National Day of Prayer

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NIV)

13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Today our nation observed a National Day of Prayer. This special day dates back to 1952 when it was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into practice by then President Harry S. Truman. It is a day when Americans from around the world lift up praises and petitions to our Father who is in heaven. Although every day is a day of prayer for the followers of Christ, today brothers and sisters alike cry out to the Lord in a single unified voice on this day.

Thus the LORD said, “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 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.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)

My dear brother/sister, would you agree that our nation has become permeated with wickedness and perverse in its ways? Would you agree that it can only be the Church who cries out to the Lord asking that His healing hand touch our land and moreover, the lost within?

If so, I invite you to join me in lifting up the following prayer to our heavenly Father so that all the Church will be heard in a single unified voice crying out to God.

Dear Lord, blessed is your name above all names and Your sovereignty reigns supreme over all creation, and we thank You for Your perfect and unending grace and the provisions You extend to us daily. We also thank You for sending Your one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into this sin-plagued world not to pass judgment upon it, but so it might be saved through Him.

We faithfully ask for the forgiveness of our sins by the cleansing blood of Your Son Jesus Christ, as we extend forgiveness to those who sin against us. We seek Your wisdom with great eagerness so that we might guard ourselves against the temptations of Satan, as we wait upon our Savior and Lord’s soon return.

As we now bear witness to the signs foretold by Jesus of His return, we fervently wait for the appointed hour when He comes to gather His Church. However, until that hour may we continue to humble ourselves before You and serve faithfully according to Your word and perfect will.

We faithfully ask that You cast a shroud of protection over our nation and those who protect its freedoms both home and abroad. A nation You rose up and blessed mightily for its faithfulness and adherence to Your word, but one that has since become corrupt and perverse in its ways.

We ask for Your divine intervention in the healing of our land and the restoring of our people. We ask this so that our nation might return to the principles of its founding fathers and moreover, that our people might return to the truths given to them by You - our heavenly Father.

We ask that You reignite the Church of this nation and that a great revival ensue across the land and around the world – one that will reach the lost and recall the strayed and one that will bring great glory to You, our Father who is in heaven.

We thank you Father for hearing our plea this day and we rejoice in the fact that Your perfect will reigns true in our lives forever. In Jesus' Name, Amen.