The American Soul
The American Soul
George Washington's Faith, America’s Founding Principles
What if America's founders never intended to separate God from government? Exploring George Washington's personal prayer journal reveals a startling truth that challenges everything modern education teaches about our nation's founding.
Jesse Cope takes us on a profound journey through Washington's Monday morning prayers, where the father of our country wrote: "Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by the Holy Spirit." These words aren't from a private citizen merely practicing his personal faith—they're from the man who would shape a nation. How could Washington create a secular government while personally begging God to "direct my thoughts, words and work"?
The episode weaves together three crucial threads of American identity: personal faith practices, the sanctity of marriage, and the Christian foundations of our republic. Through an examination of Matthew 3, we see how John the Baptist's simple lifestyle challenges our modern discontent. We're prompted to consider whether we're truly grateful for God's provision or constantly demanding more than He's already blessed us with.
Perhaps most provocative is the exploration of liberty's true source. Our founders understood a paradox many have forgotten: while individuals must have freedom to choose their faith, liberty itself cannot survive without Christian principles guiding the nation. As former Speaker of the House Robert Winthrop declared: "Men must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or by the bayonet."
This isn't just history—it's a roadmap for reclaiming America's soul. When we understand that our greatest threats aren't merely political but spiritual forces opposing Christ, we gain clarity about what's truly at stake. Join this journey of rediscovery and consider what role your faith might play in America's future.
What daily practices help you connect with God? Have you considered how your personal faith impacts not just your life but your nation's destiny?
The American Soul Podcast
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Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing good, wherever y'all are, whatever part of the day y'all are in. I sure do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully it adds some extra tools for our toolboxes to help our country and ourselves draw back closer to God and Jesus Christ, even if just a little bit. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others and tell others about it, thank you so much. Very, very grateful for that. For those of y'all who continue to pray for the podcast and for me, thank you. Definitely need those prayers and desires of your prayers. Thank you very much. And for those of y'all who are new, glad you're here, hope you enjoy it, hope you come back, spend a little time with us. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son, jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and mercy, grace, forgiveness of sins, for all your many blessings, the ones we admit and the ones we don't. Forgive us our sins, lord. Forgive us, our cowardice and our unbelief, our judgment of others, the ones we admit and the ones we don't. Forgive us our sins, lord. Forgive us our cowardice and our unbelief, our judgment of others, our rash words and actions. Forgive us when we don't forgive others. Forgive us our hypocrisy. Help us to overcome them all. Help us to do your will each day, to love your son Jesus Christ and to follow his commands. To love our neighbors as ourselves. To love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Father, bless the marriages of those who are married. Guide those who have children in raising them to know you, father, and your Son Jesus Christ. Be with our leaders here in America and in whatever countries around the world people are listening. Give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Help them to rule in fear of you, them to rule in fear of you. Help us to elect men who rule in fear of you. Thank you for all those who are listening to the podcast today. Father, be with them and their families, guide them, bless them, surround them with your angels. Protect them from evil of any kind. Be with our law enforcement and our military, our firefighters. Keep them safe, father. Please bring them home safe to their families each day. Be with our educators, whether they're in public school or private school or at home. Help them to teach our nation's children to love you, father, to follow you, to teach our children your commands, your word, scripture. Forgive us for our falling away, father, for pulling so far away from you, especially in that regard with the education of our children. And please guide my words here, father, your son's name. We pray.
Speaker 1:Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to pray, to talk to him? Right? And if you're not real comfortable with that folks, if it's been a while since you prayed or if you've never really been a praying man or woman, it doesn't have to be fancy.
Speaker 1:There's no special formula, in fact, if nothing else, the Lord's Prayer, right, that's simple. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not to temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Right, simple prayer. That's great, but just tell God thank you for a couple things. Ask God's forgiveness for whatever you know you're doing, that you shouldn't be doing, and actually you know. Repent of it, be sorry that you're doing that and try and change and then pray for yourself, pray for your spouse, pray for your kids, your family, your community, your church, your nation, pray for those you know are hurting folks. Again, it doesn't have to be super fancy, it doesn't have to be this phenomenal prayer with all these big words.
