A prayer for religious liberty

Our Sovereign Lord, as we celebrate this 250th year of America’s independence, we are mindful that the manifold blessings we have experienced are unrivaled.

We acknowledge it is You who makes the nations great or destroys them, who enlarges them or leads them away (Job 12:23).

It is from Your hand that these great benefits among them religious liberty – have been received and enjoyed.

O God, we are thankful for the early settlers, who amid religious oppression longed for better days when they might freely meet and worship according to their biblical convictions.

We are thankful for Your providential hand over them as they endured many difficulties, striving for the hope of those freedoms – not only to worship, but to advance the Christian faith.

How great a blessing to consider that as those early seeds of freedom began to sprout, subsequent generations took on the mantle, growing and maturing the young colonies in ways that would shape future generations.

We are grateful for the influence of our nation’s early pastors and preachers who boldly proclaimed truth, impacting the Founding Fathers and their words and ideas articulated in our founding documents. These ideas demonstrate the reality that men are born with unalienable rights granted by a Creator – not a government.

We are thankful that the Founding Fathers respected God and understood the importance of moral law and a moral Lawgiver, as well as the freedom to worship Him according to one’s convictions.

All glory be to You, O Lord, that we may without fear of government intrusion? assemble together privately and publicly to encourage and provoke one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25). We praise You that we may – without fear of punishment, persecution, or reprisal? corporately worship, teach, and admonish one another in “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16).

May these freedoms never be taken for granted, and may we remember they have not primarily been secured for our selfish interests but for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Amen.