Pray the Vote
A state judge in Wisconsin directed legislators in the State Assembly not to delete any records in the investigation of the 2020 presidential election in the state. The order is in response to a lawsuit brought by a watchdog group seeking records from Assembly contractors “created prior to the establishment of the Assembly’s Office of Special Counsel.”
President Biden’s administration has slowed down in its response to questions about the 2021 executive order that directed all executive agencies to develop plans to promote voter registration and participation in federal elections. Some suggest that the administration is trying to improve President Biden’s electoral prospects by using the power of the federal government to target specific sectors of the population for taxpayer-funded voter registration efforts.
Pray for the integrity of all elections, local to federal, in both primaries and in the general mid-term election.
Additional National Prayer Needs
Pray for our Military
Navy investigators looking into the MH-605 Seahawk helicopter that fell into the Pacific Ocean while trying to land aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in August, causing the death of five sailors, have determined that the crash was caused by a mechanical error.
General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Ukraine’s leadership is proving to be the “most important difference right now” between Russia and Ukrainians in the war. “In terms of lessons learned, leadership is clearly the key from [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky all down to the lowest private,” he said, adding, “They are capable. … Probably the most important difference right now between the Russians and Ukrainians is the leadership throughout the levels.”
Pray for U.S. government and military officials evaluating the reductions in America’s military arsenal as nearly a third of some equipment has been sent to the Ukrainian fighters.
Pray for AMERICA’S FREEDOMS
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reportedly purchased access to location data from tens of millions of phones in the U.S. to analyze compliance with curfews, track patterns of people visiting K-12 schools, and monitor the effectiveness of agency policy in the Navajo Nation. Documents on their activities show the agency used COVID-19 as a reason to access the data more quickly than intended to use it for more general purposes. A phone’s location data can show where a person lives, works, and where they went.
For over a year, the FBI and Department of Justice have been secretly seizing and reviewing a news media organization’s emails and other electronic information through sweeping search warrants under non-disclosure orders. The media organization has openly opposed the policies of the current administration.
Pray for judges who hear legal cases about the government’s surveillance violating the privacy rights of individuals.
Pray for AMERICA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS
North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast, both South Korea and Japan reported, about a week after Pyongyang vowed to develop its nuclear forces “at the fastest possible speed.”
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian State Border Service said that Ukraine said it would be ready if Belarus’ armed forces join Russia’s war effort there. New evidence Belarusian armed forces began large-scale drills recently, causing a spokesperson for Ukraine to say, “We do not rule out the Russian Federation could at some point use the territory of Belarus, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, against Ukraine. Therefore, we are ready.”
Pray that U.S. officials pay attention to Asia even as there is a great focus on Eastern Europe.
Pray for AMERICA’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
The costs of a funeral for people who died from COVID can be reimbursed by the government, through a program with FEMA, but most people do not take advantage of it. FEMA offered to reimburse expenses up to $9,000. The program is retroactive and more than 300,000 families have been reimbursed, but only about half of the families have applied.
The CDC reinstated its recommendation that Americans wear masks on planes, trains, and buses, despite a court ruling last month that struck down a national mask mandate on public transportation. They cited the current spread of coronavirus variants and projections of future COVID-19 trends.
Pray for individuals and families across the nation who are still dealing with current COVID or long-term COVID cases.
Pray for AMERICA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL
Israel’s ambassador to Bahrain expressed gratitude for the Abraham Accords bringing Gulf States together with Israel in unity against Iran. He said, “They are a significant—in fact, historic—change to the course of events in the Middle East. They are an effort to take a road that has not been taken before: establish relations with Israel and Arab countries that’s proving to the rest of the Arab countries, to the rest of the world, the rest of the region, that it is possible”
In a rare move, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for antisemitic remarks made by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who accused Israel of supporting a “neo-Nazi regime” in Kyiv. The Prime Minister accepted Putin’s apology and thanked him for clarifying his attitude towards the Jewish people and the memory of the Holocaust.
Give thanks for the work done during President Trump’s administration to bring about the Abraham Accords, and for their ongoing expansion.
Pray for AMERICA’S ECONOMY
President Biden’s administration is proposing overhauling how banks lend hundreds of billions of dollars annually in lower-income communities, after abandoning a revamp by the previous administration. The proposal would modernize rules for the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, with the intent to ensure lending to lower-income individuals and small businesses is distributed more evenly where banks do business.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s quarterly household debt report revealed that household debt in the U.S. rose to a record $75.84 trillion in the first quarter driven almost entirely by a $250 billion increase in the loan balances, but the rise was the smallest in a year and new mortgage and auto loan obligations declined for a third straight quarter.
Pray about the unsustainable levels of debt being carried by the federal government and many American households.
Pray for Justice in America
New York’s Attorney General announced that Turbo Tax, owner of Intuit, agreed to pay $14 million to settle a claim from all 50 states and the District of Columbia that it deceived nearly 4.4 million Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free. They still face a similar complaint from the Federal Trade Commission for “deceiving consumers with bogus advertisements.” The monies will go toward restitution for consumers.
Pray for U.S. governing officials seeking to hold accountable those who deceive Americans.
Pray for America’s Education
California’s Stanford University has received a $1 billion private donation to create a new school focused on climate change and sustainability. The gift is the largest in the university’s history and will establish the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, which is scheduled to launch in the fall.
A school board in Ohio has voted down a suburban Cincinnati high school’s Racial Diversity Awareness Day that has been held at the school for more than five years after parents complained that it contained undertones of Critical Race Theory. They said the Diversity Day “shall not proceed during school hours” and “shall not be coordinated or further organized during school hours or through the use of taxpayer resources.”
Pray for parents across the country who are coming before school boards to advocate for their children regarding educational content.
Pray for America’s Technology
Security researchers from Cybereason said that hackers connected to the Chinese government have attempted to access sensitive information from dozens of global organizations. The apparent goal is to steal sensitive proprietary information from technology and manufacturing companies mainly in North America, East Asia, and Western Europe.
Pray for computer engineers, both hardware and software, in their continued efforts to thwart hackers.
Pray for Needs Across the States
Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee declined to sign a bill criminalizing camping by homeless people in parks and other local public property, but let it become law without his signature. He said he was worried about the unintended consequences” of the bill and that he was also worried about the “issues of people on public property.”
Legislators in Vermont’s House of Representatives approved a bill that would make changes to the state’s sweeping land use and development law. The legislation would encourage housing development in designated areas and protect natural resources, making it easier for municipalities to access incentives and exempt projects in certain municipalities located in “development areas.”
Pray for state and local governments to be wise in their use of resources and to take responsible actions in addressing homelessness.
Pray for America’s Faith Community
“It seems children always suffer the most during a war. Nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have been displaced—and I’m sure that many of these boys and girls are wondering if they’ll ever see their homes or be reunited with their fathers again. They need our prayers. Please pray that God would protect them and bring an end to this devastating crisis.” – Reverend Franklin Graham, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, May 2, 2022