Community Invited to Pray for Our Nation

When we gather as a community on Thursday, May 5 (tonight) for the National Day of Prayer observance, we are carrying on the legacy of our forefathers, who recognized the need for our nation to be blessed by the hand of Almighty God.

Holden’s National Day of Prayer event will be held tonight starting at 5 p.m. (Thursday, May 5) at the Downtown Memorial Park.

Sponsored by the Holden Area Ministerial Association (HAMA), the event enables community members to join together in praying for our nation.

This year’s theme is “Exalt the Lord, Who Has Established Us!” Colossians 2:6-7 At Holden’s celebration, area pastors will offer music, fellowship and prayer as part of the observance.

The National Day of Prayer is a vital part of our heritage.

Since the first call to prayer in 1775, when the Continental Congress asked the colonies to pray for wisdom in forming a nation, the call to pray has continued throughout our country’s history.

President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day of “humiliation, fasting and prayer” in 1863. In 1952, a joint resolution by Congress, signed by President Truman, declared an annual national day of prayer.

The National Day of Prayer has great significance for us as a nation.

It enables us to recall and to pass on how our founding fathers sought the wisdom of God when faced with critical decisions.

We can do the same. It stands as a call for us to humbly come before God, seeking His guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us, as a people.

Prayer is as important to our nation today as it was in our country’s beginning.

The prayer event represents a Christian expression of a public national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.

In his 1983 declaration, President Ronald Reagan said, “From General Washington’s struggle at Valley Forge to the present, this nation has fervently sought and received divine guidance as it pursued the course of history.”

Prayer is an exercise in faith and enables believers in Jesus Christ to draw nearer to the Creator and ask for favor in our land and in all of our endeavors.

As citizens of the United States and as followers of Christ Jesus, we not only have a spiritual responsibility to pray, but a civic duty, as we heed our President’s call to stand in the gap for our nation.

Who, but God’s people have the ability to enter into the very throne room of Heaven with prayers and petitions?

Holy Scripture tells us time and again that our fervent prayer is effective.

It also tells us that our loving God responds to His children’s earnest pleas in mighty ways that avail much, and ultimately determine the course of history.

The power of the Lord will graciously anoint our efforts, empowering them to touch and change many hearts and lives.

We look forward to seeing His hand move across our land in exciting ways each May in response to our petitions!

Don’t miss this opportunity to join your neighbors in a public show of faith, as we gather together to stand united, regardless of our differences, to ask God’s favor and blessing – for our nation, our leaders, and our hometown.

All are welcome and invited to come join Holden’s clergy and the public to lift up our needs and challenges to Almighty God tonight (Thursday, May 5).

In the case of inclement weather, Holden’s National Day of Prayer celebration will be moved to the Hallar Building.