Speaker 1:And then, if you're married, do you act like it? Is your spouse your passion each day, second only to God and Jesus Christ? Do you pursue them? Are your actions lining up with that? Do you get up each day and the first thing on your mind, second only to God and Jesus Christ, is what does my spouse need today? Right, and it's so similar folks, rightfully, so right. Our marriage is supposed to illustrate, exemplify the relationship between Christ and the church. So it makes sense that there's a lot of similarities in these two topics that we talk about each day on the podcast and they're so important. Right, you go back to Reagan. The family is a cornerstone of the nation. Marriage is a cornerstone of the family. God's a cornerstone of the marriage. It's all tied together. God's the cornerstone of the marriage. It's all tied together.
Speaker 1:So do you get up each day and are you concerned about when you're going to get to watch your TikTok videos and Instagram or TV? Are you concerned about doing fulfilling your role as a husband or a wife? And folks make no mistake, it's a choice, just like faith is a choice Right, and I've said this before on the podcast, I'll say it again, and folks make no mistake, it's a choice, just like faith is a choice right, and I've said this before on the podcast, I'll say it again the emotions come after the actions. Sometimes you get those emotions right first, and sometimes they last and sometimes they don't. But if you're struggling with man, I just don't feel like loving my spouse right now. I just don't feel like fulfilling those requirements. Do it anyway, folks.
Speaker 1:Feelings are so deceptive but it's a hard. I'm not doing a very good job of explaining this, but our feelings are so deceptive but when we're doing what we're supposed to, those feelings typically follow. And and I throw my, my wife, under the bus all the time. But she loves to work out, always has. I have had to work out my whole life. Do not love it, but throughout our marriage. When I have willingly worked out with her, it gets to the point where I look forward to it, and I can't explain to you how much I don't like working out. But when it's with her, for her, then all of a sudden it's not this burden, it's something I look forward to and want to do, and sometimes not. Sometimes, often, it wouldn't matter if it's in the morning or the afternoon or the evening or both. It's something that I enjoy doing because she enjoys it so much and we get to be together.
Speaker 1:And whatever it is that your spouse needs, whether it's working out or cooking, cleaning, taking a walk, sitting on the porch together, having sex, it doesn't matter what it is. If you will just do your job right, john Quincy Adams, duty is ours, results are God's. You will find that your attitude follows along, just almost without fail. All right, so we're going to go into, if I can find it, matthew, chapter three, I believe, the preaching of John the Baptist.
Speaker 1:Now, in those days, john the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, when he said the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Now, john himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem was going out to him and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves we have Abraham for our father. For I say to you that from these stones, god is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. The Baptism of Jesus. Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent him, saying I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me? But Jesus, answering, said to him permit it at this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he permitted him. After being baptized, jesus came up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on him. And behold, a voice out of heaven said this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Verse 3, for this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said the voice of one crying in the wilderness Make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. It's always kind of resonated with me Not saying that I do a great job of it, folks, but what a privilege to call out Jesus Christ to others who don't know Him or who think that they do but have been led astray. All the more important right for us to read God's Word each day To try and make sure that we're staying on that narrow path that leads to God and eternal life, and not straying to the left or the right. John himself had a garment this is verse four. John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Speaker 1:I wonder how many of us refuse to be satisfied by what God blesses us with. I don't even like to think about how guilty I have been of that over the years. There's a huge difference, folks, in settling for less than God wants us to have and demanding more than God has already given us. Too often we settle, when it comes to our faith and relationships, for less than God wants us to have. Often, I think, it's out of lack of patience. At least in my case, folks, it is. We want what we want right now, and so, instead of waiting on God's timing, we take whatever good we can find, and it might be good, it might not even be bad, but often I think it's less than what God really intended for us, and again, it has a lot to do with our faith and our relationships. We want this strong faith right now and we're not willing to wait on God to work through us to really develop a strong faith. Right, you want to be a leader to others around you as far as faith goes, and that's noble in a sense. But we want it right now. We don't want to wait on God to work in us whatever he needs to work in us to really make our faith strong. And then in our relationships, how often do we push for boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, best friend, whatever it is New relationships when we move into a new town, want this relationship so badly that we go ahead and take whatever's in front of us instead of really waiting on God and having him show us where he wants us to be, what he wants us to do? You can make the same argument for business opportunities, job opportunities, house purchases, pretty much anything in our life when we get in a hurry, but I think it's exceptionally true with relationships.
