What is the National Day of Prayer?

The National Day of prayer is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May. It was designated by the United States Congress as the day when people are asked “to turn to God in prayer and meditation”. Days of prayer have a long history in America. Read more about their history

Each year since its inception, the president has signed a proclamation, encouraging all Americans to pray on this day. This year President Trump proclaimed May 3 as the National Day of prayer. Read the proclamation

 

Desperate times require Desperate measures

These are desperate times for our nation! Daily we see the moral fiber of our country being shredded. How has a country whose motto is “One Nation under God” ended up in such disarray? It is my personal opinion there are a multitude of reasons. However, I believe the two core problems are the failure of the church to share the gospel which resulted in the church’s lack of influence in today’s culture, and the collapse of the family as God established it are in the forefront.

The call of the church is to “Go and make disciples of[a all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19) In order to make disciples we must first share the gospel of Christ with them. The church, instead of going out and making disciples, has built walls and hoped people came in to be disciples. We have remained inside and not reached out.

It has been said that “As the family goes, so goes the nation!” Since the beginning families have been close to God’s heart. In fact, they were God’s idea in the first place. God established the family to be the bedrock of society, to be the basic building blocks of nations, to reveal the kingdom of Christ here on earth. God’s plan and desire has always been for parents to raise up their children to know and love Him and walk in His ways. (Deuteronomy 6:6).

There is an all out war on marriage and the family. Families are not only broken but they are being redefined. The church has not stood firm on the truth of the Word concerning divorce and marriage, nor have they stood against those who seek to redefine what God instituted. Christian couples have not lived out the Word of God nor have they assumed their God given responsibility to teach their children the word so that they would fear God. Church and family have not been salt and light to a dying world. It’s no wonder we are in such a state of decay.

As believers we need to unite and pray for our nation, not because the congress and President designate this as the National Day of prayer, but because it is what God has called us to do. Yes we join in today, however it doesn’t stop there! The church, which we are a part of, needs to confess its part (both corporately and individually) in the decay of this once great nation. As a body and individually we need to intentionally set aside times to come together and pray for our nation.

 

How do we pray?

 

Pray for the church

Pastors

  • To teach the Word of God so as to encourage and strengthen the body
  • To equip the body to minister to those around them
  • To lead by example

Individuals

  • To ask God to reveal any unconfessed sin/unforgiveness
  • To ask God for wisdom, understanding, and knowledge of His will; and strength
  •  To love God with whole heart and love people as themselves
  •  To honor and glorify God in all they do
  • To grow strong in the Word; obey it and the courage to do so
  • To share the gospel from whatever platform they find themselves on
  • To become educated about the elections, both national and local and to vote. (Not every candidate will be a believer but each one will have a platform. Vote the platform which is closest to what God’s heart is)

Families

  • To ask God to reveal unconfessed sin/unforgiveness
  • To honor and glorify God
  • To be committed to growing together and staying together
  • To be committed to teaching the children God’s word and how to obey it
  • To share the gospel from whatever platform you find yourselves on
  • To committing to put Jesus on display in every aspect of your lives

Pray for all those in authority

National

President, Vice President, Congressman, Senators (by name)

Community

Police officers, local officials (by name)

Pray for Unity among authorities, individual churches, families

A nation divided against itself cannot stand. A house divided against itself cannot stand – Mark 3:24-25

Pray for eyes and ears to be opened to see the power of God as never before, to see the truth, hearts to obey and the courage to do so.

 

God has a plan and a purpose for everything

 

Remember, even though we don’t understand what is going on around us God does! He reminds us that He is with us, He will help us, He is sovereign and has not lost control but has a plan and His purposes will prevail bringing honor and glory to Him.

We can be assured, that He hears our prayers and He knows our needs. There’s great power in uniting together, turning our hearts towards God, and praying on behalf of America, our nation.

I believe we are at a crossroads in the history of our nation and there is nothing more important for us to do than pray. However, our real hope is found, not in ourselves, not in our leaders, not in the economy, not in the condition of our nation today, or any other day. “Our hope comes from the Lord.” Psalm 62:5

Learn more about the History of Prayer in America.

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