Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God” (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition).
God has made a way where we can formally enter into His courts. The prayer of petition is one type of prayer. A petition is a formal written request. It is written in formal terms that deal with the legal side of an issue. Furthermore, it requires that some judicial action be taken.
In Daniel Chapter Four, we see that there are watchers in heaven and that there are judgments made by the Judge and by those watchers who are in heaven. Verse seventeen says, “In order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men” (New King James Version). We see that God would judge who is to be raised up and who is to be put down. The judgments are then decreed by those who watch, both in heaven and in earth. When you consider all that’s at stake and you know that you’re coming into the courts of God, Creator of the universe, there’s an awesomeness that comes in a mixed sense of reverence and intimidation—an awareness of what’s at stake and what all you don’t know. It makes you realize how carefully, how perfectly you must put your case together because so much is at stake.
God, in His wisdom, in His foresight, in His slyness—sent the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “Here is your Counselor. Here is your Lawyer. He knows all of the thoughts and the mind of God.”
We’re going to present a very formal petition to the Lord. This takes time. I want you to engage in what we’re saying and what we’re doing with your faith. Pray in tongues. Set your heart and your mind to listen for every word. As you listen don’t passively listen, but aggressively agree. Aggressively sign your name to this petition with your faith.
The Mayflower Compact
The basis, on which the Lord has given me to come to Him, is on the basis and the righteousness of government and its part in His plan. To put that in our minds, I want to share a couple of things about the Mayflower Compact so that as we pray, the spirit in which the first government of this land was established can rise up in you and you can make a faith connection with it.
“The Mayflower Compact is a written agreement composed by a consensus of the new Settlers arriving at New Plymouth in November of 1620. They had traveled across the ocean on the ship Mayflower which was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Mayflower Compact was drawn up with fair and equal laws, for the general good of the settlement and with the will of the majority. The Mayflower’s passengers knew that the New World’s earlier settlers failed due to a lack of government….” (Government has always been God’s idea.)
“All 41 of the adult male members on the Mayflower signed the Compact. Being the first written laws for the new land, the Compact determined authority within the settlement and was observed as such until 1691. This established that the colony (made up of mostly persecuted Separatists or Puritans), was to be free of English law. It was devised to set up a government from within themselves and was written by those to be governed.”1
The colonists wanted to be free from one law but established under another. Isn’t that the picture of our Redemption? Free from one law but established under another. God is never lawless.
“In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James…having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and the honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these present, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends afore…(stated).
(Furtherance of what? God and the Christian faith.) 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 (needed) and convenient for the general good (and need) of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.”2
So what were they saying?
For the purpose of God we assemble ourselves together and agree to obey the laws that we deem to be necessary for order, for compliance and for the common good and for the purpose and for the advancement of the Christian faith. That was their purpose.
So let us pray and present our petition.
Prayer of Petition
O ’Lord, Your Word says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”3 And by rights of creation Lord this nation belongs to You for surely You have created this America.
You created the nations, and You had a plan before the foundation of the world for each one. This nation did not come from men. It came from You. You put the seed of this nation in men’s hearts even before they knew it. You brought to this land a first nation of people. Some say among them even one of the lost tribes of the Jews. Within Christopher Columbus, a Jew, and Queen Isabella even while she persecuted Your people, the Jews, in her own country, You used them to seek others that they could share the Gospel with. You put the seed of freedom in the hearts of the Puritans—freedom to serve You according to Your Word and by Your Spirit. Not a freedom without structure or order or government but a new idea of government. Government created for the purpose of serving God, His plan and one another.
You had brought them through persecution and oppression from other men, and in spite of all of the enemy’s obstacles, you set them at the door of this great land. And still Lord, much trouble awaited them. They faced hardships of great enormity. Lord, death came to every one of their doors. Yet, You brought them through. You gave them many sons, and with the same seed of this nation in their hearts, for 200 years that seed did grow. Like a mighty oak sinking its roots deep, the seed grew and grew.
Then in 1770 the oppressor arose again to stop the very life blood of Your great plan. He thought he could control what was beginning to shine for Your glory. He wanted for himself this land of plenty; he wanted the fruits of rightness to be his own. He wanted the honor you planned for this nation to be his own. But in Your great wisdom You let him raise his head; You let him raise his cruel hand; You let him raise his head so that You might cut it off. And the more he squeezed Your righteous people the more the seed flourished. And to his shock, to his dismay and finally to his defeat, You raised up an army ready to defend all You had put in their hearts to do and to be. Pulpits across this land drew the sword of Your Word and called upon men in the name of the Lord to take up the righteous cause of America. Together they prayed, and they sought Your direction, Lord.
And under the pen of Thomas Jefferson, they declared their independence from any sovereign except You. And then they took up their arms and went to battle and Lord, many, oh so many, laid down their all. Their homes, their lands, their sons, their fortunes, their futures—they laid down their all so that they may have Your all. And that their sons and their daughters could freely fulfill Your destiny for their lives. Lord, in Your goodness You so faithfully, You so miraculously, and You so victoriously brought them through. Though they were weary from great battles and great losses and great cause; though they faced the daunting task of a massive recovery, Your hope, Your vision, and Your plan burned stronger in them than it ever had before.
