Entreating the Almighty

Today has been a little bit tense. Karen excitedly told me that she would not be able to participate in the National Day of Prayer rally, after all, because of a schedule conflict. "You could do it, though!" I immediately exclaimed: "Karen, I can’t do it! Look at how I’m dressed!" My eyes then fell to my open-toed sandals. (I hadn’t planned on being in the public eye at all today.) That wasn’t enough to convince Karen. She tried to persuade me that I looked just "fine." (Hmph!) So, anyway, an hour later I found myself sitting on the south side of the capitol lawn with a bunch of other people waiting to be one of the official "prayers" at the rally. We had all been assigned different issues to pray about. I was asked beforehand to pray for the media - that the Truth would prevail and news would be reported without bias. My "time slot" was at 1:15 but I ended up going on stage at 2:30. (There were some very long-winded saints at this rally.)

You know, I’m not sure what I expected when I went to this rally today. I’m ashamed to say that I’d never before been to a National Day of Prayer rally. Now that I’ve been to one, I hope I can go to a similar rally every year for the rest of my life. It was amazing, encouraging and refreshing. God was boldly invoked, in the most public place in the state, by a group of people that love Him and want His mercy. During one phase of the rally, I got in a small group with 5-6 other people and prayed with just them. In just my group, there were several nationalities and denominations represented. (The best was one guy who was a native American Indian - in head gear and everything - who boldly proclaimed the saving grace of Jesus Christ. "I would like to apologize that my people are so hostile toward the white man and are so bitter. I thank God that I personally have been set free from the fray through Jesus Christ," he said.) I thought it was great that a bunch of evangelicals could all come together, put aside their doctrinal differences, and publicly pray for God’s blessing on our country. By saying this, I’m not implying that doctrine is not important. I think doctrine is very important - and the Bible does too, by the way. But sometimes I wonder if people in certain circles are slightly too judgmental about how other fundamentalist Christians view the Bible. I’ve heard it said that the different denominations tend to emphasize different aspects of the Trinity. The Pentecostals tend to emphasize the Holy Spirit, the Baptists tend to emphasize Jesus Christ the Son, and the Presbyterians tend to emphasize God the Father. Could it be that God is pleased that His Fullness is worshipped and adored by the collective denominations? Just a thought.