Vacancy

Prayer and action lay at the foundation of Concerned Women for America (CWA). In many ways, they are intermingled. Prayer is action — the most powerful kind of action we take here at CWA. So, as we continue our work to support the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court, we want to take a week just before his Senate Judiciary Committee hearings commence on Sept. 4 and pray for his nomination.

What follows is a seven-day prayer calendar starting Tuesday, August 28, and ending on Tuesday, Sept. 4, the first day of hearings. We pray this is helpful to you and gets us in the proper mindset for the spiritual battle ahead.

I want to urge you to make this part of your daily devotion during next week (Aug. 28-Sept.4). Justice is a spiritual matter. Jesus actually called it one of the “weightier matters of the law” (see Matthew 23:23). A quick word search on my Bible software rendered 125 verses using the Hebrew word for “justice.” There are forces working tirelessly to pervert justice who see Judge Kavanaugh as a real threat to their schemes. Let us stand united in prayer asking God, above all, that His will be done.

Taking the approach laid out in Philippians 4:6-7, we are laying out “prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let[ting] [our] requests be made known to God.”

Prayer Guide

(Click here to access a printer-friendly version and to add your name to those praying)

Tuesday, August 28, 2018 – Pray for Justice in America

Prayer: Holy Father, we do not seek to be trivial but thorough. We depend on You for everything we have. We praise Your name for the very air we breathe. And we lay at Your feet the preservation of justice and righteousness in our land.

Supplication: Help us thirst for justice and remember its true meaning. Forgive us for perverting it and seeking our own prideful ways, instead of what is truly good and true.

Thanksgiving: We thank You for Your mercy and grace towards us.

Request: Help Judge (and future-Justice) Kavanaugh to not grow cynical in the application and preservation of justice, but to depend on You more and more when the tasks and pressures associated with the position You’ve bestowed on him become increasingly harder.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018 – Pray for the President and His Team

Prayer: Oh Lord, Our God, we live in tumultuous times. And for such a time, You have selected President Donald J. Trump to lead our nation.  We pray Your protection over him and his family and over his team. We pray Your wisdom and guidance will prevail over all other counsel in every office in the White House.

Supplication: Help the president to grow in the knowledge of You. Help him to trust in You and not to lean on his own understanding.

Thanksgiving: We thank You for giving him wisdom in selecting judges. We are so thankful to see people who seek to preserve religious liberty and justice appointed.

Request: Believing that Judge Kavanaugh is just such a judge, we ask You to guide his nomination every step of the way. Let not those who hate justice prevail in their schemes to stop him. May Your people rejoice, seeing Your hand involved throughout it all.

Thursday, August 30, 2018 – Pray for the U.S. Supreme Court

Prayer: Precious Lord, we lift up the U.S. Supreme Court before You today. We pray that Your justice will be the scent that guides the appetites of every Supreme Court justice.

Supplication: Stir the hearts of every one of them toward You: Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Neil Gorsuch, and, of course, future-Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Thanksgiving: We thank You for recent decisions guarding our religious liberties (may the trend continue!).

Request: Guard the justices and their families against the dark seductions that come along with the incredible power of the positions they hold.

Friday, August 31, 2018 – Pray for Judge Kavanaugh and His Family

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we lift up Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his family to You. Only You can prepare a man for a humanly impossible task, and that is precisely what Judge Kavanaugh faces.

Supplication: Protect him and his family. Give them patience and grace as they face unkindness and outright slander. Let the vicious attacks of the enemy not touch their hearts and minds. Let them not grow weary through it all.

Thanksgiving: We thank You for preparing him for this moment. We thank You for this merciful opportunity to see a man committed to justice and truth appointed to the nation’s highest court.

Request: Give him words of wisdom, clarity of mind, humility and grace as he gets ready for the hearings.

Saturday, September 1, 2018 – Pray for the Media

Prayer: Oh Lord, help us to climb out of this awful pit we are in where so many of us cannot see the truth. Indeed, many do not want to see it. We pray specifically today for the members of our national media.

Supplication: Give them courage and curiosity. Give them a thirst for truth and justice. Send more of your people to shine a light in this important area.

Thanksgiving: We thank You for Your mercy towards our land for so many years. We thank You for our freedoms. We thank you for the freedom of the press.

Request: Help us to learn from our past mistakes, to respond to Your discipline, and to seek after all that is good and true and beautiful. Help the media, as it covers this nomination, to present truth and to reject the manipulations from those seeking personal gain from distorting Judge Kavanaugh’s record.

Sunday, September 2, 2018 – Pray for the Judiciary Committee

Prayer: On this, Your day, we bless Your name, oh God. May Your will be done on Earth as in Heaven. We pray Your will over what is happening next week: the hearings of Judge Kavanaugh.

Supplication: Help all the senators and their teams as they prepare to tackle this important task. We ask that it be conducted with grace and dignity, with respect and compassion.

Thanksgiving: In faith, we stand confident that You are in control and will frustrate the enemy’s plans at every turn. 

Request: We pray for miracles in the lives of all involved, that they may see Your hand at play throughout this process. We pray specifically for the members of the Judiciary Committee: Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein of California, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, and Sen. John Neely Kennedy of Louisiana. 

Monday, September 3, 2018 – Pray for the U.S. Senate

Prayer: God and Father, we pray for our elected officials, especially for our senators, as they consider the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Give them a heart and passion for truth and justice.

Supplication: Guard their hearts and minds against the schemes of those who seek to pervert justice and truth. Give them the courage to rise above partisan politics.

Thanksgiving: We thank You for the freedoms we have enjoyed for so many years. We thank you for these senators who are to represent “we the people.” Guide them in this difficult task.

