Dear Friends, Intercessors, and Fellow Countrymen:

Yesterday, (Monday, February 20) was the celebration of our 1st and 16th Presidents. In honor of their contribution to our Nation, it's a holiday. Banks are closed, kids get to stay home from school, and Corporate America uses it as a platform for deals guaranteed to get you off your sofas. But, what is it about these Presidents that makes them so important, so integral to our Nation’s history? Washington was one of our Founding Fathers. Lincoln changed the course of history.

For the purpose of this letter, I'd like to focus on Abraham Lincoln for a moment. Known for his integrity, he is one of my favorite Presidents. He was a quiet, deliberate man. When he spoke, there was tremendous depth and substance to his words. His desire as President of the United States was to unify a Nation. Secretly, he longed to abolish slavery and provoke within the citizens of our country respect for their fellow man. Lincoln declared slavery as: “an unqualified evil to the negro, the white man, and the State…” and each step he took was to put slavery on “…the course of ultimate extinction.” However, the Constitution protected slavery. As President, he was sworn to not only protect, but defend the Constitution. Therefore, he had to find another path and that’s what makes his story so important:

President Lincoln’s election shocked not only career politicians but those who funded candidates who promised to further their causes. Given his disdain toward slavery, between November and his inauguration (back then our Presidents weren't sworn in until March), several southern states seceded from the nation. If Lincoln was going to be President, they had no intention of remaining part of the Union. Needless to say, he had an uphill battle ahead of him. Barely a month after he was sworn in, the Civil War began. 

Much to everyone's surprise, President Lincoln proved himself a brilliant military strategist and used this effort to not only re-unify the Union, but to abolish slavery. This was step by strategic step. He was not only the President, but he was the head of the US Armed Forces. As the head of the US Military, he had the power to confiscate and seize enemy property used to wage war on the Union. All slaves were considered property. They raised food and fiber, cooked, worked in munitions factories, transported military equipment and so on for the confederate army. In essence, valuable assets in their fight against the Union. As valuable assets, the Union soldiers could confiscate them as they took over states in rebellion to the President. In other words, if a slave could make it to a state where the Union was victorious, he or she could potentially remain free. Once ‘confiscated’, they were freed from the bondage of slavery. What Lincoln could not do as President, he could do as head of the US Armed Forces. The order went out to his generals. This was not a law, mind you, it was a stand for righteousness; an effort to help allow one person at a time to find freedom. Slaves fled to the safety of the Union. Many, in turn, enlisted to fight with the Union Army. 

Two years into the Civil War, President Lincoln took another bold step and released the Emancipation Proclamation (declared September 22, 1862, with an enforcement date of January 1, 1863) this guaranteed the freedom of not only those who made it into Union-occupied states, but all slaves serving in the rebellious states - aka those serving in the Confederate-occupied states. The Emancipation Proclamation freed 3.1 million of our Nation’s 4 million slaves. This was a dramatic turning point in the war against slavery. 

 
By January of 1864, an Amendment to the US Constitution to abolish slavery passed the Senate but, blocked by Democrats, it died on the House floor. President Lincoln pressed on in his fight and gained enough support for re-election and continued his fight. In April of 1865, with the Union on the brink of victory, President Abraham Lincoln became a martyr to the cause of Liberty [of the slaves] and Union [reunification of the states]. In spite of our Nation’s great loss, that December, Lincoln's passion became a reality in the form of the 13th Amendment which not only prohibited slavery, but gave Congress the authority to enforce it. Finally, the institution that indelibly shaped the fabric of our Nation was eradicated. 

Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency, his life, was cut short by those who refused to see the value of human life. Kennedy shared Lincoln's passion for civil liberties. He would've taken our country to the next level in the eyes of God, working to strip the monetary reigns of the Elite from our Nation and partnering with Martin Luther King, he would've fought to reshape the way we view our fellow man. Both were martyrs. 