You called them. You called them from all quarters. You called them together to Philadelphia, a city named for brotherly love. And they left their homes again Lord, they left their families again for days and weeks and months at a time they came. And they pressed Lord, they pressed. They pressed hard to discover your purpose; they pressed hard to know Your plan for this new nation. On bended knee they gathered together to seek You and they laid out Your Word before You, and by Your Spirit You began to speak. And through this one and through that one, and through debate and through discussion, and through more prayer, until it all came together as the Constitution of this great land. A constitution that was born from the Spirit and born from Your Word, and given through the hearts and minds of men who were seeking to know Your will and Your way. They would not serve under any man but to serve under You, Lord. They devoted this nation to serve Your purpose and Your plan for all men to know the freedom of the Gospel. Fervently they sought to establish a land, a home, a base, a foundation from which men and women could seek You freely, to pursue and grow in prosperity—all for the increase of Your kingdom.
Oh Lord, we come to You. You Who brought this government time and again through trouble. You have brought this great people, You have brought this great land through oppression, through depression; through the darkness and deception of humanism and of atheism. You have brought this land and this people through strife, through divisions, through horrors of wars abroad and at home. You brought us through when it looked like so many had turned their back on You. But on the basis of Your Word that lives in the words of our Constitution, You were faithful. Your Word never fails, because it is an Eternal Word, because it is an Eternal Covenant and because You have an Eternal Plan.
It is for the benefit of all men that You brought this nation through, and You gave men words to put on paper that we can live by them. You laid it out, Lord so that even those who don’t know You could live under the hand of freedom and liberty and justice for all, and not the hand of oppression and iron fisted rule. And not for the gain of a few but for the gain of all. To You oh Lord, our God, You’re so gracious, that you are God over those that don’t know you and even those that don’t want you. We remind you of that Lord, that these men and women laid down their lives, they laid down their all.
Now we look to You again on the basis of the blood of Jesus Who died that Your plan would not be thwarted, that Your purpose would not come to an end. But we also come to You on the basis of the blood of our forefathers who died for that same reason. For the same reason Lord. And just as You were faithful to Jesus and not leave His soul in hell, we ask Lord that this nation too would be raised, and that You would not leave the soul of this nation in hell; that her very soul would be raised up to the glory of God and that the heart of this people would be lifted to the glory of God. And not only for our own selves oh Lord, but for the world to know that we are still the beacon and the light of the Gospel, and Your Words are still true; they are true in this Covenant of Faith that You have given us, and they are still true within our Constitution because it was born from Your heart.
So, raise this nation again Oh Lord. Bring her up again Lord. Bring up her government again, Lord, as a body politic to perpetuate the Christian faith. No matter what some men might say is impossible, no matter what some men might try to do or what some lower human court might declare. We, oh Lord, who have been given charge over this nation in Your court, declare, “We are one nation under God and we are indivisible; we are indivisible from You. We are indivisible from Your purpose. We are indivisible from Your plan. We are indivisible from all that You have said for this nation and for this body of people to do in the kingdom of God and for the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus.” Hallelujah.
“That all men might see and know the love of God”—on the basis of that, oh Lord, we bring our plea before You. We set our case before You. We offer it in the Name of Jesus, guaranteed by the blood of Jesus, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and laid out before You. As Your own people we say that You, because You are righteous and because You will not let Your Word fall to the ground, and because You’re faithful to those who have sowed their lives for you, we fully expect the course of this nation to be aligned with Your plan, with Your idea, with Your thought, with Your ways, and that oh God, You would sweep this nation up in your arms. And again draw her to You. Draw her to You oh Lord. Draw her to You. Draw Your people to Yourself in a great sweeping across this nation. A great sweeping oh Lord. We humbly ask it of You. We boldly require it of You. We demand it of heaven.
And for these, Lord, from the highest office of this land to its most humble, we ask You, we open the door, we request of You to place in each seat—whether it be the executive seat of government, the seats of legislation, the seats of judgment—we ask Lord that You would raise up Your choices and that You would raise up men and women as You see fit, and put others down as only You know. And we ask Lord for righteousness to prevail. We ask that the seed of righteousness from which this nation was born would not die, but that it would continue to bear fruit for all men, for all men. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Amen. So be it.
Now Lord by faith we release our faith for that anointing Lord, upon all those whom You choose for it to rest; that it would grow and increase and increase and increase. And that by that anointing there would be great favor, great wisdom, great skill, great knowledge, great ability. And that anointing will clearly make distinction, even as You separated King David from among all his brethren. Separate the ones of Your choosing and call them out from among the rest. We trust that anointing will be evident. And that the anointing Lord to slay the giant, to bring prosperity and to establish the throne of God among Your people will be evident and increase and grow exponentially. Not for the sake of an individual, but for the sake of Your people, for it is on behalf of the people that we pray for the leaders of this nation—those who are in office now and those who will be taking office in the days to come. That by the Spirit of God the people’s hunger in their heart for You would grow, that their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their hearts will understand and they shall desire You. For it is by design oh Lord that this nation came to be.
In the name of Jesus, we believe we receive. We believe that we have the will of God in our nation and the answers to our prayers in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Notes
1 www.allabouthistory.org/mayflower-compact.htm, accessed as of March 3, 2024
2 www.allabouthistory.org/mayflower-compact.htm, accessed as of March 3, 2024
3 Psalm 33:12
