The National Day Of Prayer? (Episode 41)

0:00 Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory. Welcome to Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God. Hey God bless you everybody. Welcome to Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God. And we're your host, Matt and Stephanie Gerrity. And we're founders of River of Heaven Ministries. We have a three-fold vision to rebuild and restore, equip and empower, and revive and heal.

0:43 Through these broadcasts, you're going to be touched, rebuilt, and restored, equipped and empowered and revived and healed. And you're going to be functioning like never before as a kingdom man or a kingdom woman. Today is the National Day of Prayer in the United States of America. You know the modern law of formalizing the National Day of Prayer's annual observance was enacted in 1952 as part of the public reaction to the threats that were perceived in the Korean War. Although earlier days of fasting and prayer had been established by the Second Continental Congress from 1775 until 1783 and by President John Adams in 1798 and 1799.

1:28 The constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer was unsuccessfully challenged in court by the Freedom from Religion Foundation after an appellate court dismissed the case based on standing without a ruling on the day's legality. Something called the Alliance Defense Fund, now known as the Alliance Defending Freedom provided the defense for observance of the National Day of Prayer. The National Day of Prayer shares common roots with our celebration of Thanksgiving, where both were national proclamations establishing a day of prayer. In the New England colonies under British rule, traditional observances in late fall called for prayer and thanksgiving, while observances in the spring or summer called for prayer and fasting. The fall observance was established by President Abraham Lincoln as the official Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, but the spring observance was established by President Harry S. Truman in 1952 as the National Day of Prayer. And so we have been celebrating the National Day of Prayer for a long time. However, it's more than just a formality of religion, or it should be.

2:41 If you examine the proclamation, the 2024 proclamation by our President, he basically opens this up to anyone from all faiths to worship whatever God or pray to whatever God they hold dear. Now, in the early days of the founding of our nation, this was not even an idea in the founding father's mind. When they were talking about one nation under God, they were talking about the God of the Bible. They were talking about Yahweh. They were talking about Jesus Christ. That's who they were talking about. Our nation, the United States of America, is founded on Judeo-Christian principles. As a matter of fact, our Constitution and our Declaration also contain moral fabric from the Bible. It's so important to understand that when you look at a nation or you look at really anything: the foundation of that nation or the foundation of that structure, The foundation of that establishment is absolutely essential as far as the strength of that structure is concerned.

3:54 So if the foundation is correct, if the foundation is sturdy, if the foundation is strong, then the building, whatever is built upon that will be strong. However, if the foundation is not strong, if the foundation is not sturdy, then whatever is built upon that has the potential to collapse, completely collapse. And we know that our nation, the United States of America, was built on Christ, was built on Judeo-Christian moral values, was built on biblical principles, was built on biblical truth. And for other nations, it could work out differently, but for our nation, some of the earliest men that we respect in our nation, George Washington, our first President, Thomas Jefferson, the one who wrote many of our founding documents; these individuals both said at one point, "it is impossible to govern the United States of America without an understanding of the Scriptures," without an understanding of the Bible. And I'll take it a step further, not just an understanding of the Bible, not just understanding the Scriptures but also the need to have a relationship in prayer and in worship with Almighty God, with Jesus Christ. See, you can govern many different things, because people govern based on principle. You always govern based on the foundation,

5:24 based on the institution of a nation. How are you supposed to govern the right way if you don't even understand the foundation upon which the United States of America was constructed? There are so many people that want to take God out of everything. In God, we trust they want to remove that. They want to remove God from schools. They want to remove God from government houses. They want to remove God from everyday life, it seems. But when you begin to remove a foundation, anyone who's a builder knows this: when you begin to remove a foundation, the results are catastrophic for what's built on that foundation. And I believe that's exactly what we see happening in our land today, isn't it? We've got people trying to cover up our nation's history. We've got individuals coming across borders and saying we hate America and America needs to change. And think about this: what type of change do you think those individuals from other nations want? Keep in mind that many of the individuals from these nations are from our totalitarian dictatorial regimes. What kind of change do you think they want to be established in our nation? The kind of change they want established in our nation is to look more like other pagan nations or other nations that are accepting of everything under the sun, everything. As Christians, we don't condone certain lifestyles. We love everyone, but we absolutely will not condone things that are

