An Appeal to Heaven
Early in the American Revolutionary War, George Washington’s Navy ships, the “Washington Cruisers,” flew flags with pictures of green pine trees pointing upward with the slogan, “An Appeal to Heaven,” printed on it, as a way to distinguish their ships from pirate ships and English war ships. The slogan on the flag came from the closing paragraph of the resolution sent by the Massachusetts Colony to their Brethren in Great Britain, which ended thus, “Appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause we determine to die or be free.”
For more information about the “An Appeal to Heaven” flag, check out this link.
There is a current resurgence of the use of this flag in response to our national and world crises. Christians across the nation and around the world now use it as a spiritual battle flag as we appeal to God to restore Christian principles on every level in our society. Our children’s lives are hanging in the balance, and we must not let them down.
One of the most powerful way for Christians to appeal to heaven is through praying Scriptures back to God. I confess that I feel under-qualified to write on this topic as I am attempting to address something I feel lacking in my own prayer life. But as writers often do, we write about something we want to know more about, thereby pushing ourselves to research that very thing.
As I searched for appropriate Scriptures for praying back to God, I copy/pasted several into a downloadable PDF file of Scripture cards that can be cut apart and re-sorted to fit your prayer needs. This set is in no way exhaustive, but might help you and me jump-start this approach to praying the Scriptures. The last page is blank so you can write out additional cards to add to your set.
As the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 55:11, “. . . so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (NIV)
When we pray Scriptures back to God we can be confident we are praying according to his will, provided we take time to understand the context of the Scriptures we are praying. There must be some common ground between the situation in the Bible passage and the current situation to which we are applying the Scripture. Moses, King David, and other notable Israelite leaders frequently inquired of the LORD concerning actions they would take. They didn’t jump on a promise in a previous situation and apply it to the next one. Likewise, we too must seek God’s wisdom concerning how the Scriptures apply to our current situation.
Many Christians are applying scriptural promises given to the Israelites to our nation. This may be justified considering our nation was established on Christian principles from its very beginning. It is obvious that God’s hand supported our government and its leaders over the years. We have made many grievous errors along the way, and over time have faced and taken steps toward correcting them. Our concerted effort in prayer is imperative if we are to overcome the evils facing us now.
Our most critical need is for a mighty sweeping revival to come across our nation and the world. Revival must start among Christian believers. 2 Chronicles 7:14 states this clearly: “. . . if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” As we pray for revival, our prayers will surely include our family members, children, grandchildren, and lost loved ones.
Do you have a favorite scripture you like to pray over our nation or our children or others? Please share it in the comments below.
Post written by Janice D. Green
Picture on flag copyright 2021 by Jonathan Huff.
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What a good resource, Janice. Thank you.
Your posts are always so thoughtfully written!
Love these printable Scripture cards! Now wouldn’t these be great printed on fabric for a Bible quilt?! Praying for revival, too!
Thank you Nancy! I’ll have to think about your Bible quilt idea.
I love the idea of the Bible quilt. This nation needs prayer more now than ever. Thanks and God bless!
Thank you Nancy. Yes, we so desperately need the prayers for our nation.
Thank you for the printable Scripture cards. I didn’t know about that flag.
Glad you liked the cards and learned about the “An Appeal To Heaven” flag.
Great print out that will be greatly used. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you find it useful.
Janice, this truly is a great resource! I didn’t know that this was originally the flag for Massechusetts. What an appropriate prayer for today!
Thank you Jeanne!
This is such an interesting post!
Thank you Claire.
This nugget hit me: praying Scriptures back to God. I’ve heard of this but not ever done it. I will try it. Thank you!!
Thank you Jessica.
My most common prayer for our nation is that we repent and turn from our sins, both as a nation and as individuals within our nation. We are not a Christian people now, if we ever were. Many of our founders were, but it’s impossible to say that all were, given many of their earliest decisions, particularly the exploitation of African peoples as slaves from our earliest years.
Repentance must come first from those who follow Christ. Our original founders were Christian, and God’s name and ideals are expressed repeatedly in our founding documents. That didn’t protect us from the numerous mistakes we have made as a nation, but if we don’t gather under His shield of protection soon, we may lose everything good that once made us a great nation.
I had never heard of this flag–how interesting and thought-provoking. And thank you for this wonderful prayer resource. We need it now more than ever!
It was new to me as well. I learned about it watching Dutch Sheets videos on YouTube.
Janice, I just saw that flag at our grocery store yesterday in the parking lot. Now I know what it means!!!
I hope we will begin seeing it everywhere. We need a sweeping revival to save our nation and many prayers going up.
I love that idea– praying back Scriptures. And thank you for provided actual verses for us to use.
Thank you Lori. These Scripture cards are just a starting point. I’m sure you will find more as you read your Bible with an eye for finding them.