THURSDAY May 2, 2019
National Day of Prayer
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Psalm 95:6
Today, our divided nation is in desperate need of prayer. In 1775, the Continental Congress, which served as the government of 13 American colonies and later the United States, recognized the need for prayer, and they allotted a time of prayer in the forming of our great new nation.
Presidents in the past have seen the need for a day of prayer. On March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made and signed into law a proclamation of prayer and fasting. Lincoln penned these thought- provoking words:
Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; 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.
Then, on April 17, 1952, President Harry Truman signed a bill proclaiming the National Day of Prayer into law in the United States. President Ronald Reagan supported the observance of the National Day of Prayer and said,
“…the freedom to choose a Godly path is the essence of liberty,” …in his 1981 National Day of Prayer proclamation President Ronald Reagan also said,“as a Nation we cannot but hope that more of our citizens would, through prayer, come into a closer relationship with their Maker.”
As a citizen of this great country, do you know your Maker?
To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees.
~Billy Graham~
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