INTRODUCTION

Each nation has the opportunity to enjoy the blessings of God. These blessings are tied, however, to the choice of that nation to make the Lord the God of that nation. As a nation yields itself to the Lord and to His will, the nation submits itself to the righteous commands of God. As this happens, righteousness exalts the nation (Proverbs 14:34Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
See All...). A careful study of history will testify to the veracity of the words of God. Nations have only been great so long as they resembled a nation submitted to the will and words of God. As each nation sought its own ways, it lost its power and influence in the world, and in essence, the blessings of God. When a nation forsakes the Lord, He will forsake that nation.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

• (For smaller children) Deuteronomy 28:1-12 [1] And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: [2] And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. [3] Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. [4] Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. [5] Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. [6] Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. [7] The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. [8] The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. [9] The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. [10] And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. [11] And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. [12] The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
  See All... describes some of the blessings of a nation that has truly made God its Lord. When the Ninevites truly turned to God, He blessed them in that He did not destroy them (Jonah 3:4-10 [4] And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. [5] So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. [6] For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. [7] And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: [8] But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. [9] Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? [10] And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
  See All...).
• Has your nation boldly proclaimed that the Lord is the God of that nation? Has your nation made statements to suggest the opposite? What does this mean for your country?
• In what direction is your country heading spiritually? Is there anything you can do personally to change that direction either now or in the future?

PRAYER NEEDS

• Ask God to help you make a difference in your country.
• Ask the Lord to put a hedge round about your home.

HYMN

The Old Book and the Old Faith

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