Request: Help senators to think clearly and justly on this nomination. Help them to concentrate on Judge Kavanaugh and his record, instead of the outside forces pressuring them to act for other personal interests.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018 – the Hearings

Prayer: You, oh God, are our help and confidence. We pray Your blessings on the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh.

Supplication: May the schemes of the enemy be derailed. May truth and justice reign.

Thanksgiving: We thank You for Your involvement and care for us. Who are we that You are mindful of us?

Request: Help us to be engaged and to support truth and justice through prayer and action as we help to get Justice Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. We do so, believing he is a man who fears You and will try to be an impartial guardian of justice. May he do so with humility and honor, always remembering that it is truth that sets us free.

Thank you for committing to pray with us.  Please let us know you are joining us by clicking here and signing this petition. There you will have the opportunity to get the prayer guide in .PDF form for easy printing.  Share it far and wide.

The left came “guns blazing” in opposition of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it has struggled to come up with a reason why.

Oh, they hate him. Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) said those who do not oppose Kavanaugh are “complicit in the evil.” The very day President Trump made his announcement, Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said he would, “oppose Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination with everything I have.” Several others immediately followed suit.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) said, “Kavanaugh represents a direct and fundamental threat to that promise of equality, and so I will oppose his nomination to the Supreme Court.” Some senators did not even wait for the announcement to oppose whoever the nominee was. Here was Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) before the announcement, “I will oppose the nomination the President will make tonight because it represents a corrupt bargain with the far Right, big corporations, and Washington special interests.”

We saw this everywhere. The media-celebrated “Women’s March” sent out their press release opposing “XX.” No need to know who the nominee is; he or she would “further erode protections for almost every marginalized group in America.” Some rallied in front of the Supreme Court with pre-made signs for any nominee they thought possible. The official Twitter account of the Democratic Party reportedly put out a tweet (then deleted it) saying, “Let’s be clear: A vote for #KavanaughSCOTUS would be a vote to rip health care from American families …” only it featured the wrong judge in the picture.

They are outraged. They are mad. At whom? At whomever…

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Click here to read the rest of this column as featured in CNS News.

If you did not get a chance to hear from Judge Kavanaugh at his nomination announcement, I encourage you to take the time and listen to him. I am confident you will see in him what virtually everyone he has worked with will testify; this is an honorable man for whom family and faith are incredibly important. His humility and candor are evident.

But, of course, he also has an impeccable professional record that is second to none. He graduated from Yale and had several prestigious clerkships with Judges in the Third and Ninth Circuit, and Justice Anthony Kennedy at the U.S. Supreme Court.  He later served as an associate at the Office of Independent Counsel Ken Starr and also as Senior Associate Counsel for President George Bush.

 

It is because of this public service that liberals staunchly opposed Judge Kavanaugh when he was nominated for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was first nominated in 2003, but his nomination stalled for three years in the Senate as they unfairly targeted him for political reasons. He was finally confirmed in 2006 by a vote of 57-36.

That he is so fiercely opposed by the radical liberals tells you a lot. Judge Kavanaugh has written over 300 published opinions and has proven himself to be an impartial judge seeking to apply the Constitution as written, refusing to legislate from the bench which is what the left demands.

Judge Kavanaugh (a Catholic himself) has protected religious freedom, as protected by the Constitution. In Newdow v. Roberts, he upheld prayer and invocations at government ceremonies. Noting Supreme Court precedent that, “The Constitution does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion’s role in society.”

In Archdiocese of Washington v. WMATA, Judge Kavanaugh was appalled at the unconstitutionality of D.C. Metro’s ban on religious advertising.  As The Washington Post reported, “Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was unrelenting in questioning Metro’s lawyer, former solicitor general Donald B. Verrilli Jr., and stated unequivocally his view that the policy is ‘pure discrimination’ in violation of the First Amendment.”

In Priests for Life v. HHS, Judge Kavanaugh voted to prevent the Obama Administration from enforcing its contraceptive mandate against religious entities.

Kavanaugh also recognizes the Government’s interest in protecting the unborn. In a recent case (Garza v. Hargan ) we told you about, where an illegal immigrant minor in U.S. custody wanted to force the government to help her in getting an abortion, Judge Kavanaugh recognized the government’s legitimate interest in preferring life over abortion.

Although you may hear some concern from some of our friends in the pro-life community about this case, the reality is that judge Kavanaugh strongly rejected the ACLU’s argument, instead siding with the legal argument made by the Trump Administration that requiring the federal government to assist the minor in obtaining an abortion would ignore the government’s “permissible interest in favoring fetal life, protecting the best interests of a minor, and refraining from facilitating abortion.” He forcefully dissented from the en banc ruling saying it was “based on a constitutional principle as novel as it is wrong: a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in U.S. Government detention to obtain immediate abortion on demand.”

Judge Kavanaugh has stood strong against the overreaching of federal agencies. He dissented from a denial of en banc rehearing in U.S. Telecom Ass’n v. FCC writing that, “the Government must keep its hands off the editorial decisions of Internet service providers.” And he has many other encouraging decisions in this area.

There is simply no other way to look at this nomination than to say it is an excellent pick by President Trump.  We’ve just scratched the surface; Judge Kavanaugh has strong opinions respecting the Second Amendment and upholding voter ID laws, among hundreds of others.

Justice Kavanaugh will be no swing vote.  He has proven he will stand for the Constitution as written every time, and he deserves our support.

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Mario Diaz, Esq. is CWA’s general counsel. Follow him on Twitter @mariodiazesq.