National Day of Prayer 2025: It’s Time to Go Public and Praise Jesus
It’s safe to say that the tensions in America were high prior to the Civil War. The atmosphere inside the country was chaotic as described by President James Buchanan.
BY ALEX MURASHKO
MEDIA ON MISSION
However, Buchanan did not simply make note of the times. He took an action step. Buchanan declared that December 14, 1860 would be a Day of Prayer and Fasting.
“In this the hour of our calamity and peril to whom shall we resort for relief but to the God of our fathers? Let us … unite in humbling ourselves before the Most High, confessing our individual and national sins … His omnipotent arm only can save us from the awful effects of our own crimes and follies …
Let me invoke every individual … to feel a personal responsibility to God and his country for keeping this day holy.”
One hundred sixty-five years later, tensions in the United States are similarly high and the atmosphere is certainly chaotic.
Of course, since President Donald Trump took office 100 days ago, he has done much to bring down the level of gloom and doom in the air – especially for the majority of Americans, the ones who voted for him.
However, “individual and national sins” have not disappeared. Neither have the “awful effects of our own crimes and follies.”
It’s time to pray as a nation again, but who will lead the charge? Will it be the church you attend that prompts you to make a cry and an allegiance to God publically in the town square? Or will it be something more? Could the Holy Spirit be tugging at your heart?
“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” – Acts 4:31
The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman.
The Holy Spirit is given deserved praise on the National Day of Prayer Task Force website. In the first part of the 2025 National Prayer published on the site it states:
“God of hope, fill us with all joy and peace
in believing, so that we will abound in
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
God is always moving, so it’s not as if we have to “pray for Him to move” in this country. Our prayer can and should be about aligning with His will for us individually, as families, and as a country.
Could it be that God wants us to step outside our comfort zone and literally step outside so as to be a witness to others about His power and glory? Is He asking us to go to the “town square,” so to say, to proclaim Him?
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16
My prayer is that followers of Jesus Christ recognize that His time of return has never been as close as it is today. We proclaim Him because we are called to do so… even if we are to step outside a man-made church, into an exposed fallen world, for the sole purpose of inviting others to His church – the Church of the Living God.
2025 National Prayer
God of hope, fill us with all joy and peace
in believing, so that we will abound in
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You have caused us to be born again to
a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead; therefore,
we hope in what we do not see.
This world is not our home or reality,
but the Lord is our Rock,
our Truth, our certainty.
God of hope, we pour out our praise
and are filled with Your powerful presence.
We pour out repentance of sin and are filled
with forgiveness and righteousness.
We pour out pain from the attacks of the
enemy—anxiousness, fear, anger—and You
fill us with courage, assurance, and love.
We pour out our needs, the desires of our
hearts, and are filled with Your Kingdom
provision and purpose.
We pour out our hearts for our nation, for
the people and places, relationships and
responsibilities the Lord has established: the
Church, Family, Education, Business,
Military, Arts, Entertainment, Media, and
Government. May all who live, serve, and
steward in these be filled with Your purpose,
wisdom, strength, and truth.
Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon
us, as we have hoped in You.
In abounding hope, anchored by our hope
in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!
Written by NDP Task Force President, Kathy Branzell
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Alex Murashko is a Christ follower, husband, journalist and writing team leader for Think Eternity, a site for powerful faith content to help you live the fulfilled life in Jesus. Murashko is also founder of Media on Mission.
Connect on X: @AlexMurashko.
