DAY 10 | States: KS & KY
DAILY TOPIC: Blessings of Liberty
Prayer for Israel
Prayer for National Government Officials
State Focus: Kansas and Kentucky
PRAYER FOR BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY
Thank You, Father, for guiding our founders in securing the blessings of liberty for us. We ask You to guide us in reclaiming those blessings for ourselves and our posterity. We note that our founders defined liberty as a blessing. On behalf of our nation, and all those who have gone before us, please allow us Your wisdom as we attempt to re-secure the blessings of liberty that were so hard won on our behalf. Thank You for clearly showing us that freedom and fulfillment are found within the boundaries of Your law, Your commandments, and Your precepts. We pray, O God, against the tendency in our culture to define freedom as freedom from boundaries of any kind. As our liberties hang in the balance, we ask, O God, for Your guidance and help in restoring liberty for our children and for generations to come. We pray for the freedom to acknowledge You through our public institutions. We are in moral, relational and economic chaos, and we ask You to help us find our way back to the liberty that only comes from walking with You — as people, as a culture, and as a nation. Where Your Spirit is, there is true liberty. Send Your Spirit, Lord. Permeate our broken and divided land with Your Spirit. Hear the cries of Your people, O God.
The one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing (James 1:25).
PRAYER FOR ISRAEL
Lord, we pray for the peace and prosperity of Jerusalem, the Biblical capital of 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).
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 Donald Trump
Vice-President Mike Pence
THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET
Secretary of State: Mike Pompeo
Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin
Secretary of Defense: Mark Esper
Secretary of the Interior: David Bernhardt
ATTORNEY GENERAL
William Barr
SUPREME COURT
Chief Justice John Roberts
JUSTICES
Amy Coney Barrett
Samuel Alito
Brett Kavanaugh
Clarence Thomas
Neil Gorsuch
Elena Kagan
Stephen Breyer
Sonia Sotomayor
Lord, we pray for three conservative, constitutional Christians on the Supreme Court that would assure a majority; to see the following decisions overturned…
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)
1973: ROE V WADE:
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 Kansas and Kentucky and their leaders.
WE DECLARE THE 1859 PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF KANSAS:
“We, the people of Kansas, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges … do ordain and establish the Constitution …” (34th State admitted to the Union on January 29th, 1861)
KANSAS GOVERNOR
Laura Kelly [D]
KANSAS ATTORNEY GENERAL
Derek Schmidt [R]
KANSAS SENATORS
Pat Roberts [R]
Jerry Moran [R]
KANSAS REPRESENTATIVES
DEMOCRATS
Sharice Davids
REPUBLICANS
Roger Marshall
Steve Watkins
Ron Estes
WE DECLARE THE 1891 PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY:
“We, the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties…” (15th State admitted to the Union on June 1, 1792)
KENTUCKY GOVERNOR
Andy Beshear [D]
KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL
Daniel Cameron [R]
KENTUCKY SENATORS
Mitch McConnell [R]
Rand Paul [R]
KENTUCKY REPRESENTATIVES
DEMOCRATS
John Yarmuth
REPUBLICANS
James Comer
Brett Guthrie
Thomas Massie
Harold Rogers
Andy Barr
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.
