Living Free

The Declaration of Independence, the document drafted and circulated in these colonies that sparked the revolution, focused on the acts of the British monarch that many of the American colonials found intolerable. It was a document that re-defined the way people thought about government, appealing to the rights of the governed and rejecting the tyranny of a king. While rejecting the king's authority (which many believed came from God) the writers of the Declaration appealed to God as their source of authority and, ultimately, for the success of their cause.

As I re-read the Declaration this morning, http://www.archives.gov/national_archives_experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html - I took note of the references to God and Providence that both open and close the Declaration. Jefferson and those who assisted him in drafting it, regardless of personal devotion or lack thereof, viewed the world as belonging to God and shaped by His will. They clearly knew that their effort to establish a new government separate from the Crown, would be costly and not likely to succeed without the help of God. The last line of the Declaration says, ...for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Two centuries plus later, these United States have not out-grown the need of the protection of Divine Providence! Some may take note our powerful military, our unparalleled wealth, and our stable government and conclude that our liberties are secure, our way of life unassailable. As I gaze out on my peaceful, prosperous neighborhood, it is easy to conclude that any threats to my freedom and prosperity are remote. How wrong that conclusion would be. America remains vulnerable to threat both internal and external.

While I am not one of those who sees an imminent collapse of our nation, there are trends that are deeply troubling. Moral rot is eating away the heart of the nation! Greed, sensuality, and unbridled expressions of selfishness tear away at the nation's heart. Many believe themselves to be their own god, living primarily to satisfy their own demands, ungoverned by Divine command.

There are forces external that desire the destruction of America for reasons both political and spiritual. Our current war is not the first waged to defend our liberty, nor will it be the last.

Without the blessings and protection of God, this nation will crumble into oblivion - like other great nations before.

Today, I encourage you to pray with me that the Spirit of God will sweep over this nation.

• Pray for individual Believers to live the kind of godly lives that causes others to hunger to know Jesus Christ.
• Pray for Churches to become powerful catalysts of genuine spiritual transformation.
• Pray for those who govern, that they will recognize - like the writers of the Declaration - the need for reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.
• Finally, today, let's pray for those men and women who are under arms in the service of our government. May God bless them for their willingness to serve, keep them safe, and comfort their families.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.
From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth— he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.

No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.

But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine." (Psalm 33:12-19, NIV)