Me: Howdy, Prodigal! Where are you today?
Prodigal: Walking down town and there are so many people here all over the place. All the people in this country and we are so different.
Me: I was just reading about some of the presidents in the United States and I thought I would share.
On March 23, 1798, John Adams proclaimed May 9, 1798 as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer. The following is part of his proclamation:
As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety, without which social happiness cannot exist, nor the blessings of free government be enjoyed…and as the United States of America are, at present, placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation, by the unfriendly disposition, conduct, and demands of a Foreign Power (i.e. France)….Under these considerations it has appeared to me that the duty of imploring the mercy and benediction of Heaven on our country, demands, at this time, a special attention from its inhabitants.
I have, therefore, thought fit to recommend, and I do hereby recommend, that Wednesday, the ninth day of May next, be observed throughout the United States, as a day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer: That the Citizens of these States, abstaining on that day from their customary worldly occupations, offer their devout addresses to the Father of Mercies, agreeable to those forms or methods which they have severally adopted as the most suitable and becoming: That all Religious Congregations do, with the deepest humility, acknowledge before God the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation, beseeching Him at the same time of His infinite grace through the Redeemer of the World, freely to remit all our offenses, and to incline us, by His Holy Spirit, to that sincere Repentance and Reformation, which may afford us reason to hope for His inestimable favour and Heavenly Benediction: That it be made the subject of particular and earnest supplication, that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten it: That our civil and religious privileges may be preserved inviolate, and perpetuated to the latest generations.. (Appendix no. 7 of volume 11 of U.S. Statutes At Large.)
Now some of you found that legal jargon very boring. Some of you were intrigued by what is in our legal documents as our country. Especially since some in this country are stating God is separate from our country. What I want to point out is that there is an answer to what is happening to our country. It is in this document. We need to with humiliation go forth in fasting and prayer for our country at this time. So before you tweet, snap chat, post, text, complain about what is going on. Send a prayer to God right now. If we all do, God will start working in the hearts of this country.
Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Jennifer Van Allen,
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
