As I write this, today is officially the National Day of
Prayer. This morning I was privileged to lead a devotional prayer time with a
group of teachers and staff at a local elementary school around the flag pole.
We sang “America the Beautiful”, “What a friend we have in Jesus” and “Amazing
Grace” together with the aid of another pastor friend who is more musically
inclined than I with a guitar. There was no discussion of denominational
preferences of those gathered. It was simply a time for us to pray to Almighty
God for our nation, our state, our community and ourselves and to give thanks
to God for His blessings upon our nation. Our nation has a long history of
setting aside a national day of prayer. Consider these facts:
·
1775 – The first Continental
Congress called for a National Day of Prayer
·
1863 – Abraham Lincoln
called for such a day.
·
1952 – Congress established
NDP as an annual event by a joint resolution, signed into law by President
Truman
·
1988 – The law was amended
and signed by President Reagan, designating the NDP as the first Thursday in
May.
One of the Architects of the Constitution of the
United States and later President Thomas Jefferson said in 1808: “Fasting and prayer are religious exercises; the enjoining them an act
of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the
time for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their
own particular tenets; and right can never be safer than in their hands, where
the Constitution has deposited it.”
I
read to the group the encouragement of the Apostle Paul from 1st Tim. 2:1-4 “Therefore I exhort first of all that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority,
that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight
of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth.”
We have a God-given mandate to pray for our national,
state and local leaders and that is what we did today. We prayed for wisdom for
them as they lead us and as Paul petitioned that “we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. We prayed that they would be
saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. In spite of the challenges, problems
and evils that plague our nation, God has given us the ability to speak
directly to Him about these needs and we need to be reminded the solutions to
our national problems are not political, but spiritual and the Good News of
Jesus Christ is the message to be proclaimed. God has promised when His people
will humble themselves in prayer and repent He’ll hear from Heaven and heal
their land. (2nd Chron. 7:14).
I also want to remind our church family of the need to
pray for our church. I asked the church to fast and pray back in August and
we’ve reiterated that request along the way most recently on Sunday night April
14th after our CIC with a call to fast and pray for the church
weekly. We need to pray for unity, we need to pray for faithfulness to our
mission of making disciples and glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t mind
telling you and I’m certain Pastors Ken & Mike would agree we covet and
desperately need your prayers for us as we serve and minister here.
We can thank the Lord for the marvelous mission fair
and for all the hard work of our mission committee and volunteers who made it
not just a reality; but a tremendously exciting and encouraging day of worship.
We can pray that God will use the excitement generated by that wonderful event
to encourage us to “Be Missions” every day and to follow through with our
commitment to be involved in missions this year personally.
We need to pray for faithfulness in the area of our
tithes and offerings so we can fully fund the work of God’s Kingdom. We are
greatly concerned at how our giving is down dramatically and we know this is in
part due to the condition of our economy. God has promised that His financial
program for funding the work of the ministry through the local church always works
regardless of the economic conditions (Malachi 3:8-12). You do not need to pray
about your tithe (10%) as God has already claimed the tithe belongs to Him. Every
faithful tithing Christian knows the reality you cannot out give God.
I would also ask you to pray intently for your
personnel committee who has begun the process of searching out the man God will
call to be our minister of students. The personnel committee will be bringing
updates monthly to the church as to our progress and you’ll be hearing us call
you to come and pray for this man and his family and that God will make His
will known to us. My prayer is God will guide us to this person sooner rather
than later. We need to pray for ourselves in this process also because trust
has been so horribly violated; there will be a tendency for us to be fearful
and not embrace, support, encourage and follow the leadership of the man God
will call to serve in ministry to our students and college and career. When God
makes His will known to us and calls this person through much prayer; we’ll
have the confidence we need and the joy of knowing that God has brought us His
man to serve and labor in this field of service with us.
Today, I’m fasting and praying for our nation, our
state, our local leaders, but primarily for this body of believers called
Calvary Baptist Church. Please join me in prayer, from my little corner of the
world to yours…
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