Today marks the 61st
anniversary of the National Day of Prayer.
This year, the national theme is "One Nation Under God" and is based on
Psalm 33:12, which reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord.” Today, there are 35,000 prayer
gatherings around the U.S., and millions of people around the country will
participate in these prayer events held in thousands of public venues, churches
and convention centers.
Early this morning, at 6 a.m.,
many people from Calvary and many churches, organizations and businesses
participated in the West Metro National Day of Prayer Breakfast held at the
Medina Ballroom. Calvary was the host
church and sponsor this year, but many, many people, businesses and many
churches generously donated their time, talent and treasure to ensure that this
event could be held. There were close to
400 people present, including police officers, military, church leaders,
Calvary members, business leaders, Hennepin County government officials, and
many brothers and sisters in Christ.
What a powerful event! To witness
close to 400 people praying full-heartedly for the government, the military,
the media, businesses, our schools, our churches and our families was amazing.
Lisa Barry from KTIS Christian
Radio was the keynote speaker. Her
presentation touched all of our hearts and it was a bit convicting to many of
us. Yikes! She focused on how and why we should take off
our “masks” with God when we pray. As
Christians, we get into praying a certain way; perhaps we use the ACTS acronym
(Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) every day or some other
routine way of praying. We try to pray
what we think God wants to hear. What if
we got real and prayed WWF kind of prayers--prayers that forced us to
wrestle with God and have an Isaac moment.
“What if we stopped praying the plastic Barbie-style prayers and really
prayed from the depth of our hearts?” Lisa challenged us by sharing her own personal
times that she wrestled with God. Those
times transformed her life and faith in amazing and unexpected ways.
So, today, I am challenging
all of us to try praying from our hearts and skip the “mask” we put on far too
often when we pray. I guess that means let’s get real with God today.
At the end of the morning, Dan
Adler led us all at this gathering in a special song he wrote for the
National Day of Prayer and BlessMN.org called “We Will Pray.” It was a call to each of us to pray no matter
our situation and no matter the place.
To His Glory!
Pastor Carol
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