By: Charlene Aaron/CBN News
This year’s theme for the 73rd National Day of Prayer is “Lift up the Word – Light Up the World” from the biblical passage in 2 Samuel chapter 22. It reads in part: “O Lord, you are my lamp. The Lord Lights up My Darkness.” It is a message that organizers say is needed now more than ever.
“It seemed all we were talking about was darkness,” Kathy Branzell, President of the National Day of Prayer Task Force told CBN’s Faith Nation. “‘Oh, America’s getting darker, our schools are getting darker, my neighborhood’s getting darker.'”
Branzell explains, “While that might feel true, the truth is darkness is the absence of light. This year by lifting up the Word, we know His Word in prayer won’t return void and we’re going to light up this world.”
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The annual National Day of Prayer, which was established by Congress in 1952 and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman, is a call for Americans to humble themselves before Almighty God, to seek His guidance, wisdom and blessing.
Branzell said events like the unrest and anti-Semitic protests on college campuses should guide how Christians pray.
“We are praying God’s presence on those campuses. We are praying for the Holy Spirit to come in and for hatred to be diminished and for love to come in and to take over,” she said.
The hope is that the light already breaking through at some schools will spread to others.
Author and speaker Jennie Allen who has witnessed repentance, revival and mass baptisms on several college campuses said many students are ready to hear the message of salvation.
“Gen Z is different,” Allen said in an interview on CBN News’ The PrayerLink. “They are open to God, and they want to confess their sin. They’re sick of the world and they want something different. Not all of them, but a lot of them.
“And I think what the older church needs to hear and believe is that it’s possible,” added Allen. “God is doing it again. He is awakening His people. And so, to pray and to pull those kids into your life and your home and disciple them because they’re hungry.”
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Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2024 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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