Speaker 1:I know I got way off track there. I started with verse four and talking about John living with a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist and food was locusts and wild honey. There's a great kids series if you, if you have kids or grandkids called superbook. It's an animated series. I think it was produced by the 700 club. I'm not positive about that, but it follows this young boy and girl and their friend robot which I know sounds kind of strange but it's not as they discover all these stories out of the Bible and one of them is John the Baptist. And they're out. They meet John the Baptist and they're sitting around a campfire with him and he starts to dip these locusts in honey and eat them. And of course the kids are revolted and they make all the crunching sounds.
Speaker 1:But how much more do you have than that in your life? You know, how much more do you have right now than camel's hair, garments and a leather belt and locusts and honey, and a leather belt and locusts and honey. And yet Jesus tells us later on that of all the men ever born, no one is greater than John the Baptist, greatest man that's ever been born outside of Jesus Christ. You know and he of course he was telling us that even the least in the kingdom of heaven are greater than John, which is how exciting, how encouraging is that. But the point is, how much more do we have than John the Baptist did? Do we act like it? Are we grateful for it? Verse 8,.
Speaker 1:Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Verse 10 the axe is already laid at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. If you've ever had a garden or been around a garden or orchard, you know that the point is for them to produce fruit, for them to produce vegetables and et cetera, and if they don't, there's no reason for them to take up space in the garden, and so you root them out, cut them down, and a lot of times, a lot of people have burn piles near and around their garden and they throw them in there. That's something that I need to keep in mind, something that I think all of us need to keep in mind.
Speaker 1:Are we really repentant when we lust after someone or something, when we lie, when we cheat or steal, when we judge our fellow brothers and sisters or people in general, when we're hypocritic hypocritical, right Are we truly repentant? I'm going to get a little more serious Serious, right, that's not a word. We go out and we get drunk, we do drugs, we look at pornography, we cheat on our spouse. Are we truly repentant? Are we truly sorry for what we've done. Are we trying the very best that we can try to produce fruit for God and his kingdom? See how much time we've got left here. We've got a little bit of time. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Speaker 1:I don't think it's just a mistake. I don't think anything in the Bible is really just random. There's a lot of it I don't understand. I had an exchange with somebody on X recently and they were agnostic at least, if not atheist, but they were polite and we had a little back and forth. They were making the comment that they've always struggled with the Trinity, you know, the idea of God and the Father, god the Father, jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit all being one and at the same time being separate. I don't claim to understand it.
Speaker 1:I've said often on here I'm not a theologian, I'm not a pastor or priest, bishop, cardinal et cetera often on here I'm not a theologian, I'm not a pastor or priest, bishop, cardinal, etc. I'm just a simple man that's trying a little bit to spread the gospel, but that's beside the point. The point is I told him what my pastor and my father have often told me, which is there's some things in the Bible I just don't understand. And that's okay, because if I understood everything about God he wouldn't be much of a God. Right, and I don't know if that hit the mark with this person or not. But I don't think that there's anything random just off the cuff, so to speak, in the Bible. I think there's a point. And so when he says he will baptize you not only with the Holy Spirit here, folks, but with fire.
Speaker 1:Fire's usually not really comfortable, right? Fire usually has to do with burning away waste, things that aren't useful, dross and silver, burning away the chaff, right? I think a lot of times we forget about that, that our life is never going to be easy in this world because we follow Christ. But even more so than just because we follow Christ and the world doesn't like us. It also has the dual part, that fire of purifying us, of strengthening our faith. Kind of going back to where we were talking about timing, we want all these things now. We don't want to wait on God to work in us to burn off the excess, the chaff, the dross, the other thing here.
Speaker 1:I always this sounds kind of arrogant. I don't really mean it that way, I guess. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove his sandals. I wonder how many of us really think of ourselves in that light. How many of us really think that we're not worthy? You know, if Jesus Christ asked us to take off his sandals, if we would say no, no, I'm not worthy, and how many of us would mean it? Or how many of us would just say it because we would think it's the right thing to say? How many of us actually view ourselves as you know, we're pretty, I'm a pretty decent chap, right. I'm not bad, I'm a pretty good guy or gal, if you're out there listening, and you're a girl, right? Not compared to Christ. I definitely need to remember that More often.
Speaker 1:And then verse 12, and we'll move on. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor and he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. We want to be the wheat folks. We want to be the part that goes into the barn, that goes into heaven, that gets to spend eternity with God and Jesus Christ and happiness beyond anything that we can understand or imagine, for all eternity. We don't want to be the chaff that's out being burned up in hell. Right, all right, we're going to move on.
