AMERICA Prayer Vigil (January 1st 2025) ~PRAYER~

Join with fellow FREEPERS across the world to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, Technology, Religious Freedom and the Media.

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

"Finally, brothers, rejoice. Set things in order. Be encouraged. Agree with one another. Be at peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Cor. 13:11)

Prayer and letter to the Creator of the Universe, the Lord God Almighty, Great Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Comforter, the Holy Spirit:

Lord God, it is cold here in the northern part of the US in the winter. And dark, as I drive around town the end of the last day of the year. Mister Zamboni and his hockey-rink smoothing machine couldn't do as good a job as the weather has here. Brand-new tires and four-wheel drive and I'm still sliding around the corners. Thank you for the tires, Lord. There was just enough money for them and they were sorely needed, especially after the slow leak in the front right and the big puncture - how did that get there? in the back right on the sidewall, that one was losing five pounds a day in -10 weather. Thank you for those tires.

Thank you for our salvation, Lord Jesus. And thank You for the fuel, and that young lady you sent who knew how to fix the snowblower. I can't do it and the shop is backed up two months for any small engine work.

Lord, it's odd, but thank you for those homeless people around. Some profess salvation. Many, many are drunks and druggies who can't stay at a shelter when they're high, and they remind us of how fragile our comforts and our lives can be. I hear our numbers are about one out of ten of us is dependent on alcohol, and with the other stuff, we are all seemingly addicted to something. I'd like to be addicted to something good, better than coffee and sugar.

Paul said in 1st Corinthians 16:13-16: " . . .13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 14 Let all your things be done with charity. 15 I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have ADDICTED themselves to the ministry of the saints,) 16 That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth.

You got me off the cigarettes and the other stuff, Lord. Thank you. Please do the same for so many Americans who are yearning for something that they won't or can't admit is You. They try everything else. Please help us to show them You, Lord Jesus, by our love. Help us to give them the Good News of the Gospel. And Lord Jesus? You know that so many of us will never travel, like be a missionary to Africa or Venezuela, or China or Iran or whatever. So it looks like You've sent a bunch of these people to us instead, to hear the Gospel. The missionary field came to us, Lord. And it's no less dangerous than going there. Nothing like having an already-deported illegal alien from a Third World country back in our country to set our most vulnerable people on fire and watch them burn to death for fun. We can now have the experience of being in a dangerous foreign land without leaving ours.

Yes, the mission field has come to us. Help us to obey Your Great Commission in this Year Of Our Lord 2,025.

And please protect and give wisdom and strength to our elected leaders, Lord. Also our armed forces, law enforcement, first responders, and those who preach the Gospel and teach and support and care for those sick or injured.

In Jesus Name, amen.

AMERICA Prayer Vigil Ping!

To be added or removed from this PING LIST, post or Freep-MAIL Stars & Stripes Forever.

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” 3:37

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHd2zQQsHUw

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
And bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
And turn our darkness into light.
O come, O King of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid all our sad divisions cease,
And be Yourself our King of Peace.

AMERICA Prayer Vigil Ping!

To be added or removed from this PING LIST, post or Freep-MAIL Stars & Stripes Forever.

We have our Great Hope, we know how this ends:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRBhg7Z9YR0&list=PL1NMQ1lHuiRVlvth2EIUxu-ZoWzk22jQJ&index=33 music portion 3:23

English Lyrics
Revelation 21 King James Version (KJV)
21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
And bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
And turn our darkness into light.,/b.

,What beautiful words are these, Father. The poet/hymnist expresses an eloquent veneration and occupation with the coming Redeemer. Year after year his precious lyrics, put to song, have stirred reverent hearts as they have been sung and prayed.

As patriots, as well as believers, we petition that the light of the Morning Star will dispel demonic darkness which deepens a cultural rot descended upon our society.

We pray that you bring godly prudence/discretion to many of the congressional mavericks relishing their fifteen minutes of fame; "show-boating" rather than getting the president sworn-into office. May the illumination from the Morning Star direct their steps.

IN Christ's name may Thy will be done.

Amen !!! <><

Psalm 50

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 The mighty one, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.

3 Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,
and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 ‘Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!’
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.
Selah

7 ‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt-offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house,
or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air,*
and all that moves in the field is mine.

12 ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,*
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’

16 But to the wicked God says:
‘What right have you to recite my statutes,
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one,
and you keep company with adulterers.

19 ‘You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin;
you slander your own mother’s child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

22 ‘Mark this, then, you who forget God,
or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me;
to those who go the right way*
I will show the salvation of God.’

The Circumcision of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (New Calendar Orthodox)

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/01/01/100001-the-circumcision-of-our-lord-and-savior-jesus-christ

Troparion

Enthroned on high with the Eternal Father and Your divine Spirit, / O Jesus, You willed to be born on earth of the unwedded handmaid, your Mother. / Therefore You were circumcised as an eight-day old Child. / Glory to Your most gracious counsel; / glory to Your dispensation; / glory to Your condescension, O only Lover of mankind.

Kontakion

The Lord of all accepts to be circumcised, / thus, as He is good, excises the sins of mortal men. / Today He grants the world salvation, / while light-bearing Basil, high priest of our Creator, / rejoices in heaven as a divine initiate of Christ.

(Today is also St. Basil’s Day.)

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/01/01/100003-saint-basil-the-great-archbishop-of-caesarea-in-cappadocia

May God bless this New Year of our Lord 2025! Amen!

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