Today is an opportunity to look inward to see what we can do better. Not outward to feel better about ourselves.

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I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity--the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I'm not exaggerating--just telling the truth. -- 1Timothy 2: 1-7 (NLT)

Today is the National Day of Prayer. Since 1988, the first Thursday in May has been set aside for this occasion. Many presidents throughout our history had decreed their own days of prayer; such as Lincoln, Adams, and Truman but until 1988, there had been no official day set. Now that there is, churches across this country use this day to encourage their congregants to come together to pray for our nation. The ripple effect of this mindset always has been that the church continues to maintain and outward focus when it comes to sin. It is always that other person that is grieving God so greatly. It is always this evil group here or that evil group there that is drawing the soon coming wrath of God upon this nation. It is a lazy Christianity that ascribes the ills of the world upon people who find the things of God as utter foolishness. It is a pass the buck mentality that started way back in the Garden of Eden:

"Who told you that you were naked?" the Lord God asked. "Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?" The man replied, "It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it." Then the Lord God asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The serpent deceived me," she replied. "That's why I ate it." -- Genesis 3: 11-13 (NLT)

God said they could only NOT do one thing, and they did it anyway. Man's sinful state, which is always in constant rebellion towards God, on display. God confronts Adam and he blames Eve. God confronts Eve and she blames the devil. Humanity has been passing the buck ever since. So it still goes today within the churchianity we see across this country. It is not that the idea of prayer is wrong it is that this day is rooted in a false belief that America needs to "return" to God. America was never "with God."   America was never under covenant with God. If you look at history through unfiltered God lenses, you would not so casually skip over the Native American Indian, slavery, child labor, sweatshops, Imperialism, internment camps, and weapons of mass destruction. It sets up a false narrative which the church runs with. That narrative allows the church to look upon the unsaved masses to lay blame on for all of the ills in society. Whether intended or not the end result is a prayer that focuses more on the sin than the Savior. That if only these wicked sinners would repent and turn back to a God they do not understand, then... what? Then the nation would be blessed more? Then the wrath of God would be stayed? No beloved, people do not magically turn from their sin, especially when they do not see it as sin. We need to be praying for individual salvations. For God to prepare the hearts of men for the Gospel. But then -- we have to look inward to see where the church is failing too. Let's examine this today in light of the key verses. As we head into this day of prayer, let us see what God says about prayer:

First of all, we are to pray for all people. We are to ask God to help them. We are to intercede for them and thank God for them in doing so. There is a lot to unpack here. The first thing is that we are to pray for all people and actually intercede for them. I think sometimes we lapse into the role of the Pharisee who was praying about how great he was while standing next to the tax collector:

Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: "I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.' -- Luke 18: 9-12 (NLT)

It seems sometimes as if the modern church can get a little full in its own sense of righteousness and scorn the world. The tax collector in this parable is like the world. When we turn a judgmental eye towards the world we do so in an effort to not concentrate on our own sin and to feel as if we are better. The reality however is we are all sinners saved by grace so that none may boast. The church gets it so backwards sometimes. I hear people all the time defending the apostate preachers claiming that we should not judge and in the same breath condemn the homosexual, or the Muslim, or anyone else we secretly hate. According to Scripture this is completely backwards:

It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, "You must remove the evil person from among you." -- 1Corinthians 5: 12-13 (NLT)

We are not supposed to be judging those on the outside of salvation beloved. We are supposed to be praying for them. We are supposed to be interceding for them. How are we supposed to pray for them? Certainly not like the Pharisee in this parable! We are supposed to pray that God help them. According to the opening of the key verses here, we are supposed to thank God for them! I do not see a lot of thanking God from the church regarding the unsaved. I see a lot of complaining about them. I see a lot of derision directed towards them. I see a lot of blame and hatred towards them. We sometimes have a very strange way of evangelizing!

The next portion from the key verses says we are then to pray for all those in authority. I know this grates against a lot of political Christians but we are supposed to pray for President Obama. Sometimes Christians act as if God can't handle President Obama. Instead of intercessory prayer I see a lot of intercessory opinionating. According to the Bible, it is God who sets up all leaders. God did not wake up the day after Election Day surprised. Obama is not the antichrist. The key verses continue by showing us how to pray for our leaders. You see, we do not need to pray for the agenda of any man -- only the agenda of God! We pray for our leaders so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. I know that grates against the host of pro-war Christians who seem to constantly think that only America has been blessed and Jesus wore army fatigues. I remember the Christians supporting the recent wars that annihilated over a million people in the Middle East. The people we are secretly conditioned to hate are the very people we are supposed to be the light of the world to.

The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. -- 2Peter 3: 9 (NLT)

In fact the very next section of the key verses reinforces this truth. God wants all people to be saved and understand the truth. There is a glimpse there about what we really need to be interceding for. Beloved, they are separated from God. We need to be praying that God soften their heart. We need to be praying that God speak to their hearts. We need to be praying that God uses us to minister to them and that He prepare us to do so. We have a role. The church is the chosen vehicle to bring the Gospel to the lost. People do not need the judgment of Christianity -- they need to see the love of Christ. Is this what they see from us? Or do they see the church using things like the National Day of Prayer to complain about how sinful they are. Forget what your popular talking head pundit says. Forget what your political party says. What does God say? Let's take a quick look at a story from the Book of Acts:

As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, "Go south^b]"> down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage." Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The man replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. -- Acts 8: 26-31 (NLT)

