Today is the National Day of Prayer. I think about 40,000 NDP events will take place across America. Because the family is the basic building block of society, please join me in praying this prayer for families.

Prayer Power
Most gracious, heavenly Father, my heart is broken today as I think about the carnage of broken families and broken relationships. Our community, our state, our nation is plagued by the consequences of busyness, praylessness, selfishness, immaturity, divorce, sexual immorality, apathy, etc, etc, etc. Unless we get to the root of the problems, the problems will keep coming back.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, You teach us how to get at the root. You promise if Your people (not everyone in society, but Your children) will do 4 things, then You will do 3 things.

The first thing You ask us to do is humble ourselves, even before we before we begin to pray. Forgive us for not prostrating ourselves before You. Forgive us for our pride in trying to solve our problems without You. Forgive us LORD for expecting our schools, our churches, our government to be the answer, instead of You.

After humbling ourselves, the second thing You command us to do is pray. Forgive us for our prayerlessness, individually, within our families, and at work. Forgive us for not joining with others regularly to pray. Teach us to pray and may prayer a lifestsyle for us, something we do throughout the day. Help us to see the hand of God in all we do.

Third, You tell us to seek Your face. LORD, forgive us for being so busy that we fail to take the time to get to know You, to listen to You, and to listen to others around us. Forgive us LORD for not taking a stand for truth and righteousness. Bless us with the habit of meditating on Your Word morning and night so we are “like a tree planted by the rivers of water.” (Psalm 1:2-3)

And fourth, You ask us to turn from our wicked ways. Forgive us LORD for what we have done and what we have failed to do. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within us. (Psalm 51:10) On behalf of all the families in our community, we stand in the gap right now and ask for an outpouring of Your mercy and grace. May our families bless You Jesus so You will bless our families.

Thank you for Your promise that when we do those four things, You will do 3 things, namely hear our prayers, forgive our sins, and heal our land. Thank You that You will heal our families, our churches, our schools, our businesses, and our community.

Holy Spirit, teach husbands to love their wives, to listen to and respect what they have to say. Teach wives to respect their husbands. “Turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” (Malachi 4:6, Luke 1:17)

Jesus, just a few years ago, I cried out to You to be the third strand of the cord in my marriage when it was dangling by the thinnest of strands and You rescued me. Thank You for doing that. On behalf of other marriages that are close to being torn apart, I stand in the gap and ask You Jesus to be the third strand of the cord for each of those marriages.

Jesus, You are the answer, not ourselves, not Mohammed, not Budda, not anyone else. We exalt Your name Jesus. We invite You to be LORD of our lives, LORD of our families, LORD of our businesses, LORD of our churches, LORD of our schools, LORD of our government, LORD of Culpeper, LORD of Virginia, and LORD of America. May America unite in prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen. [Ask people to say this last part together while holding hands]

Link of the Day
Location of NDP events in Virginia [www.pray4va.org/content.cfm?id=2058]
Find a NDP event in your area (USA) [www.ndptf.org/custom/events/eventSearch/]

Blessings for your home to be a house of prayer!