Speaker 1:We're going to go back into George Washington's prayer journal and again, I think I said this on the last podcast what I really would like y'all to keep in mind as we're going through this is this is the father of our country, and compare this, juxtapose if that's the right use of that word, this with what the left has convinced us through our institutions and public education over the last several decades 80 years that we're some kind of secular nation, secular democracy, as opposed to a Christian republic. And think about how cynical twisted that would have to be to have our founding generation which Washington is a pretty good example of representative of, be so dedicated in their faith, so concerned with pleasing God in their personal lives, and then create a nation that they wanted to make sure that God and Jesus Christ were not a part of it. All Right, and you have to remember I talk about this often because we don't teach it, and you have to think about it just a little bit at least until you get used to it and you understand what the left really did in the Supreme Court decision back in 1947 of Everson versus Board of Education. Education is they took separation of church and state that phrase from a Jeffersonian letter 13 years after the Constitution was ratified, and they twisted it to mean what it didn't mean to begin with. Right, and what they really meant was separation of God and state in that Supreme Court decision. That's what the left really meant. That's what they're after. Right, if they could find a particular denomination of Christianity that promoted control, absolute control by the government, they would be willing to go along with that. What they cannot abide, what they don't want at all, is God or Jesus Christ truly involved in the state.
Speaker 1:And so, as we go through this, just keep that in the back of your mind as you're listening to these words of George Washington that are representative of so many of that founding generation, both men and women. This is his Monday morning sacrifice. He called this little journal of his the daily sacrifice, and it has prayers for morning and evening. And this is Monday morning, and this is Monday morning. That it hath pleased thy, great goodness, to keep and preserve me the night past from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and hast given me sweet and pleasant sleep whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day, in which I beseech thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul. Thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul. Direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by the Holy Spirit from the dross of my natural corruption. That I may, with more freedom of mind and liberty of will, serve thee, the ever-living God, in righteousness and holiness.
Speaker 1:This day and all the days of my life, increase my faith in the sweet promises of the gospel. Give me repentance from dead works. Pardon my wonderings and direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation. Teach me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments. The ways of thy commandments. Make me always watchful over my heart that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life may cast me into a spiritual slumber, but daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy Son, jesus Christ, that, living in thy fear and dying in thy favor, I may, in thy appointed time, attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Bless my family, friends and kindred. Unite us all in praising and glorifying thee and all our works, begun, continued and ended, when we shall come to make our last account before thee, blessed Savior, who hath taught us to pray to our Father. To pray our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen.
Speaker 1:So you go back and you look through this and you think about, while we're going through this, the fact that so many people today would tell you, who claim to be super educated, right, that we're a pagan nation, that we are. Our founders wanted nothing to do with God and Jesus Christ. And here we have George Washington, the father of our country, talking about. Oh, eternal and everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before thy divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept of my humble and arty thanks. Again, you see this refrain in so many proclamations. You know, we do the Thanksgiving proclamations every November and we talk about so many of them talk about this need to be humble before God as a nation folks, not just as individuals as individuals too, yes, most importantly but also as a nation, to come to God humbly, telling him thank you for all the blessings.
Speaker 1:Right, washington, what does he say here? He says give a hearty thanks that it hath pleased thy great goodness to keep and preserve me the night pass from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and hast given me sweet and pleasant sleep whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day in which I beseech thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul. Do we give thanks even for little things like this, folks, or what we view? We shouldn't view it as little. Making it through the night, I can tell you, when you're overseas and you don't know who's out crawling around looking for you in the middle of the night, getting through the night takes on a little bit more importance. I would imagine this is also true, having never been a law enforcement officer, of being out on night patrol in a somewhat shady part of your local community or city that those law enforcement officers are probably pretty grateful to get through a night like that. Or a firefighter that's had a rough fire at night that they had to go put out right, I imagine that they're pretty pleased to get through that night. Do we tell God thank you? Are we grateful for the refreshment and the comfort so that we can perform whatever he's got for us this day and for defending us, our body and our soul?
Speaker 1:Washington says direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away. Why would he ask God to direct his thoughts, words and work and then be a founding father years later and want nothing to do with God and Jesus Christ? And you have to remember, right at his inauguration, not only did he take an oath before God, he kissed the Bible. That's not the action of a man that wants to completely reject God and Jesus Christ from our nation. Purge my heart by thy Holy Spirit. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb. Remove the dross of my natural, not just some of them. There's liberty of will, folks. I used to talk about this pretty frequently on a podcast. I don't talk about it as much anymore.
