Blessings for Thanksgiving
For Thankful Hearts and Freedom
This week in the United States of America we celebrate Thanksgiving. This day is set aside to consider all of our blessings and offer a special day of thanks to our Lord. Sadly, this is becoming a day to hit the stores for holiday deals. My prayer is that each of you will take time to search your heart for all you are thankful for this season. Forgive others and go forward free. Spend time with family and friends, feed those less fortunate and remember those who are serving in our Armed Forces who will not be home with their families this Thanksgiving. Offer a prayer at your table for their safety.
This week I will share the Thanksgiving Proclamation of two of our early Presidents. In the time we are living it seems much has been forgotten about our founding as a Nation. We are a country founded on Biblical principles which can readily be seen in our historical documents. Sadly, we now have an administration riddled with one scandal after another. This has nothing to do with skin color or political party but everything to do with an agenda to “change America.” Dishonesty and subversive divisional tactics are at the root of what we see played out daily in the news.
On this Thanksgiving share some of our history at your table. Pray for restoration of our country to the ideals that set us free historically and allowed us to live free thus far.
It is up to each of us as Americans to stand for our Nation. It is up to each of us as Americans to stand against tyranny. Our forefathers, many throughout our history and countless today have given their lives to keep us free. That freedom is bought with a price to allow us to live free without government control over major areas of our life to include education and health care. The United States of America was established as a democracy not a socialist country. My prayer for you is for a blessed Thanksgiving and the continued freedom to live free in the democracy of the United States of America.
George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the twenty-sixth day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being…That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the single and manifold mercies…which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have enjoyed…and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.
Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1863
It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.
Quotes to Ponder This Week
“Have faith in God…whenever you stand praying…forgive…” Jesus, Mark 11:22, 25
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus, John 8:31-32
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…” Psalm 33:12
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” Psalm 100:4
“Give thanks always for all things unto God.” Ephesians 5:20
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
“Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean and were ready to perish in the wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise the Lord because He is good: and His mercies endure forever.” William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Plantation from his book, Of Plymouth Plantation
“God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.” Izaak Walton
“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.” Ronald Reagan
A Prayer Request
Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray. Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety. They are our front-line on the battlefield, let us be their front-line in the spirit. Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives.
God bless all our diplomatic and military personnel and their families. May the Lord keep them safe. Pray for all throughout the world for hedges of protection against radical Muslim extremists and all forms of terrorism. We have long prayed for spiritual victory over radical Islam in Esther’s Warriors Ministry. We now see the reality of this threat come to the forefront in this time in world history.
Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi and for safety in Israel. May God richly bless the United States of America, bring to light every single crooked place and keep her safe. May we may arise united once again as One Nation Under God in this auspicious season in our country’s history.
We continue to pray for truth to prevail as we saturate this country in prayer and stand for all that is right in America and for all of us who call ourselves American. These are treacherous times and now more than ever we must maintain our walk. Fail not in this hour.
Please Join Me In Prayer
Father we thank You that we live in a country founded on Your Word. We thank You that we live free in Jesus Christ and in our Nation. We come before You in a spirit of thanksgiving that our land will remain free from the tyranny of men, that we will remain free to share Your Gospel with all without reprisal, and that You grace us with thankful hearts every day. We pray this in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen and amen.