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A PRAYER THAT PLEASES GOD
For President’s Day
Our God is pleased when on our
knees
we lift our President
and intercede for him who leads
our nation’s government.
It’s good to pray and humbly
say
how grateful we all are
because this man who guides our land
has learned from failure’s scars.
Perhaps George knows that like
a rose
God finds prayer’s fragrance sweet.
At any rate, he thinks it’s great
we pray for him each week.
by Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos
AP World History Student Newsletters
"The Aeneid"
We are all called upon by the highest
obligations of duty to renew our thanks and our devotion to our Heavenly
Parent, who has continued to vouchsafe to us the eminent blessings which
surround us and who has so signally crowned the year with His goodness. If
we find ourselves increasing beyond example in numbers, in strength, in
wealth, in knowledge, in everything which promotes human and social
happiness, let us ever remember our dependence for all these on the
protecting and merciful dispensations of Divine Providence.
--John Tyler, December 7, 1841
Our strength lies in spiritual concepts.
It lies in public sensitiveness to evil. Our greatest danger is not from
invasion by foreign armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from
within by complaisance with evil, or by public tolerance of scandalous
behavior.
--Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United
States
“I do have the portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the wall of
the Oval Office. I do so because I think he was our country's greatest
President. I think he was our country's greatest President because he
understood that a united country is one that can achieve big things. He had
great faith in the American people. He was willing to stand by principle. He
understood his duty to future generations of Americans. And that's what I'm
here to talk about today, the American spirit.”
--George W. Bush, November 3, 2002
There are two prayers that I love to
say—the first is the Lord’s Prayer, and because the Lord taught it; and the
other is what seems to be a child’s prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep,”
and I love to say that because it suits me. I have been repeating it every
night for many years past, and I say it yet, and I expect to say it my last
night on earth…
--John Quincy Adams
The liberty, prosperity, and happiness of
our country will always be the object of my most fervent prayers to the
Supreme Author of All Good.
--James Monroe
In sincerity and truth, let us then rest
humbly in the hope, authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry
of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less
the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and
suffering country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
--Abraham Lincoln
“You can't divorce religious belief and
public service. I've never detected any conflict between God's will and my
political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.”
--Jimmy Carter
“The prayer on this page has been said by
me--by Harry S. Truman--from high school days, as a window washer, bottle
duster, floor scrubber in an Independence, MO, drugstore, as a timekeeper on
a railroad contract gang, as an employee of a newspaper, as a bank clerk, as
a farmer riding a gang plow behind four horses and mules, as a fraternity
official learning to say nothing at all if good could not be said of a man,
as public official judging the weaknesses and shortcomings of constituents,
and as President of the United States of America.”
--Harry S. Truman, August 15, 1950
Truman’s Prayer
Oh! Almighty and Everlasting God, Creator of Heaven, Earth and the Universe:
Help me to be, to think, to act what is right, because it is right; make me
truthful, honest and honorable in all things; make me intellectually honest
for the sake of right and honor and without thought of reward to me. Give me
the ability to be charitable, forgiving and patient with my fellowmen - help
me to understand their motives and their shortcomings -- even as Thou
understandest mine!
Amen, Amen, Amen.
--Harry Truman
Finally, it is my fervent prayer to that
Almighty Being…that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and
inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from
dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united happy people.
--Andrew Jackson
All must admit that the reception of the
teachings of Christ results in the purest patriotism, in the most scrupulous
fidelity to public trust, and in the best type of citizenship. Those who
manage the affairs of government are by this means reminded that the law of
God demands that they should be courageously true to the interest of the
people, and that the Ruler of the Universe will require of them a strict
account of their stewardship. The teachings of both human and Divine law
thus merging into one word, duty, form the only union of Church and state
that a civil and religious government can recognize.
--Grover Cleveland
Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace
and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of
Christmas.
--Calvin Coolidge
Before all else, we seek, upon our common
labor as a nation, the blessings of Almighty God. And the hopes in our
hearts fashion the deepest prayers of our whole people. May we pursue the
right—without self-righteousness. May we know unity—without conformity. May
we grow in strength—without pride in self. May we, in our dealings with all
people of the earth, ever speak truth and serve justice…And so the prayer of
our people carries far beyond our own frontiers to the wide world of our
duty and destiny.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower
The men who established this government
had faith in God and sublimely trusted in Him. They besought His counsel and
advice in every step of their progress. And so it has been ever since;
American history abounds in instances of this trait of piety, this sincere
reliance on a Higher Power in all great trials in our national affairs. Our
rulers may not always be observers of the outward forms of religion but we
have never had a president, from Washington to Harrison, who publicly avowed
infidelity, or scoffed at the faith of the masses of our people.
--William McKinley
The whole inspiration of our civilization
springs from the teachings of Christ and the lessons of the prophets. To
read the Bible for these fundamentals is a necessity of American life.
--Herbert Hoover
Every thinking man, when he thinks,
realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with
our whole civic and social life that it would be literally—I do not mean
figuratively, but literally—impossible for us to figure what that loss would
be if these teachings were removed. We would lose all the standards by which
we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards which
we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves.
--Theodore Roosevelt
If American democracy is to remain the greatest hope of humanity, it
must continue abundantly in the faith of the Bible.
--Calvin Coolidge
I only look to the gracious protection of
the Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I
fervently pray to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations
of His Providence to bless our beloved country with honors and length of
days; may her ways be pleasantness, and all her paths peace.
--President Martin VanBuren
Quotes taken from The Presidential Prayer Team Web Site
National Archives Hold America's Inspiration
In September 2003, the National Archives in Washington, D.C. were re-dedicated. Several key documents were given new displays that made them more accessible to the public. Many officials spoke during the re-dedication festivities including Senator Bill Frist. His comments remind us of the importance of the National Archives to our nation's godly heritage, for it is in those records that we find so much evidence of the godly intent of our nation's leaders, past and present. From the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution to the Bill of Rights, the National Archives is the repository of America's heritage of freedom, faith and liberty. In his comments, Senator Frist cites the original dedicatory prayer of President Herbert Hoover:
Archived within these walls is the story of our people and our progress as a nation—from the pension records of patriots who won our independence to the flight plan of Apollo 11 which first landed man on the moon.
Indeed, the American story is about courage in the face of grave danger, sacrifice when only life was left to give, and faith when all was lost but a slight hint of hope. But, above all, it is a story about the power and triumph of ideas—bold ideas like those contained in these documents—liberty, self-government, equality, free enterprise.
Into these documents our Founding Fathers poured wisdom and knowledge and experience gained from centuries of progress. And from these documents our progress—and indeed the progress of all humankind—has emanated since.
Upon laying the cornerstone of this building seven decades ago, President Herbert Hoover said, "Devoutly the Nation will pray that it may endure forever, the repository of records of yet more glorious progress of our beloved country."
Today let us reaffirm that prayer for these archives
and, above all, for the ideas that have flowed from these documents for more
than two and a quarter centuries and, by the grace of God, will flourish
anew for generations to come.
--Senator William Frist
Great
Cultural Studies Web Sites
WallBuilders
WallBuilders’ goal is to exert a direct and positive influence in
government, education, and the family by (1) educating the nation concerning
the Godly foundation of our country; (2) providing information to federal,
state, and local officials as they develop public policies which reflect
Biblical values; and (3) encouraging Christians to be involved in the civic
arena.