Speaker 1:But our founders understood two things simultaneously that had to be true. One is you had to have the ability. You couldn't force a man to any particular faith or away from faith. Man had to have the ability to choose whether to serve God or not, to serve some false God right Islam, buddhism, hinduism, atheism, mother Nature-ism or even what we've done today and turned something like sports or sex or entertainment into God small g right. You had to have the freedom of mind and liberty of will to serve God or not. But at the same time, our founders understood that if we didn't serve God as a people, if we didn't turn to him, we were not going to survive as a nation, survive as a nation. We were not going to be able to maintain liberty without God and Jesus Christ, which matches up with the New Testament telling us that where the Spirit of God is, there's liberty. So if you don't have the Spirit of God, you don't have liberty. If you have liberty, you've got to be close to the Spirit of God. The closer you get to the Spirit of God, the more liberty you have. Right, which is a great quote I don't know if I can find it quickly enough by Winthrop, who I think was Speaker of the House.
Speaker 1:I've read it before, but it fits here. Let me see if I can find it real quick. Sometimes I can find things and sometimes I can't, but I think this is it. I think it was Robert Winthrop, yeah, speaker of the House 1847 to 1849. The voice of experience and the voice of our reason speak but one language, both united in teaching us that men may as well build their houses upon the sand and expect to see them stand when the rains fall and the winds blow and the floods come. Fall and the winds blow and the floods come.
Speaker 1:As to found free institutions upon any other basis than that of morality and virtue, of which the word of God is the only authoritative rule and the only adequate sanction. All societies of men must be governed in some way or the other. The less they have of stringent state government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or by the bayonet. It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the state supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is religion which must support the state. Christianity, right. We can't have our free institutions without Christianity. We can't have liberty without God and Jesus Christ in our individual lives and our public life.
Speaker 1:Washington, again increase my faith in the sweet promises of the gospel. Give me repentance from dead works. Pardon my wonderings and direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation. Right, there's only one path to God, folks Washington's telling us. Right here, the God of my salvation, jesus Christ, teach me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments. Make me always watchful over my heart that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life may cast me into a spiritual slumber, but daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy son, jesus Christ, that, living in thy fear and dying in thy favor, I may, in the appointed time, attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life.
Speaker 1:Again, why would George Washington, why would the founder of our nation want to be framed more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ and then create a nation, frame a constitution, a nation that didn't want anything to do with God and Jesus Christ? That makes zero sense, folks. It's absolutely illogical. And then he ends here, and then he about here and he's saying you know, help me so that when I get there right, I'm able to give an account. Bless my family, my friends and kindred. Unite us all in praising and glorifying thee in all our works. Everything we do, folks, do we praise God. Is that our goal? This is Washington again. This is the founder, the father of our nation. He's talking to God, asking him to help him. Make sure that his family, his kindred, his friends are all working toward glorifying him right, all working toward glorifying him right, are all united so that when they make their last account before their blessed savior, right? That's the goal To attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life through Jesus Christ. If we don't get back to this, folks. If we don't get back to God and Jesus Christ being the center of our individual and public lives, the country's gone For sure, without doubt. So we're going to read through Monday evening here it's a little bit longer, we probably won't go back and break it down, but I wanted to go ahead and read that too.
Speaker 1:Most gracious Lord God, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift, I offer to thy divine majesty my unfeigned praise and thanksgiving for all thy mercies towards me. Thou madest me at first and hast ever since sustained the work of thy own hand, and hast ever since sustained the work of thy own hand. Thou gavest thy Son to die for me and hast given me assurance of salvation. Upon my repentance and sincerely endeavoring to conform my life to his holy precepts and example, thou art pleased to lengthen out to me the time of repentance and to move me to it by thy Spirit and by thy word, by thy mercies and by thy judgments. Out of a deepness of thy mercies and my own unworthiness, I do appear before at this time. I have sinned and done very wickedly.
Speaker 1:Be merciful to me, o God, and pardon me for Jesus Christ's sake, instruct me in the particulars of my duty and suffer me not to be tempted above what thou givest me strength to bear. Take care I pray thee of my affairs and more and more direct me in thy truth. Defend me from my enemies, especially my spiritual ones. Suffer me not to be drawn from thee by the blandishments of the world, carnal desires, the cunning of the devil or deceitfulness of sin. Work in me thy goodwill and pleasure and discharge my mind from all things that are displeasing to thee, of all ill will and discontent, wrath and bitterness, pride and vain conceit of myself, and render me charitable, pure, holy, patient and heavenly-minded. Be with me at the hour of death. Dispose me for it and deliver me from the slavish fear of death. Dispose me for it and deliver me from the slavish fear of it, and make me willing and fit to die whenever thou shalt call me.
