Lent & Beyond

Job 26:6 (AMP)
Sheol (the place of the dead) is naked before God, and Abaddon (the place of destruction) has no covering [from His eyes].

Proverbs 15:11 (AMP)
Sheol (the place of the dead) and Abaddon (the abyss, the final place of the accuser Satan) are both before the Lord—how much more, then, the hearts of the children of men?

Dear Jesus,
You descended into the lower parts of the earth and ascended far above the heavens, that You might fill all things. You are the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in You, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in You shall never die.
The hearts of the voters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are before You. In You is life, and Your life is the light of mankind that cannot be overcome by darkness. Fill Philadelphia with Your life, we pray. We declare Your holy name over Philadelphia! Amen.
John 1:4-5, 11:25a, Ephesians 4:9-10

Psalm 105:1-8 (NLT)
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.
Exult in his holy name;
rejoice, you who worship the Lord.
Search for the Lord and for his strength;
continually seek him.
Remember the wonders he has performed,
his miracles, and the rulings he has given,
you children of his servant Abraham,
you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.
He is the Lord our God.
His justice is seen throughout the land.
He always stands by his covenant—
the commitment he made to a thousand generations.

We remember the wonders You performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, O Lord. We remember the guidance You gave our founding fathers in this city. What justice You wrought!
We have sinned and broken covenant in so many ways. We cry out, Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!
Let there be Your perfect justice and Your perfect mercy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in this election. Amen.

The Articles of Confederation proved inadequate for commercial and trading issues. A constitutional convention met in Philadelphia in May 1787. In September 1787, the charter was signed for a completely new American government to begin operating as soon as the people of nine of the states approved it in special ratifying conventions. To indicate that the new federal government would be a republic of Americans, rather than a confederation of states, Pennsylvania delegate Gouveneur Morris rewrote the Preamble:

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Morris once said, “Religion is the only solid Base of morals and Morals are the only possible support of free governments.”

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. Proverbs 9:10 NLT

Our Heavenly Father,
We thank You for the men and women who have invested so much and who have sacrificed their lives to protect the freedom of the citizens of the United States of America. We thank You for the faith of our founding fathers and the generations that have followed.
We humbly beseech You to loose a spirit of the fear of the Lord over the Christians and Jews in this election season, particularly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Only in You can we achieve a more perfect union. Only in You can we establish justice. Only in You can we insure domestic tranquility. Only in You can we provide for the common defense. Only in You can we promote the general welfare. Only in You can we secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Psalm 104:30-33 (NCV)
When you breathe on them,
they are created,
and you make the land new again.
May the glory of the Lord be forever.
May the Lord enjoy what he has made.
He just looks at the earth, and it shakes.
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.

We sing praises to You, O Lord,
For You are the fountain of life. In You we live and move and have our being.
Breathe on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! Send forth Your Spirit and renew this city.
Breathe, O Lamb of God, who has taken away the sins of the world! Breathe!
Breathe on her citizens in this election season. Stir their hearts to seek You, the Giver of life. Amen.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NLT)
This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited salty land.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. O Lord, have mercy on our nation.

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.

Our Father in heaven,
Are there not yet many in the United States who have made their hope and confidence in You? Let their votes be like bright streams between the hills that grow into a great river, a river of living water. Let their votes bring life.
You are the fountain of living waters. From Your throne and the throne of the Lamb flows the pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal. May the citizens of our nation be rooted in living water. May the citizens of our nation be rooted in You. Amen.

Hebrews 1:5-9 (NLT)
For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus:
“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”

God also said,
“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son.”

And when he brought his supreme Son into the world, God said,
“Let all of God’s angels worship him.”

Regarding the angels, he says,
“He sends his angels like the winds,
his servants like flames of fire.”

But to the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
You rule with a scepter of justice.
You love justice and hate evil.
Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you,
pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.”

Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the Son of the Living God. Your throne endures forever and ever. You are supreme in the United States of America. You love justice and hate evil. Therefore we proclaim Your holy name over our national elections. Amen.

In preparation for the upcoming elections, we are looking at our nation’s origins in Philadelphia.

The role of Philadelphia as the headquarters of the revolutionary government made it the objective of British General Howe’s campaign of 1777. After Howe defeated Washington’s forces south of the city, the congress fled, and Philadelphia was occupied by the British through the winter of 1777-78. The continental army camped outside the city at Valley Forge, and fighting occasionally flared up.
Howe’s occupation of Philadelphia proved meaningless. The new government simply moved to York, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1778, a change of generals and of war plans led the British army to evacuate the city and return to New York, opening the way for reconvening the congress in Philadelphia.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 NLT
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.

Our Father in heaven,

You are the God of our salvation. Put aside Your anger against us once more. Our nation has sinned, and put our faith in human constructs and false gods. Will You be angry with us always? Will You prolong Your wrath to all generations?
Revive Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Show her Your unfailing love and grant her Your salvation. Surely Your salvation is near to those who fear You so that Your land in Philadelphia will be filled with Your glory.

Christians of Philadelphia, take the mind of Christ Jesus:

Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

May it be so in Philadelphia. “Glory!” We declare, “Glory over Philadelphia!” Amen.
Psalm 85:4-9, Philippians 2:6-11

References: History of the United States by Douglas Brinkley, Encyclopedia Britannica

“The General hopes this important Event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer, and soldier, to act with Fidelity and Courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of his Country depends (under God) solely on the success of our arms: And that he is now in the service of a State, possessed of sufficient power to reward his merit, and advance him to the highest Honors of a free Country.”

