Additional National Prayer Needs
Pray for our Military
The U.S.-led coalition in Syria struck several launch sites for short-range rockets believed to be intended for attacks on an installation used by U.S. troops in eastern Syria. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, “These kinds of attacks are very much in keeping with the kind of attacks we’ve seen from Iran-backed militias in Iraq and in Syria and so obviously our working level assumption is that such groups were responsible for these.”
The U.S. Special Operations Command announced that the military is building a regional command post for special forces in Albania in order to have “the ability to rapidly move and train within the Balkans, in close coordination with other allied and partner forces.”
Pray for the safety of American armed forces wherever they may be deployed.
Pray for AMERICA’S FREEDOMS
More than 800,000 noncitizens and “Dreamers” in New York City will have access to the ballot box and could vote in municipal elections as early as next year after Mayor Eric Adams allowed legislation to automatically become law. Opponents say they will file a lawsuit to challenge the new movement of the City Council. Unless a judge halts its implementation, New York City is the first major U.S. city to grant widespread municipal voting rights to noncitizens.
Pray for federal, state, and local officials as election and voting reforms are deliberated and adopted.
Pray for AMERICA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS
Officials in China claimed credit for a new multinational statement on the “avoidance of war between nuclear weapon states” even as they pledged to continue building their own nuclear weapons arsenal. In addition, China has signaled that it plans to keep a high-tempo schedule of rocket launches designed to “accelerate the development of China as a space power” over the coming year.
The government of Kazakhstan, a former member of the Soviet Union, resigned last week in response to violent protests in the capital. The Kremlin said it is monitoring the situation and warned against outside interference. “We advocate the peaceful resolution of all problems within the constitutional and legal framework and dialogue, rather than through street riots and the violation of laws,” Russia’s foreign ministry said. Dozens of protesters were killed by authorities as they stormed administrative buildings.
Pray for Secretary of State Blinken and others in the diplomatic corps as they work to deescalate pressured areas across the globe.
Pray for AMERICA’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
The White House is finalizing a plan with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver 500 million COVID-19 test kits to homes, which they hope to begin in mid-January. A website that will allow people to submit COVID-19 rapid test requests will also be established by the administration.
After no reported rabies cases in people in 2019 or 2020, the CDC released a report stating that five people died of the disease in 2021. Dr. Ryan Wallace of the CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology said “This recent spate of cases is a sobering reminder that contact with bats poses a real health risk.” Exposure to rabid bats is the leading cause of rabies in humans.
Pray for federal health officials and those advising the president regarding health measures to address the coronavirus
Pray for AMERICA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told the Knesset that the country’s military and other security services were undergoing their largest retraining in years. His comments came as the IDF was working intensively to prepare for a potential military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, amid growing concerns that ongoing talks between the world powers and Tehran in Vienna are finding no agreement.
Israel is planning to introduce a resolution at the January 20 UN General Assembly to combat Holocaust denial. That date is the 80th anniversary of when the Nazis held the Wannsee Conference in Berlin to discuss Hitler’s “final solution.”
Pray for Israel’s leaders as they submit the resolution to the United Nations. Pray as well for wisdom for U.S. and foreign officials as the amount of anti-Semitism has increased in parts of that body.
Pray for AMERICA’S ECONOMY
A new survey shows that some 1-in-3 shoppers overspent during the recent holiday season. Of those who took on debt, a majority said they plan to pay it off by the end of January while 43 percent said it would take longer. Some 20 percent said that it would take beyond April to pay off their holiday expenses.
A record number of Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in November, 4.5 million. Some experts see this as a show of confidence in the labor market and an indication that higher wages could prevail for a time The Department of Labor also reported an all-time high of 10.6 million jobs available for that month.
Pray for economic officials in the administration as increasing inflationary pressures are felt by Americans in every economic demographic.
Pray for America’s Education
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said he thinks it’s “a great day” for the president’s administration to cancel student debt, as he continues to encourage President Biden to forgive up to $50,000 worth of federal student loan debt using executive action.
Teachers’ unions across the nation are insisting that school districts hold classes remotely as COVID-19 cases increase due to the Omicron variant. The unions argue that the districts are not doing enough to keep their teachers safe, while public officials assert that remote learning is unnecessary,
Pray for students, teachers, and administrators as they continue to face uncertainties in classroom instruction because of the coronavirus.
Pray for America’s Technology
Congressional candidates and political action committees are beginning to embrace a technology boom ahead of this year’s midterm elections, auctioning off digital collectibles known as NFTs that have already drawn hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. NFT stands for non-fungible tokens and is described as “a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger. NFTs can be associated with reproducible digital files such as photos, videos, and audio.”
Pray for wisdom for legislators and regulators as technology is being applied in political campaigns to reach voters.
Pray for Needs Across the States
Governor Jay Inslee of Washington announced plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit candidates and elected officials from spreading lies about elections that are likely to result in violence. The legislation, which is still being written, would be “narrowly tailored” to cover “false statements” made for the “purpose of undermining the election process or results,” according to Inslee’s announcement.
Governor Spencer Cox of Utah said his state is one of several that are carving out billions of dollars to adapt to surging demand for electric vehicles. “We want people to buy electric vehicles. And if we want to encourage people to buy electric vehicles, then we have to make sure that we have the infrastructure available for people to buy electric vehicles so they can actually get the cars charged and not get stuck somewhere,” he said.
Pray for America’s state governors as they look to apply best measures for the benefit of their citizens.
Pray for America’s Faith Community
“With the exception of faithfulness to sound, biblical doctrine, nothing is more essential to the prosperity of the church than unity. … If we lack unity, we will never be fruitful for the Lord. … And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand (Mark 3:24-25). … We cannot please our Lord apart from unity.” – Pastor Christopher Benfield, Shady Grove Baptist Church, Boonville, North Carolina, 2016
