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- Issue 739 – Verse of the Week
February 19th – February 25th 2026
VERSE OF THE WEEK
The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. – Psalm 9:9
Sheltering Stronghold
The Hebrew word for stronghold is “misgab.“ Translated, it also means a secure height, a refuge or place of protection. It can be a harbor or a fortress. It is someplace where calm and peace replace anxiety. A stronghold is easily defended and difficult for an enemy to attack. God is often referred to as a stronghold, a rock to turn to in times of trouble, and a place to hide. The devil also has his strongholds. The apostle Paul calls them speculations on lofty things raised against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). While, from a worldly perspective, the devil’s strongholds may look appealing, in that “fortress” you will be oppressed. In God’s stronghold, you walk in freedom. Ask the Lord to examine your heart to see which stronghold you rely on. Place yourself in the hands of Almighty God, for He is the sure and secure Stronghold who will deliver and protect you.
First Ministry Letter of 2026!
Our gift to you this holiday as we remember the true reason for the season with sacred and traditional Christmas music.- Issue 739 – Federal Branches
Praying for Our Leaders in Government
Executive Branch: Pray for the President and his Administration
Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed the State Department’s authority regarding the approval of visa applications while in Budapest this week. He fielded a question from a journalist after an immigration judge terminated the removal proceedings of a Tufts University doctoral student. “No one is entitled to a visa. There is no constitutional right to a visa. A visa is a permission to enter our country as a visitor,” Secretary Rubio responded. “If you enter our country as a visitor and as a visitor in our country, be it a student, a tourist, a journalist, whatever you want to be, and you undertake activities that are against the national interest, the national security of the United States, we will take away your visa. In fact, if we knew you were going to do it, we probably wouldn’t have given you your visa.”
Pray for Secretary Rubio he oversees the review process of visa applications for approval to visit the United States.
Legislative Branch: Pray for Senators and Representatives in Congress
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York announced legislation to make the LGBTQ+ flag congressionally authorized. The measure would give the Pride flag the same protections as the American flag, military flags, POW/MIA flags, and others recognized by Congress. President Trump previously signed an executive order that restricts the types of flags that are flown on federal properties.
Pray for members of the Senate and House as they consider legislation to broaden congressionally authorized flags.
PRAY FOR CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES
A witness before the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Disaster Management, chaired by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, testified that, based on 990 disclosure data, 14 nonprofits have contributed more than $60 million to facilitate tactical training for coordinated protests and organized riots. The vice president of the Government Accountability Institute stated that nongovernmental agencies (NGOs) have provided over $10 million in Minnesota.
Pray for chairs and members of committees as they seek to hold accountable the individuals and entities funding anti-law enforcement activities.
Judicial Branch: Pray for Supreme Court Justices and Federal Judges
A federal judge decided that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot take MS-13 member and native of El Salvador Kilmar Abrego Garcia back into custody. After a court ordered the illegal immigrant criminal be returned from El Salvador’s high security prison, Judge Paula Xinis had previously ruled that he be released and followed up with the determination that he not be detained, after being arrested once again on human smuggling charges.
Pray for judges at all levels of the federal judicial system to decide cases in keeping with the law and the Constitution.
Featured Leaders For Prayer
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Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
Secretary of State Rubio spoke about the long history of alliance between Europe and the U.S. at the Munich Security Conference.
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Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. Representative for New York
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries indicated his inclination to reform U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement rather than abolish the agency.
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Judge Timothy Kelly, District of Columbia U.S. District Court
Judge Kelly temporarily blocked the transfer of former death row inmates to a supermax prison in Colorado over due process claims.
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General Dale White, USAF, Director, Critical Major Weapon Systems
General White spoke about the accelerated timeline for mandated restructing and transitions for nuclear missile programs.
As we lift up the federal government of United States of America, each day we will highlight one elected or appointed federal official serving in office. Pray with us for each of them as they tackle their unique responsibilities and fulfill their oaths of office.
