as “Armistice Day,” the day on which World War I officially ended.

 

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union and the Director of its destiny:

Today is Veterans’ Day. It is a day which our lawmakers have set aside in order for us to honor, to appreciate, to thank, and to support our military veterans.

First of all, thank you for raising up and moving both enlisted and officers to serve our country, even to the extent of putting their lives in harm’s way in order to defend our land so that we might exist in peace!

Likewise, move our lawmakers to support our veterans properly in good faith, not to neglect their welfare for petty political reasons!

Yet, amid today’s festivities, have us humbly to realize that we must put our trust solely in you, our mighty Shield and Defender, who has pledged your legions of angels to surround us and our veterans with protection (2nd Kings 6:17) personally and nationally, if only we would believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Hence the best way in which we could salute and support our veterans today, will be for us to pray to you for their spiritual well-being, that is, to pray above all for their conversion into the soul-saving belief in their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; to have you protect them not only from physical harm, but also from spiritual assaults on their souls; and then for us personally to do whatever else we could to help them.

Furthermore, to defend our land, give us more servicemen like the pious veteran, Joshua, who unashamedly confessed, “As for me and my house: we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15); like David, who willingly professed before all, “I will confess my transgression to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5); like the centurion of Capernaum (Matthew 8:8) who, in simple faith, confidently relied on the words of Jesus to do their job; like Cornelius who wished to hear more of the gospel, to share it with his family and friends, and to have them baptized in order to wash away their sins (Acts 10); and like the centurion beneath Christ’s cross on Calvary who openly confessed before his soldiers, “This was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54); for such gospel-believing servicemen and veterans will possess that God-pleasing “righteousness which will exalt our nation” (Proverbs 14:34), not degrade it, and will move you to fulfill your pledged blessing of protection and deliverance! Indeed, this would be the highest form of patriotism.

What is more, show us how in your anger you have threatened “to break the bow and to cut the spear in two” (Psalm 46:9), that is, to demolish decisively the military might of any nation which boastfully has rejected you along with your gospel news of salvation! Yet assure us that as once in Old Testament times you kept this threat, and destroyed three armies which had arisen against the defenseless nation of faithful King Jehoshaphat (2nd Chronicles 20), so whenever any nation would repent of its sins, and believe your gospel pledge, you likewise will keep your promise to protect it, even if it would take a similar miracle!

Above all, teach us that in order for our nation to retain an outward peace from war, it first must have peace with Heaven.  To do this we must believe your gospel pledge that your holy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has become the entire world’s substitute when on his cross at Calvary he settled your anger against all sinners by enduring their eternal punishment for them.  Move our nation to do this, for without a prevalent gospel belief in our land, a state of war will exist between you and our unbelieving nation!

Grant all these requests, for we ask them confidently in Jesus’ saving name! Amen!

 

* * *

A Prayer for Thanksgiving Day.

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union and the Director of its destiny:

We thank you that you have blessed us with a bountiful harvest once again which has given us plenty to eat. You also have shielded us mercifully from war, from disaster, and from contagious diseases. While this day has been set aside as a national day of thanksgiving, we, nevertheless, have every reason daily to thank you for your uncountable gifts of goodness; for your compassions for us do not fail. They are new every morning. Daily and richly you have provided us with all which we would need to support our body and life.

Just the same, we are not worthy of the least of your mercies. In fact, we never could thank you sufficiently for such kindness.

Still greater than these, however, are your bountiful, spiritual blessings in which you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, down to earth for the gracious purpose of assuming our sins’ guilt, and for suffering the world’s punishment to enable us to attain heaven. What a giver of every good gift you are!

Nevertheless, many citizens, in fact, will sit down to eat today without so much as saying a prayer of thanks to you. Indeed, many will spend their day setting their hearts solely on the things of their flesh in regards to overeating, overdrinking, entertainment, and shopping, while they would give no thought to acquiring that relationship with you which only could rescue them graciously from the Judgment and the dark night of death to come.

In light of this, move our hearts to appreciate both you and your gifts of grace more!

Indeed, teach us that we only could thank you properly from our hearts after you would have converted us powerfully by your gospel words to receive a new heart which truly loves you and appreciates your gracious salvation!

