Last night Pam and I had the privilege of being invited to the Lincoln Day Dinner at the Jerome Hotel. I was asked to pray the invocation. It was an honor. I’ve tried to always go wherever I’m invited. I thought I’d post the prayer in this blog:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for our nation. We feel such gratitude and blessing for being able to live in such a beautiful, prosperous and free country. It is a wonderful stewardship you have given to us and we pray that we might faithful.
Thank you for our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution of the United States. Never in the course of human history have such great men and women been at the same place and at the same time at the birthing of a nation. Benjamin Franklin said that they had given us “a republic, if we can keep it.” I pray, Father, that we can keep it.
Thank you for the abundance of food we have, for our fruitful farmlands and ranches, our natural resource, our mountains and plains, our deserts and beaches, our lakes and rivers. Thank you for our firefighters in our Valley and all across the West protecting our lands and our properties. Keep them safe.
Thank you, Father, for freedom. We believe that our rights have been endowed to us by You, our Creator. We celebrate human freedom because we know that You celebrate human freedom. We are thankful for freedom of speech, religious freedom, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition our government, economic freedom, the right to protect our families, our homes and our very lives, for the right to own property, for equal justice under the law.
Thank you for life. I pray that America will always stand for life. You said to the nation of Israel before they inherited the land that you were going to give them, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live.” I pray that America will always choose to protect life–from the womb until the day You determine that its end.
Thank you for our men and women who lay down their lives for us every day as they serve our country in the military. Father, protect them, their husbands and wives, and their children. We pray that you would deliver our enemies into their hands in a merciful way. We pray that every cause for which they fight would be a just cause. Keep them from any mistakes that could bring reproach upon them. Let them be blessed and fulfilled in their service.
Thank you for our president. God, we pray you would help him to lead us well. Thank you for his boldness, courage and confidence in the face of opposition. Thank you for the kind of boldness not seen before by leading the world to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel. We pray that he would only champion those causes that are righteous, honest and just. And then, let him be bold and courageous for what is true. Give him wisdom. We pray protection over him and ask that no weapon formed against him would prosper and every unjust or untrue accusation against him could not land on him. Bless his wife. Help her to continue to stand with strong leadership, dignity, confidence, grace.
We pray for our Congress. We pray they would all be statesmen and stateswomen. Keep them honest, fair, compassionate and wise. For the upcoming elections, let your favor be upon the good and the upright.
For our Supreme Court and our judicial system. I pray what the Prophet Isaiah told us to prayed—“I will give you good judges again and wise counselors like you used to have.” (Isa 1:26)
Father, heal our land. You said, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. (2Ch 7:14)
Heal us Lord. You said to us, “”Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand (Mat 12:25). Father, heal our divisions—racial, ethnical, gender, political. Heal our cities, Lord. Please make us be one nation under God, INDIVISIBLE.
Finally, I pray for this Republican Party. I pray according to what the prophet Micah has taught us. “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8 NAS)
Thank you for the food we have tonight. We receive all good things from You, acknowledging they come from your hand.
I ask all this in the way that You taught me to pray…I ask all this in the name of my Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.