Let Us Pray

The National Day of Prayer is May 1st, the theme: One Voice, United in Prayer.

The Holy Spirit moves in continuity. Even before learning of this year’s theme, the Lord has been pulling my heart in this direction for a while now. There is a deep need for the Christian community to commit to unified prayer for our nation and for the lost. We are diverse in our religious traditions and doctrines, but followers of Jesus should recognize the need for God to transform our hearts. The future of our own country and of the world is at stake.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT) 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

We read in the bible how God continually blessed His people, Israel. In spite of their blessing, protection, provision, and deliverance from slavery, they continually rebelled against him. The United States, like Israel, have enjoyed the abundant of blessings God. We are among the most blessed nations on earth – if not the most. Yet we, like Israel, rebel against God. Why would we do this? Because our sin nature calls us to rebel, and we usually are eager to respond.

There were many prophets calling for Israel to repent, warning of the calamity. For the most part, they were either ignored and ridiculed. They were enjoying the blessings and living life however they wanted… until, just as the prophets had warned, calamity struck. Scripture tells us in Numbers 14:17-19 that the Lord is filled with unfailing love and will forgive sin and rebellion. He has demonstrated this love in Jesus Christ.

Throughout history, the faithful few have always been present. They may have been in the minority – they may have even been reluctant, but they were present and they remained faithful. They petitioned God on behalf of their people interceding for them and for their nation. We have modern day ‘prophets’ today, as well, warning us that the road we are following is not the one we want to be taking. One would think we would have learned from history, yet we are still a rebellious people. We still believe we can rely on our own intelligence.

May the faithful join together in humility, ‘One Voice, United in Prayer’ petitioning God to heal our hearts and rescue us from the calamity we will bring upon ourselves if we don’t repent. May we not limit it to one day of the year, but make it the continual prayer of our heart and wait in anticipation to see what God will do.

Romans 15:6 Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.