Pastor's Corner: National Day of Prayer - Thursday, May 6, 2021

This next Thursday, the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association is hosting this year's National Day of Prayer observance, with the Pastors Worship Band playing at 11:30 a.m., weather permitting, at Havre's Town Square. The National Day of Prayer service starts at noon, with each person attending bringing their own sack lunch and lawn chair. Pastor Munya, from the Alliance Church, will be preaching the message. Pastor Edroy "Curt" Curtis, from Havre Assembly, will be emcee-ing our prayer time together, with area pastors leading in specific prayer focal points. Everyone is welcome to attend and take part.

"This year's National Day of Prayer theme is "Lord, Pour Out Your LOVE, LIFE and LIBERTY." It is based on the Scripture verse: 2 Corinthians 3:17 "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

"We are richly blessed to have a law that has proclaimed a day of prayer for our nation each year since the first observance as the law was signed in 1952! Decades later, America still needs our prayers. We need to be praying for all people, every day, because people are still in need and the church is still called to a prayer, care and share lifestyle. First and foremost, people need to hear the message and experience the LOVE of our Lord Jesus Christ. All have sinned and fall short, but God's arm is not short, and we have been sent to show and share His message of LOVE, LIFE and LIBERTY. Before God even spoke, 'Let there be ... ,' He loved you and me. God is LOVE. We are surrounded by the hurting, hopeless and helpless who have never experienced the LOVE of God and possibly of another person. God designed and defines LOVE, real LOVE; unconditional, authentic LOVE that sent His Son to pay our sin-debt in full so that we could believe in Him and have everlasting, abundant LIFE.

"We live in a nation that does not respect LIFE - all LIFE from womb to tomb. We are surrounded by people who cannot be inconvenienced or made uncomfortable to keep the heartbeat of others beating. Whether it is an unborn child, the homeless or hungry, orphans and widows, or others who are vulnerable and need compassion and thoughtfulness, everyone needs to know that they were created by God and that He loved them so much He put His image in them and authored their value and purpose that no person can take away from them. As followers of Jesus we must come together in obedient unity and LOVE that spreads God's glory across the earth. We must share this message of LOVE and LIFE, so that our neighbors, co-workers, classmates - so that all the world would come to repentance, that none may perish and know the LIBERTY, the freedom from the stain and shame of sin. Everyone can have freedom ring in their hearts, LIBERTY that pronounces you, 'not guilty' from the One true Judge. God alone knows your heart, knows everything about you; everything you have thought, done and had done against you. God alone is our judge and in Christ alone, we experience authentic, eternal LIBERTY.

"In 2 Corinthians 3:2-3, Paul reminds the Jesus followers in Corinth, 'You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.' Just as it was 2000 years ago, the mission remains today. We, the believers and followers of Jesus, are the messengers, the letters written with the Spirit on our hearts, and from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. It is our prayer today and throughout 2021 that the Spirit of the Lord, pour out, pour through us across America, to fill our lives, families, churches, workplace, education, military, government, arts, entertainment and media, with Biblical, not cultural, not worldly, but Spirit-empowered, Spirit-filled LOVE, LIFE and LIBERTY as designed and defined by our Creator and Savior.

"Our 2021 National Day of Prayer theme prays: 'LORD pour out Your LOVE, LIFE and LIBERTY.' Once again praying and proclaiming a promise of God in our theme verse, 2 Corinthians 3:17, 'Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.'

"Let's begin praying together now. Please join me. 'Jesus we come now professing that You are our Lord, the One and only Son of God who came to take away the sin of the world and that whosoever believes in You will not perish but have everlasting LIFE. As our Lord we are clay in Your hands, vessels of Your plans and LOVE. Fill us we pray, to be overflowing vessels and examples of Your LOVE, LIFE and LIBERTY. We thank you for loving us and we commit ourselves to showing and sharing Your LOVE. We thank you for our LIFE, and commit to serve You in the awe and respect You deserve, knowing You have put Your image in all of us, and that every person is fearfully and wonderfully made. We thank you for forgiving our sins; for the LIBERTY you have given us, the mercy You have shown us. You suffered in agony on the cross and the wrath of the Father was upon You, so that we might be found "not guilty" through Your shed blood. Help us to show compassion and respect to others so that they may hear the gospel and come to know You as Lord and know the release from being a slave to sin. Pour out Lord, and pour through Your Church across America we pray, in Jesus Name. Amen!'"

Would you please consider coming and joining us at Havre's Town Square at noon Thursday, May 6, 2021, as we pray for our nation? I look forward to seeing you there!

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The first and last paragraphs were written by Rev. Edroy "Curt" Curtis, president of Greater Havre Ministerial Assocication. The second through the next-to-the-last paragraphs - as edited by Curtis - come from the National Day of Prayer website