7:00 morally and biblically incorrect. Otherwise, we can't call ourselves Christians. Jesus didn't give anyone a free pass. Jesus loved people. He loved every one, but he told multiple people, many times in scripture, things like, go and sin no more. Lest something worse come upon you. Go and show yourself to the priest and be cleansed. Go and wash yourself. Go and cleanse. Go and live right. Go and walk according to the scriptures. And so we need to get back to our foundation like never before. The celebration of this national day of prayer brings up an interesting point. I wonder how many people actually would consider themselves having prayed just once, once a year. You might be shocked to find out that there are hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps even millions, who've not prayed one day this year. Some people haven't even prayed one day in their life. But when we emphasize something like the national day of prayer, it's not that we're wanting people to pray just this one day. No, it's an emphasis to bring us back to our foundation.

8:14 Our nation was founded and welded together in prayer. Our founding fathers were praying people. The early colonists were praying people. The individuals who came over, even from from Leiden Holland and from England originally, they were Puritans. They were trying to escape the corruption of the British crown, which had taken over the church and merged them together and was trying to bring humanism and secularism into play, all these different things, and say, this is the church now. This is what we're going to do. They made it this man-made, man-worship type institution instead of what it must remain, which is the House of God, -The people of God worshiping Him in spirit and truth. The word church in Greek is the word ekklesia or ecclesia. It is those who have been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. And if you've heard the call and you've responded to that call, then you're part of the church. You are part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said I will build my church and the gates of hell will never, ever, ever prevail against it. And so, how do we get that call?

9:35 God loves all of us, and his will is for us to receive him. John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him, believe in Jesus Christ, would not perish but would receive everlasting life. Scripture teaches us that we're saved by Grace alone through Faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone. There are a lot of people who think that we had a lot to do with this process. The only thing that we had to do with this process is responding in faith to God's amazing grace. That's what it is. Romans 5.8 says God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't wait for us to get cleaned up. He didn't wait for us to straighten our life out. We couldn't. Otherwise, we all could have obeyed the law, and we would be perfect people.

10:27 But we have all fallen short of God's glory. We've all broken his law. And if we break one part of his law, if we break one of the commandments, it's like we've broken all of them. We've broken his law and we deserve eternal damnation, eternal separation. But God's grace is so sufficient. His grace is so amazing that He said, I'm not going to treat you on behalf of your sinful nature. God says, I know you. I know how I created you. I know the propensity that was in man to do evil. I'm going to treat you based upon your destiny. I'm going to treat you based on my son's payment. That's what Father God says. He says, I'm going to look at you, and I'm going to accept my son's payment in your place.

11:11 What an amazing, amazing savior. What an amazing faith that we, as Christians, belong to. We respond to the grace of God by repenting and believing, by repenting and placing our faith in Jesus Christ, acknowledging that we are indeed sinful, that we indeed have broken the law, that we indeed are guilty before God. But at the same time, we indeed repent, we indeed trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. We put all our faith in Him and we thank Him. We're all together thankful for His great sacrifice. Hallelujah. And so all we're doing from that point forward is having a relationship with Him.

11:56 That's all it is. We're simply yielding to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John chapter 17, It's good that I go away because, if I don't, I can't send you the Holy Spirit, but I'm going to go away. I'm going to send you the counselor. And when He comes, He's the spirit of truth. He's going to lead you, guide you, and direct you in all truth. You can even say that The Holy Spirit encourages us to pray because He is not just the spirit of the Lord the spirit of wisdom and understanding and counsel might and knowledge and the fear of the Lord, but He's also the spirit of grace and supplication. And supplication means prayer. It's a type of prayer. And so, on this national day of prayer, I want to encourage you; maybe you've never prayed before, Those who are listening, I want to encourage you to pray. Maybe you've prayed a little bit. I want to encourage you to pray more. And again, not out of religiosity, but out of relationship. It's relational. Why do we talk to people? Why do we converse with those that we have in our life?

