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Dear Heavenly Father,
What a privilege it is to live in liberty with the freedom that we have from your creative-providential hand. We have been given a charge to proclaim your Gospel, yes, the very good news of forgiveness, life, and salvation in and through your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Today, we recognize that we live in a land that honors the freedom and liberty to proclaim such a wonderful message without fear. Today, we prayerfully celebrate the fact that we have religious liberty to be about the task of loving others as we have been loved by you.
But, sadly on this day, we also realize that many of these constitutional liberties are under attack. So too are the truths of the Scripture, namely your ordering of the world, your moral structure in the world, and even your saving Gospel for the world. We pray then, for the power of your Holy Spirit to give us courage and strength needed to live “Christ-like” lives in your Name, not for our sakes, but for the sake of others, even for those with whom we disagree. Give us vigilance to learn and to put to use the very temporal liberties that we have, always in service to the eternal liberty that we have by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
We therefore ask you to guide us toward a persevering faithfulness to honor the blessings you have given us in this culture…. religious liberty for all, the sanctity of life for all, traditional marriage as a foundation for a civil society, and educational freedom that empowers people to be what you have created and redeemed them to be. We ask you boldly to give us strength and courage to defend these liberties and gifts so graciously given. But, even more so, we pray today that you give us strength and courage to be the people you have called us to be, honoring your name in all things so that all might hear of your wonderful works and be saved by faith in your Son. Let us truly be a people who live out the temporal blessing of being “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” even as we strive to be your Church in going about the task of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ for all.
With courage, not fear, with boldness even in the face of intimidation….We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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