October 8th – October 14th, 2020
PRAY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HIS ADMINISTRATION
The White House Management Office sent a letter to staffers to continue to monitor potential coronavirus symptoms and to stay home if they have any, after a number of individuals close to President Trump have tested positive.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he is “fully prepared” for any action that “rogue actors” may take while President Trump was in the hospital battling the coronavirus or back at the White House in recovery.
Pray for President Trump and First Lady Melania, many members of their staff, and others to have a full and rapid recovery from the coronavirus.
PRAY FOR OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
Representative Katie Porter of California took aim at the Celgene CEO for repeatedly increasing the price of prescription drug Revlimid which is used to treat multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California led a group of partisan senators to formally call for a delay in the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett until after the presidential inauguration, saying the process is too rushed to properly vet the president’s pick.
Pray for Senator Lindsey Graham as he proceeds with hearings on the Supreme Court nominee, even though some senators are in quarantine because of positive COVID-19 tests.
PRAY FOR OUR JUDICIARY
A federal appeals court ruled that Texas voters will not have the option to cast a ballot for every candidate of a single political party with one mark during the November election, thus eliminating straight-ticket voting and upholding a 2017 Texas law.
A three-judge panel on the Seventh Circuit court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling extending Wisconsin’s absentee ballot deadline, saying ballots received after Election Day may be counted so long as they are postmarked November 3 or earlier.
Pray for the judges ruling on the cases, current and expected, having to do with the presidential election.
CURRENT EVENTS
WARS AND TERRORISM
In the past three years, the FBI has arrested several hundred Americans suspected of ties to domestic terrorism or violent white supremacy as one prime instigator has inspired a new generation of threats, FBI records show.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in conflict in the region for decades, but new escalations are stirring both sides into violence, with the death of at least 100 civilians and combatants reported in one week.
Pray for FBI investigators as America confronts a surge in racially-motivated violence.
FOREIGN INTERESTS AND CONFLICTS
Protesters in Kyrgyzstan seized the nation’s parliament building and several other government buildings over claims of a rigged election, with one building briefly catching fire before emergency services put out the blaze.
Severe flooding has devastated mountain areas in France’s southeastern region of Alpes-Maritimes and Italy’s northwestern regions of Liguria and Piedmont after a storm swept through the two nations over the weekend.
Pray for Christians caught up in the Asian regions’ warfare, and for those suffering losses as a result of severe flooding.
ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Leading rabbis in Israel and the U.S. ambassador to Israel prayed for President Trump’s recovery from COVID-19 during a ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, even as Israel is under a second coronavirus lockdown.
Prime Minister Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly that Iran will have enough nuclear material to produce two bombs in just a matter of months, calling on the international community to stand against Iran’s nuclear pursuits.
Pray for the leaders of Israel as they battle the virus within and the threats against them from without.
THE ECONOMY
American employers stepped up hiring in September but diminishing government financial assistance and a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases in some parts of the country could slow the labor market’s recovery from the pandemic.
Pending home sales increased 8.3 percent in August, a record high and the fourth uninterrupted month of positive contract activity, a strong sign that the real estate market continues to be red-hot.
Pray for a return to stability in the U.S. economy, and for an end to the coronavirus pandemic.
ACROSS THE STATES
Voters in Oregon are being asked to vote on a measure that would remove criminal penalties for low-level drug possession charges and replace them with a $100 fine while beefing up treatment options and using surplus tax revenue from marijuana sales to pay for the service.
Two amendments to the Georgia Constitution are on the ballot—one would ensure fees or taxes collected for a certain purpose are actually dedicated to that use; the other would remove “sovereign immunity” making it easier for citizens to bring lawsuits against government agencies.
Pray for voters across the nation to prayerfully seek wisdom for their votes on various state initiatives.
VERSE OF THE WEEK
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. – Isaiah 55:6
