God Bless America!

by Elizabeth Stewart

God Bless America by Irving Berlin

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free.

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:

God bless America, land that I love,

Stand beside her and guide her

Through the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,

To the oceans white with foam,

God bless America,

My home sweet home.

The other day at my grandson's baseball game, we all stood and faced the flag while our national anthem was played.  All the Little Leaguers stood straight and tall with their hats over their hearts.  Veterans in attendance gave the flag a military salute.  I stood there with tears in my eyes, because the nation that I knew as a girl has so drastically changed.  I remember singing "God Bless America" in my public school classroom and beginning each day by saluting the flag.  Now we can't mention God in our schools and saluting the flag, knowing the national anthem, knowing the providence involved in our nation's founding is rare.  

Like me, I'm sure you sincerely want God to bless America, but how do we cooperate with Him for that to happen?

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Pray-It's easy for me to get frustrated about the state of our nation when I read or see the news, but how often do I pray for our nation?  I'm not as consistent as I need to be.  I need to do less grumbling and more praying!

Repentance-Repentance is agreeing with God about our sin then turning away from our sin and towards Him.  It's asking God to help us to have a heart and mind change.  We can't expect those who don't know Christ yet to do the repenting, it's God's people who must lead the way in this.

Humility-It's all too easy to get an attitude of superiority, to point fingers at others who don't think or behave the way we think they should. We've all seen and maybe even been a part of the spiteful exchanges taking place on social media regarding politics and current hot button issues.  As believers, we certainly should not back down from Biblical truth, but we need to lay down our pride before doing so and make sure we have an attitude of humilty and meekness, not of haughtiness and superiority.  It's also wise to ask God to help us to know what to say, when to say it and how to say it.

Our nation needs a spiritual awakening.  It doesn't begin out there somewhere, it begins in us.  Let's prepare the way so God really can bless our land.

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