September 10th – September 16th, 2020
PRAY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HIS ADMINISTRATION
The Department of Justice will reportedly file antitrust charges against Google later this month focused on how it has used its search dominance in the online advertising business. Some state attorneys general have been investigating Google over the past year.
Robert O’Brien, White House National Security Adviser, said China is more aggressive in its efforts to meddle in the election in November than Russia, Iran, or North Korea, posing a national security threat.
Pray for the Administration as they look at means to counter both foreign and domestic election interferences.
PRAY FOR OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said the 1619 Project is a “revisionist account of history that denies the noble principles of freedom and equality on which our nation was founded,” and has a bill pending that would prevent schools from teaching it.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and 19 other senators have asked the FDA to remove a “deadly” abortion pill from the U.S. market, telling FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn to protect women and children by declaring it an “imminent hazard to public health.”
Pray for members of Congress seeking to protect the children (including those preborn) from danger.
PRAY FOR OUR JUDICIARY
A divided Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision blocking the enforcement in Maryland of Trump Administration rules that prohibit taxpayer-funded family planning clinics in the Title X program from making abortion referrals.
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said warrantless telephone dragnets that secretly collected millions of Americans’ telephone records (exposed seven years ago by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden) violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and may well have been unconstitutional.
Pray for discernment for federal judges in circuit courts across the nation as they make their decisions.
CURRENT EVENTS
WARS AND TERRORISM
Three Somali special forces officers were killed and a U.S. officer seriously wounded in a car bomb outside the force’s base in that country’s south. Al-Qaeda-linked al Shabab said they were behind the attack and put the number of dead at 20.
The Taliban and Afghan government are set to begin their first-ever direct talks this week toward ending nearly two decades of fighting, after the U.S. signed a deal with the insurgent group to extricate America from its longest war.
Pray for Taliban and Afghan leaders to find a right solution to bring peace to their war-torn country.
FOREIGN INTERESTS AND CONFLICTS
The State Department has warned nations in Southeast Asia not to get “steamrolled” by China in advance of Secretary Pompeo traveling to the Indo-Pacific region to seek a strong multilateral security foundation for democratic nations in the region.
Around 180 separate products for which one country — often China — accounts for more than 70 percent of the global export market, including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, are being put at risk of supply chain disruption by the ongoing U.S.-China tensions.
Pray for U.S. officials seeking to strengthen ties between allies in Asia.
ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Israel has concluded it cannot block the sale of American-made F-35 stealth fighters to the United Arab Emirates and will ask the White House for other weapons so it can maintain its regional military superiority.
Israeli firefighters were sent to Sacramento, California, to assist with battling a wave of wildfires sweeping through the area. It is the first time that Israelis have been sent to the U.S. for such help.
Pray that other Arab nations would sign onto similar agreements as the one between Israel and the UAE.
THE ECONOMY
Businesses saw a modest increase in activity and employment generally increased through late August, a Federal Reserve report showed, but economic growth still remained sluggish in some parts of the country.
American manufacturing activity accelerated to a nearly two-year high in August aided by a surge in new orders, but employment at factories continued to lag amid safety restrictions intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Pray for a lessening of the impact of the coronavirus on the reopening of businesses, schools and churches.
ACROSS THE STATES
A referendum on the November 3 ballot asks Illinois voters for a state Constitutional change shifting from a current flat income tax to a progressive (graduated) tax that has implications for small businesses and industry, as well as for the wealthy.
The North Carolina Association of County Commissioners has set out what they would like to see as legislative goals in the coming session that include the levying of a quarter-cent sales tax designated for school and community college projects.
Pray for the voters in each state as they begin consideration of items on the ballots in November besides the presidential election.
VERSE OF THE WEEK
Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. – Isaiah 48:18
