Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.
-- 1 Kings 8:28
Go & Do
National Day of Prayer
Local Observances
Bella Vista
Event: Mayor’s prayer breakfast
Mayor: Peter A. Christie
When: 7 a.m. Thursday
Where: First United Methodist Church, 20 Boyce Dr.
Tickets: $6. Sold out.
Information: 876-1255, 855-1158
Community National Day of Prayer Service
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Bella Vista Community Church, 75 E. Lancashire Blvd.
Sponsor: Bella Vista Ministerial Alliance
Information: 855-1126, bvcommunitychurch.o…
Bentonville
Event: Mayor’s prayer breakfast
Mayor: Bob McCaslin
Speaker: Steve French, president of Lifework Leadership in Orlando, Fla.
When: 6:30 to 8 a.m. Thursday
Where: First Presbyterian Church, 901 N.E. J St.
Tickets: $10
Information: 271-3112
Fayetteville
Event: National Day of Prayer service
Speaker: Area pastors
When: Noon to 1 p.m. Thursday
Where: Christian Life Cathedral, 1285 Milsap
Information: 521-5683
Rogers
Event: Mayor’s prayer breakfast
Mayor: Greg Hines
Speaker: Dick Trammel, Arkansas Sate Highway Comminssioner
When: 6:30 a.m. Thursday
Where: Cross Church Pinnacle Hills, 2448 Pinnacle Hill Parkway.
Tickets: $12; available at Rogers City Hall, Cross Church, the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce, online.
Information: rogersprayerbreakfa…, 621-1117
Springdale
Event: Mayor’s prayer breakfast
Mayor: Doug Sprouse
Speaker: Donnie Smith, president and chief executive officer Tyson Foods
When: 6:30 to 8 a.m. Thursday
Where: Northwest Arkansas Convention Center
Tickets: $12, available from mayor’s office, Jones Center
Benefits: Peace at Home Family Shelter
Information: 750-8114
National Prayer 2015
Heavenly Father,
We come to you in the name that is above every name — Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Our hearts cry out to you.
Knowing that you are a prayer-answering, faithful God — the one we trust in times like these — we ask that you renew our spirits, revive our churches and heal our land.
We repent of our sins and ask for your grace and power to save us. Hear our cry, oh God, and pour out your Spirit upon us, that we may walk in obedience to your Word.
We are desperate for your tender mercies. We are broken and humbled before you.
Forgive us, and in the power of your great love, lift us up to live in your righteousness.
We pray for our beloved nation. May we repent and return to you and be a light to the nations. And we pray for our leaders and ask that you give them wisdom and faith to follow you.
Preserve and protect us, for you are our refuge and only hope.
Deliver us from all fears, except to fear you, and may we courageously stand in the truth that sets us free.
We pray with expectant faith and grateful hearts.
In Jesus’ name, our Savior.
Amen.
– Jack Graham
Bella Vista takes its place among other cities Thursday as Mayor Peter Christie reflects on these words. The mayor of the village hosts a prayer breakfast -- the city's first -- in observance of the National Day of Prayer.
Christie -- whose father was an Episcopal clergyman -- put the Scripture in context: King Solomon is offering this prayer to dedicate the temple of God.
"It was a beautiful and huge temple he just built," Christie said. "(Solomon) was a very, very revered king, the only king that was able to lead all 12 tribes of Israel at once. He was at the zenith of his reign."
Through Solomon's prayer, "we hear the penance of a very revered man," Christie continued. "He was on his knees to pray to God for his vision for the temple."
"(The National Day of Prayer) is an unprecedented opportunity to see the Lord's healing and renewing power made manifest as we call on citizens to humbly come before his throne," reads the website of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. "At this crucial time for our nation, we can do nothing more important than pray."
The Day of Prayer theme for 2015 is "'Lord, Hear Our Cry,' emphasizing the need for individuals -- corporately and individually -- to place their faith in the unfailing character of their creator, who is sovereign over all governments, authorities and men," the website continues.
"We want to build unity of the city and incorporate that together in the power of prayer," said the Rev. Jaimie Alexander, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Bella Vista, which hosts the local observance. "If we pray over things, we may hear (God's) heart."
"(The verse and theme) are asking God to hear our prayers, and I know that he does," said Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse, who also will host a prayer breakfast in his city. "But as individuals and cities, all circumstances in life are not what we choose them to be. And God doesn't always change those circumstances.
"But if we pray, that will help us respond better and have a better attitude about those circumstances. That's why we need to pray."
Jack Graham, of PowerPoint Ministries in Plano, Texas, and the 2015 honorary chairman of the National Day of Prayer, wrote a devotion to be simultaneously read throughout the nation at 11 a.m. "This recitation will create a huge wave of prayer, flowing from one coast to the other, illustrating the unity of God's people and acknowledging his dominion over the circumstances facing us," the website reads.
"God hears our cries and prayers," Christie said.
NAN Religion on 05/02/2015