Additional National Prayer Needs
Pray for our Military
The National Commission on Military Safety has been probing military accidents. Over a five-year period, 6,079 accidents have resulted in the loss of 198 military personnel and 157 aircraft, costing $9.4 billion. They concluded that U.S. pilots are not flying enough to gain proficiency, crews were made to fly with inadequate training, and administrative duties often overtook flying time.
Senator Kristen Gillibrand of New York is proposing legislation to give U.S. troops the same legal protections against discrimination as civilian employees under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The bill follows a report that minority members of the Armed Forces were less likely to file discrimination complaints than their civilian counterparts, a report the Pentagon has taken issue with.
Pray for the leadership in America’s military as they face new directives from the new administration.
Pray for AMERICA’S FREEDOMS
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a San Diego area church’s request to overturn California’s COVID-19 restrictions on indoor worship gatherings although it acknowledged that the congregation is suffering “irreparable harm” due to the temporary ban.
Pray for the courts to as they rule on the right to assemble and the freedom to worship.
Pray for AMERICA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS
At least 32 people were killed and 75 others were injured in Baghdad, Iraq, when twin suicide bombers detonated explosive devices. This is the first suicide bombing in Baghdad in nearly two years. No group has yet claimed responsibility, although the attack is similar in nature to Sunni jihadi groups that have carried out numerous attacks in the past.
President Joe Biden will work with the Gulf States and Israel to negotiate and potentially reenter a better Iranian nuclear deal according to what Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
A State Department spokesman said the president’s administration plans to continue “deepening our ties with democratic Taiwan.”
Pray for wisdom for our nation’s bureaucrats in dealing with foreign powers.
Pray For AMERICA’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Pharmaceutical company Moderna said their vaccine is effective against new variants of the virus that first appeared in the U.K. and in South Africa, and that it is now developing an additional booster dose to fight the South Africa strain and another booster to fight other emerging variants.
Pray for U.S. officials dealing with the pharmaceutical companies working to produce sufficient vaccines.
Pray for AMERICA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL
President Joe Biden will not reverse President Trump’s landmark recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but will seek a state for the Palestinians, Antony Blinken said in his confirmation hearing to be secretary of state.
The Ben Gurion International Airport at Tel Aviv has been temporarily closed until February as the country attempts to keep out a more virulent strain of the COVID-19 even as it battles a spike in the virus.
Pray for the new administration as they forge relationships with the Israeli government leaders.
Pray for THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
Retail sales increased 8.3 percent over last year during the 2020 holiday shopping season despite the challenges presented by the coronavirus epidemic. The numbers include online and other non-brick and mortar store sales.
Roughly 60,000 borrowers were approved for more than $5 billion in forgivable loans during the first week of the reopened Paycheck Protection Program, the Small Business Administration said.
Pray for the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration as they track and seek to support an improved economy.
Pray for Justice in America
A case was dismissed against a church deacon who was one of three people arrested in September for singing while not wearing a mask at a “psalm sing” outdoor worship service in Moscow City, Idaho.
Pray for those in positions of authority to be wise about the application and enforcement of restrictions created to stem the surge of the coronavirus.
Pray for Goodness in America
Many who attended the inauguration of President Joe Biden on January 20 wore purple. When asked about it, it was an intentional “message” that America is neither red states nor blue states, but a combination of the two—purple—in hopes of advancing the call for unity in the nation.
Pray for U.S. elected officials as they seek unity and reconciliation with actions that bring them about.
Pray for America’s Education
The president’s administration announced the disbanding of the “1776 Commission” as part of the effort to seek racial reconciliation and to further open discussion of racial inequity in America’s history.
Pray for the Department of Education as they oversee historical education for America’s youth.
Pray for Needs Across the States
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster warned of a move to shut down elective surgeries in a bid to free up hospital staff and administer more COVID-19 vaccines. A hospital executive said the problem is “predictable supply,” not staffing.
A bill introduced in the Iowa legislature, Senate File 80, would require schools to notify parents of which gender pronouns are being used to describe the students’ gender and requests by the student for alternate gender identification.
Pray for the leaders in the states dealing with the administration of vaccines.
Pray for America’s Faith Community
“You watch. You wait. You’ll see. God is going to rise in a way that we have yet not been aware of. So we’re not giving up on that.” -Dr. Jim Garlow, Senior Pastor, Skyline Church, La Mesa, California
