National Day of Prayer

“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?”

[Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787

More than 200 years ago these words rang out as a group of courageous men met in secret. Their dedication and labors produced what we now know as the United States of America. Ben Franklin was insisting to these founding fathers that prayer must be a part of every step in forming our country and writing our constitution.

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22; “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us.”

The National Day of Prayer began in 1775 when the Continentenal Congress called on a day of prayer for forming a new nation. Abraham Lincoln called for a national day of prayer during the Civil War. In 1952 President Truman signed a law requiring all future presidents to declare a national day of prayer each year. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill proclaiming the first Thursday of May as our National Day of Prayer. He commented, "On our National Day of Prayer, then, we join together as people of many faiths to petition God to show us His mercy and His love, to heal our weariness and uphold our hope, that we might live ever mindful of His justice and thankful for His blessing." The celebration has continued since then, with every President observing and issuing a Presidential Proclamation of the day. President George W. Bush hosted a National Day of Prayer gathering every May for his entire 8 years in office. "I am sustained by the prayers of the people in this country. I guess an appropriate way to say this, it's one of the beautiful things about America and Americans from all walks of life is that they're willing to pray for the President and his family. And that's powerful."

We celebrated today on the courthouse steps with many others from our community. As I stood there pledging allegiance and listening to our national anthem, tears filled my eyes. The legacy of our great nation stands above any other nation on the face of this earth. I passionately love this country. As I sang America the Beautiful..."God shed His grace on thee" my heart was full of just how true this is. God laid His hand on the men who founded our country and led them in their divine task of creating this country. I stood beside my treasured friend Mindy, a Candadian citizen who has lived here for a year and half now. I heard her beautiful voice singing those words with all her heart. It was the first time she could sing those words as a resident of the USA. She and I cried as we realized how truly blessed we are to live here where we can gather on the steps of a courthouse and pray to God and worship Him in freedom. In times of prayer when the adults were quiet, my children were playing. There were some who probably thought they were irreverant. To me their laughter was such a sweet sound to me. My children were singing and laughing in complete freedom. I pray the freedom they know as children will still be in place when they are parents. How many children have no freedom to laugh and play while their parents openly worship God??

Prayer lifted up for our community, our state and our nation.

Freedom to wear a t-shirt advertising a Christian band.

“It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

[Patick Henry, May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.”(excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]


"My faith plays a big part in my life... And my faith is a very, it's very personal. I pray for strength. I pray for wisdom. I pray for our troops in harm's way. I pray for my family. I pray for my little girls." George W. Bush