Gospel Herald – In the United States, today, May 4, 2017, is National Day of Prayer — a special time when millions of people gather to pray for our nation.
Dating back to 1775 and established in 1952, the annual observance is held the first Thursday of May. This year, the theme is “For Your Great Name’s Sake,” taken from the Bible verse Daniel 9:19, which reads “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and do; defer not, for your own sake, O my God: for your city and your people are called by your name.”
This year’s chairperson is Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and founder of AnGel Ministries. On Facebook, Lotz encouraged Christians to pray that God will bring renewal, restoration, and revival to America.
“God uses dramatic world events to get our attention,” she wrote. “Jesus said in Matthew 24 in the end of the age there will be ‘famines and earthquakes’, ‘wars and rumors of wars’, ‘an increase of wickedness’.”
The evangelist warned that “signs are all around us”, from natural disasters to human trafficking.
“When political solutions repeatedly fail to remedy what must begin with broken hearts and bended knees,” she said. “When faced with God’s righteous judgment, there is nothing-no politics or president, no government or agreement-nothing will turn our nation around except prayer.”
On this National Day of Prayer, “Is it possible that the prayer of one person could bring renewal, restoration, and revival to America?” she asked. “Listen to me! You’ll never know until you pray,” Lotz said.
A livestream of National Day of Prayer’s Washington D.C. observance, which will be held from 7:30-9 p.m. ET (6:30-8 p.m. CT) Thursday, is available to watch here. Lotz will deliver the keynote address at Thursday night’s event.
As reported, while its origins are Christian, the National Day of Prayer is meant to be participated in by people of all religions, according to the National Day of Prayer Task Force (Task Force) website.
However, National Day of Prayer Task Force, which is privately funded and coordinates events for the holiday, said it celebrates the holiday “based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.” … read more