The first Thursday in May is the National Day of Prayer, a day to pray for our nation. The theme for this year is “Pray fervently in righteousness and avail much.”
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16
The National Day of Prayer Task Force has published a National Prayer for America:
We come with fervent hearts to praise You Lord. You are The Word, the Way, Truth and Life. The Alpha and Omega, Lion of Judah, Almighty God who was, and is, and is to come. You clothed Yourself in flesh and dwelt among us, to remove our sin and clothe us in Your righteousness that we might dwell with You forever and ever. With broken, humbled hearts we repent of our sins. Confessing to You our faithlessness, prayerlessness, and disobedience. Forgive us for our doubt, our prideful and quarrelsome words that reveal our unclean hearts. Cleanse us and renew a right and steadfast spirit within us we pray. With grateful hearts we thank You fervently for the blessings in our life and throughout America; they are more than we are able to count. We will remember Your grace and testify to Your goodness in all generations. Help us to refrain from complaining, but instead be prompted to pray faithfully in every circumstance. Teach us to have a content heart knowing You are always enough for our every need. As the Church we commit to pray and love our neighbor and nation as You loved us, that our reputation in this world would be rooted in Your love. Holy Spirit work and overflow through us in every prayer, thought, word, and deed. May our character, conversations, and conduct reflect the righteousness in which You clothed us and command us to live. With an obedient heart we put on the full armor of God; Your breastplate of righteousness guards our heart from which flows the springs of life. We pray fervently for our communities and country; the people who are in the Church, Family, Education, Business and Workplace, Military, Government, Arts, Entertainment and Media. Every person is Your workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully created and loved. With hopeful hearts we pray that all would choose to receive Your love and follow You. We pray that America would confess, “Jesus is Lord” and reflect Your righteousness in every sphere of influence, and every aspect of our lives. We ask that heavenly hope would flood our hearts, silence hate, and that You will heal our land. Believing You; all You are, all You said, and all You have promised, we pray fervently in righteousness and avail much. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen!
I also like the Prayer for Our Country from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:
ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favour and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honourable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
1928 Book of Common Prayer
I’ve written a number of posts on prayer. You can find them by searching the blog for prayer. There are posts for the National Day of Prayer, the Global Day of Prayer, The Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, and more.
Here are a few of my favorite posts on prayer, not prayers for our nation, just thoughts on the topic of prayer.