America’s annual National Day of Prayer is scheduled for tonight (Thursday, May 4, 2023) at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time.

The organizers of the event expect to reach 110 million people through various mediums including radio, TV, local meetings and online, the Christian Post reports.

The theme of this year’s event comes from the book of James which speaks of the effective prayer of a righteous man:

¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much. (James 5:16 NASV)

If you are interested in participating in this year’s call to prayer, you can watch the 30-minute program online in three ways at:

• Pray.com
• The National Day of Prayer website, and
• On Facebook, @Facebook.com/pray. 

In an interview with the Christian Post (CP), National Day of Prayer, co-organizer, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, said this year’s event was one of the more important calls to prayer that he has participated in.

“As a nation, we’ve never been down this road. It’s a road of moral relativism, a road of cultural decadence, unprecedented strife and discord,” Rodriguez told CP. “The 2023 National Day of Prayer carries an incredible amount of spiritual and moral weight as it pertains to the advancement of this idea we call the American experiment.”

Rodriquez added that there are two major issues facing America and that involves protecting children from “the architects of darkness’ and unity in the nation.

Rodriquez who pastors New Season Church in California and also leads the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, says that one of the focuses of this year’s National Day of Prayer is prayer for a spiritual awakening in the nation.

“We’re praying for an awakening in America,” Rodriquez said. “We are praying for unity. We are praying for repentance. We are praying for hope. We are praying for truth, to overcome the lies, for love, to silence hate and for America’s problems to become America’s testimony.”

One of the most powerful calls to prayer for a nation is found in 2 Chronicles:

“and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NASV)

The thing that always struck me about this verse is that it is not a call for the whole nation to humble itself, pray and turn from its evil ways.

No.

This verse is directed specifically toward believers and those who are called by God’s Name.

All God requires is that Christians respond and God will forgive their sins and heal the land.

READ: National Day of Prayer to reach 110 million households: ‘We’re praying for an awakening in America’