Dear Sycamore Family,

(If you can, while you read this call to prayer, listen to the attached hymn (Not What My Hands Have Done) sung by Nathan Clark George, which he sang at Sycamore when he was here for our Midwinter’s Conference many years ago.)

Today is the National Day of Prayer. We cry out to the One in whom we live and breathe and have our being, and upon whom we depend for every good thing. We know he loves us, for he sent His Son to die for us, that we would find life in him, both now and in the life to come.

He calls us to call him, “Our Father, who art in heaven.”

He wants us to hallow his name, and for us to want others to do the same.

He wants us to want his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is the attitude of faith, that we trust he knows best and we want his will, not ours, to be done, even as we cry out to him with our needs.

He does want to bring our daily needs before him, our “daily bread” which encompasses all our physical needs for provision and health. We have many in this day and time.

We pray for forgiveness for our sin, and he grants that forgiveness through Jesus Christ, for all who receive him, who believe in his name.  And the love of Christ compels us to forgive those who sin against us.

We pray for protection from our adversary, the Devil, who would tempt us to turn from God in time of trouble. We pray that our love would be for God himself, and not simply for his good gifts to us.

This is how Jesus taught us to pray.

We seek his kingdom first, we rely on his power, and we desire his glory.

We lay our desires before him, but we are called to desire him even more than our desires.

We deny ourselves, that we may find ourselves in him.

We take up our cross and die to self, accepting whatever circumstances he wills for us, that we might live for him.

We follow him. This is the character of his disciple.

So as we pray on this National Day of Pray, let us pray for relief from our present distress, but even more that we would trust him and that he would be glorified in us.

In Him,

Harry Long

https://www.nationaldayofprayer.org/more_prayer_and_more_pray_ers_than_ever