Additional National Prayer Needs
Pray for our Military
Russia is increasing its military activity around Alaska and the Arctic region in an attempt to “reassert on a global stage their influence and their capabilities,” said Air Force General Glen VanHerck, the leader of U.S. Northern Command. “It’s a great power competition. The difference between the past and now is the intercepts are more complex—multi-access, multi-platforms and often times they’ll enter the [air defense identification zone] and stay for hours. That would be the significant difference. But why is this ongoing? It is playing out as the peer competition that we’ve talked about.”
The Pentagon is reversing previous policies that largely banned transgender people from serving in the military during their transition period or while undergoing hormone therapy. New rules have been issued that offer wider access to medical care and assistance with gender transition, and to serve openly in their self-identified gender.
Pray for America’s armed forces as they face many changes and adjustments, and adversaries who are “on the move.”
Pray for AMERICA’S FREEDOMS
Most Americans view the current “cancel culture” pressure as a threat to their freedom, a new survey conducted by the Harvard CAPS-Harris polling group shows. Only 36 percent disagreed. The polling director said, “It’s a chilling finding that most people in the country now are afraid they would be fired if they expressed their real views on social media. The public generally gives negative ratings to social media companies and sees the movement as more about censorship rather than trying to correct wrongs. It is growing as a national issue.”
Pray for governing officials who seek to protect the freedoms of U.S. citizens against the “cancel culture” threat.
Pray for AMERICA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS
The United States’ efforts to battle powerful drug cartels from inside Mexico have ground to a halt over the last two months as strained relations between the two countries have frozen attempts to corral drug kingpins. A new Mexican law requiring that intelligence sources be reported to their foreign ministry has caused cooperation between the two nations to stall.
Pray for strengthening in relationships with America’s allies and for discernment and strength in addressing adversaries.
Pray For AMERICA’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
The U.S. put Johnson and Johnson in charge of a plant that ruined 15 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine and has stopped British drug maker AstrZeneca from using the facility, after J&J said it was “assuming full responsibility” of the Emergent BioSolutions facility in Baltimore, reiterating that it will deliver 100 million doses to the government by the end of May.
A new study published by the Journal of American Medical Association Pediatrics took a hard look at substance use disorder “SUD” as it relates to the age of the user’s first drug or substance initiation, and suggests that the earlier the age of a user’s experience with a substance, the more likely the early user will develop a SUD. The study recommends that screening for substance abuse among adolescents should be part of screening beginning in primary care.
Pray for healthcare officials and providers as they work to help the nation recover from the COVID-19 virus. Pray for America’s youth for strength to avoid submitting to the drug culture.
Pray for AMERICA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL
The president’s administration announced it was giving $15 million to vulnerable Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The money is part of nearly $100 million the administration has allocated as economic support for the Palestinian. Administration officials indicated the support is, in part, to regain the “trust and goodwill” of the Palestinians after the previous funding cuts.
Pray for U.S.-Israel relations and for peace in the region.
Pray for THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
Home prices saw the biggest annual gain in close to 15 years in early 2021, with Phoenix, Seattle, and San Diego seeing the highest year-over-year home price gains. With mortgage rates remaining at roughly 3.7 percent, a bright future for home sales in expanding markets should continue.
Consumer confidence rose in March to its highest level since the pandemic began a year ago, with Americans expressing more optimism about business and labor market conditions in the coming months.
Pray for the nation as businesses and schools re-open, and for business owners who are struggling to begin again.
Pray for Justice in America
Violent crime is on the rise nationwide and showing no signs of letting up. According to the FBI, the murder rate increased about 25 percent last year while other crimes such as rape, robbery, and assault rose exponentially as well. This reportedly marks the largest increase in violence since the 1960s. Experts said the rise cannot be attributed to any one factor, but note an increase in mental-health-related issues, especially among young people, since the start of COVID-19 lockdowns. Others cite the Black Lives Matter protests and riots, the decrease of police funding in cities nationwide, and the economic collapse related to the virus.
Pray for a decrease in violent crime as the nation reopens and that people would again learn to respect one another.