Especially on this day, comfort the grieving and the afflicted! Lift up their hearts to receive joy from your gracious, gospel pledge of pardon! Befriend the widows and orphans with your gospel promise of sustaining strength for their lonely souls!

Above all, bless you for blessing us!

We pray this in Jesus’ saving name. Amen!

 

* * *

Thanksgiving Day: a little history.

“Since the days of President Lincoln the custom has been observed in our land that the President of the United States issues a thanksgiving proclamation and advises all the inhabitants to meet in their houses of worship on the last Thursday in November and to return thanks to God for the blessings which He bestowed on the nation during the past year. It is not generally known that this custom dates back no further than to the time of the Civil War. But the fact is that no President has issued a thanksgiving proclamation prior to Lincoln, excepting Washington, the first President of the Union. His example was not followed by his successors in the presidential office, because the Governors of the different States appointed days of thanksgiving for their own States on various dates. But since the days of Lincoln the Governors throughout the country issue a thanksgiving proclamation for the same day which the President appoints, and the last Thursday in November thus came to be the national Thanksgiving Day observed in every State of the Union. Though the majority of our inhabitants, according to statistics, attend no church, yet… the President advises us to thank God, which we may do with a cheerful heart” (Henry Sieck, Sermons on the Gospels [Saint Louis: Concordia, 1906], page183).

* * *

“The American nation has been called upon by its government to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. In the past this was different. Then the government called upon our nation to observe not only a day of thanksgiving, but at the same time a day of penitence, prayer, and fasting, a day of humiliation before the great God because of its great sins. No longer does the government dare to summon our people to do that. It knows that most of its citizens would merely deride the suggestion.

“The very call to observe only a day of thanksgiving, therefore, clearly shows [the] spiritual condition of our nation. True, it wants to hear about a day of thanksgiving, but why? Perhaps, so that it might thank the Lord for his undeserved, inexpressible blessings? Alas no! but because by a celebration of thanksgiving people for the most part now understand a day set aside for the lust of the flesh. Therefore, on no other day is God more shamefully forgotten than on this very day, this so-called Thanksgiving Day.

“What does God say about such a thanksgiving celebration? He says thus: ‘They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise’? (Deuteronomy 32:5-6.) However, ‘I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it’ (Malachi 2:3)” (C.F.W. Walther, Standard Epistles, translated by Donald E. Heck [Fort Wayne, Indiana: Concordia Theological Seminary Press, 1986], page 504f.).

* * *

“It is a laudable custom that the president of the United States and the governor of our commonwealth annually issue a proclamation setting apart the last Thursday in November for a day of public thanksgiving. And though we, according to a custom received from our fathers, celebrate a harvest home earlier in the year when we return thanks for the products of the field; yet we assemble on this day in the house of worship in recognition of the goodness of God towards our nation in general. That all our Christian citizens have ample reason for thankfulness in this respect is sufficiently evident from this one fact that our chief magistrates do not command the keeping of a thanksgiving day, but only recommend it. While in many other lands the civil authorities meddle in matters of religion to the oppression of the consciences of many citizens, we enjoy the high privilege of untrammeled liberty to worship God after the dictates of our own conscience, and herein the common law of our land protects us, guaranteeing to every citizen the right to worship as he thinks proper. Even this one privilege renders it eminently that we annually keep a day of thanksgiving.

“The custom of keeping such a day dates from colonial times when this country was yet subject to England, and originally it was intended more for a day of fasting and prayer, but in the last half century of our national history it has always been appointed for a day of thanksgiving with but one interruption. During the civil war between the states the president of the United States called on the citizens to make this day a day of humiliation and prayer, and to implore God for the removing of the scourge of an awful and bloody war. But since those gloomy days the condition of our country and nation has always been such that this day could be kept for a day of thanksgiving. Especially in the present decade our nation has enjoyed such wonderful prosperity that its wealth has multiplied rapidly, and immigrants are attracted to our shores by the ten thousand” (Frederick Kuegele, Country Sermons, volume 3 [Crimora, Virginia: Augusta Publishing Company, 1908], page 334f.).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 2-A-prayer-for-Election-Day

Dear true and triune God:

   As many voters head for the polls this Tuesday in high hopes of getting better elected officials, may they realize that they  never will elect a better government, but could only expect a worse one, as long as Americans from coast to coast reject the gospel; for as the people are, so the government will be!  That is to say, as long as the vast citizenry in their gospel unbelief would be lawless, so their elected officials will be the same.

