From our nation’s very beginning we have acknowledged and relied upon God. In fact, our very Declaration of Independence, the document that created this nation, mentions God and the fact that our rights come from God as Creator. The Declaration points out that the very reason government exists is to protect our God-given rights:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . .
In closing the Declaration of Independence, the signers once again referenced God — “Divine Providence” — and acknowledged their dependence upon Him in this joint effort:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
As was true in 1776 so it is today: Our nation needs God. Today we need the kind of spiritual renewal that birthed this nation. If we are going to return to the “spirit of ’76” then we need God’s Spirit in our lives and culture.
Americans are blessed with great religious freedom to worship God as we see fit. However, not all is as it once was in this area. For the past few decades our First Amendment freedom of speech within churches has been curtailed to restrict political speech. That restriction is frankly not right or constitutional. The First Amendment was written with a one-way restriction — to keep the government out of the church but not the church out of the government.
If the Founders could not have used local churches for political purposes do you think our country would have been born? More recently, would the civil rights movement have succeeded without the direct involvement of many churches? Would the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. have triumphed under today’s unconstitutional federal guidelines that restricts political speech from the pulpit? In both eras church leaders were actively involved in impacting citizens and our political system.
We should pray for a return of liberty within our government. We need to learn our American history so we are not deceived about the rightful place of God within our government. Likewise, we must take these things seriously and personally prepare for spiritual renewal.
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Today there are several online groups offering resources that individuals can use to impact our nation spiritually. One such group is The Presidential Prayer Team. Since 2001 the nondenominational Presidential Prayer Team has been impacting our nation through prayer. Each week a variety of executive, legislative, judicial, and military leaders are specifically featured to lift up in prayer. In their own words, The Presidential Prayer Team describes themselves as follows:
[A] national ministry dedicated to a focused mission of encouraging, inspiring and practicing PRAYER on behalf of our President, nation’s leaders and our troops. We also seek to be a catalyst in the development of a robust prayer lifestyle. We do this by finding and PROVIDING tools to encourage prayer – through email, web, mobile phones and other communication tools. Ultimately, we believe that prayer will TRANSFORM our nation, one heart at a time.
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Another group that offers a full library of information, news, and media is WallBuilders. Their purpose is to present “America’s forgotten history and heroes with an emphasis on our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage.” WallBuilders is named after the Old Testament leader Nehemiah who rallied the nation of Israel to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem to protect the city. WallBuilders’ goals are as follows:
[T]o exert a direct and positive influence in government, education, and the family by (1) educating the nation concerning the Godly foundation of our country; (2) providing information to federal, state, and local officials as they develop public policies which reflect Biblical values; and (3) encouraging Christians to be involved in the civic arena.
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A third resource involves a new spiritual challenge called 40 Days and 40 Nights that has been issued by radio talk-show host and television commentator Glenn Beck. The challenge is to pledge to “practice faith, hope and charity” by doing three things: (1) re-establishing a relationship with God through prayer, (2) establishing a habit of honesty in everything as we seek the truth, and (3) doing something kind for every member of our family at least once a week and being grateful for how blessed we are. A variety of 40 Days 40 Nights Challenge Blueprints are available for download.
These three online resources can help Christians pray for our leaders, learn our history, and make personal changes that impact others in a big way. Together we can change our nation by changing ourselves through the power of God. Let us encourage one another to pray for and do good works for the preservation of liberty.
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The views espoused by the above referenced sources are not necessarily those advocated by PonderPost or held by PonderPost editors. Please suggest other Christian resources to help preserve liberty and/or share your response to this information below. You may also contact us with your suggestions for future PonderPicks.
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