Today, we see the opportunity for redemption. Three very public martyrs paid the price to see righteousness prevail in our Nation; before God and in our relationship with our fellow man. The blood of the innocent paves the way for strongholds within a Nation. This is why we spend so much time in repentance. Every step Lincoln took paved the way for the 13th Amendment; finally abolishing slavery in our country. Ultimately, his own blood was shed for this cause. What some don't realize is that Kennedy shared the same passion Lincoln did. What many don't understand is that Trump carries the same fire. I say it again, today, we have the opportunity for redemption. I've never known another President who fought so hard against the establishment to do what was right for the American people. The enemy sought to slander him, strip him of the support because they knew what he would do to bring healing to this Nation if he were allowed to take office. Several weeks before the election, while we were in prayer on the Tuesday Corporate call I had a vision of Donald Trump; his life- past, present and future. (Imagine an hourglass laying in its side, the grains of sand on the left represent Trump’s experiences. Successes, failures, sorrows, celebrations, personal and professional—all were represented.) He stepped out onto the stage to take the oath of office. The moment his heel touched the platform, I saw everything he’d experienced in his life (picture the grains of sand in the hourglass) come from behind, meet at his body, and shoot through him and onto our Nation in the form of light-tiny grains of light bursting forth and penetrating the darkness in order to bring healing to our land. The Lord told me he’d created Trump for this hour in history. Everything he’d ever experienced in his 70 years would be poured out to heal and rebuild our Nation. This is why Trump was created! Knowing this, how can I not commit to pray for him every day?

People are out to destroy him because he carries within him the passion to heal our country and that’s in direct opposition to their plans. He wants to build a wall to protect our borders, implement the same requirements Canada has in place for immigrants, and the media declares him a racist. Syria allowed a flood of immigrants into their Nation; now they hardly have a nation left. ISIS infiltrated the influx of refugees, and ISIS is destroying yet another country. He wants to rebuild the inner cities, the Elite want them left to their own demise. He wants to bring back factories, the Elite see it as interfering with their destabilizing process. 

This is serious, my friends. My heart is burdened with the need to raise intercessors to stand in the gap for the one person who is willing to make difficult and strategic moves, face every obstacle head on, to do as he promised, and give this Nation back to God and back into the hands of the American people. As believers, as intercessors, it's important we stand in the gap for our President. Paul instructed the church to pray for their leaders. Now, we have a man who shares the same love of country, and of his fellow man that Lincoln and Kennedy shared, and the Church is bickering over praying for him. If a Nation divided cannot stand, what outcome do we expect to achieve by refusing to pray for our leaders? We are sinning against the Word when we don't obey this command. (1 Timothy 2:1-4, Psalms 22:28, Matthew 12:25) 

God declared Trump His Cyrus. As children of the living God, let's come together and stand in the gap for him out of submission to God. If God, once again released the mantle of Cyrus into a land to deliver His children from their oppressor, we not only should pray for him, we absolutely must! Our prayers got him elected. He had tremendous support across this Nation, but if we’d listened to the media reports fearing voting for him was a pointless task, he would not be sitting in the White House today. Prayer works! Trump has an aggressive plan to restore this Nation, if he makes a decision that we don’t agree with, let’s take it to the Lord in prayer. If he makes a mistake, let’s take it to the Lord in prayer. We mustn’t succumb to grumbling. I promise you, his success will be exponentially greater if the Church will pray for him. Look at the tremendous victory that Lincoln had; he was an unlikely Republican with a deep conviction in his heart regarding slavery. His passion was so intense; he not only had to take on the entire Democratic Party, but he had to amend the US Constitution in an effort to eradicate slavery from our land. Imagine what he would've accomplished if he'd had a praying Church standing behind him... 

Today, we are still facing the need to unify our Nation at a deeper level and it will take more than an Amendment to our Constitution... we need reformation! Reformation will heal the divide between the races and bring about a depth of civil liberty that cannot be shaken. Lincoln began this battle as he sought to run for office in the late 1850s. He, approximately 40,000 African-Americans, and 360,000 Union soldiers died as martyrs for this cause. Kennedy and King sought to stand together to take our Nation to the next level of healing and their time was cut short. Trump has Ben Carson and a wonderful team of African-American leaders standing with him longing to bring about reformation as they work to heal and restore our inner cities. (I posted a video on our FaceBook page revealing some of the members.) Let’s come together in prayer and obedience to the Word as we take a stand to cover President Trump, Ben Carson, Steve Harvey, and others as we finish the fight for civil liberties and seek to bring a depth of unwavering healing to our Nation.

Here’s your opportunity to take a stand!

Join Joel’s Army, pray with us on our Corporate Prayer Calls, and/or the Gathering of the Eagles, and let's pray for our President and see him fulfill all God created him to fulfill in this hour! Times and dates are in the sidebar to the left and on our website.

Blessings & love, 

Ricci Wilson

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