Day 18 of 40 Days of Prayer

16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” (John 3:16-21 NLT)

Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you today to thank you for loving us, you loved us before Adam, you loved us after Adam, and you loved us when you sent your Son Jesus to save us. We thank you for your Son, for his sacrifice, for his love, and for his righteousness. We ask for forgiveness of our sins, sins against you and each other, we have been a nation that has taken for granted the freedoms we have. We have taken for granted the price that your Son paid, the price that our forefathers fought for and the many lives lost from battles and wars to gain the freedoms of our great nation. We have seen the light and we are no longer standing in the shadows, we are proclaiming you as the God of this nation and sharing your light, your freedom and your love with all the world. We will not remain silent and allow the wicked to prevail; for your Son’s sake we claim the victory that has already been won. We acknowledge the sovereignty of only one king and He is the King of Kings! Our eyes have been opened, our voices will be heard, and our hearts are ready. Your Son saved us because you loved us, not to condemn us, but so we could be made righteous through him! We pray for our nation and our leaders, for their sincere hearts and for their desire to serve you and not themselves. We are the salt and the light of the world, we will add flavor to this land– we will show your love, mercy and loving-kindness for all. We will shine your light so that evil has to flee and cannot stand in our presence. Give us the strength to be bold in our faith, in our words and in our actions. We pray for the voice of truth to be heard and believed, the enemy has taken over the truth and has twisted and corrupted it – we pray that the lies would no longer be tolerated and that your people would join together and silence the enemy. We pray that the lost would hear your truth, that their hearts would turn to you, softened and ready to receive you. We pray that those that have allowed bitterness and the world to take over their hearts, turning their hearts from you into a cold stony heart - would instead become pliable, soft and flexible – a heart that you could work with, to mold to where it should be instead of where it wandered away from you to. We give you all the honor and glory and praise dear God and we want to exalt you high above all else – we thank you for your mercy and grace and we thank you for your love, bless us as a people and as a nation, bless us so that we might bless others, encourage us, so that we might encourage others – in your Son Jesus’ precious name we pray ~ AMEN!