Additional National Prayer Needs
Pray for our Military
In a new report from the Pentagon, China is using full-scale targets of U.S. warships in a desert region known for its ballistic missile testing. Due to this report, Pentagon officials and Congress have heightened concern regarding Chinese aggression. The information comes from satellite images obtained by the U.S. Naval Institute, and follows a Pentagon report last week that confirmed China is building nuclear warheads at an “accelerating pace”. Predictions say that China could have 1,000 by the end of the decade, a significantly speedier pace than the U.S. observed one year ago.
The Marine Corps released a new plan detailing significant changes to recruitment and retention. The new focus will target individual talents rather than high volumes of personnel. Key elements will include retooling how skilled individuals can join the service without requiring them to start in lower ranks, incorporating a talent marketplace to give Marines a say in the trajectory of their careers, and adopting tools to improve the efficiency of the talent management system.
Pray for the leaders of the American Armed Forces as many changes are being made in training and military roles.
Pray for AMERICA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS
A new Chinese aircraft carrier with technology competitive to its American counterparts could be launched as soon as February. This will be China’s third aircraft carrier, but the first one at such a significant advancement in technology. Reports suggest it will allow Beijing to launch a wider variety of aircraft faster and with more ammunition.
New commercial satellite photos confirm recent reports that Russia is once again massing troops and military equipment on the border with Ukraine after a major buildup during the spring. Armored units, tanks, and self-propelled artillery along with ground troops began moving in late September from other areas of Russia where they are normally based, including the elite First Guards Tank Army.
Pray for U.S. leaders as they look for ways to address and respond to the military build up from both China and Russia.
Pray for AMERICA’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
The cartel-driven opioid crisis in the U.S. is the worst it’s ever been since 1991, according to outgoing DEA El Paso Division Chief Kyle Williamson. “There’s no good news here,” he said. “And the amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl coming in right now is unprecedented.”
Pray for border officials and border agents as they work to stem the tide of drugs that are crossing the southern border every day. Pray for families dealing with addiction.
Pray for AMERICA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL
Vice President Kamala Harris condemned anti-Semitic hatred of Israel during her address on the opening day of the Anti-Defamation League’s three-day summit. She said, “Last year, more hate crimes were reported in our nation than in the past 20 years.” She said anti-Semitism “is not a relic of the past” and said the Jewish community has faced an “alarming rise in hate crime.”
The U.S. Senate confirmed Thomas Nides to be the ambassador to Israel. He was a deputy secretary of state under President Obama and is currently a managing director and vice chairman at Morgan Stanley.
Pray for the strength of America’s relationship with Israel.
Pray for AMERICA’S ECONOMY
Cost reductions for gasoline and heating fuel should not be expected any time soon as OPEC and its allies, led by Russia, rejected calls by President Biden and other oil-consuming countries to increase crude production in order to reduce prices.
Pray about the pressures of inflation being placed upon Americans’ everyday budgets.
Pray for Justice in America
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled that a gospel mission in Seattle is required to hire applications even if the applicants do not agree with the mission’s beliefs. The mission feels the court’s decision is an attempt to punish the ministry for declining to hire a lawyer for its legal-aid clinic who does not share its religious beliefs, and they are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
Pray for the judges and justices in America’s courts to be sensitive to the civil rights and religious freedoms of the nation’s citizens.
Pray for Goodness in America
Some call his actions “heroic” while others decry them as “idiotic,” but a Nashville pastor tackled an armed man who threatened parishioners during a Sunday church service. Although the perpetrator pulled his weapon, no shots were fired. Several church members jumped in to assist in disarming the man and holding him to the ground until police got to the church. Law enforcement praised his fearless takedown.
Give thanks for the quick actions of the Nashville pastor; pray for fewer incidents like this one that disrupt worship.
Pray for America’s Education
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is introducing the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” saying, “It doesn’t matter your wealth, the color of your skin, once you have a child, it is no longer what you become. It is now what opportunity your children will have. You have a right to know what’s being taught in school. You have a right to participate.”
Pray for God to be at work through the relationship between parents and teachers and school administrators as they work to provide the best tools for the education of children.
Pray for America’s Technology
The State Department is “deploying technology” to diplomatic posts around the world to detect the origin of mysterious ailments known as “Havana Syndrome” amid congressional complaints that the health incidents are not being taken seriously enough by the administration.
Pray that the new technology being used by the government will help to more quickly and thoroughly evaluate the potential causes of the “Havana Syndrome” and help determine a workable response.
Pray for Needs Across the States
The Alabama State Port Authority said the potential harm to the Alabama State Docks “would be calamitous” in Mobile if Amtrak is allowed to restart passenger rail and operate 28 train trips per week connecting the Alabama port city with New Orleans.
Massachusetts may soon be home to the nation’s first solar panels mounted to highway sound barriers on a half-mile stretch of Interstate 95 in suburban Boston, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation who said, “If this is successful, it opens the door to many more sites.”
Pray for those in authority across the states as federal funds from the infrastructure bill passed by Congress begin to make their way into state projects.
Pray for America’s Faith Community
“Just as it was for Jesus, so it was for the disciples: prayer was fundamental to everything they did. Everything. … What was fundamental for the early church became supplemental in the 21st-century church. Is it any wonder, then, that we are often strangers to the power that the early church enjoyed? Should it be a surprise that we lack the joy that the early Christians experienced. … We need all over again to ask Jesus to teach us to pray. … The prophet Isaiah tells us that [the Lord’s] arm is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear dull that he cannot hear (Isaiah 59:1). And he has not changed. “ – Pastor J.D.Greear, The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, from his book Just Ask.