12:59 Oftentimes, the people that we converse with the most are people that we love, people who inspire us, people who pay some debt for us, perhaps people who are willing to stand in the way of trouble, people who are willing to warn us. Do you know that God is the one who authored all those things, and He has done every one for us? He loves us. He's taken our sin -debt and paid it in full. He warns us. He stops us from going down the path of impending doom if we'll listen to him. So this talking with the Lord must come out of a place of relationship, because if it comes out of a place of religiosity, it's dry, and many may start off that way.

13:48 We start to learn and grow, and we just do whatever we can at the time. But when we get an understanding of that relationship, that God doesn't command us, "you must change now!" No, we all broke His law. He understands. He's our high priest. He's been tempted in every way that we've been tempted yet without sin. He understands. The Bible says we don't have a priest or a high priest who doesn't understand. He understands. He walked this earth. He walked surrounded by the temptations that we are surrounded by today. But yet He was without sin. So He can help us with our struggles. He can help us in our situations. He can help us to learn, to hate sin. He can help us to yield to His Holy Spirit. And as we yield to the Holy Spirit, the first thing the Holy Spirit does is make us holy. He makes us holy. His name is the Holy Spirit.

14:43 He also leads us and guides us to all truth. And part of that leading and guiding us to all truth is praying. It's prayer. If we are prayerless people, we are powerless people. Why? Because God has given us the ability to commune with Him, to ask, to seek, to knock. And He is the one who's all-powerful. And as we seek His face and we worship Him for who He is and we commune with Him, He's so good that He allows us to move in His power. He allows us to move in resurrection power, in the anointing that only comes from Him. Hallelujah.

15:30 And we're just so grateful, aren't we, that we have an opportunity to commune with God, that we have an opportunity to talk to Him. His will for us, 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18, is to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and always give thanks. When I think about today, the national day of prayer, I think about 2 Chronicles chapter 7, verses 14 through 16, which says this: if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now, I have chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there forever, and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. Wow. So the Lord told His people, Israel, Israel, if you who are called by my name will humble yourself and pray and seek my face and turn from your wicked ways, then I hear you from heaven. I will forgive your sin, and I will heal your land. Not only that, but the Lord said that my eyes would be open and my ears attentive to the prayers made in that place. For I have chosen and sanctified that house, and my name will be there forever,

17:02 will be there forever, and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. And as Christians, we are grafted into those promises. There is natural Zion, the Jewish people, and spiritual Zion. Those who have been grafted in, those who are of the church if we think about it. And so God is saying to us today, my people, if you who are called by my name, isn't that interesting? Those called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ, the Greek word ekklesia should be ringing out. If my people called by my name, that applies to the church because we are called by His name. We are called out of darkness, and we respond to that call. If my people who are called by my name will what? Humble themselves and pray God says, church, my church, my beloved, it's time to humble yourself. It's time to stop acting like I'm better than this person, or my ministry is greater than this person, or my church is bigger than so and so. It doesn't matter. We're all part of the church. If it's Christ Church, if it's Jesus Christ's Church that He established, we're all just an assembly of that great body, the global body of Christ. We are all just one regiment of that amazing army, the army of God, each of us soldiers in those regiments. So we're to humble ourselves. Let's boast in Christ and Him alone. Let's do what the apostle Paul said. Let's boast in Christ and Him crucified,

18:36 Him resurrected. We humble ourselves and pray. Prayer is not, let's see if we can get God to do what we want Him to do. Prayer is aligning our lives with God's word. It's aligning our life. with God's word and saying what He has said in His word. God watches over His word to perform it, not ours. Now we can petition, we can ask God things, but the most power is found when we pray God's word because, again, God's word goes forth and accomplishes what it sets out to. Isaiah 55 says, it never ever, ever returns void. God watches over His word to perform it. Even the angels Psalm 103, tells us that the angels give heed and move at the direction of God's word, the mighty ones, the mighty angels of God, His ministering spirits. So we're to humble ourselves and pray and seek God's face, worship Him in spirit and in truth for those of the worshipers that He seeks after. And then turn from our wicked ways, repentance. Acts 3:19, that times of refreshing follow times of repenting. So many people want to be refreshed. God says, repent. Do you want to be refreshed? Repent. Isaiah 58 explains what true fasting is. It has a strong element of repentance. People who are going without food

