 You caught me thinking again! I am deeply concerned for our nation and wishing our young people could know what it has taken to secure and what it will take to maintain our freedom. Oct. 11, 1798 (Address to the military) "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams In concern for his sons, John Adams advised his wife Abigail to: "Let them revere nothing but Religion, Morality and Liberty." On March 6, 1799, President John Adams called for a National Fast Day. "As no truth is more clearly taught in the Volume of Inspiration, nor any more fully demonstrated by the experience of all ages, than that a deep sense and a due acknowledgement of the growing providence of a Supreme Being and of the accountableness of men to Him as the searcher of hearts and righteous distributor of rewards and punishments are conducive equally to the happiness of individuals and to the well-being of communities.... "I have thought proper to recommend, and I hereby recommend accordingly, that Thursday, the twenty-fifth day of April next, be observed throughout the United States of America as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer; that the citizens on that day abstain, as far as may be, from their secular occupation, and devote the time to the sacred duties of religion, in public and in private; that they call to mind our numerous offenses against the most high God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore his pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgressions, and that through the grace of His Holy Spirit, we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience to his righteous requisitions in time to come; that He would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety and licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to Himself and so ruinous to mankind; that He would make us deeply sensible that "righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34)" For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Titus 2:11-12  Colossians 1:15-20 The Supremacy of Christ 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. Psalm 33 1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him. 2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him on the ten-stringed lyre. 3 Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. 4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; He is faithful in all he does. 5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. 6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jar; He puts the deep into storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere Him. 9 For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. 10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He chose for His inheritance. 13 From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; 14 from His dwelling place he watches all who live on earth- 15 He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do 16 No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. 17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. 18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, 19 to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. 20 We wait in hope for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. 21 In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His Holy Name. 22 May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in You.
But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
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