Did George Washington pray for you?
Colossians 3:12 – Put on then, as Gods’ chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
George Washington sat in his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, in June 1783. It had been six weeks since the Congress of the Confederation had ratified preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War. The commander-in-chief penned a Circular Letter to the States, directed to the governors of the new nation. Since that time, a prayer has been adapted from Washington’s words.
I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have the United States in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Devine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation. Amen.
His prayer, seen as applicable today as it was then, is read aloud each day at Mount Vernon’s public wreath laying ceremony.
Pray With Us
Heavenly Father, over the eons of recorded time there have been many people that have been called “for such a time as this” relative to their own service to You. Thank You for the man, George Washington, and the leadership he gave to this fledgling nation both in war and in peace. I acknowledge that he was a man just as I am, but from all that history has taught me, he was a man who practiced what he prayed, particularly in the area of humility. Let my life, like his, be clothed in those same characteristics as in today’s verse, I pray in the Priceless Name of Jesus,
Amen.
