DAY 28 | States: VT & VA
DAILY TOPIC: International Relations
PRAYER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
We ask for Your wisdom, discernment and strength in all our dealings with other nations. Lord, as we pray for the restoration of America, we pray that You would make America a light to the world. Father in Heaven, allow us to restore a sense of national dignity. Teach us once again to be a virtuous people, worthy of respect. Allow the world to see Your truth displayed in our citizenry. God of our Fathers, forgive our failures to seek Your guidance as we interact with the nations of Your world. Please give Your perspective on this world and Your wisdom to all those who represent America in official dealings with other nations. As our citizens travel abroad, Lord, we ask You to quicken us to represent our nation honorably. We pray that America would take the lead in ending greed and corruption around Your world. May we be a blessing to all nations, Lord; but we especially ask You to lead us in our attitude and dealings with the nation of Israel, and to pray for the peace of Jerusalem in accordance with Your Holy Scriptures. We ask You to lead and convict those who set foreign policy with a full understanding of Your Scriptural mandate to bless Israel. We would ask, Lord, for favor from other nations who have benefited from the sacrifice of American blood and treasure.
But the Lord sits enthroned forever; He has established His throne for justice, and He judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness (Psalm 9:7-8).
HERE IS A PARTIAL LIST OF THOSE WHO ARE PRESERVING OUR CULTURE AS SALT & LIGHT IN THE AREA OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:
International Messianic Jewish Alliance
Christians United For Israel
Presidential Prayer Team
Intercessors for America
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
PRAYER FOR ISRAEL
Lord, thank you that the President recognized Jerusalem as the Biblical capital of Israel and moved our Embassy. We pray for peace and prosperity in Israel, and ask for an end to the violence and suffering. We pray for justice, and Your sovereign righteousness over Israel. We pray for mercy and Your Kingdom to rule over the land. Please protect the soldiers and civilians from bloodshed. Give wisdom to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Knesset (The legislature of Israel). May Israel remain strong, not dividing the land You gave as an inheritance to Your chosen people. May the United States continue to fully support Israel, the nation that gave us salvation through Jesus Christ.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, may they prosper that love thee (Psalm 122:6).
Day 28 -
Declaration of Independence In Congress, July 4, 1776, continues …But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. In every stage of these Oppressions, we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Prayer: We pray for law and order in America, and that our government would not war against the citizens but rather protect them and their liberties.
PRAYER FOR NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
Lord God, we ask for Your blessing and wisdom on the lives of these leaders in our nation.
EXECUTIVE
President Joe Biden
Vice-President Kamala Harris
THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET
Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Secretary of the Interior
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Merrick Garland
SUPREME COURT
Chief Justice John Roberts
JUSTICES
Amy Coney Barrett
Samuel Alito
Brett Kavanaugh
Clarence Thomas
Neil Gorsuch
Elena Kagan
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Sonia Sotomayor
Lord, we ask for their courage to do what is right in your sight and to overturn the following decisions ...
1947: EVERSON V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
"Wall of Separation" Between church and state
(RULING: Ruled as Constitutional allocating taxpayer funds (to bus children) to religious schools because it did not breach the "wall of separation”: between church and state. Decision held that the establishment clause of the First Amendment applied to state, local and federal government. Bottom Line: Distributing public funds to parents to cover the cost of busing their children to religious schools did not breach the wall. And, finally, it was this ruling that established the vernacular ‘wall of separation’ which set the precedent for the next two Supreme Court decisions removing prayer and bible reading from our schools.)
Where did the term Wall of Separation come from?
Establishment Clause Definition
1962: ENGEL V. VITALE
Removed prayer from public education
(RULING: Unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools. PLAINTIFF: Steven Engel, New York parent / DEFENDANT: William Vitale, the school board president)
1963: ABINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT V. SCHEMPP
Removed the Bible from public education
(RULING: Declared school-sponsored Bible reading in public schools in the United States to be unconstitutional. PLAINTIFF: Edward Lewis Schempp and family / DEFENDANT: Abington School District)
1968: EPPERSON V. ARKANSAS
Opened the door for evolution to be taught as fact in public schools
(RULING: Creation and Intelligent Design were ruled as religious studies in government schools. Government schools are to remain neutral https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/393/97/)
1973: ROE V. WADE: OVERTURNED BY THE GRACIOUS HAND OF THE LORD - JUNE 2022
Allowed Unrestricted Access to Abortion
(RULING: Unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion is unconstitutional. PLAINTIFF: Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe / DEFENDANT: Henry Wade, district attorney of Dallas County, TX, where Roe resided)
2003: LAWRENCE V. TEXAS:
Struck down the sodomy law, thus legalizing same-sex sexual activity in every U.S. state and territory
(RULING: The “Homosexual Conduct” law [prohibiting sodomy] was unconstitutional and violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause that protects a substantive right to personal liberty in intimate decisions)
2015: OBERGEFELL V. HODGES:
Legalized same-sex marriage nationwide
(RULING: The Constitution guarantees a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. State bans on same-sex marriage and on recognizing same-sex marriages duly performed in other jurisdictions are unconstitutional under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. PLAINTIFF: Jim Obergefell, a same-sex widower / DEFENDANT: Richard Hodges, Ohio’s health director)
TODAY’S STATE FOCUS
We direct our prayers to the states of Vermont and Virginia and their leaders.
WE DECLARE THE 1777 PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF VERMONT:
“Whereas all government ought to … enable the individuals who compose it, to enjoy their natural rights, and the other blessings which the Author of Existence has bestowed upon man …”(14th State admitted to the Union on March 4th, 1791)
VERMONT GOVERNOR
Phil Scott [R]
VERMONT ATTORNEY GENERAL
T. J. Donovan [D]
VERMONT SENATORS
Patrick Leahy [D]
Bernard Sanders [I]
VERMONT REPRESENTATIVES
Peter Welch [D]
WE DECLARE THE PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF VIRGINIA 1776, BILL OF RIGHTS, XVI:
“Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator … can be directed only by reason and conviction … and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity towards each other.”(10th State admitted to the Union on June 25th, 1788)
VIRGINIA GOVERNOR
Glenn Youngkin (R)
VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL
Jason Miyares (R)
VIRGINIA SENATORS
Mark Warner [D]
Tim Kaine [D]
VIRGINIA REPRESENTATIVES
DEMOCRATS
Elaine Luria
Robert Scott
Donald McEachin
Abigail Spanberger
Donald Beyer
Jennifer Wexton
Gerald Connolly
REPUBLICANS
Robert Wittman
Bob Good
Ben Cline
Morgan Griffith
We ask that You turn their hearts towards You, Lord. We ask that You soften their hearts, Lord, to recognize and receive truth. Lord, we ask that You grant them the understanding and knowledge that come from the fear of You. We ask that You grant them wisdom and discernment, Lord, and that You make them bold to do what is right in Your sight. Lord, we ask that You direct their hearts to do Your will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