   Indeed, one of the obvious punishments from you will be when you would give to a nation children as rulers (Isaiah 3:4), namely, unwise, immature thinkers who would not act responsibly.  Just the same, give to us Christians patience under this affliction!  Strengthen us by your powerful faith-creating and faith-supplying gospel pledges to continue to do our godly duties in spite of the lawlessness around us from top to bottom!

   In closing, and by your command, we confess the many grievous sins of our land.  We plead with you to forgive them.  Also, we would ask for the peace of our land, that is, that you would continue your time of grace, like in the days of Noah, and put off your punishment of this country through destructive war.  Amen!

* * *

     Realize, beforehand, that the purpose of prayer would not be to inform the Almighty of our wants since he already would know that! Rather the purpose of prayer will be for us to put our trust in the Lord’s promises to us which already cover the matter at hand, namely, the thing for which we are praying.

* * *

Dear God of our Christian forefathers, the unseen yet all-powerful Creator of our Union and the Director of its destiny:

     As our nation prepares for a critical election tomorrow with anxious hearts and with high hopes, move our citizens to make a choice which, under your divine power and guidance, will bring peace to our land, not strife!

     Bring our voters to the realization that as once you gave the wise man Solomon to a nation to govern in peace without enemies foreign or domestic, so you could do the same today for America, if only our citizens would humble themselves, admit their sinfulness, and with remorse receive divine pardon from you!

     To this end, assure the voters that you are in control of this election, and that your plans will be carried out on earth as they are in heaven!

     While some voters may keep their distance from the polls because of corruption, voting fraud, and broken campaign pledges, remind them of their biblical duty to seek the peace of their country, and to work toward it!

     Above all on this election eve, enlighten voters to choose you as the leader of our nation’s souls!  To accomplish this, impel our people by your biblical words to have heartfelt regret for the damnable wrong in their lives, but to rejoice that the substitutionary suffering of their Savior, Jesus Christ, on Calvary’s cross, has removed your divine punishment from them!  Thereafter, prompt them to declare themselves for Christ!

     Despite our land’s selfish endeavors and its neglect of you, you have kept our Union together for these many past elections.  Thank you for all of your past mercies and blessings!  Amen!

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 3-A-Prayer-for-government-10-2014

 

 

Dear true and triune God:

According to your command (Ezekiel 22:30-31) and according to your promise (Psalm 10:17), I confess the grievous sins of my country.  I plead with you that they may be forgiven, and pray for the peace of this land from its deserving punishment by war.

Bring many in this country, including our relatives, to repentance after they would see how awful it would be to live in a heathen gospel-rejecting society!

Make them realize that you are angry with them over their unbelief, and that their misery is due not only to their own selfish sins of unbelief, but also to your own personal punishment of them!

Move our government to do only your holy will and to protect our God-given constitutional liberties, not to infringe on them!  If our government would not do so, then we could be assured that you will be using one evil – government, to punish another evil – the citizens.

Preserve our life, home, and possessions from all harm!  Remind us and move us to use these things to make it to heaven!

Keep your elect Christians from harm and from death in these perilous times!  Remind them that these times are a test on their faith!  Keep them strong!

Amen!

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 4-A-Prayer-for-a-Day-of-Fasting-

Dear true and triune God:

Bless our fast!  We make this sacrifice of food and of fine drink to you.  Accept our sacrifice of love to you!  By your power help us to keep our attention off of food and on repentance and on faith instead!  For example, direct us to your commandments, and to how our lust for people’s attention and praise and for the goods of this world actually attack our faith, and will tear it down if we would not counter these lusts with a mighty will and effort furnished only by the gospel assurances that uplift our minds with gladdening salvation!  Make us to see your strict demand to retain for our souls’ welfare your biblical teachings, and to practice them!  Hold up to our eyes your command to spread the gospel!  Also, recall to our attention our constant duty to stand between our country and your anger; that when we would confess our national sins and ask for your forgiveness of them, you will not punish our country, but will let it have peace from your anger instead!  Help us to do these things for the sake of your glorious gracious name! Amen!

