A few months ago, as riots were breaking out in the streets, it was becoming clearer to Americans that our country was facing a pivotal election. I wanted to hit the situation head on as a church, so I asked my pastor if we could gather weekly to pray for the nation and the election. As the head of our new Church Prayer Council (less than a year old), I had been working closely with our pastor and our Council to engage our people in prayer, particularly congregational prayer.

Our pastor immediately agreed, and said that he himself would lead as many as he could. With that I began to work on the first outline.

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The Word says: “My house shall be a house of prayer for all.” God calls His Body to pray. Our gathering together in prayer as the body of Christ is critical to His moving among and beyond us. God responds to the prayers of His people. At this critical time in America, we knew it was important to gather weekly to cry out to God for our nation and the upcoming election.

It seemed to me that we should pray according to a simple pattern: A-C-T-S (Adoration – Confession – Thanksgiving and Testimony – Supplication). We would begin by praising God. We would then confess our sins as individuals and a nation. When it came time to give thanks, God laid it on my heart to remember and give thanks for specific ways in which God has led and been involved in our nation throughout its history – this is also testimony. Throughout the Scriptures the people of God remembered and gave thanks for God’s mighty acts – particularly the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. God has moved mightily and miraculously throughout the forming of our nation and its history. We decided to remember His mighty wonders as we gave thanks.

Then we would pray for our nation; our system of government, our leaders, our culture, the church, our people – including us, and our critical upcoming election. Each week our prayers would have a different focus. Throughout the history of the United States of America, God has responded to the prayers of His people. Like many others, we wanted to be counted among those who cry out to God for such a time as this!

Each week, as is commanded throughout the Scriptures, we remembered the mighty acts of God – but in our own nation. Then we prayed, asking God to intervene again. We began the first night by giving thanks for the Mayflower Compact, specifically taking note of their intent as stated here:

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

There written into their text was their desire for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith.

 Even after that very first prayer meeting, I noticed a particular joy on our people from having been in the Presence of God together. But there was something more stirring as we remembered who God has been to the United States.

We went on to remember God’s mighty hand in the Puritans’ leadership and preaching, particularly giving thanks for the way God worked through Rev. Thomas Hooker, who is considered the father of democracy and who penned the Connecticut Constitution.

We took time to remember God’s working in the early beginnings of our institutions of higher learning and national thought leadership. 106 of our first 108 colleges had a  Christian heritage. We were surprised and encouraged. We gave thanks for this and specifically for these words from Harvard’s Rules and Precepts:

Harvard’s “Rules and Precepts” adopted in 1646 included the following essentials: “Every one shall consider the main end of his life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life. Seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, every one shall seriously by prayer in secret seek wisdom of Him. Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that they be ready to give an account of their proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of languages and logic, and in practical and spiritual truths….”

Week by week we revisited the facts of our beginnings as a people and rediscovered God right there in the midst of our history. It was thrilling to see the facts of His hand on us and we praised Him. We gave thanks for His sovereign move in our nation during the First Great Awakening as He poured out His Spirit beginning with the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” We prayed through a small excerpt of the sermon. We then marveled, giving thanks for the way He united the 13 original colonies through the preaching of George Whitfield and began to form a national mindset around the value of the individual and the right to freedom. It was a mindset based on God’s love of every individual and the freely and equally offered “new birth” of the Gospel.

It was after that fourth prayer meeting that a weighty thought settled on me: “We have not given God His rightful place of honor in the founding and sustaining of our nation. We have monuments to many of our founding fathers, but God is our pre-eminent Founding Father. He deserves honor above all.” I grieved and repented in my soul.

During that fifth prayer meeting we repented of this and continued praying and giving thanks; this time for the writing of the Declaration of Independence with its famous preamble.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

We consistently prayed from the Scriptures, sometime using the very Scriptures that moved our ancestors such as:

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1 NIV)

We continued by thanking God for raising up and protecting George Washington – His man for leading our forefathers through their fight for independence and the establishing of our new nation. We noted His divine protection of Washington even back to the French and Indian War. We marveled at His divine providence in leading a ragtag group of colonists to defeat the greatest army of its time and secure our independence. The Word says: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.” (Ps 77:11) We did.

Each week, as we gathered to meet with God at our Congregational Prayer Meeting, our numbers grew (to almost 200) and so did our people’s knowledge of God’s role in our founding. We saw afresh the centrality of God’s activity, through His people, to the creation of our nation. Our Constitution, steeped in nearly two decades of Puritan faith and thinking, could not have been penned without an understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and man’s true nature. At the time of this writing we will next pray and give thanks for the Bill of Rights.

God is blessing our remembering as we pray from the Scriptures; and out of our own history, which contains innumerable mighty acts of God. Our country is truly unique and our heritage of God’s hand upon us is deeply inspiring. It is a blessing we must remember as we seek Him in our perilous times.

The Scriptures say: “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Is 46:9)

I want to encourage Your church to pray and linger in God’s Presence together. I want to encourage you to take time to remember who we are as a nation, to give thanks and pray. At this critical moment in our history, nothing is more important than God’s Presence with us. Our God has not changed. He is a covenant-keeping God who made a covenant with our ancestors. God worked through His people throughout our history; and as we ask Him to work in our nation today, we can expect that it will be through us, His people.

We must step up, pray and act.

Click HERE for the outlines we used for the first 8 prayer meetings. They were written for our congregation but could be adapted to any group. Perhaps they will help you to remember all that God has done for America.

(Cynthia Scott was a business owner for 20 years before concentrating on prayer and revival ministry both locally and nationally. She is particularly focused on God’s people growing closer to Him through congregational prayer. )