VICAR
Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well. Good luck England today against the Spanish!
This week, requested by the Squires who are pleasantly shocked by the sudden rise in US readers of this magazine, I have published a prayer for Our American Cousins. This is especially timely given events in Pennsylvania yesterday.
The Bible says little about international alliances but it shares a few pointers:
Luke 9:50
“But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”
John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 15:13
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Undoubtedly, US-UK relations are key and the alliance is the most important one we Britons are lucky enough to have. Let Us treasure it and consolidate it. God bless You Americans and all readers. Have a peaceful week ahead and a successful, thankful Sunday to You all.
Lord,
We are thankful for the abundant blessings You have bestowed on America and Britain. American forefathers looked to You as Protector, Provider, and the Promise of hope. Too many have wandered far from that firm foundation. May we repent for turning our backs on Your faithfulness.
We pray that our great nations will be restored by Your forgiveness.
From bondage, You grant freedom.
Through Your own sacrifice, You offer salvation.
From the state of despair, You offer peace.
From the bounties of Heaven, You have blessed – not because of our goodness – but by Your grace.
You have given us freedom to worship You in spirit and in truth as Your holy Word instructs. May our lives honour You in word and deed. May our nation acknowledge that all good things come from the Father above.
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that America should set apart a day for national prayer to confess sins and transgressions in sorrow, “yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon… announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”
“We have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our own hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own… we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us! It behooves us then… to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
Help our American cousins to pray earnestly for leaders who govern, that they will humble themselves and seek Your guidance so that everything we do will shine the light of Your glory in a darkened world.
May their prayers as a people and a nation be heard and blessed for such a time as this. We make this plea in faith, believing in the mighty name of Jesus our Lord.
Amen