Additional National Prayer Needs
Pray for our Military
Assistant Secretary of Defense Ely Ratner, the lead Pentagon official for the Indo-Pacific, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Pentagon strategists are preparing for a potential confrontation with China over the fate of Taiwan. “The PRC is the Department of Defense’s placing challenge and a Taiwan contingency is the placing scenario,” he said.
The Army will award the Purple Heart to 39 soldiers injured in a January 2020 Iranian attack in Iraq at a U.S. military base and a media investigation called their attention to the soldiers who had not been properly recognized.
Pray for wisdom for America’s military leaders as they face issues with China over Taiwan, Russia over Ukraine, and Iran over its nuclear weapons development.
Pray for AMERICA’S FREEDOMS
To vote in U.S. elections, one must be a United States citizen, turn 18 on or before Election Day, and meet state residency and registration. Federal law does not address state or local elections. The New York City Council has voted to give non-citizens the right to vote in local elections—for mayor, city council, comptroller, and the heads of the city’s five boroughs. Those who are in the U.S. illegally are not allowed to vote, but about 800,000 New York City’s non-citizens (about 10 percent) will now be able to participate in local elections.
Pray for wisdom for federal, state, and local governing officials as they update voting laws.
Pray for AMERICA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS
President Biden’s administration has begun issuing denials to Afghans seeking to emigrate to the U.S. through the humanitarian parole process, after a system that typically processes 2,000 applications annually has been flooded with more than 30,000. Tens of thousands of Afghans have already used humanitarian parole to enter the U.S.
The Supreme Court of Iran handed down an unprecedented order protecting home churches saying promoting Christianity at home is not a national security threat and is not illegal.
Pray for administration officials as they determine who to allow to emigrate into the U.S.
Pray for AMERICA’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus appears to be no worse than other strains, top scientists from the U.S. and World Health Organization are reporting, yet they caution that more research is needed to judge its severity.
A new investigation by members of the House of Representatives found drug companies are deliberately targeting the U.S. to raise prices and game the present system to delay generic competition in a way that is “unsustainable, unjustified, and unfair to patients and taxpayers.”
Pray that the coronavirus and its variants would continue to weaken and wane so that the nation may continue to recover in the new year.
Pray for AMERICA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart, Benny Gantz, met to discuss concerns over Iran and its destabilizing activities as talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal falter. Gantz stated that he and Austin would “discuss possible modes of action to ensure the cessation of [Iran’s] attempt to enter the nuclear sphere and broaden its activity in the region.”
Israel has completed a new 40-mile long concrete security barrier along the Gaza border designed to confront threats from above and below. Constructing the enhanced security fence took 3.5 years. It includes a network of underground sensors to stop Gaza terror groups from constructing tunnels, and a 6.5 yard high “smart fence” with sensors and cameras.
Pray for Israel’s security.
Pray for AMERICA’S ECONOMY
According to data released by the Department of Labor, a historically high number of workers, 4.2 million people, quit their jobs in October. Combined with the 4.4 million in September, the numbers represent the most people resigning since the United States began keeping records, and it is equivalent to about 3 percent of the nation’s labor force.
The Labor Department said that the consumer price index rose 6.8 percent in November. They also reported that inflation reached a 39-year high in November, as strong consumer demand collided with pandemic-related supply constraints.
Pray for God’s purposes to be fulfilled in the U.S. economy and labor markets.
Pray for Justice in America
The former offensive coach of an Illinois college football team has filed a First Amendment lawsuit in which he alleges he was let go because he removed an Illinois State University athletics department Black Lives Matter poster from his office door, replacing it with a handwritten poster that read “All Lives Matter to our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.” Student-athletes boycotted practice in part because of his action, and the next day he was released because the head coach said he did not “like the direction of the offense.” He was allegedly told, “If you put the government’s message on your door, you keep your job. If you replace it with your own message, you’re fired.”
Pray for the court when it considers this First Amendment case; pray for Christians to be bold and wise when speaking out.
Pray for Goodness in America
A Dunkin- Donuts employee in Ohio and her three children received the ultimate in a Christmas gift—a fully furnished home—thanks to the kindness of a loyal customer. “I had been asking God to put us in a home before Christmas, and He really did. I’m just so thankful,” she said.
Give thanks for neighbor helping neighbor, whether in large ways or small. Ask God to give you opportunities to do good works to His glory this Christmas season.
Pray for America’s Media
More than 200 newspapers from all over the country have been quietly filing antitrust lawsuits against Google and Facebook for the past year, alleging the two firms monopolized the digital market for revenue that would otherwise go to local news. If the lawsuits are successful, the papers could be entitled to “treble damages,” settlements that are three times the actual damages that are proven to have occurred.
Members of the White House Press Corps and other media are expressing concern that President Biden is setting records for his sparse outreach to the press, a fraction of the face time with journalists that his recent predecessors gave. At the same time, the White House is faulting the press for some of President Biden’s low approval ratings.
Pray for President Biden and his administration’s reluctance to have more face time with the national media.
Pray for America’s Education
School districts across the country say they are seeing a surge of student misbehavior in the return to in-person learning after months of closures and disruptions due to the pandemic.
School boards across the country are facing lawsuits and petitions for recall for censoring public comments on controversial issues like regulations relating to COVID, race and gender policies at public meetings, in violation of First Amendment rights of parents.
Pray for students and parents and the challenges they are facing with members of school boards and education policies.
Pray for America’s Technology
Although it is noticeably light on certain cybersecurity measures, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022 incorporates many provisions that would mandate new research, pilot programs, oversight, and strategies to advance the Pentagon’s adoption of modern and emerging technologies.
Pray that, even as advances in technology are being promoted for the Pentagon, it would not lose sight of the priority of cybersecurity requirements.
Pray for Needs Across the States
Governor Janet Mills of Maine announced she is activating the Maine National Guard to augment short healthcare staffing and requesting federal help for two beleaguered hospitals.
The North Carolina Supreme Court ordered a two-month delay in the state’s 2022 primary elections, giving critics of the state legislature’s gerrymandered political maps additional time to pursue a legal battle to redraw them.
Pray for state legislators or groups charged with drawing up new political districts based on data from the 2020 census.
Pray for America’s Faith Community
“There’s nothing, nothing, that changes or transforms the human heart more than a baby. … At the center of history, when BC turns into AD, is what? The birth of a baby. That birth of that baby, who we claim as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, and our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus could have just shown up as an adult, but God wanted us to know that this baby really is of human nature. He is one of us. He’s not a phantom. He’s not a ghost. God became vulnerable. God became helpless. God became a baby in a crib because that’s precisely what he wants us to do with him—he wants us to hold that baby, he wants us to kiss that baby. That’s God’s desire for us.” – Cardinal Timothy Dolan, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City, Christmas 2019
