Prayer For Inauguration Weekend

Dear Heavenly Father, Creator of the universe and all good things,

We are so very grateful for Your hand on this nation, The United States. From its inception Your hand of direction and blessing was on it. You led our founders in righteous direction and gave them Your way to set government in three branches: The Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our King; He will save us. We want that bedrock. We plead for that firm foundation – You – above all others.

As we move forward now with Donald John Trump as our President, we ask three things.

We ask for protection on the gatherings this weekend and going forward. We ask You will put a dome over those gathered for his swearing in and that any nefarious plans of harm above, on or under the earth will be revealed and foiled. We pray every effort for delay, hurt, or destruction will fail in plan and form; that they will trip and fall and be unable to rise. We ask that You and You alone will direct the weather. We ask for spiritual protection: that attacks of any and every type will boomerang back on those sending and intending them. We ask You to rebuke and cast out lesser gods who bring evil to each state, city, and town as well as over our nation. Cast them all out, we pray, never to show their filthy heads again. Replace them in Your righteousness.

We implore protection for righteous leaders and servants in this government, for them and their families and loved ones. We ask that the craft of plans to trip them or entrap them will come to nothing.

We pray that any person, regulation, or rule that is there in an effort to weaken, wound, or impoverish this administration will be revealed and ousted, losing all authority, control, and influence.

We ask for wisdom. You know all the things necessary for righteousness in a nation and we ask for those to be implemented. You know all that is not only unnecessary, but even destructive for a righteous nation and we ask they will be destroyed. Along with wisdom, we pray for insight, discernment, and knowledge. We pray that You will shine Your light on knowledge that has been hidden or interwoven with deceit so that we will know truth and be freed from the slavery that has been the result of those lies. You know all that’s going on in this world of ours, so we ask You to reveal what will help and what will move this nation to what You intended for it to be. We ask for Your strong hand in this matter.

We ask for Your Holy Spirit and Jesus to be present in every corner of government; and also in every part of our families, churches, education, business, media, and entertainment. We pray that Jesus will be lifted above all else. We ask forgiveness for the awful things this nation has taken part in, done from the least to the greatest. We all implore Your forgiveness. We pray for the sifting necessary to purify us completely. And we ask for mercy in this process. We pray You will give Your people pockets of Goshen and that You will deliver us from the evil one and every form of evil. And we thank You for what You are doing and how you are moving. We will watch You while You are watching us. You are not tame and You are beyond our idea of mighty and we love that about You. And we love You.

In Jesus’ blessed Name,

Amen

References: Isaiah 33:22; Celebration Hymnal C. 1997 by Word/Integrity.

Words To Stand By

. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. – Abraham Lincoln, November, 1863

After it all . . .

President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

If Jesus . . .

 

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Happy Labor Day!

Time For A Speech

On June 6th of 1944 175,000 soldiers heard or read a speech from the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was the eve of the invasion of Normandy Beach in France. The assault was code-named Operation Overlord.

Boys, some barely past high school and all who had their whole lives ahead of them, jumped into the unknown to save ordinary people from unspeakable evil.

We’ve seen a lot of wickedness, ourselves, of late. The more we find out, the darker it becomes. If you’re confused about that statement, you need to start doing some research in your spare time. Mainstream reporters won’t tell you. They have become untrustworthy and contribute to the problem. They will lie to you as smoothly as a crooning lothario. It’s time for you to take responsibility for your own knowledge.

And now we’re facing a panic over a type of flu. The virus spreads easily and unnoticeably and, though most people recover just fine, people with compromised immune systems are a bit more at risk for trouble. It’s always that way with the flu, by the way. What’s a puzzle is the panic. I’ll admit, early videos from China were very unsettling. They were awful not because of the sickness, but because of the way it was handled. But now schools, businesses, and churches are shutting down. This predictably affects the world economy. Yes, panic is affecting the world economy.

Don’t let words scare you. The word pandemic comes from the Greek pandemos, meaning “pertaining to all people”. Pan means “all” and Demos means “people.” Pandemic simply means the flu isn’t limited to one nation, but has traveled; in this case, worldwide. We might expect this because travel is very accessible these days.

No, getting sick is no reason for fear. But we are watching what we might call pandemonium. Would you like another lesson in etymology? You already know what pan means. Actually, Milton coined the term when he wrote Paradise Lost. He wanted to illustrate a place that was Satan’s Capitol, and he called it Pandaemonium. So pandemonium is literally the place of all demons. And that’s what you get when you allow chaos, confusion, and turmoil to fill up your world.

We have some idea of the people who are spreading the fear and can hypothesize some reasons for it. But it’s a strange state of affairs. And I believe that there is more behind this pandemonium than concern for health.

We have a choice. We can hide and quake and buy obnoxious amounts of whatever we believe we need to survive a long period of time. Or we can do our best to behave rationally, think logically, and live righteously.

Perhaps, should we be facing something yet unknown and just a little scary, we can read Eisenhower’s speech. C’mon now. If those young soldiers could act bravely, so can you. The eyes of the world are upon you.

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The 
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. 
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory! 

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.


                                            SIGNED: Dwight D. Eisenhower
[photograph: General Eisenhower 'Ike' D-Day message handed out to D-Day troops. Courtesy: Gary Ames.

Source: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2018/06; https://armyofgodspeech.wixsite.com/dday

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2017 Year In Review

Mrs. Covington’s Here!

Mrs. Covington’s here! Behave yourself. She’ll be watching!

 

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Mrs. Covington’s On Her Way

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Ladies and Gentlemen: We Have A Title!

Ladies and Gentlemen: We have a title! You will recall how I was bemoaning – wait, I’m not sure that’s the right word – puzzled? No. Frustrated? Mmm, no. It’s that state of being where you know something isn’t right, but are having trouble knowing how to fix it. What is that? Well, whatever it is, it’s fixed!

And, Rhonda Jensen, you have earned yourself a free, autographed copy of my new book fresh off the presses (when those presses print it 🙂 ) for your terrific suggestion! Yes, indeed. My publisher agreed to use the title, Mrs. Covington’s Sunday School Dropouts 003

I’m looking forward to August when it will be published! To whet your reading appetites, I will tell you that each chapter begins with something the main character has said to her students. Here’s a sample:

Peter said, ‘Lord, you know that I love you.’ and then Jesus said, ‘Take care of my sheep.’ Peter knew sheep were stupid and stubborn and could smell up the sheep pen, so he knew Jesus wasn’t saying this just because it had a pretty ring to it. No, Brandon, no one ever, ever adequately anticipates the clean up.

And so begins the clean up…

So Hallelujah and pass the coffee! I’m doing a little happy dance here in the hobbit-sized study where I write. I hope your day holds something as exciting for you as a new book title is for me!