TODAY’S NATIONAL LEADER FOR PRAYER
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- Tommy Tuberville, Senator from Alabama
Tommy Tuberville, Senator from Alabama
- Born – September 1954 in Camden, Arkansas
- Education – B.S., Southern Arkansas University
- Military Service – None
- Profession – College Football Coach
- Political experience – None
- In office since – 2021
- Family – Married to Suzanne, 2 children
- Religious Affiliation – Church of Christ
- Tommy Tuberville, Senator from Alabama
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AMERICA’S HISTORY OF FAITH AND PRAYER
- Issue 739 – Faith and Prayer History
“May we never forget that prayer guides and empowers our Nation and that all things are possible with God. In times of prosperity, strife, peace, and war, Americans lean on His infinite love, grace, and understanding.“
– President Donald Trump, May 2020
- Issue 739 – National Prayer Needs
Additional National Prayer Needs
Pray for America’s Military
The U.S. conducted strikes on three drug-running boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea early this week. The U.S. Southern Command stated, “Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Eleven male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions.”
Pray for U.S. commanders and military personnel as they work to prevent the smuggling of illicit drugs into the nation by designated terror organizations.
Pray for America’s Foreign Relations
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Iranian officials this week in Geneva, Switzerland, to continue discussions about Iran’s nuclear program. President Trump said, “I don’t think [the Iranians] want the consequences of not making a deal.” Tehran also partially closed the Strait of Hormuz to conduct live-fire naval drills this week. The closure is significant as 31 percent of the world’s global crude travels on tankers through that strait.
Envoy Witkoff reported “meaningful progress” after a tri-lateral meeting with representatives of Russia and Ukraine, which also took place in Switzerland. He stated, “Both parties agreed to update their respective leaders and continue working towards a deal.” Russian forces launched 126 drone strikes and a ballistic missile against five Ukrainian provinces this week, killing two people and injuring 25 others. In Ukraine’s drone attack against Cheboksary, Russia, a single person was reportedly injured.
Pray for U.S. diplomats to receive God’s discernment as they meet and seek to mediate peace agreements.
Pray for AMERICA’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently launched a comprehensive reassessment of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), a chemical additive used to preserve food. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said, “This reassessment marks the end of the ‘trust us’ era in food safety. If BHA cannot meet today’s gold-standard science for its current uses, we will remove it from the food supply and continue cleaning up food chemicals—starting where children face the greatest exposure.”
Pray for Secretary Kennedy and Commissioner Makary, FDA officials and researchers as they review scientific data on the chemical additives that have been used in the country’s food supply.
Pray for Needs Across the States
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill announced the creation of an online portal for residents of the state to report U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities and a website that educates people on their “constitutional rights when interacting with federal agents.” She also signed an executive order that prohibits ICE from using state-owned property for immigration enforcement operations.
The West Virginia Senate recently passed legislation ensuring that illegal immigrants are transferred to the custody of federal immigration enforcement. The measure now goes to the state House for consideration. A co-sponsor of the bill said it protects families and upholds the rule of law.
Pray for state officials to be discerning as they establish policies surrounding federal immigration enforcement.
Pray for America’s Faith Community
“Enlightenment thought rejected Jesus’s resurrection, but not because of a new scientific awareness that dead people do not rise. Everybody has known from earliest times that dead people stay dead. The Enlightenment’s real reason for the rejection was that, if Jesus had risen from the dead, his resurrection would be the turning point of world history—a status the Enlightenment claimed for itself.
There cannot be two such turning points. Here lies the crucial epistemological battle [what separates belief from opinion]. The Enlightenment was in thrall to the split-level epistemology that, by insisting on hard facts and creaming off everything else into a subjective sphere, realized Francis Bacon’s maxim that ‘knowledge is power.‘ Knowledge of the Enlightenment sort—‘we know the way the world is and we’re going to impose it on you‘—became the instrument of the imperial projects of the modern West.
But that kind of knowledge does not do justice to the ultimate realities of the world; and it fails to grasp, or be grasped by, the Ultimate Reality itself, which is the resurrection of Jesus as the launch of new creation in the midst of the old. As Wittgenstein said, ‘It is love that believes the resurrection.‘ Many of our current ills, social, political, and cultural, have emerged from our ignoring this or trying to bypass it.“ – N.T. Wright, Anglican Bishop, Theologian, New Testament Scholar
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