Thursday, May 4, marks two important dates: the 66th National Day of Prayer and the 20th anniversary of WND, which pioneered independent online news back in 1997.
My wife, Gena, and I congratulate WND’s CEO Joseph Farah and his wife, Elizabeth, my own amazing column editor Chelsea Schilling, and all of those at WND with this landmark achievement. We thank you for honoring us as well by publishing my column over the past 10 years of WND’s monumental influence and legacy through online news and commentary. And we pray for God’s continued blessings on WND’s next 20 years!
Speaking of prayer, George Washington called for our nation’s first federal day of prayer and thanksgiving, when he said, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”
On April 17, 1952, President Harry S. Truman signed into law the annual observance of a National Day of Prayer, and that it must be declared by each subsequent president at a date of his choosing. Thirty-six years later, in 1988, President Reagan amended the law, designating the first Thursday of May each year as the National Day of Prayer.
Again, this Thursday, May 4, marks the 66th National Day of Prayer, or NDP, when leaders from across our land are once again calling on all Americans to unite in prayer for our nation.
According to TimeAndDate.com, “more than 35,000 prayer gatherings will be conducted by about 40,000 volunteers across the United States. Several million people are expected to participate in this call to prayer.”
Watch this YouTube video of Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Rev. Billy Graham and also the chairperson for the 2017 NDP, explain the heart and purpose behind it.
Franklin Graham explained the priority that national prayers should have: “Interceding for those in authority is not an option. It is a biblical command that we are to obey: ‘I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty’ (1 Timothy 2:1-2).”
Historian David Barton took it an additional step by giving additional reasons why he believed we should pray, especially on the NDP: “First, because God tells us to (1 Timothy 2:1-4), and it is important that we obey Him (John 14:15, Acts 5:32). Second, because God answers prayer (Matthew 21:22, John 14:13-14). Third, God honors prayer and turns His attention to those who pray. He takes note of people who pray and His ear remains open to them (such as in 2 Chronicles 7:14). Fourth, prayer not only gives God a vehicle by which He can respond and answer prayers but prayer also changes those who pray, for praying helps us to be God-conscious, and when we are God-conscious as individuals, our behavior is different than if we rarely think about God (Romans 1:28).”
However, perhaps President Abraham Lincoln explained the greatest of all reasons why we need to pray: “[I]t is the duty of nations as well … and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord [Psalm 33:12]. … But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace – too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
Has God answered our past prayers? Look how far we have come! Former President Obama rejected the opportunity to host the NDP event in Washington, D.C. Now, we have a president who will restore the place of national prayer to the mantle it deserves.
I agree with Matt Drudge, who met with President Trump in the Oval Office this past week and was leery about why Congress wasn’t helping Trump more: “I suspect there’s a sabotage. Do you know Obama had the stimulus package on his desk before Inauguration Day? What did this Congress give this great man? Nothing.”
While Congress still wrestles to hand the president something of substance on any issue, we can offer President Trump and his administration significant help this week by praying for them on the NDP.
Please go to NDP’s official website to locate a prayer gathering event near you, and join with millions across our land to unite in prayer on Thursday, May 4. The website also offers several downloadable prayer guides for youth and adult, concerning what to pray and how to pray for our nation.
At the Constitutional Convention, an elderly Benjamin Franklin stood to his feet and pondered whether or not the assembly still desired to depend upon God as they did in the beginning of the republic. Franklin stated, “And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?”
They are questions we still need to ponder more than ever before.
It is also good to be reminded of their answer, given roughly 200 years later by President Ronald Reagan in this way: “If we ever forget that we are One Nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
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