A National Day of Prayer?
By D. A. Sharpe
Join me with other office holders and community leaders for recognition
of the National Day of
Prayer. It will be a gathering
outside at the southwest corner entrance to the Wise County Courthouse in Decatur, TX
on Thursday, May 3, 2018 from 12:15 Ð 12:35 PM
On this May 3rd, thousands and thousands of prayer
gatherings will take place in America at state capitols, at county courthouses,
at city halls, at public facilities, and at churches. You are exhorted to be a part of one of
these gatherings. The purposes
include uplifting our government at national, state, county and city levels and
the elected leaders at the helms of those political entities, that they would
have vision, knowledge, wisdom, integrity, initiatives and compassion to lead
the citizens of this nation. Here
is a list of Wise County leaders and citizens who will read Scripture or say
prayers uplifting our nation.
Why is there a National Day of Prayer? Most students of American history will
know that the people we call founders of our nation and its governmental
documents mostly were people of faith É. the Christian faith expressed in the
Holy Bible. In fact, much of the
motivation for many immigrants to the New World was to escape to a place where
they would have a freedom of worship.
From the beginning of our
new nation, the first President, George Washington, had occasion to
issue a call for the citizens of the nation to a time of prayer and
fasting. Some other Presidents had
occasions to call the nation to prayer, but a consistent and official frequency
of those times of prayers was not present until more contemporary times.
In JanuaryÐFebruary 1952, during the Korean War, the
desirability of a united national prayer was stated by Reverend Billy Graham, who said,
"What a thrilling, glorious thing it would be to see the leaders of our
country today kneeling before Almighty God in prayer. What a thrill would sweep
this country. What renewed hope and courage would grip the Americans at this
hour of peril." A Mr. Percy Priest
from Tennessee observed that
Graham had issued a challenge for a national day of prayer. Priest was an
announced candidate for Congress, and won his first term just the November
after this. His advocacy awakened Members of the House and Senate that
introduced a joint resolution for an annual National Day of Prayer, on which
the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at
churches, in groups, and as individuals." On April 17, 1952,
President Harry
S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming a National Day of Prayer to be
declared by each subsequent president at an appropriate date of his
choice.
In 1988, the law
was amended so that the National Day of Prayer would be held on the first
Thursday of May. Two stated intentions of the National Day of Prayer were that
it would be a day when adherents of all great religions could unite in prayer
and that it may one day bring renewed respect for God to all the peoples of the
world.
We will be doing that in Decatur at the Courthouse. Join me!
805 Derting Road East
Aurora, TX 76078-3712