Lord, Hear Our Cry

Shirley Dobson

The 64^th annual National Day of Prayer is fast approaching! On Thursday, May 7, NDP Task Force volunteers throughout the country will coordinate events where millions of Americans will gather to humble themselves before the Lord – and there are additional untold numbers who will be participating in other ways.

This annual observance powerfully demonstrates the religious freedoms that were secured by our Founding Fathers who recognized that our innate human rights are inexorably tied to our relationship with the Creator.

America’s rich tradition of prayer was established by those who sacrificed to lay the foundation for a government based on the principles in God’s Word. Yet our nation has departed from those solid underpinnings, abandoning our hard-won birthright. We now waver between righteousness and immorality, and this vacillation puts us in great jeopardy.   In the words of one early leader, President James Madison:

We’ve staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us … to Govern ourselves according to the commandments of God.

One of the greatest “layperson revivals” in American history occurred in 1857. At that time there were 30,000 men idle on the streets of New York. Drunkenness was rampant, and the nation was divided on slavery. On September 23, 1857, Jeremiah Lanphier, a praying businessman, began a noontime prayer meeting on Fulton Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. Out of a city of one million people, six individuals showed up. However, the crowds grew, day by day, and within three months there were prayer meetings all over the city. More than 50,000 people in New York City alone paused each Wednesday at noon to pray. The prayer revival soon spread across the nation, and in about 18 months, a million people were converted to Jesus Christ.

We believe that God can bring about another great awakening in our nation if we humble ourselves and pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways (II Chronicles 7:14). There is still hope for America. That is why Dr. Jack Graham, our Honorary Chairman, and I are calling for 30-days of fasting and prayer to begin on the National Day of Prayer.

It’s my heartfelt prayer that this year’s theme, Lord, Hear Our Cry, will prompt our fellow citizens to turn to God in reverence and humility. As 1 Kings 8:28 reminds us, “Hear the cry and the prayer your servant is praying in your presence this day.” The Almighty is waiting for Americans to turn back to Him in a posture of prayer and repentance. May we, this day, determine to surrender our ways to Him, giving God the honor He deserves so that, as Psalm 85 states, “His glory may dwell in our land.”

If you can assist us financially during this time of National Prayer, it would be appreciated greatly. And please do plan to participate either locally or in Washington D.C. on May 7^th, our nation’s National Day of Prayer.

May God bless you and may God bless America!

 

Sincerely,

Shirley Dobson
Chairman, NDP Task Force