Demanding Our Declaration of Independence
July 4th is often regarded as another day off with the thoughts of grilling out or camping with family or friends. A few more people may pause in gratitude to God on this special day to honor those who fought and even died for America’s freedom. …But what did that July 4, 1776 mean to those who signed the Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain? To name just a few, Patrick Henry said, “The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” He also said on March 23, 1775, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” Nathan Hale said on September 22, 1776 before his hanging by the British, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” George Washington said, “Nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. A peace on other terms would…be a peace of war.” He also said, “The injuries we have received from the British nation were so unprovoked, and have been so great and so many, that they can never be forgotten” (1778). Have we forgotten? Maybe, we need to purposely remember.
George Washington declared so well the following statements, “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.” “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” Oh, how true.
The men who signed the Declaration of Independence knew the great oppression of British dominion, but their cause for liberty ignited a drive for freedom. They knew that it could only become reality as they, in one mind and one accord, were empowered by the Almighty God. All odds declared that they could not prevail against the British, but odds are defeated in the face of the great “I AM.” America has stood strong because it has been “…one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Liberty is not man doing whatever he wishes, but freedom to serve Jesus Christ in respect to His Holy Word. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance” (Ps. 33:12). Does America still declare that God is Lord; that we will abide by the Bible? If it does not, then our nation cannot be blessed. …Yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord (Ps. 144:15). If God (and His Word) is not Lord, happiness is lost.
Will the American people have to know the burden of oppression before they cry out for God? God tells us in 2 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.” Church, the Spirit of God beckons us to rise up and cry out to Him. Two of our leaders have recently stated that they are for homosexual marriages. Do we realize the negative implications of such a statement against this nation in the realm of the spirit which overflows to the natural? “By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked” (Prov. 11:11). The word “wicked” is rasha which is a legal term meaning anyone who sinned against the law. God’s law says in Leviticus 20:13 that homosexuality is an abomination to God (see Rom. 1:26-28; 1 Cor. 6:9&10).
This is not the time to curse the darkness in American. It is time to be the light of the world which always dispels the darkness. Jesus said to us, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Mt. 5:16). How do we let our light shine? …By cleaving to the Light of the world, Who is Jesus, and by allowing Him to shine through us. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth…” (Rom. 1:16). We are called to pray for our leaders in America that “we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Tim. 2:1&2). Church, let us demand our Declaration of Independence by “Standing fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free…” (Gal. 5:1). Allow the Holy Spirit to ignite you with a passion of prayer for our nation to continue to be “the land of the free,” in Jesus.