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Presidential Proclamation Prayers 2007
by A. Paige White"Religious Freedom Day, 2007: A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America"
On Religious Freedom Day, we commemorate the passage of the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, authored by Thomas Jefferson, and we celebrate the First Amendment's protection of religious freedom.
Across the centuries, people have come to America seeking to worship the Almighty freely. Today, our citizens profess many different faiths, and we welcome every religion. Yet people in many countries live without the freedom to worship as they choose and some face persecution for their beliefs. My Administration is working with our friends and allies around the globe to advance common values and spread the blessings of liberty to every corner of the world.
Freedom is a gift from the Almighty, written in the heart and soul of every man, woman, and child, and we must continue to promote the importance of religious freedom at home and abroad.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 16, 2007, as Religious Freedom Day. I call on all Americans to reflect on the great blessing of religious liberty, endeavor to preserve this freedom for future generations, and commemorate this day with appropriate events and activities in their schools, places of worship, neighborhoods, and homes.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.
GEORGE W. BUSH
Press release January 11, 2007
Office of the Press Secretary
http://www.whitehouse.gov/index.htm
Omnipotent Father of Lights and overflowing in goodness and mercy,
I come to you this day, having at first no knowledge of this proclamation by the highest ranking official over the United States of America and busily planning my own day and scheduling my own business affairs. First I come with great and reverent thanksgiving that you called me aside on this special day to honor the request of this man for our nation. You decreed and established the governing of the peoples of this land according to your own might and I gladly remember and recognize that it was your hand that did this. I offer up to you thanksgiving for the liberty we all enjoy to gather or remain secluded in our worship of a supreme being of our own choice. I thank you that there is no threat of a sword over our free expression of worship to you as it is in so many nations who do not recognize you or the Son you sent, Jesus the Christ, and are yet caught in the net of tyranny with the threat of death if His name is exalted. I do recognize His exalted estate and from the heavenlies where He reigns supreme over all. There is no other above or even beside Him in His rule. I bless you that one so pure and noble, who never sought fame or recognition but went about humbly healing, speaking words of forgiveness and grace and feeding the hungry multitudes who were without a shepherd. He was obedient even to a most horrific death upon an instrument of gruesome torture in my place. It is in full assurance that my debts of sin are paid in full by the Living One who is at your right hand even now making intercession for us that I lift these words to you. I come boldly to your throne of grace to obtain mercy from your hand for continued blessing for our nation. I saw as I knelt the vision:
A hand outstretched and lifted up holding a little ball the size of a golf ball and then the ball lifted and as it lifted a dove was trying to emerge from the top of it. As the wings beat, the hand underneath, though still attached to an unmoving wrist, began to turn, still outstretched fully, in circles beneath and it began to turn so fast you could only see a blur. Then I saw layers peeling away from the ball, splitting at the top and the layers dropped into the spinning hand. I do not know what this means, exactly, but it carried great and gracious promise and I thank you for it.
We know we are in the last days and what was prophesied must happen. But, Lord, we also know you have said to us that "if your people that are called by your name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways you would hear from heaven and will heal our land." This is a sure promise in your word and all authority is given to your glorious son who always and ever says "Come". Lord I confess my sin of self reliance and all the expressions in it's various forms to you now. I have attempted to direct my own course and chart my own way apart from your loving commands. I have broken every commandment upon that tablet of stone and now I fall upon the rock of Christ Jesus and ask your forgiveness in plain sight of my peers. I have erred. I have gone astray even as our whole nation made up of individuals seeking for a light in themselves that will not illuminate have wandered away. You are our light. You are the way and the light and the truth. Forgive us and restore a solid reliance on you for our every need. I ask you to call to others, even those who have never known you, to call upon you on this day. Please, Father, deliver us from all our destructions and bless our nation with hope and prosperity and joy in the goodness of the God we proclaim. In Jesus name I pray,
Amen 01/16/2007 Author's Note: corn falling out of my ears... soon have enough for a pan of corn bread.
Posted on 01/16/2007
Copyright © 2026 A. Paige White
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