Pray for Goodness in America
Worried about online misinformation and race riots, the coronavirus pandemic, and political division, a Minnesota librarian is hosting online training for church congregations to spot disinformation and “make sense of everything around me.” Rachel Wrightman, the librarian at Concordia University in St. Paul, said, “As a librarian, I’m seeing this huge information landscape every day, and I feel like it’s incredibly overwhelming for people… I also want to bring in this perspective of Christianity. As Christians, we need to ask ourselves, if you have this faith of loving your neighbors, in what spaces does your faith show up?”
Praise God for people who have the courage to stand for their faith in Christ in the workplace and on college campuses and pray that more will.
Pray for America’s Media
Major television network anchor Lester Holt said reporters don’t need to hear both sides of a story before determining the “truth.” In comments made while accepting an award, he said, “That the sun sets in the west is a fact. Any contrary view does not deserve our time or attention,” He added that “decisions to not give unsupported arguments equal time are not a dereliction of journalistic responsibility or some kind of agenda, in fact, it’s just the opposite.” He continued by saying, “I think it’s become clear that fairness is overrated… the idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in.”
Pray for all journalists, reporters, and media organizations to seek and report the truth.
Pray for America’s Education
Bipartisan groups of governors have decided it is time to “flex some muscle” and get students back into classrooms, despite resistance from teachers’ unions and hesitancy from some school boards. Some schools are beginning part-time in-person instruction, but many are holding off until the fall in the hopes of wide-spread vaccinations of teachers and students.
The pandemic has pushed teachers out of the workforce in large numbers, and many schools say they don’t have a strong safety net to fill the gaps as children come back to classrooms. An Education Week survey found 73 percent of districts said their need for substitute teachers much greater in 2020 than in 2019. 74 percent said the number of applications for substitution positions had dropped.
Pray for students and teachers alike as schools begin to reopen, and for more teachers for the schools that are lacking staff.
Pray for America’s Technology
Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island, chairman of the House antitrust panel, said the creation of a regulatory agency to police Big Tech is unlikely because of the lack of bipartisan support and bureaucratic obstacles. Existing antitrust enforcement agencies such as the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are better suited to deal with unfair practices, he said.
Lawmakers requested that Facebook, Twitter and Google turn over any studies they have done on how their services affect children’s mental health, following House Energy and Commerce Committee hearings in which the companies’ chief executives discussed their content moderation practices.
Pray for legislators and federal agencies as regulation and enforcement of the policies of Big Tech companies, particularly those in social media, are evaluated.
Pray for Needs Across the States
The New Jersey Department of Transportation has awarded $30.1 million in grants to 33 projects to help counties and municipalities across the state facilitate large trucks’ safe movement. The projects would include truck safety and mobility, two bridge preservation projects, and a number of pavement preservation projects.
Lawmakers in Kansas voted to rescind Governor Laura Kelly’s mask mandate within hours of the governor issuing the executive order. “Public health mandates should be short-term, data-driven, and reserved only for pressing emergency situations. They should not be used to dictate Kansans’ daily lives year after year,” the speaker of the Kansas House and its Senate majority leader said in a statement, adding, “If data is the real driver behind the Governor’s approach, then let’s rely on the numbers.”
Pray for wisdom for state elected officials and for those in the bureaucratic agencies.
Pray for America’s Faith Community
“I am God, and there is none like me… Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish” (Isaiah 46:9-10).
Patiently, repeatedly, God’s Word makes the point. Accept it or not, God’s calling the shots. Either He’s in full control, or He’s off His throne.
It was a glorious day when I realized that nobody expected me to have all the answers…least of all God. If I could figure it all out, I’d qualify as His adviser, and Scripture makes it clear He doesn’t need my short-sighted, insignificant counsel. He wants my unreserved love, my unqualified devotion, my undaunted trust—not by feeble analysis of His ways…and certainly not my approval!
One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the quiet confidence that God is in control…without the need to understand why He does what He does. … What do you need to place in His hands?” – Pastor Charles “Chuck“ B. Swindoll, Insight for Living, Frisco, Texas
