Proverbs Prayers for America

With America turning 249 today, in 2026, Americans might celebrate our 250^th birthday. I say “might” because our country needs prayer to make it to that commemorative date. Perchance, a look into the book of Proverbs may guide our prayers for America.

Words Matter to Americans

Our Founding Fathers set the stage for our country, so to speak, with the words of the Declaration of Independence—a document written to define the rights of the Colonies to declare freedom under God. In writing this post, I reread the Declaration, and I urge each person reading this to do so. Its words echo through the ages—from 1776 to 2025 and hopefully, beyond.

 Using the acronym for America, let’s search for some Proverbs to pray over our country. Of course, we start by acting on them and praying them over ourselves and our own homes.

 A – Acknowledgement

The Proverb:

• Proverbs 3:6 (NKJV)—In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

The Actions:

America’s forefathers built this country through great wisdom. They acknowledged God and used the Bible as their textbook, their instruction manual, and their guidebook. Both the Declaration and our Constitution hold words from between its covers.

As Americans, we need that kind of wisdom. We must acknowledge Our Father and His Word. It begins with reading Scripture to our infants and never stops. In Deuteronomy, we’re charged to read God’s Word day and night, filling our minds and hearts with its wisdom.

 

The Prayer:

Heavenly Father, as Your child, I bow before You. I acknowledge You in my life, my home, my country. Help me seek You in Your Word. Lead me so I might help lead my family, my church, my community, my country to find Your paths. I pray all Americans would stand up and acknowledge You today, on our country’s birthday, and continue to. In return, You will lead us in the paths of righteousness … from “sea to shining sea” and to heaven one day. In Jesus’s name, we kneel and pray … united. Amen.

M – Mercy

The Proverb:

• Proverbs 14:31 (NKJV)— He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy on the needy.

The Actions:

Americans are “needy.” At grocery stores, weary customers can’t afford to feed their families. America—the richest country in the world in 2022; today, seventh. Add the 15% rise in homelessness from 2023-2024.

It’s said, “We’ve been given enough to give enough.” I remember an offering at a Christian event. Checks for $100 lay beside stacks of twenties. But one envelope held two dollars. A note said, “It’s all I have.” Remembering the widow’s mites, was my offering of leftover cash from our fast-food lunch “enough”?

The Prayer:

O’ Jesus, I know I can never outgive You. You gave everything … way more than “enough.” Help me to look inside and then around me and seek to honor You by helping the needy. Move in the heart of every American to offer the “enough” they have, whether monetary help, food, shelter, or an extra hand, a listening ear, a loving heart. Together, we can become the “richest country in the world” in love and charity. Through the name of Jesus. Amen.

E – Eyes and Ears

 The Proverb:

• Proverbs 20:12 (NLT)— Ears to hear and eyes to see—both are gifts from the Lord.

The Actions:

I love photos from America’s parks. Kaleidoscopic mountains in autumn. White-tailed buck in velvet. Children splashing in lakes. When viewing them, I imagine sounds: leaves crunching, deer snorting, children laughing. Gratefully, God gifted us with “eyes to see and ears to hear.”

What if, instead of looking at computer screens, we went outside to observe butterflies and clouds? If we remove earbuds to hear wind rustling trees, animated conversations at nearby tables in the coffee shop? Perchance, we’d use God’s gifts to see someone who needs a smile, to listen to a senior share stories from his youth … to do what Jesus did.

The Prayer:

Holy Spirit, please, open my eyes to see not just the beauty of creation but to notice the tension in a teen’s eyes, on a senior’s face as they both navigate today’s issues. Open my ears to a parent’s stress while corralling toddlers. Show me and all Americans how to see with the eyes and hear with the ears, to reach with the arms and walk beside with the feet of Jesus. Amen.

R – Righteousness

The Proverb:

• Proverbs 21:21 (NIV)— Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.

The Actions:

The Declaration names “the pursuit of happiness” in an American’s “unalienable right.” But my happiness may conflict with another’s. I love staying home; my husband would love to travel. An employer wants an employee to work longer, but he doesn’t see the two toddlers and a broken faucet waiting at home for Daddy.

Solomon’s proverbs include pursuing righteousness and love. In doing so, he says we’ll find life, prosperity, and honor. Do those sound like synonyms for “happiness” to anyone else? How do we pursue righteousness? By choosing to become more like Jesus every day. Look up the character qualities of Jesus and pursue those. Happiness follows.

The Prayer:

Jesus, each day I live, may I grow more like You—serving selflessly, forgiving readily, loving unconditionally. Let me be an example to fellow Americans in my choices, my words, my unending loyalty to my God first, then to my country, trusting in God’s promise to heal this land if we just run back to Him. Let the goal of righteousness become our pursuit of happiness. In Thy name I pray. Amen.

I – Integrity

The Proverb:

• Proverbs 10:9 (NIV)— Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.

The Actions:

Acknowledging God, helping others, opening our eyes and ears, pursuing righteousness—all these add to our character as Americans, as disciples. But it’s not enough to learn them, then do whatever we want. God knows our hearts, our thoughts.

At the Abraham Lincoln Center for Character Development, they teach qualities Abe stood for: honesty, humility, and integrity. President Lincoln walked in those straight paths of integrity. Other Founding Fathers exemplified courage, vision, and leadership, qualities that cannot exist without integrity, being true to oneself and God.

The Prayer:

My Lord, You see inside us. If I claim to be honest, let me never lie. If I give a promise, let me follow through. When I share, may I not hold back. When I forgive, help me forget. May my work ethics prove my worth. Let me not see in fellow Americans a race, age, or social status, but children of God. May I walk securely in my integrity, as Americans lived in 1776 and will in 2026. In His Holy name. Amen.

C – Commitment

The Proverb:

• Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)— Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

The Actions:

On most days, I have a plan … er, many plans. My to-do tasks number in the dozens. My projects vary, often including writing, crafting, and organizing all in the same day. I don’t list household chores, personal care, and animal needs, such as brushing our dog sixteen times a day.

To bring America back to its Christian roots will take an act of God. Thankfully, His Word tells us He’ll act for us IF we commit whatever we do to Him. Commit has several definitions, but I believe Solomon meant this one: to entrust to someone. As Americans entrust their days to God by seeking His will for them, He gives that to us.

The Prayer:

Promise Giver, thank You for all the promises in Proverbs. I want to seek Your Spirit’s guidance for each task, each project, each outing … for every moment of every day. As I learn this process, show me how to share my experiences with others and help Americans back to committing all they do to You. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

A – ALL!

The Proverb:

• Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)—Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

The Actions:

During our homeschool days, we did multiple studies on America—its flora and fauna, geography, chronological history, presidents, inventors, painters, and more. One thing stuck out: America’s heart beats for ALL. Indeed, our pledge to the American flag ends with “liberty and justice for ALL.”

Today, that heart beats to too many drums. Liberty has become the freedom to tear our country apart. Justice isn’t for ALL, but for the one with the largest following, the most wealth, the strongest platform. I end with a prayer formed from words immortalized by the battlefields of the Civil War that tore our country’s union apart, President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:

The Prayer:

True Founding Father of America, I bow before You on behalf of our hurting country. Over 165 years ago, it lay in ruins, dispirited, split, and grieving the freedoms it had lost. Today, those words ring out again. And as Abraham Lincoln said, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — … — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Amen and amen!