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 6-Prayers-for-America-

 

 

It is clear from the various passages in both the Old and in the New Testaments that it is the will of God that believers should also pray for their government and for the citizens of the land in which they live.  With that in mind the Christian residing in America could and should pray for his country.  Of what things could and should such a prayer be composed?  See the following commands and promises of God!  Then pray this prayer!

Come boldly to the throne of grace! (Hebrews 4:16.)

Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble (Psalm 10:17).

I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all who are in authority…. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior (1st Timothy 2:1-3).

Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it! (Jeremiah 29:7.)

I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity (Isaiah 13:11).

The Lord is a man of war (Exodus 15:3).

They chose new gods.  Then there was war (Judges 5:8).

All nations that forget God will be turned into hell (Psalm 9:17).

The nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, and those nations will be utterly ruined (Isaiah 60:12).

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins would be like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they would be red like crimson, they will be as wool.  If you would be willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; but if you would refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword” (Isaiah 1:18-20).

Stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it! (Ezekiel 22:30.)

See the example of Abraham’s prayer! (Genesis 18:23-32.)

Note the prayer of Daniel! (Daniel 9:3-27.)

Prayer:  Dear true and triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the true founder and preserver of my country:

Since I will stand on holy ground (Exodus 3:5) whenever I would come before you in prayer, as the high priest in the Old Testament (Hebrews 7:27), so I must first cleanse myself of mine own sins by repenting of them, and by believing your gospel pledge before I could bring the sins of my fellow Americans before you.  Therefore, I humble myself, leaving behind my prideful heart and laying my selfish soul in the dust.  According to your command (Ezekiel 22:30-31) and to your promise (Psalm 10:17), I now confess the grievous sins of my country, plead with you that they may be forgiven, and pray for the peace of this land from its deserving punishment.  Where should I start?  There is atheism in our colleges, unbelief in our high schools, and rejection of the Creator in the grade schools.   The holy name of Christ is locked out of our public buildings with a vengeance.  The American family is torn by turmoil, robbed of peace and love because its members have cast aside your commandments and gospel – the only remedies for home happiness.  The American workplace reeks of profanity, gossip, and backbiting.   Too many churches deny that Jesus Christ is God, and that his Bible is God’s own truth.  Of these, and of so many other insulting sins, I confess to you, O most holy God.  Though thousands cry, “God bless America!”  how could you bless it when hundreds of millions of Americans reject what is required of them by you to bring down your blessing?  Therefore, I plead with you to forgive my countrymen of their sins, and not to punish this land from sea to shining sea as it so justly deserves.  Hear my prayer!  Spare this people!  Save this land!  Thank you for all of your past mercies which you have poured down upon my country in mighty showers.  May all of civilization note it, and compliment you until the end of time for making us such a highly favored nation!  What patience, mercy, and help you have shown to us!  Bless you for it!  Amen!

If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves, and would pray and would seek my face, and would turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2nd Chronicles 7:14).

Prayer.  Dear Lord Jesus Christ, my only rescue from damnation, my only deliverance from the guilt of my sins, and my only restoration to God’s friendship:

Once in your life on earth you stood before the mighty city of Jerusalem and cried.  You cried because it had rejected you; its church had refused to accept you in repentance and faith; its unbelief, its obsession with worldliness, and the corruption of its worship, you knew, would tragically combine to call down Heaven’s fierce firestorm on this previously highly privileged city.  So, today, you stand in spirit over America and cry.  You cry because this highly privileged land has likewise rejected you. Its people repeatedly have refused to accept you in repentance and faith.  It has rejected you so that its arms could be free instead to grasp every desire of its eyes.  Tears pour down your cheeks because you know of the frightful punishment that is now awaiting America for its rejection of you with such coldness, callousness, and ferocity.  Since past wars, droughts, and depressions have not impressed our citizens to humble themselves before you, one huge war must now be dropped on this country as a rock.  As you weep, you wonder how America could be so senseless.  Therefore, because you are a God of justice, and since such arrogance and unbelief must not go unpunished, may you help me to accept your righteous judgment with humbleness!  Yet I know that you are also a God of mercy.  So remember me according to your unbreakable, biblical promises!  I am counting on you.  Do not utterly destroy America, but after its severe punishment by war, come and heal it, that is, let it recover!  For now, I will obey your biblical commands to humble myself, to confess and to ask forgiveness for the grievous sins of America, and to pray for the peace of this land from utter destruction.  Just the same, bring many in America to repentance to stop this wholesale rejection of you!  I plead this prayer relying only in the blood-bought mercies of you, my Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen!

