The American Minute: April 12, 2010 - Civil War - Lincoln - Prayer

Less than two months after Lincoln was inaugurated President, the Civil War began APRIL 12, 1861, with Confederate troops in Charleston, South Carolina, firing upon Fort Sumter.

The Confederate Army was unstoppable, twice winning battles at Bull Run, Virginia, just twenty miles from Washington, D.C., forcing the Union troops to retreat to the fortifications of the Capitol.

It was not until the Battle of Gettysburg, over two years into the war, that the tide began to turn.

President Lincoln confided to Noah Brooks: "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."

In his General Order, November 15, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln wrote: "The President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service.

The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine Will demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity."

Good April 12th morning to all.

Today's American Minute brings us another incidence of the importance of prayer and of the role of Christian faith on the part of one of our Presidents.

As a Southerner, I must confess that I grew up with a rather unfavorable view of Lincoln and, of course, of the results of the Civil War and of "yankees" (forgive me, ML...!)

Much of those views descend not so much from the War's results but more from the horrendous actions of the Yankee Carpet Baggers who descended on the South, on my state, and whose destruction has not been forgotten to this day.

Of course, with age and Jesus, things change. :-)

My views on Lincoln, on the results of the Civil War, and, yes, even on "yankees", have been, well, REDEEMED! LOL!

Of course, the idea of human slavery has been anathema to me all my life! So that part of the results of the Civil War, I have always looked on with favor and gratitude.

However, I have also always believed that slavery would have been ended in America without that war. Yet, in God's providence, it was used to bring that horror to an end. Specifically, LINCOLN was used by God to do that!

I am not a Civil War Scholar, not at all. But as a Southerner, I have great respect and love for Robert E. Lee and for all those in my state and among my ancestors who fought against government intrusion into their lives in the South of their era.

But, the more I read about Lincoln, the more I understand how God's hand was upon him and that indeed, just as we have seen God's hand in the lives of our modern Presidents and leaders (Nixon, Reagan, George W Bush, Sarah Palin to mention just a few), that Lincoln was in office at just that time for a specific plan and destiny which God had for him and for this nation - the more I must just thank the Lord and worship Him for His sovereign plan and purpose for all our lives, for the life of our nation, and the world.

He has it all in total control.

We really can just relax, praise Him, and live life to the fullest as we were intended to live!

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