Pray!

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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.

--God

(2 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV)

Pray Earnestly!

Today is the National Day of Prayer, which has been observed annually since 1952. Even those of us who could not attend one of the many public observances throughout our country can still join with our fellow citizens in asking God to do a mighty work in America. 

Prayer is definitely a privilege, as well as a powerful way to positively impact the future of America. For example, the Bible says, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much [i.e., produces wonderful results] (James 5:16, NLT).

The writer of Psalm 33 points out, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance" (v. 12, NKJV).

The Bible also assures us time and again that God does hear and answer prayers whether they're offered by individuals or by groups of people. One of my favorite assurances is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV, where God says, "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 will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Let's pray earnestly and fervently--today and every day--for America to become the kind of nation God will choose to bless. Let's implore God to help us--individually and as a nation--to honor Him as our God and to seek to do whatever pleases Him.

A Prayer for the Nations

O Father, all the nations of the world are in great, great need of You! Thus, I offer this prayer, based on Your Holy Word:

May Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, give thanks to You forever; from generation to generation may Your people in every nation recount Your praise, may we tell of all Your goodness to and Your great love for Your people. (Psalm 79:13)

May Your people who are called by Your name humble ourselves, and pray and seek Your face and turn away from our wicked ways so that You will hear from heaven and will forgive our sins and heal our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

O Father, as Your Holy Word says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any nation.” (Proverbs 14:34). May people from every nation acknowledge, with great shame, that their nation is filled with sin because individual citizens are filled with sin. Therefore, You cannot—and will not—exalt any such nation, even our own nation. O Father, help us to cry out to You for cleansing and restoration, as David did in Psalm 51:1-2. May his prayer be our prayer:

Have mercy on me; have mercy on us, O God, according to Your steadfast love; 

according to Your abundant mercy 

blot out my transgressions; 

blot out our transgressions. 

Wash me, wash us, thoroughly 

from our individual and collective iniquity, 

and cleanse each and all of us from sin!