Precursor to the American Covenant

 

When things go wrong it seems the smart thing to do is stop, look for the cause, make corrections, and get back on course. It's obvious that things are going wrong here in America. As a nation and as individual citizens, we no longer live together like we believe that we are all created equal and endowed by our Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We no longer see the role of government as being limited by a constitution to protecting those rights, but we increasingly see government as our enemy, threatening on many sides to take away our rights. It seems it's time to stop, make some corrections and get back on course.

But just where is the course? To rediscover the course that America should be on, a good place to start might be to re-examine our earliest agreements as they are the precursors of our American Constitution. Here's a glimpse of the Mayflower Compact, the first written, signed agreement between Christian and non-Christian citizens of the new colony of Plymouth...

"Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith, and the honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another; covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."

The Mayflower compact is the first American covenant, between God and a group of men and women beginning life together in a new world. These forefathers and foremothers were bound together by a covenant to glorify God because they assumed that as individuals, they all existed for the glory of God. This belief was so strong that both Christians and non-Christians understood and accepted this truth...

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of His hands." - Psalm 19:1

The course is clear. A rededication to the American Covenant is the best hope for a revival of the vitality of our dear republic. But before nations make such course-corrections, individual citizens must make a personal covenant to live for the glory of God...

"Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" - 1 Corinthians 10:31

Thus, to pray for revival in America is to pray for a personal rededication to living in both words and actions for the glory of God, and to pray for the salvation of lost souls that they may be freed to enter into the personal covenant that is the precursor to the American covenant.