{"id":1307,"date":"2011-05-04T12:18:43","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T16:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2011-05-05T11:47:02","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T15:47:02","slug":"is-the-national-day-of-prayer-for-everybody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/05\/is-the-national-day-of-prayer-for-everybody.html","title":{"rendered":"Is the National Day of Prayer for everybody?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>So, you don’t plan on traveling to any big rallies for the National Day of Prayer. Nor do you intend to take the day off from work.<\/p>\n

So, how can you observe this special day?<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, there’s always the Apostle Paul’s advice in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 — “Pray without ceasing.” But how can anybody do that without becoming\u00a0some kind of\u00a0monk or a cloistered nun — living a life devoted entirely to prayer?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Famous preacher Charles H. Spurgeon had\u00a0the solution: “It was never the design of the Lord Jesus that our throats, lungs, and tongues should be forever at work,” he told his congregation on March 10, 1872.<\/p>\n

<\/a>“Since we are to pray without ceasing,” he told them, “it is clear that audible language is not essential to prayer.”<\/p>\n

“In the book of Exodus,” he recalled,\u00a0“God is represented as saying to Moses, ‘Why criest thou unto me?’ And yet it is not recorded that Moses had uttered so much as a single syllable.”<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>\"\"<\/a>So, of course, we all know that silent prayer works. It’s been a big part of our lives — starting in the\u00a0second grade when when\u00a0we silently pleaded with\u00a0the Lord to help us pass the spelling test even though we had blown off studying the list the teacher had sent home.<\/p>\n

Nor is it necessary to pray on our knees or with hands clasped together, eyes gripped shut.\u00a0“If it were necessary that we should pray on our knees, we could not pray without ceasing,” notes Spurgeon.\u00a0“The posture would become painful and injurious.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nor is it necessary to find a chapel or any other “house of prayer,” notes Spurgeon.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE to read “Why is there a National Day of Prayer?”<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“If there were only certain holy places where prayer was acceptable, and we had to pray without ceasing,”\u00a0he noted,\u00a0“our churches ought to be extremely large, that we might always live in them.”<\/p>\n

Paul on Mars Hill declared to the Greek scholars that the God he served, “dwelleth not in temples made with hands.”<\/p>\n

“If I am to pray without ceasing,” observes Spurgeon,\u00a0“then every second must be suitable for prayer.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In other words, today as you pray for America, yes, you can be completely effective at your desk or waiting on customers or babysitting the kids. Just remember the Creator of All Things, and talk to him — silently. Thank Him for His incredible goodness to all of us. His blessings. His provision. His protection.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE to read American Center for Law and Justice attorney Jay Sekulow’s thoughts on the National Day of Prayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pray for the thousands fighting to preserve our right to pray however we wish.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE to read about the federal court decision declaring the National Day of Prayer legal and constitutional <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On the National Day of Prayer, citizens will gather at national monuments, military bases, stadiums, nursing homes, schools, town squares, churches and other venues to pray. Events are planned in prisons, state capitols, homeless shelters and even on airplanes. Participants will pray not only for their local and national leaders, but also for America’s military, media, businesses, education system, churches and families.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE to read Linda Howard’s message about the National Day of Prayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

And you can join them — right where you are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, you don’t plan on traveling to any big rallies for the National Day of Prayer. Nor do you intend to take the day off from work. So, how can you observe this special day? 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