It's Wednesday night - but I have an early morning small group so I am posting prayers for Thursday's focus - Prayer for our Nation - tonight. And if you get a chance join us in the morning.
Thursday
6:30 – 7:30 a.m. guided prayer in the
Prayer Corner
Prayers for our Nation
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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and
will heal their land – 2 Chronicles 7: 14
Remind
the people to be subject to rulers
and authorities, to be obedient,
to be ready to do whatever is good. – Titus 3: 1
Whatever your political leanings may be,
these prayers from men who have held the office of President of the United
States are great reminders of our need to pray for our nations and our leaders.
George
Washington: A Prayer for Guidance
O
eternal and everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before
thy Divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept of my humble and hearty thanks,
that it hath pleased thy great goodness to keep and preserve me the night past
from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and has given me sweet and
pleasant sleep, whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing
the duties of this day, in which I beseech thee to defend me from all perils of
body and soul....
Increase
my faith in the sweet
promises of the gospel; give me repentance from dead works; pardon my
wanderings, and direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation; teach
me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service, and ever to run in the ways
of thy commandments; make me always
watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of
holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life, may
cast me into a spiritual slumber, but daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy son Jesus
Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed
time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life bless my family, friends, and kindred.
--An undated prayer from Washington's prayer journal, Mount Vernon
Thomas
Jefferson: A Prayer for the Nation
Almighty
God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee
that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do
Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure
manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and
arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one
united people, the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.
Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority
of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through
obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the
earth. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day
of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
--Washington D.C., March 4, 1801
Abraham
Lincoln: A Prayer for Peace
Fondly
do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily
pass away. Yet if God wills that it continues... until every drop of blood
drawn with the lash shall be paid another drawn with the sword... so still it
must be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
With
malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives
us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and
for his orphans, to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all
nations.
--Second Inaugural address, March 4, 1865
Franklin D.
Roosevelt: A Prayer in Dark Times
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation,
this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic,
our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity...
Lead
them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts,
steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be
long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success
may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we
know by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will
triumph...
Embrace
these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. And for
us at home--fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave
men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them--help us, Almighty
God, to rededicate ourselves in
renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice... Give us strength,
too--strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the
physical and the material support of our armed forces.
With
Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to
conquer the apostles of greed and
racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister
nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace--a peace invulnerable
to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all men live in
freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
--D-Day, June 6, 1944
John F.
Kennedy: A Prayer of Gratitude
Let
us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for manifold blessings--let
us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals--and let us resolve to share those
blessings and those ideals with our fellow human beings throughout the world.
On
that day let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed
by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and
let us earnestly and humbly pray that He will continue to guide and sustain us
in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice, and understanding
among all men and nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they
exist.
--Thanksgiving Day, 1963
Jimmy
Carter: A Prayer for a Meaningful
Life
I would like to have my frequent prayer
answered that God let my life be meaningful in the enhancement of His kingdom
and that my life might be meaningful in the enhancement of the lives of my
fellow human beings.
I
call upon all the people of our Nation to give thanks on that day for the
blessings Almighty God has bestowed upon us, and to join the fervent prayer of
George Washington who as President asked God to "impart all the blessings
we possess, or ask for ourselves to the whole family of mankind."
--Prayers from his inaugural address,
January 20, 1977, and his
Thanksgiving
speech to the nation, November 27, 1980
Ronald
Reagan: A Prayer for Healing
To
preserve our blessed land we must look to God... It is time to realize that we
need God more than He needs us... We also have His promise that we could take
to heart with regard to our country, that "If my people, which are called
by my name shall 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
will heal their land."
Let
us, young and old, join together, as did the First Continental Congress, in the
first step, in humble heartfelt prayer. Let us do so for the love of God and
His great goodness, in search of His guidance and the grace of repentance, in
seeking His blessings, His peace, and the resting of His kind and holy hands on
ourselves, our nation, our friends in the
defense of freedom, and all mankind, now and always.
The
time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of
America... Our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal. Today,
we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer for peace on Earth.
If
I had a prayer for you today, among those that have all been uttered, it is
that one we're so familiar with: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the
Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up
His countenance upon you and give you peace...." And God bless you all.
--From a speech to the American people, February 6, 1986
George H. W.
Bush: A Prayer to Help Others
My
first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads.
Heavenly
Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love. Accept our thanks for the
peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance
likely. Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and
write on our hearts these words: "Use power to help people."
For
we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in
the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve
people. Help us to remember it, Lord.
The Lord our God be with us, as He
was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us; so that He may incline
our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways... that all peoples of the earth may
know that the Lord is God; there is no other.
--Inaugural address, January 20, 1989
Bill Clinton: A
Prayer for People in Public Office
May
Those generations whose faces we cannot yet see, whose names we may never know,
say of us here that we led our beloved land into a new century with the
American Dream alive for all her children; with the American promise of a more
perfect union a reality for all her people; with America's bright flame of
freedom spreading throughout all the world. From the height of this place and
the summit of this century, let us go forth. May God strengthen our hands for
the good work ahead--and always, always, bless our America.
--Second Inaugural address, January 20, 1997
George W.
Bush: A Prayer for the Departed
We
come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who love
them... On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask Almighty God to
watch over our nation, and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to
come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We
thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come.
As
we have been assured, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, can
separate us from God's love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He
comfort our own. And may He always guide our country.
--From his address to the nation after the World Trade Center attacks,
September 14, 2001
Friday
6:30 – 7:30 a.m. guided prayer in the
Prayer Corner
Prayer for the ministries of
Mountaintop that keep us outwardly focused.
