It is a sad thing when you live for over 26 years and you are just now learning about the National Day of Prayer. A time when leaders across all denominations gather together to pray for the nation. While this is more of an American tradition it is still nonetheless impactful.
National Days of Prayer are nothing new to the American public. Oftentimes, past presidents would call for days of prayer having roots in the celebration of Thanksgiving.¹ But for decades, American presidents and congress would issue national days of prayer, especially during the American Revolution. As Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, General George Washington acknowledged a day of "fasting, humiliation and prayer".² It was proclaimed by the Continental Congress to be held on Thursday, May 6, 1779.³ During times of crisis and peace national days of prayer would be issued on numerous occasions. However, after James Madison, the next 11 presidents (1815-1862) would not issue prayer proclamations for 47 years.⁴
Then in the year 1952, a war was sparked which led to the Korean War and a great man named, Billy Graham made the statement, “What a thrilling, glorious thing it would be to see the leaders of our country today kneeling before Almighty God in prayer. What a thrill would sweep this country. What renewed hope and courage would grip the Americans at this hour of peril." On April 17, 1952 President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming a National Day of Prayer must be declared for each subsequent president at an appropriate date of his choice.
This is all well and good history but while I admire and am thankful to our American neighbours for keeping the faith and standing their ground it reveals a lacking in our northern country. Where is Canada’s faith and vigour? When is our National Day of Prayer and why aren’t we more like our “gung-ho!” sibling and not more patriotic? We want God to move in this nation just as much!
Well, you are absolutely correct! Canada does have National Days of Prayer and this nation is getting a dose of FIRE from God’s glory and unlimited power from His Spirit. Canada has just as much of a rich and Godly history to our American counterparts. There were men and women who lived, sought after God and worked to found this nation! Our heritage as a nation under God is plainly visible when you walk through our Parliamentary buildings. The Word of God is clearly carved on The Peace Tower, Canada’s Coat of Arms and throughout Parliament Hill.
From the time of Jacques Cartier to Sir John A. MacDonald to the late 1960’s there has been a strong presence of God in Canada and her history.⁶ We have always been regarded as a “Christian nation” strongly tied to the Church of England and devoted to the teaching of God’s Word.⁷ The Peace Tower or Tower of Victory and Peace is that lovely clock tower that stands on the Centre Block of the Canadian Parliament buildings. It was built after WW1 and designed by architect, John A. Pearson. Pearson turned to the Bible to leave a legacy for future generations who might have to endure war. And today these scriptures still stand though the war looks a little different. Over 25 scriptures can be found within the tower, Centre Block and Parliament Hill. They can be found on concrete, stained glass windows and various other places.
One of the most prominent passages on the Peace Tower is Psalm 72:8. This verse is also featured on our Canadian Coat of Arms. It reads, “He (God) shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” This was the verse that first inspired our Fathers of Confederation to name our nation The Dominion of Canada. This was the verse that led Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, Premier of New Brunswick (one of the Fathers of Confederation) to tell the other 33 fathers that “dominion” would be the term to describe Canada.⁸ It was in Charlottetown of 1867 where these gentlemen came together to discuss and draft the terms of the British North America Act. They agreed that Canada should be a nation under God and was inspired to name the new nation “Dominion of Canada” (and not the suggested name United Canada). They were all in agreement and to this day the following words hang in the corridor in the Chamber in Province House: “In the hearts of the delegates who assembled in this room on September 1, 1864, was born the Dominion of Canada. Providence being their guide they builded better then they knew.”⁹
The idea of sovereign rule being unto God and NOT MAN is at the root of our celebrations of July 1st, Dominion Day, which was to recognize the sovereignty of God over our nation.¹⁰ However, this was overturned in 1983 in the passing of a private members’ bill that proposed changing the name to “Canada Day” with only twelve Members of Parliament present.¹¹ This is the kind of nonsense that tries to eradicate Canada’s true history. Her true foundation and purpose of being a nation that recognizes the supremacy of God and rule of the Law.
So with this in mind, we will pray. We will pray together on this special National Day of Prayer for our nation, Canada. Just like in 1533, Jacques Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River to Montréal. To commemorate the founding of Montréal, Cartier wrote in his diary “…we all kneeled down in the company of the Indians and with our hands raised toward heaven yielded our thanks to God”.¹²
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| Photograph taken by: Andrew Ly |
I asked the Lord what He wanted us to pray. There are so many things we often get distracted by and we tend to lose sight of what the Father has on His heart. With the help of Holy Spirit I was given this verse “And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7 (AMP).
I will be completely honest. I was really hoping for a verse that would have… how shall I say it? Gumption? or perhaps Christian fierceness? I kind of blinked, and was confused with regards to this verse that describes peace. I asked the Holy Spirit, “Are you sure? I feel as though we need to pray for things like COURAGE and BOLDNESS! Maybe even a fiery spirit to start storming that capital! (Ha, ha) or something to that degree. But the answer was “no”. He said I should pray for peace.
I looked up the ancient Hebrew word for peace because sometimes our Western understanding doesn’t capture what the Biblical authors were trying to write. We often think of peace in abstract terms like oh, a nice fluffy feeling that keeps you from being in a state of stress or anxiety. Correct? WRONG. Now many of you have probably already guessed the Hebrew word for peace is shalom. Oftentimes Jewish people will use this like our Western, “hello” and sometimes as “good-bye” as well.
