On March 30, 1863, Abraham Lincoln called the nation to recognize their source of salvation and blessings by proclaiming a national day of fasting and prayer. In his speech, he said, “We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God…we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.”

This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

In today’s scripture, Paul taught the Ephesians the source of salvation, saying it is the work of a gracious and loving God for which He deserves recognition and praise.

During the hectic holiday season, why not proclaim your own day of prayer and fasting to remember your every blessing – including the greatest one of all, the ability to be freely saved by grace. Pray, too, for the country’s leaders to realize and remind the nation, as Lincoln did, that God is the source of true national prosperity and peace.

Recommended Reading: Romans 5:12-21