— George Washington, General Orders, July 9, 1776

Psalm 22:28
For the kingdom is the LORD’S And He rules over the nations.

1 Chronicles 29:12
Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone.

Acts 17:26
And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.

Amen.
You are Sovereign, Lord God Almighty, over the United States of America. We thank You for the blessings that You have bestowed upon our nation. Our strength and success, even the very continuance of this nation, are in Your hand.
We bless the United States of America, and we bless the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where our independence was declared and decreed.
Amen and Amen.

In preparation for the national elections, we are looking at our nation’s roots in Philadelphia, PA.

Abraham Clark was an American politician and Revolutionary War figure. He was delegate for New Jersey to the Continental Congress where he signed the Declaration of Independence and later served in the United States House of Representatives in both the Second and Third United States Congress.

Nothing short of the Almighty Power of God can Save us-it is not in our Numbers, our Union, or our Valour that I dare trust.

2 Samuel 22:33 GNT
This God is my strong refuge; he makes my pathway safe.

Almighty God,
Nothing short of Your Power can save the United States of America at this juncture. We do not trust in our numbers, our union, or our valor. We place our trust in You. Amen.

In preparation for the national elections, we are examining our roots in Philadelphia, PA.

George Read was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Continental Congressman, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, President of Delaware, a U.S. Senator from Delaware and Chief Justice of Delaware.
George Read and Richard Bassett of Delaware helped to draft the Delaware Constitution of 1776. It required the following oath for all government officers:

I, ________, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.

2 Timothy 3:16 Names of God Bible
Every Scripture passage is inspired by God. All of them are useful for teaching, pointing out errors, correcting people, and training them for a life that has God’s approval.

Almighty God,
You are indeed our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Your only Son. Jesus Christ learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
Almighty God, You are not the author of confusion, but of peace. We stand in agreement with all of the scripture that has been read out loud in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania through the ages and declare, “Peace!” to this city. Amen.

Hebrews 5:8-9, 1 Corinthians 14:33

Georgia governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Lyman Hall’s epitaph reads as follows:

“Beneath this stone rest the remains of the Hon. Lyman Hall, Formerly Governor of this State, who departed this life the 19th of Oct., 1790, in the 67th year of his age.”
”In the cause of America he was uniformly a patriot. In the incumbent duties of a husband and a father he acquitted himself with affection and tenderness. But, reader, above all, know from this inscription that he left the probationary scene as a true Christian and an honest man.”

Proverbs 10:9 ESV
Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.
Amen. We declare it so in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Proverbs 11:3 ESV
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
Amen. We declare it so in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Ephesians 4:25 ESV
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Amen. We declare it so in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In preparation for the election, we are examining our nation’s roots in Philadelphia, PA.

Oliver Wolcott (1726 – 1797) was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and also the Articles of Confederation as a representative of Connecticut.

Through various scenes of life, God has sustained me. May He ever be my unfailing friend; may His love cherish my soul; may my heart with gratitude acknowledge His goodness; and may my desires be to Him and to the remembrance of His name….May we then turn our eyes to the bright objects above, and may God give us strength to travel the upward road. May the Divine Redeemer conduct us to that seat of bliss which He himself has prepared for His friends; at the approach of which every sorrow shall vanish from the human heart and endless scenes of glory open upon the enraptured eye. There our love to God and each other will grow stronger, and our pleasures never be dampened by the fear of future separation. How indifferent will it then be to us whether we obtained felicity by travailing the thorny or the agreeable paths of life – whether we arrived at our rest by passing through the envied and unfragrant road of greatness or sustained hardship and unmerited reproach in our journey. God’s Providence and support through the perilous perplexing labyrinths of human life will then forever excite our astonishment and love. May a happiness be granted to those I most tenderly love, which shall continue and increase through an endless existence. Your cares and burdens must be many and great, but put your trust in that God Who has hitherto supported you and me; He will not fail to take care of those who put their trust in Him….It is most evident that this land is under the protection of the Almighty, and that we shall be saved not by our wisdom nor by our might, but by the Lord of Host Who is wonderful in counsel and Almighty in all His operations.

Our Father in heaven,
You are the Almighty. O Lord of hosts, You command the angel armies.
We acknowledge Your goodness to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through Your providence and support, what great things have been wrought! You will not fail to take care of those who put their trust in You.
Our nation is in a “perilous perplexing labyrinth of human life.” Have mercy. Have mercy, Lord. Have mercy. Turn the eyes of the Christians to You.
We loose the angels of guidance over Philadelphia! We loose the angels of wisdom and light! We loose the angels of life! Amen.

Leading up to the election, we are examining our nation’s roots in Philadelphia, PA.

Charles Carroll was a leader of the American Revolution and the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. He helped to draft the Maryland Constitution, was a member of the Committee of Correspondence, and eventually became a United States Senator, where he helped to establish the Bill of Rights.

He attended the Jesuits’ College at St. Omar, France, and then a seminary in Rheims. In a letter, Carroll wrote:

“Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure, [and] which denounces against the wicked eternal misery, and [which] insured to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”

Romans 13:8-10 ESV
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

O Father,
We cry out for Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, to love one another, to love even the least of these–the unborn child. Amen.