20:07 And still pointing your finger, you might as well eat. People who are gossiping while they're fasting and praying, you're missing the point, you're missing the purpose. Isaiah 58 talks about, why are you fasting and praying this way? You shouldn't be doing this. You're still stirring up scribe. You're still pointing the finger. That's not the way to fast and pray. God says through the prophet Isaiah, this is what you should do. You should set free the captive and heal the brokenhearted and bless those. We should be allowing that fasting and praying to bring us more and more to be like Christ, getting rid of our flesh. Hallelujah. And then the Lord says, then your healing shall spring forth speedily. Things shall break forth in your life like never before. You'll be called restorers of the breach. You'll rebuild the ancient waste places just out of being humble, just out of praying, seeking God's face, and turning from wicked ways. May this National Day of Prayer be a time that would turn us from our wicked ways as a nation. May this be a time that we truly seek God's face because he has a promise for us, his people. He said, if you do these things, church, Zion, I will hear from heaven. I'm hearing your words. If you come to me humble, praying and seeking my face and in repentance, I'm hearing your words. I will forgive your sin. And here's the big one. I will heal your land.

21:33 My eyes and ears will open, and I will be attentive to the prayer made in that place where you're praying. For I have chosen and sanctified this house. We know that there are many houses that God has chosen and sanctified, specifically Zion, okay, in Israel, but also the Bible calls us the temple of God as believers. God's garden, God's temple. God said I have chosen and sanctified this house. Do you want to be a house chosen and sanctified by the Lord? Then humble yourself and pray and seek his face and turn from wickedness. And finally, God says, my eyes, my heart will be there perpetually. That means forevermore. I don't know about you, but I want to be a person who when I pray, I've got the attention of heaven. God is listening. Why? Not because I or you or anyone else is so special, but simply because we follow God's word. We're humbling ourselves. We're praying.

22:34 We're seeking his face. We're turning from our wicked ways. And my prayer for you, my prayer for our nation, the United States of America, and I believe our prayer corporately for the corporate body of Christ is that we would stop this foolishness of bickering with each other. And you know, everyone wants to expose the other person when a lot of the doctrine that individuals are preaching, for the most part, is true doctrine. I mean, heresy is one thing. We need to call that out and expose it. But I mean, people who are preaching Jesus Christ, him crucified, him resurrected, preaching that we're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone, preaching Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, preaching that there's no way of salvation except through Jesus Christ. I mean, we need to work together like never before. The denominations need to get out of their own way. All these individuals who emphasize one part of scripture over the other. Listen, isn't it time that we can come together, focus on what we need to focus on, focus on the main, the main thing, the main one who is Jesus Christ. Remember the apostle Peter, when gathering everyone together in Acts chapter two, he's quoting the prophet, Joel; he's saying, this is what you're experiencing now.

23:52 This is what prophet Joel prophesied about, and God was going to pour out his spirit on all flesh and sons and daughters were going to prophesy. And he says all these things. He says, there's all these wonderful, powerful words that Peter preaches. But then at the end of it, he says something very interesting. He emphasizes Jesus of Nazareth. He emphasizes Jesus of Nazareth. And when he emphasized Jesus of Nazareth, he's emphasizing Jesus of Nazareth for a reason, because Jesus is to be the emphasis for the Christian. Jesus is to be the emphasis for Zion, for those who are God's people. Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiach is to be the emphasis. He is the chief cornerstone.

24:40 He is the shore foundation. He is the head of the church. Peter says in Acts chapter two, verse 22, men of Israel hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst. As you also know him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it. For David said concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also arrest and hope for you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you by the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day.

25:46 Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that the fruit of his body according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on the throne. He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear. Hallelujah. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, he is the emphasis, especially on this national day of prayer. I pray this blessed you today, Share it with someone. Amen. Have a great day, and we'll see you next time.

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