The real root word of shalom is shalam and it is used in the verse below:¹³
When one man's ox hurts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and divide the price of it; and the dead beast also they shall divide. Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his. (Exodus 21:35,36, RSV)
This passage uses shalam to express the idea of "replacing" or "restoring" one dead ox for a live one because of negligence.¹⁴ The verb shalam literally means "to make whole".¹⁵ The word shalom has the same basic meaning but in the noun form as can be seen in the following verse.¹⁶
They said, "Your servant our father is well, he is still alive." And they bowed their heads and made obeisance". (Genesis 43:28, RSV)
In this passage the word "well" implies "wholeness" of the person in health and prosperity.¹⁷
So, when Jews greet one another using “shalom” they aren’t just saying hello but declaring complete wholeness on that person.¹⁸ I believe God wants us to agree together for peace. The perfect peace of Jesus so that our hearts and minds be guarded from things that would try to unsettle us. That we pray for and ask for “wholeness” over our nation which has been fragmented. It’s history, it’s laws, it’s people have been fragmented by evil dark agendas that have sought to separate us from the sovereignty of God.
So, let us pray:
Father God, holy is your name. We come together, united and in agreement with one another in prayer. We ask for shalom, your perfect peace. A peace that was given to us by your Son Jesus.
Just as Daniel made supplication to his nation Israel we make supplication for our nation Canada. “To the Lord our God, belong mercy and loving-kindness and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him.” (Daniel 9:9 AMP). Father, we seek your forgiveness for this nation which has rebelled against you. It has taken you out of our government, out of our businesses, out of our schools, out of even our churches. We repent and change our ways and invite you once again like our Fathers of Confederation that you reign sovereign over our nation once again. We ask that you reign sovereign over all areas of influence, be it government, business, education and media.
We want Your Ways here in Canada. We ask that you have dominion here from east to west, to our Great Lakes and the ends of the earth. We welcome you here and ask for your shalom. Make our nation whole once again. For decades the enemy has chipped away at Canada. He has perverted her ways, erased our history and marred our laws that were founded on You. But we do not tolerate this evil anymore. We agree together and declare that any influence from Hell, any evil, dark agendas, plans, plots, ploys, influences and promotions of the enemy and his cohorts are bound in the Name of Jesus. We declare that this darkness be exposed across all of our nation and the ties that have held Canada bound and separated from You Father. We cut and sever those ties in the Name of Jesus.
We thank you for all that you have done. We thank you for all that you are doing. A we thank you for what will come to pass. We thank you for your Shalom that you make this nation whole once again.
Thank you, Father, for hearing our prayers and we believe and thank you for Perfect Peace over our Dominion of Canada. Amen.
Endnotes
Davis, Derek H. Religion and the Continental Congress: 1774-1789 ... Google Books. Oxford University Press, 2000. https://books.google.ca/books?id=9es9WWz8Ac8C&pg=PA83&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false. Pg. 83-84.
Washington, George. He Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources. Edited by John C. Fitzpatrick. Google Books 14. Vol. 14. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1779. https://books.google.ca/books?id=1ec7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA369&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Hazard, Samuel. Collection of original documents from Pennsylvania Archives. 1874. Oxford University Collections, https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniaarh00assegoog/page/n134/mode/2up?q=131. Pg. 131.
“Proclamations (Washington 1789 - Trump 2018).” 10 Proclamations (Washington 1789 - Trump 2018) | The American Presidency Project. American Presidency Project, June 18, 2021. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/proclamations-washington-1789-trump-2018.
Martins, Steven. “The Peace Tower, Parliament, and Christian Canada.” Ezra Institute. Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity, September 1, 2015. https://www.ezrainstitute.ca/resource-library/articles/the-peace-tower-parliament-and-christian-canada/.
Martins, “The Peace Tower, Parliament, and Christian Canada.”
Martins, “The Peace Tower, Parliament, and Christian Canada.”
Waite, P.B., and Carolyn Harris. “Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley.” Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley | The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Accessed June 30, 2021. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sir-samuel-leonard-tilley.
CCHeritage.ca. “CCHeritage - The Facts Library.” Canada's Christian Heritage Web Site. CC Heritage. Accessed June 30, 2021. http://www.ccheritage.ca/facts/.
Martins, “The Peace Tower, Parliament, and Christian Canada.”
Martins, “The Peace Tower, Parliament, and Christian Canada.”
CCHeritage.ca. “CCHeritage - The Facts Library.”
Benner, Jeff A. “Hebrew Word Definition: Peace: AHRC.” Hebrew Word Definition: Peace | AHRC. Ancient Hebrew Research Center. Accessed June 30, 2021. https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/definition/peace.htm.
Benner, Jeff A. “Hebrew Word Definition: Peace: AHRC.”
Benner, Jeff A. “Hebrew Word Definition: Peace: AHRC.”
Benner, Jeff A. “Hebrew Word Definition: Peace: AHRC.”
Benner, Jeff A. “Hebrew Word Definition: Peace: AHRC.”
Benner, Jeff A. “Hebrew Word Definition: Peace: AHRC.”
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