4th of July Prayer

Note: This was my pastoral prayer for July 5th.

Pastoral Prayer:

I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.

Our Gracious, Merciful and Glorious God: Father, Son and Spirit. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it. All Glory belongs to You in heaven and on earth. We praise you for your wondrous deeds. For the salvation You have granted unto us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We delight in the goodness of Your provision. Apart from You we would be lost and purposeless beings, but with You there is fullness of joy. Your Kingdom, O Lord is an everlasting kingdom. It is a kingdom of glory and victory. May we have faith to see Your kingdom come in earth as it is in heaven.

We delight in this period of history. We celebrate the good gifts that You have given unto this nation. May we acknowledge your mercies to these United States. We thank you for the beginning of this nation, its Christian legacy that has long been forgotten in this day. Yet we praise you for preserving our liberties to adore you Father, Son and Spirit. And we pray that you would bring liberty to other nations around the world. May we remember that we are not at liberty to forsake Your word, but we are liberty to live by Your Word.

O Lord, despite the atrocities committed by this nation, in particular towards the unborn, we pray that You would heal this land. Heal us from elevating a god of our imagination, instead of elevating the God of Scriptures. Forgive us for empty rhetoric. Forgive us for equating love for God to love of a party. Forgive us for equating this country’s agenda with the kingdom’s agenda. Lord, we know that we are far from pursuing the kingdom’s agenda in this nation.

Yet, we pray that you restore this land. Turn President Obama’s heart unto You for you tell us that You can turn the hearts of rulers.

Rule in the hearts of our leaders. May they rest in You even when it is not popular or convenient. May they lose their jobs for Your sake if necessary, so You may be exalted above their careers and reputation.

Take us from a nation of idolaters to a nation of worshipers.

Do not forsake us, O Lord, but be with us. Though we have a glorious past, we do not want to look to the past, but we want to look to the future. We cannot re-live the past, but we can seek your guidance for the future.

We ask that Your justice would prevail. Do not forsake us, O Lord for we Your people cry for the manifestation of Your Mighty Hand.

Through Your beloved Son, will you call us unto Yourself and will you call to affirm that the prayer you taught your disciples saying: Our Father…

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