DAY 9 | States: IN & IA
DAILY TOPIC: General Welfare
Prayer for Israel
Prayer for National Government Officials
State Focus: Indiana and Iowa
PRAYER FOR GENERAL WELFARE
We ask for Your guidance in how to best promote the well-being of our citizens. We thank You, Father, for founders who referred to You as Providence itself. Help us, O God, to truly honor our national motto: “In God We trust.” Bring us to a full understanding of the founders’ Constitutional intent behind allowing government the power to promote the general welfare. We ask You to help us reverse the trend to look to government to provide for us, take over for us, and then take us over. As Your church, we pray for Your guidance in how best to help the least of our neighbors. Father, the question in America used to be, “Ask what you can do for your country.” It now seems to be, “What have you done for me lately, country?” We repent from our tendency to look to Caesar for our daily bread. Help us, O God, to return to trust in You over any earthly or material source. And help us to be Your hands and heart in tending to the true needs of the least among us.
It is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in princes (Psalm 118:9).
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).
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 Transportation: Elaine Chao
Secretary of Energy: Dan Brouillette
Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Robert Wilkie
Secretary of Homeland Security: Chad Wolf (Acting Secretary)
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Jeffrey Rosen
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 you did it! Thank you for answering our prayers for three more constitutional Christians on the Supreme Court. Now we ask for a full majority 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)
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 Indiana and Iowa and their leaders.
WE DECLARE THE 1851 PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIANA:
“We, the People of the State of Indiana, grateful to Almighty God for the free exercise of the right to choose our form of government, do ordain this Constitution.” (19th State admitted to the Union on December 11th, 1816)
INDIANA GOVERNOR
Eric Holcomb [R]
INDIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL
Curtis Hill [R]
INDIANA SENATORS
Todd Young [R]
Mike Braun [R]
INDIANA REPRESENTATIVES
DEMOCRATS
Pete Visclosky
André Carson
REPUBLICANS
Jackie Walorski
Jim Banks
James Baird
Susan Brooks
Greg Pence
Larry Bucshon
Trey Hollingsworth
WE DECLARE THE 1857 PREAMBLE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF IOWA:
“We, the People of the State of Iowa, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government…” (29th State admitted to the Union on May 28th, 1846)
IOWA GOVERNOR
Kim Reynolds [R]
IOWA ATTORNEY GENERAL
Tom Miller [D]
IOWA SENATORS
Chuck Grassley [R]
Joni Ernst [R]
IOWA REPRESENTATIVES
DEMOCRATS
Abby Finkenauer
David Loebsack
Cynthia Axne
REPUBLICANS
Steve King
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.
