United We Pray: Communal Prayers for the Nation

By Katherine Hurt

Only God can give us relief and provide the peace that we so desperately need as we unite in prayer asking him to rid our nation of the deadly coronavirus attack. The chapters of this book outline ways we can petition him to bring us together and heal our land. The great "I Am" is always ready to help us when we call on him in humility forsaking all pride and boastfulness.

In the book are scriptures of the Bible that were chosen to go along with the prayer subjects. These include praying for faith, peace, praise, worship and thanksgiving, as well as asking for God's protection to help us overcome our fear; finally, we pray for love and joy to permeate throughout this nation. We need our Lord and Savior to help us overcome our differences and put down the thoughts that we are us and them and come together as one. Only he can provide the wisdom and knowledge we need to solve our problems with saving our economy and helping those who are in desperate need.

Today, so many American families do not have enough income to feed themselves or pay for a place to live. Our economy is in distress with businesses, such as the airline industry and large theme parks, having layoffs of large numbers of people. God is waiting for us to call on him to help us.

We will not be successful in our wonderful land until we unite in prayer asking for God's forgiveness and blessings. It is the beginning of our submitting our will to God's will. Therefore, we need to let him have his way with us and bless our nation.

The beautiful photography is provided to help us to relax and open our hearts and minds to our heavenly Father in corporate prayer for our country.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638743910

Book preview

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United We Pray

Communal Prayers for the Nation

Katherine Hurt

ISBN 978-1-63874-392-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63874-391-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Katherine Hurt

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All Scripture is quoted from the Holy Bible

King James Version Red Letter Edition

Photography

Katherine Hurt

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Pray for Faith

Pray for Peace

Prayers of Praise, Worship, and Thanksgiving

Pray for Protection

Pray for Humility

Pray for Forgiveness

Pray for Unity

Pray for Love

Pray for the Holy Spirit

Pray to Overcome Fear

Pray for Wisdom and Understanding

Pray for Joy

Conclusion

About the Author

To my mother, as she taught me how important prayer is for the family, the community, and the nation.

Thanks to my daughter Bridgette L. Hurt for her assistance in getting the entire package of photos sent to the publisher.

Preface

When I was growing up, Mother Dear taught us children to always pray to God and work hard to achieve our desired dreams and goals. We were poor and had no regular source of income to meet our family's needs; therefore, Mother took whatever jobs that were available and relied on public assistance to support my siblings and me. I believe she prayed daily, asking God to lead and guide her in rearing us. She taught us to trust in him in all areas of our lives. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee (Psalm 102:1).

Consequently, as I have grown and have faced many of life's challenges, I always remember to pray. It is prayer that covers me in my successes and even in my failures as God is always there to guide me. This gives me tremendous comfort and peace. Therefore, prayer is the main ingredient that puts balance and focus in my life.

The night before September 11, 2001, I had a dream about 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14, which reads, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Upon awaking, I believed this was a premonition of a pending death in my family. Instead, the planes crashed in New York City, Shanksville Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon in Alexandria, Virginia, and killed close to three thousand people. Prior to this, I also had the devastating experience of losing my job and being forced into early retirement. This is when I turned to prayer asking God to help America and me with the grief that had thrown a dark cloud over the entire country. God then answered by giving me the inspiration to begin writing this book.

We, as human beings, do not have the supernatural power to change our cloudy days into sunshine. Only God can do this. He is always present and provides answers to our prayers. Therefore, he gave me the will to complete this book during one of the worse pandemic diseases in our nation's history.

I am pleading with all Americans who believe in the Almighty power, no matter the origin of your faith, to unite in prayer for this nation. We need Jesus Christ to intercede in the affairs of our country now more than ever. As stated in 2 Chronicles 7:14, If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. First, we need to pray for God's healing power to overcome the curse of the pandemic that has devastated our country's health and economic systems. Millions of American citizens were infected with the coronovirus, and over a million lives were already lost. The economy is taking a terrible blow as millions of people were unemployed, and businesses were closed to prevent the spread of the disease. Many families are struggling going without a place to live and even food. As of now, a cure for Covid-19 has not been found. Although scientists are furiously working to discover one.

Politics and racial tensions are in the forefront of our relationships with each other. The nation is divided even further with Republicans and Democrats drifting farther apart leaving a void where peace and love should be drawing us closer together, especially now. Gun violence is rising, and causing many innocent children to lose their lives. At this time, there's no room for compromise, and America is being torn apart. The recent killing of black men by police in various states are causing people to protest, and demonstrations are being held throughout the country. Many Americans think there is inequality and injustice in our local, state, and even national government systems even though slavery was abolished over a century ago. Therefore, federal, states, and local governments are grappling with problems of how to fix the system. The federal government is trying to come up with laws, but to date, Congress has not found ways to work together to develop them. A division exist between both parties, and they have not found a way to compromise and work together. Some on the left want change to incorporate laws that they presume will make the country a better place to live for all its citizens. Then there are some lawmakers on the right who object to any changes and want laws and policies to remain the same or go back to another era. Their slogan is, Make America great again. I submit to you that we need to pray to God and petition him to help us make the right decisions and enact laws that he will bless. I repeat, in these trying times, we need to call on our Lord and Savior to heal our land.

Many of us are plagued with situations that rob us of our joy, and some of us want to give up our faith in Jesus Christ. It could be health issues, death of a family member, or relatives and friends with grave illnesses or other situations in our communities and even the nation, that cause us to have no peace. However, according to Isaiah 60:20, Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Our society has changed when it comes to solving problems. Even in the workplace, we work in groups and teams to find solutions. I have noted in the school system that students are the most satisfied when they can work together combining ideas to successfully find solutions to problems. This causes me to believe that if we come together as a nation in prayer asking God to heal our country, he will hear us and answer. As stated in Matthew 18:20, For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

When we pray together on one accord, our Lord and Savior will be pleased because we are united in giving him the praise and honor that he so richly deserves. As the scripture states, Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together (Psalm 34:3). This makes it necessary for all of us to pray on one accord, thanking God for his bountiful blessings and asking him to be with us in our trials and tribulations as a nation. Our Lord knows about our struggles