• That the depression gripping the nation was causing fear and panic among the people.
• Factories were stopping production, and thousands were unemployed.
Although Jeremiah Lanthier was not a big industrialist, only a clerk, he had one important distinction. He was a man who had great faith in God!
Concerned with the grim economic situation, he sent a note to all his business acquaintances, telling them that each day at noon a prayer meeting would be held in his office.
• With high hopes, he arranged 20 chairs in a circle, but the first day no one came.
• All alone he prayed fervently that God would bring about a great change in him, and in America.
• The second day he was encouraged, for a few friends joined him.
• A short time later a similar gathering was started on Wall Street, and finally on Broadway.
Then, like wildfire, the movement spread to all parts of the country. The moral tone of the nation was affected, and there was a great upsurge in the spiritual life of the people.
Some historians say that this effort of united prayer and faith was an integral part of the improvement in the economy which soon followed.
Psalm 33:12 states clearly, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”
While we recognize that prayer has done much for individuals, homes, churches, and nations, there is something about prayer that many folks do not know.
Did you know that many of the songs we sing are prayers offered up to the Lord?
Illus: Our song leader when he leads us in a congregational hymn, he could say, “Now let us pray as we sing “Cleanse Me.”
Listen to some of the words in this prayer:
• “Search me, O God, and know my heart today:
• Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts I pray.
• See if there be some wicked way in me.
• Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.”
That is a prayer, a beautiful prayer every time we sing it.
Illus: There are many more, such as:
• In the Garden
• Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
• My Faith Looks Up to Thee
• Pass Me Not
• Sweet Hour of Prayer
• Tell It to Jesus
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus
You might say, “All right, I agree that many songs in our hymnbooks are prayers, BUT DOES GOD HEAR THOSE KINDS OF PRAYERS?”
We have ample proof that He indeed does.
For example, we have been singing for many years that old hymn prayer, which Kate Smith made so popular many years ago, “God, Bless America!”
As we have sang that song as a prayer unto the Lord, God has heard it, and God has blessed America.
In a world that seems to be in utter chaos at times, we can always be thankful that God has allowed us to be born in, and to live in America.
Illus: Something you hardly ever hear citizens of our country saying is, “I wish I lived in some other country!” (Especially if they have visited any other country.) You might hear, “If I could not live in America, I would like to live somewhere else.” But our first choice is to live in America!
Illus: Sometime before a political election we have some of the rich say, “If my candidate does not win, I am going to move out of this country.”
Such people as:
• Barbara Streisand
• Jon Stewart
• Tina Fey
• Whoopi Goldberg
• Stephen Baldwin
• Cher and others
Many of us would be willing to buy their airplane ticket, but have you notice, they never move!
America’s living standard is the envy of the world.
Illus: A pastor asked a young Jamaican, “What do you plan to do with your life?” He replied, “My greatest desire is to one day be able to go to America.”
Many countries have “built walls” to hold their people in and at the same time the people try to tear them down so they can leave and come to America.
We Americans are a blessed people; make no mistake about it!
Why are we blessed?
Psalm 33:12 tells us, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”
Although America has suffered many spiritual reverses, let me show you why God has blessed this nation we call America.
I. LOOK AT OUR FOUNDATION.
Illus: Any builder will tell you the most important thing in building is the foundation. If the foundation is not right the building will come tumbling down.
This is also true in the building of a nation.
Anyone who has ever studied our history knows that this nation was founded upon a Christian foundation. People came here looking to serve freely the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!
How sad it is to discover that ungodly people in our society who are trying to change the course of this nation are diligently trying to rewrite our history books.
Why? Because, as our children read the true account of how this great nation was founded, they read over and over how Christian men and women, who believed what this Bible teaches, were the main ones this country was built by. The courageous men who wrote our nation’s constitution BELIEVED IN THE WORD OF GOD!
They were not PERFECT by any means, but they were God fearing men who believe if America was going to be a strong nation it must be built on the WORD OF GOD!
For example, when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, they knelt down upon that shore and thanked God for giving them this new country. They had left a land where they had been persecuted as they served God and came to this land hoping to be free to worship God.
You can see the Living God throughout the history of this nation.
• In Washington, D.C., nearly all of the statues of our founding fathers have scriptures in the base.
• “In God We Trust” was, and still is, imprinted on our money.
• The first schools were taught by pastors in one room classrooms, and in the churches across America.
• When the Continental Congress faced great problems and difficulties, they knew what to do. They turned to God in prayer and asked Him to guide them.
• Benjamin Franklin called on the members of the Congress to fall upon their knees to pray.
• The church of Jesus Christ was at the center of every new settlement in this land when it was new.
• Did you know that John Jay, the first Supreme Court’s chief justice, and true expert on the Constitution, said it was the duty, not right, of the people to elect Christians as their leaders?
• Did you know that Madison, writer of the Constitution of the United States, said the constitution was written for a Christian people and was wholly inadequate for other?
• Did you know that the picture of Moses was imprinted on the first coin minted in this country?
Our forefathers knew that if they were going to build a strong nation, they had to build it on a strong foundation.
THEY BUILT IT UPON THE WORD OF GOD!
Illus: A South American president said this to Roger Babson, “South America was settled by men who were seeking gold, but North America was settled by men who were seeking God.”
Illus: Do you remember the story of what took place in Washington, at Valley Forge? Washington’s army was almost starving and freezing to death. They were fighting against seemingly insurmountable odds. Our history books tell us that at that time George Washington went down upon his knees, in the snow, praying.
