Seize Every Opportunity to Pray

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(Editor's note: This is an updated version of an article written by the author that appeared in the April 2007 edition of The Stand magazine [when it was known as AFA Journal]. Names have been changed for privacy.)

A couple of this morning’s e-mails reminded me of the central role of prayer in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. One note was a request from Carrie. She wanted me to pray for her husband and his role in a music outreach ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru). The ministry will be sending a band on a six-nation European tour in a couple of weeks. By way of my prayers, I can be a part of that ministry.

The other was a report of praise from Sally letting friends know that her mother-in-law has been released from the hospital after a critical heart problem. Sally’s husband, Joseph, is a Cincinnati Reds pitcher. He had just reported for spring training when he had to fly back home because his mother was hospitalized. By way of prayer, I am a part of their answer to prayer.

Yesterday afternoon, I had a telephone conversation with Terence, a friend whose young son is struggling with serious health issues. We prayed and cried together on the phone. Earlier in the day, I had talked with an AFA constituent regarding a matter upon which we didn’t see eye-to-eye, yet she was eager to reassure me that she prays regularly for AFA. By way of her prayers, she is an integral part of AFA’s work.

These friends are scattered from California to Tennessee, from Florida to Indiana. They are believers who depend on prayer for their ministries and for daily living.

Here in our offices at AFA, we, too, depend on prayer. We do not take it lightly. In fact, we begin each day with a devotion and prayer time together. Just his morning, Della said, “I’ve been praying all week about what the Lord would have me share this morning.”

When you email or write your prayer requests to AFA, someone prays for you. When you give us a request by telephone, we write it down, and someone prays. By way of our prayers, we are privileged to be a part of your life.

AFA founded Meet at City Hall on National Day of Prayer in 1992 to urge people to gather at their city halls, courthouses, city parks, or other public places to pray for 20 minutes for a moral rebirth in our nation. Now more than ever before, our nation needs prayer.

“Pray without ceasing,” Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. That admonition clearly indicates that prayer is to be an every-moment part of our lives. Jesus prayed for us in John 17. In Matthew 6, He gave us a model prayer, and in Matthew 26:41, He pleaded with Peter, James, and John to pray.

The believer who says he just doesn’t have time to pray much should be challenged to take another look at his day. We can pray while driving or while shopping. We can pray while eating and while shaving. We can pray while playing games with the kids or grandkids. We can pray as we walk to the mailbox or as we work out at the gym.

We can pray. If we cultivate an attitude of prayer and if we begin using those daily opportunities to pray, we will find that prayer adds depth and dimension to our walk with Christ.

We can be a part of each other’s lives, and we can be a part of restoring righteousness in America ... by way of prayer. Seize every opportunity.

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Meet at City Hall

National Day of Prayer, May 7, 2026

For more information, visit www.nationaldayofprayer.org .

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