National Day of Prayer Live with Joni and Friends

Tomorrow I am expecting every Christian I know to be “on their knees,” joining other Christ-followers in our nation’s annual prayer meeting – yes, tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer, and it could not have come at a better time.

Most years, I’d be gathering with my Joni and Friends co-workers in our assembly room for a time of intercession. We’ve always invited a few officials from the community to represent various areas for prayer, but otherwise, it’s mainly been the Joni and Friends’ staff who group together in huddles to pray for our nation.

However, with COVID-19 stay-at-home orders still prohibiting any gathering of large numbers, that won’t be happening at our headquarters this year. But since prayer is such an integral part of our Joni and Friends’ culture, we thought of a unique way we could still all gather to pray. And then we thought, why not reach out to special needs families, friends and ministry supporters and invite them to join us?!

That’s where you come in!

We would love to have you join the Joni and Friends National Day of Prayer observance on Facebook Live. It starts at 11:00 am PDT, tomorrow, Thursday May 7. During the half-hour time of prayer, we will be covering national topics, but adding a disability focus. Plus, when you join us, you’ll be able to comment with your own prayers for our nation or share your prayer requests, too.

The theme for the National Day of Prayer this year is taken from Habakkuk 2:14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Doesn’t this verse offer a great beacon of hope as our nation still struggles through COVID-19? Right now, it seems as though the earth is filled with darkness and suffering… and that’s all the more reason for us to pray for God’s glory to cover the earth!

How do we pray for God’s glory to cover the earth? Well, I am using the beautiful stanzas to this old hymn, “O Worship the King” as my personal prayer. When you look closely, each verse reads like a prayer – and so, in preparation for tomorrow, I am ‘voicing’ as well as singing this hymn as an earnest plea that God fill the earth with his glory. I invite you to recite the following words alongside me as our invocation for God to cover our broken world with his Gospel!

O worship the King all-glorious above,

O gratefully sing his power and his love:

our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,

pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.

O tell of his might and sing of his grace,

whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.

His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,

and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;

it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,

and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,

in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.

Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,

our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,

whom angels delight to worship above!

Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,

in true adoration shall sing to your praise!

“O Worship the King All Glorious Above,” by Robert Grant, 1833

If you just finished reading those words out loud as a faith-filled prayer, then we are one step further to seeing God’s glory cover the earth. Join me in singing this timeless hymn today, won’t you? And join me tomorrow on Facebook Live at 11:00 am PDT… and invite a few friends. I look forward to seeing you there!

 

–Joni Eareckson Tada