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK –  A-Prayer-to-the-Almighty-in-regards-to-the-recent-death-and-destruction

The Lord is with you while you are with him.  If you would seek him, he will be found by you; but if you would forsake him, he will forsake you” (2nd Chronicles 15:2).

“The nation and kingdom that will not serve you will perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined” (Isaiah 60:12).

“I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it” (Ezekiel 22:30).

–  –  –

O Almighty God, in regards to this recent death and destruction, I will stand in the gap, and offer up this prayer (1st Timothy 2:1-3).  Hear it as you have promised! (Psalm 10:17.)

You have commanded your followers to do their Christian duty (Matthew 22:39) and, wherever they may find or hear about sufferers, to act as a Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33).  Yet they also are to confess the grievous sins of their country (Daniel 9:8), to plead with you that they might be forgiven (Daniel 9:9, 19-20), to pray for the peace of their land (Jeremiah 29:7) from your pending punishment (Amos 3:2), to have mercy on their bodily needs, to relieve, to sustain them, to protect them from all danger (Luke 6:31, 35-36), and above all, to assure them of your gospel promises which will save the soul (2nd Peter 1:4; James 1:21).

May the sufferers realize that it was not the forces of nature alone that brought this devastation upon them.  It was you.  Not accident, fate, or luck, but you are the one who is responsible (Isaiah 45:7).  Since you are the ruler of the universe (Amos 4:13) nothing could ever happen on its own, as you have warned, declaring, “If there would be calamity in the city, will not the Lord have done it?” (Amos 3:6.)  “I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all of these things” (Isaiah 45:6-7).

In the past you have shown such mercy and patience with our people.  It has your Bible in abundance.  You waited patiently, giving them time to repent, to give up their fascination with worldliness and unbelief, to turn away from the false preachers who preach wealth, earthly success, and themselves, and to return to you in true gospel faith.  As the orchard owner in the Bible who waited patiently for his tree to bear fruit (Luke 13:6), so you have waited for our people to bear fruit, that is, to show their repentance and faith of the heart by leading a godly life, urging, “Return to me!” (Malachi 3:7.) Indeed, year after year you have waited, but nothing has happened.  You have tried minor irritations and troubles to get them to give up their worldliness and unbelief.  Still, nothing happened.  Then you tried more pronounced afflictions (Amos 4:6-10; Ezekiel 5:12), at times more frequently; at other times, for longer duration.  In amazement you wondered how a people could be so stubborn and senseless; why it would prefer the course of misery to possessing your protecting peace for body and soul.

To be sure, after men stubbornly would refuse to repent and to believe, you will remind them that nowhere have you promised that you would remain patient forever.  Instead, you will threaten to punish the unbeliever, not just on Judgment Day, but already starting in this life.  As the Bible points out, “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11).  “His soul hates the wicked” (Psalm 11:5).  Therefore, you have promised, “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaiah 13:11).  “All nations that forget God will be turned into hell” (Psalm 9:17).  To be sure, you have kept your threat (1st Kings 8:24). Your recent affliction has caused appalling destruction, in which the anger of God, indeed, was revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18).  You will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7).  You are righteous in all your holy ways (Psalm 145:17).  Awaken sinners to the realization that as long as they would refuse to humble themselves, you will continue to send even more devastation!  Convict the world of sin, of a lack of righteousness, and of their overhanging judgment (John 16:8), for “the entire world is guilty before God.  No man is righteous before him” (Romans 3:19).

