The purpose of the National Day of Prayer (@NationalPrayer) is “to mobilize prayer in America and to encourage personal repentance and righteousness in the culture.”
Since the first call to prayer in 1775, when the Continental Congress asked the colonies to pray for wisdom in forming a nation, the call to prayer has continued through our history, including President Lincoln’s proclamation of a day of “humiliation, fasting, and prayer” in 1863. In 1952, a joint resolution by Congress, signed by President Truman, declared an annual, national day of prayer. In 1988, the law was amended and signed by President Reagan, permanently setting the day as the first Thursday of every May. Each year, the president signs a proclamation, encouraging all Americans to pray on this day. Last year, all 50 state governors plus the governors of several US territories signed similar proclamations.
And as recently as last month, a panel of the US court of appeals overturned a ruling that previously found the law requiring the President to proclaim a National Day of Prayer each year as unconstitutional.
When I pray for another person, I am praying for God to open my eyes so that I can see that person as God does, and then enter into the stream of love that God already directs toward that person. — Philip Yancey
