Prayer for Australia

Father, You are God which has made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that is in them .
You divided to the nations their inheritance and you divided all mankind and set up boundaries for the peoples.
To this land which you care for; a land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges
and deserts which bloom under heaven; you sent the black man and later
in your wisdom and mercy you sent our ancestors to share with him it's bounty.

But we came from a different land; of green and shaded lanes, of ordered woods and gardens, and soft dim skies.
Our ways were not their ways and the Blackfella came to suffer at our hand.
They, wise in the ways of "country" and comfortable in their land and we as convicts
and settlers sent; desperate to survive in a strange and unfamiliar place.
The Aboriginal reaped a blessing and a curse and only you know the whole truth of how
we came to be, of injustice to the Black man and the struggle between us all;
for the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.

They called us "the lucky country", we're not lucky but blessed by you!
In the hearts of prisoners, convicts and soldiers you preserved us the knowledge of Almighty God.
In the earliest settlements you raised up righteous men and women, a remnant to proclaim your name.
From the beginning your hand was placed upon this land and its peoples.
From north and west many came and by toil and grace you prospered our land.
This land of magnificent distances and bright heat.
This land of self reliance, and never-give-in and help your mate.

Those men and those women whose brave souls fought to preserve us this land against tyranny,
Those men and those women who sacrificed and sacrifice still, everything that we should be free
Those who grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age does not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them lest we forget,...
Though we remember them Lord, we've forgotten who sustained them, who carried them,
and who with broken heart stood with them in their terror and suffering.
We don't remember their fathers and our grand parents and what has been given to us by
convicts, soldiers, settlers, and pioneers who toiled and struggled and suffered in hope
for their lives and kids and country. We've forgotten you Lord, who sustained our people
through the hard times and good and who sustains us still...

Your praises in public are frowned on, and your teaching disdained
Politicians question the relevance of our Lords prayer, although some recite with boredom
and some with contempt, some are glad of it and rejoice, humbly relying on the
blessings of Almighty God, and for all our sakes it remains.
Many have no vision, no faith, no wisdom, no knowledge. They say unto God, depart from us;
for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
Piece by piece our country is lost; land and asset, heritage and history, purpose, faith, love, and our kids

Our kids Lord have little or no knowledge of their heritage and have little or no knowledge of you or your ways.
They are lead astray and are seduced by the world and evil men.
Entertainment and alcohol, drugs, idleness and boredom are often their lot and
many are succumb to loss of hope and of purpose and others to despair and even death.
There are others, young and old, mothers and children, families and single
battling for survival on our streets, and still more battling in with drought and fire as
they watch their livelihood being destroyed with the loss of loved ones, homes and community.

Father open our hearts to you and to one another.
Reconcile and heal our peoples, the black man and the white.
Make us thankful for what we have and who we are and give us courage, resilience and faith in the face of adversity.
Give us a vision for our country; many peoples but one nation
where justice and mercy prevail and righteousness exalts our land.
Let your spirit rest upon us;
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of council and might,
the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
Help us Lord so that your people who are called by your name will humble themselves,
and pray and seek your face and turn from their wicked ways that you may hear from heaven,
and forgive our sin and heal our land.

Lord there is none other that can help us; for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory.
Oh Australia! My country! Her very name is music to me. God bless Australia!
In that name above every name, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen