God Needs Our Agreement
As we enter a season of “Commanding the Foreword” (Work While You Celebrate (Part 2)), it will be helpful to revisit the important biblical principle of agreeing and partnering with previous generations. Declaring statements made in the past by God - and those made by others at His inspiration - is to do more than just honor predecessors. We do so to release the power of yesterday’s words and promises into today.
When God searched history to accent great lives of faith, He chose to list some that did NOT receive the fulfillment of their God-given promises (Hebrews 11). These people went to the grave with unrealized promises from God, yet they had truly believed, even making it into the great Hall of Faith. Clearly, they weren’t deficient in their walk of faith; why then did they die without seeing the promises fulfilled?
The last two verses of Hebrews 11 give us the simple yet incredibly important answer: “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made complete” (Hebrews 11:39-40, NASV).
Some promises made by God to an individual/s are multi-generational and not intended to be fully accomplished in their lifetime. The person (or persons) to whom the promise was made is sometimes only the “womb” in which the “seed” is planted. The following generation/s furthers the growth, brings it to birth, and stewards that which is born. Jesus said, “For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have come into their labor” (John 4:37-38, NASV).
The Greek word translated “complete” in the above verses from Hebrews (telioo)[1] also means “to finish; to mature; to reach the intended goal.” Think about the ramifications of this: there are many promises God has made to individuals now in heaven that He cannot “finish” or fulfill without us. What He started through them cannot “mature” or “reach its intended goal” until we grab the baton and run our leg of the race. That is profound in its significance. Why wouldn’t the Lord tell us to command the foreword of America - that which was written and declared at the beginning?!
Several people have contacted our office asking how to find appropriate quotes from America’s early leaders and Founders. Three of the best books for quotes and information regarding America’s beginning are:
Faith of Our Founding Fathers by Leo Godzich
America’s God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations by William J. Federer
The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel
They are all TREMENDOUS.
In yesterday’s post, I shared a few quotes/facts you can use. In the remaining portion of today’s post, I’ll share a few more:
GOVERNMENT
In 1643, John Winthrop, who stated that “we shall be as a city on a hill…” (which we mentioned yesterday) organized the New England Confederation, consisting of New Plymouth, New Haven, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Their Constitution, the first document in America where colonies united themselves, read, “Whereas we all came to these parts of America with the same end and aim, namely, to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel thereof with purities and peace, and for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the Gospel.”(2)
William Penn, author of the book No Cross, No Crown, which he wrote while imprisoned in the Tower of London, was the founder of Pennsylvania. His first legislative act, “The Great Law of Penn,” stated, “Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and the end of government, and government itself is a venerable ordinance of God...let there be established laws as shall best preserve true Christian and Civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God can have His due…” (3)
Penn asked God to make Pennsylvania “the seed of a nation” (4) and God answered his prayer. Our Declaration of Independence was decreed there in 1776. Four times it references God - as our Lawmaker, Creator, Judge, and Protector. The Liberty Bell that rang there that day had inscribed on it: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:10). Our Constitution was written in Pennsylvania in 1787, born through prayer, asked for by Ben Franklin. In it, our government’s three branches were formed according to Isaiah 33:22. “The Lord is our Judge…Lawgiver…King; He will save us.” The righteous seeds Penn and others planted produced a righteous nation and government. We must command these truths embedded in America’s fabric to come alive once more.
EDUCATION
“One hundred six of America’s first 108 colleges and Universities were founded on the Christian faith. Students at Harvard and Yale were required to read the Scriptures twice daily. Harvard’s founders stated: ‘All knowledge without Christ is vain.’ Its motto was ‘For Christ and The Church.’ Yale’s founders stated that ‘Every student shall consider the main end of his study is to know God in Jesus Christ…’ Princeton’s motto was ‘Under God’s Power She Flourishes.’. The first president of Princeton, Jonathan Dickenson, said, ‘Cursed be all learning that is contrary to the Cross of Christ.’ The great pastor, Jonathan Edwards, was the 3rd president of Princeton.”(5)
Noah Webster, who published the first American Dictionary of the English language in 1828 said, “Education is useless without the Bible.”(6) “The Moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws…All the miseries and evils which men suffer…proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.” (7) Webster also said, “The principles of genuine liberty, and of wise laws and administrations, are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man, therefore, who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book may be accessory to all the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer.” Profound! (8)
What God began in America is not finished. He needs our agreement and commands in order to complete it. Use these and other facts regarding her founding, find more through research and study, and “Command the Foreword.” It will generate power.
Pray with me:
Father, You are the great Olam El, the Everlasting God, who declares the end from the beginning. When our forefathers were stating their faith in You, declaring Your plans and heart for America, and covenanting to partner with You in fulfilling them, You looked ahead and saw us. You knew You would have a people in 2023 who would arise in faith and agree with what was declared back then. We are that people.
As we do so, our faith today is not in our ability to declare and command perfectly. It is not in our wisdom, understanding, or abilities. Our faith is in You, Your mercy offered through Christ, and Your ability to work all things after the counsel of Your will.
With this faith, we command Your purposes into our government, established under You and Your Word. We declare that You are our Lawgiver, Judge, and King. We declare that the seeds of righteousness planted in our land are not dead, they will bring forth righteous fruit. And we declare that the weeds and thorns will be uprooted and destroyed.
We declare over our education system that evil and perversion will be uprooted. We declare that Christ and His Word will once again be honored. We declare that all knowledge not rooted in Him is vain, and cursed be all learning that contradicts the Cross of Christ. We declare that to know Him is the highest goal of all learning. We command a return to truth and a rejection of deception.
We pray and command all these things in His holy name.
Our decree:
We decree that we embrace our God-given roots and destiny, thereby allowing God to finish through us what He started in this land.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
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James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. No. 5046.
Leo Godzich, Faith of Our Founding Fathers, (Phoenix, AR: The National Association of Marriage Enhancement Publishers, 1982), p. 40.
William J. Federer, America’s God and Country [Encyclopedia Of Quotations], (Coppell TX: FAME Publishing, Inc., 1994), p. 503.
Leo Godzich, Faith of Our Founding Fathers, (Phoenix, AR: The National Association of Marriage Enhancement Publishers, 1982), p. 78.
Ibid, pp 105-111.
William J. Federer, America’s God and Country [Encyclopedia Of Quotations], (Coppell TX: FAME Publishing, Inc., 1994), p. 676.
Ibid, p 678.
Ibid, p 679.