Educate Yourself

Susan Myers

The need for prayer for our country cannot be seen by Christians as simply an annual event. We need to continue in vigilant watch for our nation all year long. One simple but effective way would be to continue using the National Day of Prayer's suggestion of praying for one of the seven important entities—government, military, media, business, education, church, and family— in our nation each day. The first of these is government. Our leaders are in dire need of the prayer God commands us to give for them (Romans 13:1–2). Personal knowledge of people and issues adds fervency to prayer time. Evaluate your understanding of local education leaders. Do you know the names of your local board of education? Do you know who your superintendent is? Do you have a local textbook committee, or is the instructional material selected at a state level? If so, are the members elected or appointed? Who is on your State Board of Education? What is your chairman's name? This week seek to educate yourself on government as it relates to public education. Find out when and where your school board meets. Follow issues in the newspaper or on their Web site. Attend meetings as a concerned citizen. Educate others in your area. Lead in praying specifically by name for these leaders. Ask God to grant them wisdom, both in seeing issues correctly, and in right steps of action. Support them where you can and give them encouraging feedback as well as helpful insights on issues. Public figures need affirmation and like to feel they are representing their constituency. If they only hear from liberal voices in their area, they feel pressure to bend to their agenda, feeling wrongly that it is the dominant one.

As you know, the federal government has increasingly insinuated itself into what our founders intended to be a local and state affair. Thus we need to realize their importance in leading the nation in education. I was encouraged to hear about H. Res. 397 submitted May 4, 2009 in the House of Representatives. This is something to read and cheer about. Perhaps this is a result of our national prayers on our leaders' behalf. How about calling or e-mailing the sponsors of this resolution "affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as 'America's Spiritual Heritage Week' for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith." Take the time to look through this document and educate yourself and others regarding this sampling of ways in which the Christian faith has been acknowledged in our country's three branches of government throughout our history. Thank God for His hand in our past and praise Him by singing or reading the little-known last stanza of our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner. "

O thus be it ever when free men shall stand

Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation!

Blessed with victory and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land

Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Intercede for our present and our future, threading a theme of trust and praise through your prayers. Encourage yourself and others in what the Lord has done for us as a nation. Pray that we all—citizens and government leaders alike—will be pricked in our hearts with the realization of how much we owe the God Who has been so minimized, vilified, and ostracized in our society today.