Public Prayer Matters

I feel I would be remiss not to give the readers an update from the Perry city council meeting earlier this week. A good number of local pastors, church leaders and others from within the Christian community came to the meeting and all were given the opportunity to express their thoughts and concerns about the National Day of Prayer as it relates to the level of city involvement. After being there and hearing our mayor and other city leaders speak, I was even more impressed with their level of competency and commitment to this community. No, I did not agree with every single point or objection made, nor did the council vote to recognize the National Day of Prayer as a “city event.” However, I fully concur with their decision and feel it is in the long-term best interest of our city, and the event itself. The PMA (Perry Ministerial Association) unapologetically ministers from a Christian perspective, and anything that would hinder us from publicly praying to the One True God as revealed in the Bible, would undermine the very nature of the event itself. Therefore, I was thankful to hear several members of the council not only express their support of the National Day of Prayer, but also state that prayer was an important part of their faith. Further still, the mayor and others made clear they fully intend on attending the event and voiced their appreciation of the intercessory prayers of Perry churches and the Christian community in their behalf.

While it is still several months away, I want to challenge every confessing believer in Houston County to not just make plans, but make it a priority to attend the National Day of Prayer. It is the height of hypocrisy for followers of Christ to insist how highly we value this freedom, get upset at any mention of it being taken away and then not support the event by not attending. I will do my best to remind you as the day gets closer, but perhaps you’d like to go ahead and put a reminder in your phone or on your calendar. Lord willing, the National Day of Prayer will be held: Thursday, May 04 at 11:00 on the Old Courthouse lawn in downtown Perry. If the right to publicly assemble and call upon our Creator to bless our Nation is something you value, then I encourage you to attend.

All of this got me to thinking… why do Christians value public prayer so much? Why do we insist this is something we are willing to stand and fight for? Why do believers deem it important to assemble out in the open and pray? Why even have a National Day of Prayer? Understand, I am not asking these questions from a Constitutional point of view, but from a faith-based perspective. I think there are several reasons why public prayer matters deeply to believers.

First, at its very core, prayer is an acknowledgement that God exists. The Christian who stands out in public view and begins to pray is making a clear declaration that there is a God who hears and answers prayer. Yes, the same could be said of private prayer. Yet public prayer is a bold statement of our belief in God’s existence. When God’s people unashamedly stand before a watching world and call out to God, we are letting the world around us know, there is a God to whom all men are accountable. Perhaps this is the fundamental reasons why so many anti-Christ organizations have warred against prayer, and in particular against public prayer. These godless efforts to banish prayer, whether in school, the courtroom or the public square are all a devilish effort to remove God from the public view.

Prayer is clarion announcement that God is real.

As such, when Christians pray, we are not foolishly reciting empty words to some generic “big guy in the sky,” but calling upon our Heavenly Father who is moved by our prayers. The God who alone created all things in heaven and on earth, also hears the prayers of every single one of His children who call upon Him. The Bible is full of examples of God’s people publicly crying out to God both in adoration and in supplication. Prayer not only acknowledges that God exists, but more than that … prayer forces us to face our own fragility and mortality. In other words, prayer reveals how weak we are and how much we desperately need God; both as individuals and as a community. By faith in God’s Son, believers are granted unfettered access to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in our hour of need (Hebrews 4:16). How urgently does America need God right now! How desperately do our civil leaders (at every level) need to be reminded – they will give an account to their Creator for the decisions they make.

Therefore, let us pray. Let us pray privately. Let us pray corporately as churches. But also, let us pray publicly as a community. Asking God to be merciful to a nation that does not deserve His mercy.

Does public prayer matter? I think so and so do many of you.

Think about this; a couple weeks ago when a 24-year-old athlete suffered cardiac arrest during Monday Night Football … no one took issue with public prayer. Why? Because at that crucial moment, every rational person watching was hoping there was a God who would hear and answer when called upon. Those who knew God and the power of prayer didn’t care one bit if the watching world thought them fools for bending the knee on that field. At that desperate instant, and at your desperate moment, remember – there is a God who hears and answers prayer. Publicly acknowledging that fact, is nothing but good for a community.

I would like to believe that if we asked Damar Hamlin what he thinks about a group of people gathering to publicly pray for him, he might insist public prayer matters deeply.

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