March 12th – 18th, 2020
PRAY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HIS ADMINISTRATION
President Trump has named Russ Vought to be the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. He has been the acting director and is a “master of facts and figures of the budget and in-depth knowledge of the process,” reports said.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the administration is going to stay calm over the economic impact of the coronavirus because America’s economic expansion is not at risk.
Pray for President Trump, the coronavirus task force, and his economic advisers to make wise and careful decisions at this pivotal time.
PRAY FOR OUR CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Senate’s Finance Committee Chairman, is looking into options for possible targeted tax relief as a response to the coronavirus; he is in consultation with White House.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell admonished Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after Schumer appeared to have threatened two associate justices of the Supreme Court, calling his comments “shameless efforts to bully” the judiciary, and a “dangerous and disturbing turn.”
Pray for members of both chambers of Congress as they consider responses the government can make to the coronavirus outbreak.
PRAY FOR OUR JUDICIARY
A federal judge in Seattle blocked the Trump Administration from implementing new regulations that states alleged would allow anyone with a 3D printer to make firearms at home, saying the rules were a “toothless prohibition” on software.
Immigration Judge Rebecca Holt in Memphis ordered the deportation of a longtime Tennessee resident who served as a German concentration camp guard during World War II. Under a 1978 law, anyone who participated in Nazi-sponsored persecution is barred from entering or living in the U.S. He has been here since 1959.
Pray for federal judges as they make decisions with wide-ranging implications.
CURRENT EVENTS
WARS AND TERRORISM
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “We know that the road ahead will be difficult,” regarding the peace agreement with the Taliban. He added, “The upsurge in violence… over the last couple days is unacceptable.”
Turkey and Russia agreed to a ceasefire deal in Syria’s Idlib region, following lengthy talks in Moscow aimed at containing the conflict in which nearly a million people have been displaced in three months.
Pray for the leaders who are making peace efforts across the Middle East.
FOREIGN INTERESTS AND CONFLICTS
North Korea has resumed test-firing rockets or short-range missiles and at the same time is ratcheting up its rhetoric decrying international protests against the launches, which are in violation of UN resolutions.
Vladimir Putin could remain Russia’s president until 2036 under a constitutional amendment he backed that would reset his presidential tenure when his current term ends in 2024. Russia’s constitutional court must now affix the “requisite rubber stamp” to his proposals before the April 22 effective date.
Pray for President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and others in the administration as they deal with adversarial decisions made by foreign leaders.
ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Israel’s Defense Ministry has green-lighted planning for what it called a “sovereignty road” that would allow Palestinian traffic to bypass Israeli settlements in an unannexed area of the West Bank.
Just ahead of Passover and Easter, all people entering Israel from abroad will be required to spend 14 days in home isolation. “This is a difficult decision but it is essential to maintaining public health, which takes precedence over everything,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said.
Pray for Prime Minister Netanyahu as his tenure once again is not secure, having not reached enough seats in the Knesset to form a government.
THE ECONOMY
The economy defied early coronavirus concerns in February with 273,000 new jobs, while unemployment ticked down to 3.5 percent. Forecasters had expected about 175,000 jobs. December and January job numbers were also revised upward by a combined 85,000.
New orders for U.S.-made goods decreased half a percent in January, more than was expected, and a prolonged slump could be ahead due to the reduction of imported supplies as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Pray for the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department for wisdom as they deal with financial concerns over the coronavirus.
ACROSS THE STATES
Budget writers in the Georgia House of Representatives cut in half the teacher pay raise that Governor Brian Kemp proposed in January. “It’s not all about the money,” said one member. “It’s support services and wraparound services, not only in the classroom but in the community.”
Occidental Petroleum and Wyoming are discussing the biggest government land purchase since Alaska that would include more than 1 million acres of surface land and an additional 4 million acres of underground mineral rights, at a price somewhere between $1 billion and $3 billion.
Pray for state legislators and government officials as they deal with economic issues in their states.
VERSE OF THE WEEK
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:8