This is why God has richly blessed this nation.
We have sung, “GOD, BLESS AMERICA,’ and God has answered our prayer, He has richly blessed the people of this nation.
When you LOOK AT OUR FOUNDATION, you know why God has blessed this nation.
Also...
II. LOOK AT OUR FORTUNE.
How could anyone drive across this nation and see how God has blessed and doubt that God has heard the prayer we have sung, “God, Bless America.”
Look at...
A. Our farm resources.
Everything we have need of we can grow here, in America.
God has not only given us enough to feed our nation, but to also feed those of other nations.
Illus: The story is told of a family in Russia. There were three children in this family. One day a man asked the father how they were doing.
The father replied that they were doing just fine, and then he asked, “How are your three boys?” He said,
• “Oh, our oldest boy is a doctor here in Russia.
• “Our middle boy is a scientist here in Russia.”
• Then the man asked, “What about your youngest boy?”
• “Oh, you know him. He was always the lazy one. He fled the country and went to America. He is living on welfare there. If it was not for what he sends us, we all would be starving to death!”
Seriously, God has given people of America the technology, equipment, and the rich soil and weather conditions that make it possible to feed this whole nation, and practically all the other people of the world, using only a small portion of our land.
Also, when it comes to our FORTUNE, look at...
B. Our bountiful natural beauty.
As one travels around the world, he will see beautiful things everywhere he goes, but when it is all over and done with, America has more NATURAL BEAUTY than any other one nation in the world.
There is no country in the world that can boast of more beauty than what God has blessed us with. What country can match?
• Niagara Falls.
• The Grand Canyon.
• Yellowstone National Park.
• The Redwood forests of California.
• Carlsbad Caverns.
• Silver Springs,
Just to mention a few.
This country is loaded with beauty.
John Wayne - Why I Love America
YouTube
depper
3.6K views
May 24, 2011
Yes, God, in His omniscience could see a people who would flee one country to seek a land where they could practice religious freedom. He knew they would land where they did on the shores of present-day America and would fall to their knees and ask God to help them establish a great nation. God has blessed them, and us, with this beautiful land.
Also, when it comes to our fortune, look at...
C. Our freedoms.
Sometimes Christians in America become frustrated by many things we hear and read, but we have to tolerate these things if we want the freedom to express what we think.
Illus: There are people in many nations in the world who cannot express how they feel about leaders as we do in America. If those people said what many of our people say about our leaders, they would be shipped off to some concentration camp, or worse, would be taken out and shot.
Illus: There are preachers in many countries in the world who do not have the freedom to preach what this Bible teaches. As a pastor, I am thankful to God that I live in a country where I am free to preach anything this Bible teaches.
WE ARE A BLESSED PEOPLE!
THE FOUNDATION and the FORTUNE of this country reveals that!
Also,
III. LOOK AT OUR FUTURE.
• Pericles built a civilization upon CULTURE, and it failed.
• Caesar built a civilization upon POWER, and it failed.
• Our forefathers founded America upon GOD, and America will live so long as we continue to honor the Lord as our God!
Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”
The greatest danger in this country is from the dangerous trend that has been building for some time.
This trend is that our people are CEASING TO DENY THAT GOD IS TO BE LORD OF OUR NATION!
Many have made other things to be the gods of their lives.
Illus: If there ever was a time when churches across this nation should be packed out, it is on the July 4th weekend. That is, every person should be in the house of God to express how much they deeply appreciate God’s allowing them to be Americans.
Instead, many people have chosen to head to the beaches and mountains to serve the gods of entertainment, pleasure, and recreation.
Many of the citizens of this God BLESSED country will only mention the name of God when they take it in vain
• The Medes and Persians could have had a nation blessed of God; instead, they chose the gods of strong drink and self-destructed through one drunken orgy after another and so their civilization was demolished from the face of the earth.
• God used Joseph to prosper Egypt. However, four hundred years after that, they forgot about what God had done for them and Egypt fell from being a great nation like a falling rock.
• Greece had some of the greatest leaders and military commanders that ever lived. Alexander, the great, had conquered the then known world, but he was unable to conquer himself. He also died in a drunken orgy and the civilization of Greece ceased to be great nation.
• Rome became a proud ruler of the world, but then it began to crumble as the people began to thrive on luxury and lust, and ultimately it also ceased to be a great nation.
The people of America need to read and re-read the history of the nations that have fallen and remember that this nation is great because our people have honored God.
Our founders knew how to pray and seek God’s guidance.
Now, we are following in the footsteps of nations who have fallen before us. Our people are forgetting God.
We must be reminded that when nations of the past forgot God, God “forgot” them.
We must turn this trend around or all is lost.
Every born again Christian need to be registered voters and when election time vote for candidates that promote godliness!!!
Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”
Conclusion: Let us all pray this prayer….
“God, bless America, land that we love.
Stand beside her and guide her
Thru’ the night with a light from above.
From the mountains to the prairies,
To the ocean white with foam,
God bless America, my home, sweet home.”
I. LOOK AT OUR FOUNDATION.
II. LOOK AT OUR FORTUNE.
III. LOOK AT OUR FUTURE.
Kate Smith's Heart-Stirring 'God Bless America' - This Is the Army (1943) HD
YouTube
Inter-Pathé
653.4K views
Jun 9, 2023
