By Ruth James
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through 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.
These words penned by Irving Berlin should be a prayer from the heart of each American citizen who is a child of God. In order for God to bless America, then America must turn to God’s Word.
This great nation was built on the truths from the Bible. Our forefathers agreed with this statement from the first President of the United States, George Washington:
“It is impossible to rightly
govern the world without God and the Bible.”
“The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. I speak as a man of the world… and I say to you, ‘Search the Scriptures.’”
– John Quincy Adams,
Sixth President of the United States
“In regard for this Great Book, I have this to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book.”
– Abraham Lincoln
Sixteenth President of the United States
“We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity.”
– Franklin Roosevelt,
Thirty-second President of the United States
As a Christian lady who is also an American citizen, one must agree that still today the greatest heritage that can be passed to the next generation is found in the treasure of God’s Holy Word. Within its pages lie the foundations to build, “one nation under God”:
Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”
II Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Psalm 33:11, “The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blesssed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people who he hath chosen for his own inheritance.”
Acts 10:34, 35, “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”
Psalm 71:17, 18, “O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.”
In celebrating the independence of our nation, take time to reach into the treasure box of the Bible and claim truths which can be used in building a Christian heritage for the next generation.
