Every year I get excited as the 4th of July holiday approaches. The freedoms Americans enjoy are worth celebrating, even as we remember and pray for those who don’t enjoy those same freedoms.
This year, why not make one or more of these prayers, drawn from the Bible, a part of your celebration, perhaps printing them and kicking off your cookout by taking turns reading through them? You might even make them an annual Independence Day tradition.
1) Psalm 113:4, KJV
Lord God, Your Word says that You are “high above all nations, and [Your] glory above the heavens.” We live in a nation of many different creeds and convictions, ethnicities and backgrounds, but we know that You love and reign over us all.
Please let the ways we exercise our freedoms reflect Your holiness and Your compassion, “that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations” (Psalm 67:2, NIV).
2) Psalm 67:1-5, NIV
God, “be gracious to us and bless us and make [Your] face shine on us” as a nation. Make us strong but peaceful. Make us just and also merciful. Make us prosperous and generous. Make us a beacon of freedom and righteousness in a needy world.
3) Psalm 122:6-8, NIV
Heavenly Father, like the psalmist’s plea, we pray for Jerusalem while praying also for our nation and region and all those who face threats to their safety and security: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” For the sake of those souls You love and the world for which Jesus died, I will say, “Peace be within them all.”
4) Psalm 133:1-3, NIV
As Your Word says, Lord, “How good and pleasant it is” when people live together in unity—how refreshing and how cleansing. And how much sadness and suffering results when a nation and a people are divided.
Please pour on us a spirit of unity and cooperation like “precious oil,” like “the dew of Hermon,” washing away bitterness and guiding us into mutual respect and shared hope.
5) Psalm 146:6-8, NIV
Lord God, Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them—You remain faithful forever. On this day when we celebrate our freedoms, we remember those in different circumstances.
We ask You, as Your Word says, to uphold the cause of the oppressed and give food to the hungry. Set prisoners free, give sight to the blind, lift up those who are bowed down, wherever they are, whatever language they speak, whatever nationality they claim, that they too may soon possess the kinds of benefits we enjoy today.
6) John 8:3, NIV
Jesus, while You walked this earth, You proclaimed, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Thank You for all of our freedoms, including those we often overlook or take for granted, foremost among them freedom from condemnation and punishment.
Please let the freedom found in Christ be known not only to us but to those who haven’t yet experienced Your great love whether they live in our community, state, nation or in other nations from one end of the earth to the other.
7) Revelation 5:9, NIV
Lamb of God, saints and angels in heaven are right in singing, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Let Your kingdom come to every tribe and language and people and nation. Deliver us from the bigotry and hatred that divide us. Help us to rejoice instead in the great diversity of Your Creation, to find and focus on the humanity we share and the freedoms we treasure.
