The National Day of Prayer
By Mark Hayes, President of Ministry
A dear friend of mine was an atheist when I first met him. He was a homicide detective who took photographs of crime scenes. After all the horrific things he had seen, he was convinced there could not be a god—until he met God through the Gospel.
Over time, God brought him to faith. He so deeply understood the sacrifice of Jesus and the depth of forgiveness for him that he was brought to tears. One day when we were discussing prayer, he was overwhelmed at the thought, You mean, I can just ask God for things?
He touched on something that, until that moment, I had always taken for granted. Yes, we CAN just ask God for things…anything. When you think about how enamored we are with our favorite celebrities, it is strange that we don’t remotely understand that we have access to God himself. We don’t feel the awe and the excitement of having a relationship with the creator of the universe.
From Ephesians 3:20, we read, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine….” Do you realize God is more powerful than anything your imagination can dream up?
You have access to God, and God is more powerful than you can imagine. One final thought will help bring your thoughts into perspective, and that is understanding what is most important to God. Having a relationship with you and bringing you safely into eternity with him is God’s deepest desire. That means that he will answer your prayers and work out your life to keep you close to him. Dr. Timothy Keller put it this way, “God only gives you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows.”
The Son of God used his power to give us his life and take it back again, enduring unthinkable suffering in the process to gain his deepest desire—YOU. You can pray confidently to an infinitely powerful and lovingly accessible God who cares about you so much.
Let’s pray: Dear God, thank you for letting us approach you and talk to you. We are grateful for everything your Son endured to bring us close to you. We are moved by your love and in awe of your power. We ask for your compassion in our homes, heal the brokenness in our families, and bless us with good health spiritually and physically.
We ask for your control in our nation. Bring unity in our government around a single goal to serve our country and its people with our best interests in mind. Give us empathy to understand and show love to our brothers and sisters who have different backgrounds than we do.
We ask you for an exit strategy for COVID-19. We pray the virus is removed from our nation and the world. Thank you for vaccines that are helping to move us toward to that end. Please give comfort to families who have lost loved ones to this illness and heal those still affected. Provide peace and mental health to all who have been affected by the circumstances of quarantines and social distancing.
Fill us with awe as we begin to understand the special bond we have with you. Give us wisdom to make decisions that align us with your will for us and give us the confidence to pray to you as our loving Father. Let your mission to bring us into your eternal family be our mission to reach others with your love through the Gospel. We pray in your name, trusting in your love, Amen.