DAY 18 | State: NY
DAILY TOPIC: The Church
PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH
We plead for an awakening in Your Church. Convict us of our responsibility to live and speak Your truth and grace into our culture. Protect Your Church from being absorbed into the ways of this world. And, Lord, we ask for Your protection from persecution and from all attempts to silence the voice of Your Church. Thank You, Heavenly Father, for equipping each of Your children in unique ways. We pray against confusion in the minds of many of us who claim to know You, so that we, as Christ followers would be beacons of light to our given circles of influence. We plead with You, O God, to protect Your Church from deception and distortions of Your truth. We pray for Your Spirit to work in and through every pastor, church, believer and gathering of believers in America, asking You to open each heart and draw Your people to prayer and to Your truth. We ask for religious leaders who understand and are devoted to Your truth and who proclaim Your truth boldly, with courage, and insightful grace.
So the Church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied (Acts 9:31).
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 18 - Amendment 13 & 14
13th Amendment: Except as punishment for criminal offense, forbids forced-slavery and involuntary servitude.
14th Amendment: Details Equal Protection Clause, Due Process Clause, Citizenship Clause, and clauses dealing with the Confederacy and its officials.
Prayer: We pray for limitations on government agencies and their powers.
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 Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security
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 New York and its leaders.
WE DECLARE THE 1846 PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK:
“We, the people of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution.“(11th State admitted to the Union on July 26th 1788)
NEW YORK GOVERNOR
Kathy Hochul [D]
NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL
Letitia James [D]
NEW YORK SENATORS
Charles Schumer [D]
Kirsten Gillibrand [D]
NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVES
DEMOCRATS
Gregory Meeks
Grace Meng
Nydia Velázquez
Hakeem Jeffries
Yvette Clarke
Jerrold Nadler
Adriano Espaillat
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Ritchie Torres
Jamaal Bowman
Sean Maloney
Daniel Goldman
Paul Tonko
Joseph Morelle
Brian Higgins
REPUBLICANS
Andrew Garbarino
Anthony D'Esposito
Brandon Williams
Nicole Malliotakis
Marcus Molinaro
George Devolder-Santos
Elise Stefanik
Michael Lawler
Nicholas A. Langworthy
Nicholas J. LaLota
Claudia Tenney
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.
