Precious heavenly Father, we come before you, recognizing that you are our Creator and Sustainer. You are a loving Father who watches over us from heaven. You came to us in the person of your Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus died for us upon the cross, His death a penalty for our sins. You raised Him to life on the third day, pointing to the eternal life that is found only through faith in Him. You have done this in great love for a wayward and sinful human race. 

On this July 4th weekend, we pray for America. We pray that a new generation of citizens will revere your sacred name. As this country began, founded on biblical concepts of human rights and religious freedom, we pray that such would prevail. For such rights come from you, not from any human construct.

We pray for your authority to be brought to bear on our culture and government. One day your judgment will come to recompense every evil that has been done under the sun. One day your Son, Jesus, will return with great power and glory to establish your true kingdom once and for all. We who have believed await that day with great expectation. Until then, we ask that you will intervene on our behalf. Help our country not to crumble into complete moral depravity. Help the church to shine like a beacon of hope and truth.

We pray that your will will come to pass in our nation. May the will of the people be, more and more, a reflection of your perfect will. Help us, as a nation, to want what you want. Let us use the freedoms afforded us in this country, while they remain, to share the love and truth of Jesus with those around us.

We thank you for the abundant provision we continue to enjoy in this land. We have been given our daily bread over and over and over again. We so often fail to appreciate the overflow of blessing that has been given to us. Help us not to take it all for granted. Help us not to foolishly and sinfully tear down this nation.

We ask for your forgiveness for our individual and corporate sins. Many today seem to only want to remember this nation for its worst acts. In their minds, this country is remembered only as an exercise in evil. This is a skewed and cynical characterization. May it be balanced with a consideration of the many good things this country has done.

We ask that you would lead us, as a nation, into a new appreciation for your ways. With the freedom we enjoy there is also much temptation. Self-absorbed decadence has overtaken many in this land. We have been engulfed in perversions, drowned in a malaise of entertainment. We are starved for moral clarity, clarity which you have so marvelously supplied to us in your word. Please lead us out into a new sense of revival. It is our great hope that you are not done with this nation.

We ask that you would bind Satan and his influence over this country. We cannot deny that he is active here. The sheer might of this country would be enough to thwart many of the evils that plague us. Drug addictions… human trafficking… child sex trafficking and many other abominations could be named. Yet there seems to be a hesitance by many to curtail such evils. We can only conclude that Satan is at work in the hearts of sinfully unrepentant people. People in powerful places want such evils to continue. We ask that you, Lord, would restrain them.

Finally, Father, we confess that Jesus is what we need in this country. How blessed it is to rest in him. How simple a peace he gives when we cease striving and lean fully into his love and grace. How wonderfully freeing it is to repent and believe his gospel. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Pastor George