Today is the day! The day the Lord has made and the National Day of Prayer. I’m pumped about the opportunity afforded us all to dedicate a portion of this day to pray for our nation and her leaders - something that I and many of us sadly often neglect to do. Today is the day to pray! We had a very special time of worship at Overflow last evening, as the Holy Spirit led us in a time of private personal confession and then a season of confession for the sins of our nation. I shared from II Chron. 7:14 which reads, “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” This verse clearly has a condition associated with it. “If.” Who? My people – that’s us! Will first humble ourselves – which most often comes with confession and pray, seek God’s face and turn from evil. “Then.” God will hear our prayers, forgive our sin and heal our land. What a wonderful and hopeful promise that can be ours, as we fulfill the conditions identified by our Heavenly Father!

I am so blessed by each of you who “pray without ceasing” throughout your days. You who have a continuing dialogue with Jesus in all the activities of your life, but I am also very proud of you who “go the second mile” and give yourself to extended times of focused prayer. I want to thank my Robin and her Prayer Team of Lyn Kruecke, Patricia Meyers and Pam Thompson for their planning and preparation of our Prayer Chapel for our 24-Hour Prayer Vigil. The vigil began last night with our students praying for our nation and will conclude at 5:00pm today at the Survivor Tree with our downtown pastors leading in prayer for our nation. Local Christian recording artist Jamie Smith will bring special music. This event is hosted by First Church, so I hope many of your will be present to lend your support! Special thanks to Michael Davis and our new First Church Security Team for providing security for our overnight Prayer Vigil hours and to each of you who have or will come to pray “On site with insight.” I was so encouraged when I entered the chapel to read the names of all who came before me. It is such a peaceful setting to meet with the Lord. I longed for even more time to “be still” and pray.
The First Church family is a great family!

Have a blessed day! I’ll look forward to seeing you for Mother’s Day this Sunday as we continue looking at the amazing life of Esther and her mission and ours, from God!

Blessings!
Yours in Christ’s Love,
Mark

P.S. We will have the opportunity to give an offering to our Annual Conference this Sunday to support our own Cookson Hills Native American outreach and “Imagine No Malaria” to help eradicate this horrible disease. Check your worship folder Sunday for more information on these important ministries. Thanks!