Speaker 1:Hence, bless our rulers in church and state. Bless, o Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of thee and thy Son, jesus Christ. Pity the sick, the poor, o Lord, the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy Son, jesus Christ. Pity the sick, the poor, the weak, the needy, the widows and fatherless, and all that mourn or are broken in heart, and be merciful to them according to their several necessities. So there are several necessities.
Speaker 1:Bless my friends and grant me grace to forgive my enemies as heartily as I desire forgiveness of thee, my heavenly Father. I beseech thee to defend me this night from all evil and to do more for me than I can think or ask For Jesus Christ's sake, and whose most holy name and words I continue to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. There's a ton here and I'm not going to keep you all forever. We'll talk about a few things until we get to the end.
Speaker 1:Run out of time. Thou art pleased to lengthen out to me the time of repentance, amen. Thou art pleased to lengthen out to me the time of repentance. How often do we think about the fact that when we're waiting on something, when something's been delayed, that there's a real good chance that it's God and his mercy giving us time, so that we don't come to him unprepared, to give us time to repent and save our own soul of something that we have refused to repent of. Don't get this confused with perfection, folks Not looking for perfection. Right and again, if by the grace of God, america's allowed to continue for another few hundred years and we manage to survive, it's imperative that we remember that the primary reason, almost assuredly, is God giving us time to save more souls. Not to gain more land, not to get a better car or more clothes, not for whatever else it is that you desperately want a bigger house, a better job, but to save more souls, to get in behind enemy lines, to save as many people as we can and to get out.
Speaker 1:I have sinned and done very wickedly. George Washington said Be merciful to me, o God, and pardon me for Jesus Christ's sake. There's no other reason that God's going to pardon our sins besides Jesus Christ. Folks, I say this often I have no hope outside of Jesus Christ, absolutely none. I'm not good enough. I've made too many mistakes. Even if I started to live perfectly right now I never made another mistake, never sinned again. I've stacked up a bill too high to pay for on my own.
Speaker 1:And Washington here is acknowledging how wickedly he's behaved and asking for that salvation through Jesus Christ. The merit of Christ, not his own. Instruct me in the particulars of my duty and suffer me not to be tempted above what gives me strength to bear. Take care, I pray thee, of my affairs and more and more, direct me in thy truth, defend me from my enemies, especially my spiritual ones. I think two things here that really jumped out right. God, please don't give us more than we can handle and he tells us he won't and guide me in my duties, direct me in my affairs so that I do what you want me to, father, do we ask that? See, this is just another reason, folks, it's so important to read scripture each day and to pray each day for discernment, for guidance. Are we asking God to guide us, and especially the spiritual ones? Kind of stuck with me, because one of the places that I have worked out over the years they had a Bible verse and they're talking about that. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, it's against spiritual forces of darkness.
Speaker 1:I think too often, I at least, see the physical representation, you know, the left, or the rhinos or the people that are coming into the country looking to destroy America. It's real easy to focus on the physical manifestation, on those people and what we see. And you have to remember, you have to realize that, for example, the left folks, they're not really anti-Trump, they're not really anti-Musk, they're not really anti-whatever politician that you like. In particular, they're not even really anti-liberty or anti-American, they're anti-Christ. And you have to remember that. You have to understand that spiritual force that's behind that movement Communism, socialism, nazism, fascism, leftism, islam. The people are just a physical manifestation of the spiritual evil that's behind that movement that wants to. At heart, they could care less about America, except that America allows the gospel of Jesus Christ to spread or has over the centuries Right.
Speaker 1:We're doing a pretty good job of not doing that right now. It's kind of like Paul Harvey's commentary. You know, if I was a devil I'd just keep doing exactly what I'm doing. There's a lot of other great stuff in this, this again, but I'm going to leave y'all be, except just the ending. Again, you know, I beseech thee to defend me this night from all evil and to do more for me than I can think or ask. For Jesus Christ's sake, god bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages If you're married. God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world, listening, sure, to appreciate y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages If you're married. God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world, listening, sure, to appreciate y'all joining me, looking forward to talking to y'all again.