May begins each year with a National Day of Prayer. This year Thursday May 6th has been set aside for the observance. While there have been several calls for a National Day of Prayer throughout our history as a nation, the National Day of prayer did not become official until 1952 when Congress enacted a Bill (36 U.S.C. § 119) asking people of this great nation "to turn to God in prayer and meditation".
Last week that act and this observance were challenged in Federal Court in Wisconsin by a chapter of The Freedom from Religion Foundation and argued by the ACLU. Sadly Judge Barbara Crabb upheld their complaint and declared our National Day of Pray as unconstitutional. In explaining her decision she wrote, “In my view of the case law, government involvement in prayer may be consistent with the establishment clause when the government's conduct serves a significant secular purpose and is not a "call for religious action on the part of citizens. . . . I conclude that (The Observance of a National Day of Prayer) violates the establishment clause . . .the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.”
The Obama administration argued that the National Day of Prayer was legal because it simply acknowledged the role of religion in the United States, according to the Associated Press. We are waiting to see what comes next.
The Bible tells those of us who are believers "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:1-4, ESV).
We, perhaps more than any other time in the history of our nation, are in desperate need of prayer! Not just on one day in May, but every day. Personally I hold little hope for the direction we are taking as a nation if God’s people don’t take time to pray. God promises, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV).
All the great revivals in history have three things in common. First, the times were desperate. Second, God’s people prayed. Third, God responded and drastic changes took place.
We, as a nation, are in desperate straights. We has a people have lost our moral moorings and our intellectual abilities. We are driven by feelings and rushing madly down the same path which has led every culture in history to eventual destruction. We who know Christ need to pray everyday for a touch from mercy’s hand
