Watch Focus July 3rd A Happy & Blessed 250th Birthday America!

From the Watch of the Lord on America’s 250th Birthday we come humbly before our Maker in gratitude, thanksgiving and prayer for our nation.

We come before the God of all grace and pray he would grant national repentance, salvation, restoration and a fresh wave of renewal into our education system.

We pray our nation would embody Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

We pray for a renewed revelation of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Lord Jesus Christ as His eternal Son releasing fresh blessing on our nation according to Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”

We pray for a national embracing of righteousness to exalt our nation afresh according to Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.”

We pray for an outpouring of blessing that Jacob spoke over Joseph from Genesis 49:25-26, “By the God of your father who will help you, And by the Almighty who will bless you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.”

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7. We pray for unity of the Spirit in the Church of Jesus Christ and a fresh wave of national unity to reconcile the divide through repentance and a turn to righteousness.

Words of the Founders:

John Adams writes to Abigail:

Philadelphia June 11, 1775

My Dear,

I have been this Morning to hear Mr. Duffil, a Preacher in this City whose Principles, Prayers and Sermons more nearly resemble those of our New England Clergy than any that I have heard.

His Discourse was a kind of Exposition on the thirty fifth Chapter of Isaiah. -- America was the Wilderness and the Solitary Place, and he said it would be glad, rejoice, and blossom as the Rose. He labored to strengthen the weak Hands and confirm the feeble Knees. He said to them that were of a fearful Heart, be strong, fear not: behold your God will come with Vengeance, even God with a Recompense will come and save you. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous Beast shall go up thereon, but the redeemed shall walk there -- &c.

He applied the whole Prophecy to this Country, and gave us, as animating an Entertainment, as I ever heard. He fill'd and swell'd the Bosom of every Hearer.

I hope you have received a Letter, in which I inclosed you, a Pastoral Letter from the Synod of New York and Philadelphia: by this you will see that the Clergy, this Way, are but now beginning to engage in Politicks, and they engage with a fervour that will produce wonderful effects.

June 17

I can now inform you that the Congress have made Choice of the modest and virtuous, the amiable, generous and brave George Washington Esq., to be the General of the American Army, and that he is to repair as soon as possible to the Camp before Boston. This Appointment will have a great Effect, in cementing and securing the Union of these Colonies. -- The Continent is really in earnest in defending the Country. They have voted Ten Companies of Rifle Men to be sent from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, to join the Army before Boston. These are an excellent Species of Light Infantry. They use a peculiar Kind of weapon called a Rifle -- it has circular Grooves within the Barrell, and carries a Ball, with great Exactness to great Distances. They are the most accurate Marksmen in the World.

I begin to hope We shall not sit all Summer.

I hope the People of our Province, will treat the General with all that Confidence and Affection, that Politeness and Respect, which is due to one of the most important Characters in the World. The Liberties of America, depend upon him, in a great Degree.

I have never been able to obtain from our Province, any regular and particular Intelligence since I left it. Kent, Swift, Tudor, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Winthrop, and others wrote me often, last Fall -- not a Line from them this Time.

I have found this Congress like the last. When We first came together, I found a strong jealousy of Us, from New England, and the Massachusetts in Particular. Suspicions were entertained of Designs of Independency -- an American Republic -- Presbyterian Principles -- and twenty other Things. Our Sentiments were heard in Congress, with great Caution -- and seemed to make but little Impression: but the longer We sat, the more clearly they saw the Necessity of pursuing vigorous Measures. It has been so now. Every Day We sit, the more We are convinced that the Designs against Us, are hostile and sanguinary, and that nothing but Fortitude, Vigour, and Perseverance can save Us.

But America is a great, unwieldy Body. Its Progress must be slow. It is like a large Fleet sailing under Convoy. The fleetest Sailors must wait for the dullest and slowest. Like a Coach and six -- the swiftest Horses must be slackened and the slowest quickened, that all may keep an even Pace…We have appointed a continental Fast. Millions will be upon their Knees at once before their great Creator, imploring his Forgiveness and Blessing, his Smiles on American Councils and Arms.

From http://masshist.org

 As governor in 1779, Thomas Jefferson issued a proclamation, one of many calling his state to prayer, asking them to give thanks “that He [God] hath diffused the glorious light of the Gospel, whereby through the merits of our gracious Redeemer we may become the heirs of the eternal glory.”

Jefferson further asked citizens to pray “that He would grant to His church the plentiful effusions of Divine grace and pour out His Holy Spirit on all ministers of the Gospel; that He would bless and prosper the means of education and spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth.”  Thomas Jefferson, “Proclamation Appointing a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer,” November 11, 1779, Papers of Jefferson, ed. Boyd (1951), 3:178.