Preparing for the National Day of Prayer

This is a repost from my Yahoo 360 blog. Regaurdless what our leaders choose to do, we can still acknowledge tomorrow as a day of prayer to the one true God.

Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer, and as such, I think it is important to prepare our hearts to spend more than our usual “allotted” time with God in prayer. Make a list of things that you want to pray about. Not the normal everyday things that come up in prayer, but things for our nation.


We need to remember that the Pilgrims came here so long ago with the purpose of being able to worship God without fear of persecution. Then, after their first year, in which half of those who came over here died, they celebrated a time of thanks to God for His provisions for them. Unfortunately, our children are being taught in school that the Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated the friendship that had developed between them. God has been removed from a very historical event because time have changed. Remember that just because times have changed, that doesn’t mean history does.


Our nation was founded by God-fearing men and women who read His Word on a daily basis and lived His Word openly without fear of what others would say or think, without shame or apology. Scripture has been etched into the very walls of our monuments, and yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to see evidence of God or His Word in the lives of those in our nation’s authority.

It is vital to our nation that we the people come to the Lord in prayer not just on the National Day of Prayer but everyday to plead for God’s hand of mercy upon us for the decisions being made that so blatantly contradict the principals outlined in the Bible. We have become so inclusive of every belief system that is out there, and yet the one that our nation was founded on is quietly and stealthily being removed and replaced with secular humanism.


As we go into tomorrow let us remember some of what God has said about prayer:


2 Chronicles 7:14- “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Isn’t our land in need of healing right now? Aren’t the constant bailout programs proof that our nation is “sick” and in need of a touch from God? When we as a nation realize that we need to turn to God for help instead of the banks or the office of president, then God will reach down and touch our nation with His healing hand.


Daniel 9:1-19 - This is a long passage, but a powerful one. The people of Judah were in captivity and were suffering the consequences of choosing other gods over serving the one true God. Daniel prayed for the nation, confessed their sins (even though he was not guilty of many of them), and declared God’s awesome qualities and the open shame that of the people. What a perfect example his prayer is for us as we go into tomorrow! Let us remember to ask God to forgive our nation for turning our backs on what His Word says is right and for accepting what His Word declares is wrong.


Revelation 8:4- “And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.” May tomorrow, the prayers of all of us rise before the Lord as a fragrant smelling incense. My prayer today is that tomorrow as we pray, the heavens will be filled with the sweet smelling fragrance of our prayers, and that God will act on our behalf in these troubling times.


And as our nation’s turmoil grows, may we pray as Abraham prayed, “…Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the unrighteous? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked be treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” May God hear our prayers.