Our nation recently united for the National Day of Prayer. We, as Americans, have a rich heritage dating back to our first president declaring a day of prayer and fasting. Most of our founding fathers had a strong belief in God and a deep dependence upon prayer. Abraham Lincoln called our country to prayer and fasting in the face of the Civil War.
     Throughout the years, "In God We Trust" has been more than a national motto for we Americans. It has reflected the heart of millions of Christians across our land that have often bent their knees and lifted their voices to God in fervent prayer.
     In times of peace, we offer prayers of thanksgiving. In time of war, prayers for protection and guidance. In times of hardship, we pray for strength, and in times of sorrow and loss, we pray for peace and grace.
     We pray not only for our nation, but for our world, our families and our own personal needs. The last several months we have united in prayer for our troops in Iraq. These last few weeks we have prayed for the thousands battling the SARS virus.
     The opportunities for prayer are endless and the needs for prayer are without number. War, disease, famine, crime, and the economy, all things for which we all need to pray and seek God's help. Yet Scripture reminds us that part of the answer to these problems rests upon our own shoulders.
     As God spoke to Solomon in the Old Testament, I believe He would also say to you and I as Christians living in America, "Any if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sins, and will heal their land." IIChron.7:14
     The Lord invites us to call upon Him with every care and burden that we carry, but He calls us first to come before Him with humble hearts that have confessed every sin. Let our National Day of Prayer be a reminder to those of us that know the love and forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make every day, a day of prayer for the many needs and lost souls in our nation.
                                            - Pastor Bob