Phillip witnesses to this man, instructs him, he accepts Christ, and Phillip baptizes him immediately! The church is not in the instructing business too often anymore. We tend to be more in the condemning business. The other major point from this story however is that God sent Phillip specifically to bear the witness of Christ to this one man. The modern church is hung up on numbers way too much. To gauge success we use carnal measurements. The Bible says that heaven rejoices when ONE person is saved. This one Ethiopian mattered to God. That one person in your office matters to God. That one person next to you on the bus or in the pew, matters to God. Even the ones we marginalize so easily. That Muslim matters to God. That homosexual matters to God. Continuing in the key verses however we are reminded that while we all matter to Him -- there is only one "Him." There is only one God. There is only one mediator -- Christ Jesus. He alone can reconcile men to God. There is no wiggle room. There is no nonsense about multiple paths to God. I say this because the two stated reasons for why there was a movement for a National Day of Prayer was that it would be a day when "adherents of all great religions could unite in prayer and that it may one day bring renewed respect for God to all the peoples of the world." But what God? Whose God? We should not be uniting with someone who is not praying to the one true God. This is what happens when the church is overly involved in the things of this world. Our responsibility is spiritual -- not carnal. We do not need a national day of prayer as much as we need a church that understands the dire importance of every day prayer. Every day intercession. It starts with us:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. -- 2Chronicles 7: 14 (NLT)

This verse is popular amongst the Christian crowd that likes to point to the sins of the world as the root of the problems this country faces. The qualifying portion of the Scripture however says if the people who are called by MY name. That would be us beloved -- Christians. You see, there is a way to restore the land. There is a way to see a more bountiful harvest of people coming to the cross. But it starts with us. The reality is that God has chosen the church to draw people to Him. We are supposed to be different than the world. We are supposed to offer them something they do not see in their daily lives. We are supposed to be a light to a dark world. Then when people see us calm in the storm, prayers answered daily, miracles following our faith -- they will want what we have. They will want this Jesus we keep talking about. That is the remedy we need and the Chronicles verses provide us with four areas we need to address as the body of Christ.

First of all, we need to humble ourselves. The church has become too proud. When we condemn people in the world for their sin, we forget our own. We forget that we have no righteousness but for the blood of Christ. The number one reason why unbelievers do not go to church is their belief that Christians are hypocrites. I am sure there are many churches who will use the National Day of Prayer appropriately and pray accordingly for the roles of both the saved and the unsaved. That we all have a genuine desire to see people come to Christ. Others however, use this day politically to accuse people in the world and these agendas are carried out without any humility. A humble spirit is bowed low before God. We need to desire for people to see God in us -- not us talking about the God in us.

Secondly, we need to pray. Not just one day per year either. I think it is great that people will stop on May 2, 2013 and acknowledge God and pray for this country but what happens on May 3^rd is of greater importance. People will still need our intercession then. I think sometimes the danger in a national day of prayer is that it narrows our focus. We show up at our church on a Thursday one day out of the year and think we have somehow done our spiritual duty. Prayer is our vital lifeline to God and according to the key verses it should always start with praying for everyone! The Bible says we should pray without ceasing.

Thirdly, we need to seek His face. This may sound similar to prayer but I think this takes everything to a far deeper level. Seeking the face of God means passionately pursuing His glory. It is a matter of purity. The church has become corrupted by the thinking of this world, the strategies of carnality, and the blind eye to compromise. Seeking His face means to stop watering down the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It means to stop making excuses for allowing leaven in the church. We are supposed to be light to a world filled with darkness. But if we are just as dark as they are -- why would they choose us? It is a matter of losing focus. We have changed from the body of Christ to a facility. We have changed from building the kingdom; to building a building. At the core of the problems within the seeker friendly, purpose driven heresies is a shift from presenting a reason for coming to Christ to a reason to come to church. We need to become seeker friendly in relation to seeking His face.

Lastly, we need to turn from our wicked ways. Yes, our wicked ways. The Bible says that he who says he is without sin calls God a liar. We need to stop thinking we are any better than those in the world. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The National Day of Prayer is an excellent opportunity for the church to look inwardly -- not outwardly. We need to be introspective. We need to lay the axe to the root of sin in our lives. Our pride, lust, and disobedience. Our unforgiveness, jealousy and envy. These are the things that prevent the move of God we are looking for inside of us. The land is restored when the church is fulfilling the role God has given it. When we are more concerned about the lost than we are about our next building project. When we are more concerned with the Gospel than being relevant to a dying culture. Imagine what God could do through a truly yielded body of Christ. With a church that is singularly focused on bring the uncompromised Word of God to a world that is dying and doesn't realize it. No pride blocking our humility. Prayed up every day, not just May 2^nd, so that God can use us to our fullest. Constantly seeking His face for a deeper level of His glory. Truly repentant of our own sins instead of being overly obsessed with the sins of the world. What He could do indeed!

The key verses conclude by stating that this message was given by God at just the right time. The Gospel does not change and neither do the needs of a sinful man. As we head into the National Day of Prayer I pray it is genuinely about genuine prayer. I pray that it is genuinely about genuine intercession. I pray that is extends far beyond May 2^nd, 2013. I pray that it becomes the way of life God intended for it to be. Jesus is coming back soon and there are still too many people on the outside of salvation looking in. They need more than one day per year. I pray we give it to them so that all may come to the foot of the cross.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- May 2, 2013.

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.