Michael Cardinal, FISM News
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We live in an age of division. Recently it feels as if the fabric of our nation is hanging by a thread, as the unity that our nation was founded upon has been replaced by intolerance. America was established on the ideals of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and essentially the freedom to disagree. However, 245 years after our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence it seems as if there is no room for disagreement. If you don’t share the exact views as someone else you are called a bigot, a snowflake, or much worse.
Yet, the ideals that our great nation were founded upon still hold true all these years later. Our nation was built on Christian principles, and we must earnestly pray that the Lord bring healing to our land. That must come with praying for those who we disagree with.
The following prayer by Rev. Byron Sunderland on July 4, 1861 in the Senate has never been more timely:
Almighty and everlasting God, be not angry with us for our sins, which we only confess and deplore; but pardon our offenses and extend to us Thy favor. We thank Thee for Thy goodness on this anniversary of the nation a day tenfold more precious by reason of our present troubles, and sacred to the heart for the ever memorable Declaration of our fathers, in which Thou didst begin more openly to give us a name among the nations of the earth.
We thank Thee for all Thy manifold and abundant mercies hitherto to make our nation exceedingly great and glorious; but now disasters have befallen us and darkness broods in the land. And now we ask Thy mercy as the Senate is convening at a most momentous crisis of our history. Give to Thy servants all needed help. Add to their deliberations, wisdom and unanimity, and profit and speed to their conclusion. Bless Thy servant, the President of the United States, our veteran Commander-in-Chief, and all that have functions in the civil and military power. May the angel of Thy presence walk in the Cabinet and in the Congress and in the camp, to go before, to purify, and to direct the now greatly and universally-awakened love of country.
And we beseech Thee to guide us, to overrule and order all things, and so to cause that nothing shall fail, that the disorders of the land may be speedily healed, that peace and concord may prevail, that truth and righteousness may be established, and that Thy Church and Kingdom may flourish in a larger peace and prosperity, for Thy Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
Indeed our country is not perfect. Our hope should not be put in America, but rather in God’s heavenly kingdom. Yet, with all of it’s faults, the freedoms granted to us through the Declaration, our Constitution, and those who gave their lives to defend it, are a gift. A gift that we should not take lightly and one we should fight to preserve.
So let us pray for our country and for those in power, including those we disagree with. There is no better way to honor both God and our country on this Independence Day.
If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14