Praying Psalms for America

PREFACE

“The truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

I seek God's truth to guide me so I can gain deep understanding of what is real and what is true.

The good Book is our greatest source of truth because God speaks only truth to us. As best we can, we have to block out the squawkers untethered from God's voice and hear what He has to say to us.

When I write these Psalms for America each morning, I ask God to reveal to me how to pray for her. I read and meditate on the Psalm. As I read, I think about what's happening in America. Then I let the words pour onto the page.

God gave me this idea in July 2016 when we learned our candidates for president, which, frankly, made no sense to me. I turned to the Psalms and prayed for my beloved America, writing my prayers in my journal, as I’ve done for a decade. Since God is in charge, I asked Him for insight and wisdom to understand why they were chosen. The media demonized them both.

As the election came around, through the Psalms, I reached great insight and understood exactly what was happening. I saw deception at the highest level of government, changing America into something completely different from who she is, driving agendas that don’t reflect her foundational principles, trapping our people in mistruths and ideologies that prove to be disastrous. I knew God would help us and I need trust in Him and Him alone.

In this devoted period, I came to understand that only a brash and belligerent soul could take on the power structures that were dismantling America. She needed someone who would come into power filled with righteous indignation, like Jesus when He kicked out those in the temple who were exploiting His faithful people. Someone who loved America and had no desire and no need to profit from this position of power to enrich his/her own coffers, in fact willing to take financial loss if necessary.

Someone who could speak the truth, regardless of whether it was politically correct or popular. Someone who would stand up for America, for her freedoms, and for her Constitution. Someone who would honor her warriors and her faithful servants. Someone who would not exploit the taxpayers and working men and women doing right by America and give them voice. Clinton? or Trump?

On December 1, 2019, I began this same process again a few months before the tragic events of 2020 with Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the riots.

We were faced with choosing a President again. Who would it be? Who would God choose? I walked through the Psalms again, praying for America and wrote the prayers recorded here.

We learn so much from the Psalms. They were shaped by people shaped by God and now they shape us. When we sing, pray and recite the Psalms, we join voices around the world. We join the company of saints and cloud of witnesses who have found solace in Psalms for millennia.

I came to the Bible after I had my first child, though born and bred a Christian. Years later, I was prompted to engage scriptures by writing them in my own words. For the last decade I have journaled my prayers and meditations as a morning ritual.

I now realize the power of reading, meditating and then praying scripture. I feel such incredible strength and peace from my morning time with God.

As I read these Psalms and write these prayers, I am very aware of the range of emotions the Psalmists express, especially David. The Psalmists speak frequently about fear of enemies, violence, evil deeds, etc. Even still they express their undying love and trust in God. In my prayers, my voice combines with their voices to find the fighter in me on the one hand, contrasted with the lover and disciple in me on the other.

I hope you find yourself in these prayers and make them yours.

I pray you will find solace and truth, and the answers you seek.

I pray you will find the joy of knowing God and trusting Him.

I pray that you listen to God from whom all truth comes.

I appreciate you letting me share the prayers God places on my heart for my beloved America. I invite you to join your prayers with mine in honor of her. America needs us!

God Bless You.

In His Service,

Cynthia