To those who have escaped with their lives, which would include the rest of the country, your warning goes out:  “Unless you would repent, all of you likewise will perish” (Luke 13:3).  To those sufferers who would count themselves as members of some church, but who would lack a true, biblical repentance and gospel faith; who would have fattened themselves on worldliness and will not diet; who would have become addicted to the flesh-pleasing faith-killing creeds of their church and will not reject them, the same warning goes out:  “Repent!” (Matthew 3:2.)

Just the same, to those sufferers whom you know to be true repenters and gospel believers, this devastation was not meant to be a punishment, but a demonstration of your deep love.  If a believer would have died by this Heaven-sent destruction, it would have been a death by which “he would glorify God” (John 21:19).  If a believer would have lost everything but his life, he still could and should confess the biblical truth:  “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:21.)  “I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).  Although man’s limited, unsound, and sin-weakened mind could never understand the infinite workings of you, the infinite Creator of the universe, as our guiding Good Shepherd you would point your people to your dependable promises, assuring them, “As many as I love, I scold and chasten” (Revelation 3:19).  “All things work together for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28).  Remind us of your words:  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”! (Isaiah 55:9.)  “What I am doing you do not now understand” (John 13:7).  You have deliberately chosen to do your powerful works of faith-fortifying in the very opposite way which prideful and foolish men would demand it (1st Corinthians 1:27-29), so that your believers would depend only on your bare promises and not on the wisdom or might of this deluded world.  Through your incomparable might, intentionally working through the weak things of this world for the purpose of putting to shame the petty pretensions of boastful men, you fulfill every one of your pledges to bring spiritual blessings miraculously out of doom and disaster (Numbers 11:23; Joshua 21:45).  How certainly you could and should be trusted, if men only would give up on their doubts, and grasp your glorious assurances instead!

Just the same, in their antagonism in the face of the clear words of Scripture, people would still object:  “How cruel to say that God will punish with death and destruction!  How libelous to call the churches in the area of this recent destruction worldly and unrepentant, faithless and without the fear of God!”  Yet the pages of the Old Testament reveal that many nations have said the same thing, in effect, but were subsequently punished by you with the same death and destruction.  Indeed, just how much more punishment of this area and of the rest of this country will it take before the citizens would finally wake up to the importance of repentance?  Sadly, their punishment is a matter of their own making.

In the meantime, I will humble myself, confess my sins, and look to your promise of forgiveness.  May I obey your biblical command to confess the sins of my country, plead to you for their forgiveness, request of you to convert its citizens, and to pray for the peace of this land from your righteous punishment (1st Kings 8:30-50)!

Hear my prayer for Jesus’ sake!  Amen.

TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE, CLICK ON THIS LINK – 5-A-Prayer-for-the-4th-of-July.-pdf

 

Dear heavenly God, true and triune:

At the approach of the Fourth of July, the day on which our Continental Congress formally signed the Declaration of Independence, make our souls surge upward to you in thanks for your divine mercy in that you used such events to form a new nation!

To be sure, this Declaration was also a declaration of war, in which the peace would be broken, and that death, destruction, and the devil would begin their reign of misery.  Indeed, teach us that this war, as any other, comes down on the unrepentant evils of the people as your punishment of their unbelief, yet as a divine wake up call to repentance and faith!  Remind us also that in this War for Independence, when the end of our new nation was in sight multiple times because the colonies could no longer sustain their war of resistance, you kept your biblical promise to listen to the cries of your people for help, no matter how deep their guilt, and how dark their sin, and, by the miracle of your might, you formed this nation out of the ashes of war!

To this end keep us from a false sense of national security without you, and by the divine power of your almighty Word, assure our hearts of your promised favor after we would confess our national sins, sorrow over them, and apply to you for full pardon and mercy to spare our land from the punishment which it so justly deserves!  Reassure us in praying thusly for the peace of our land (Jeremiah 29:7), that such prayer could and should avert its punishment!

We pray this prayer with confidence and conviction, heavenly Father, because we pray it according to your will, according to your promise, and in the blessed name of Jesus, our Savior.  Therefore, hear us!

Keep your pledges!  Act on them!

Amen!