GAINESVILLE – The annual National Day of Prayer got off to an early start this morning as over 300 people packed the Gainesville Civic Center to enjoy breakfast, fellowship, to hear from internationally renowned speaker Dean Sikes, and to pray.
“Whew! Just more and more community involvement and excitement,” NDOP local organizer Maxine Wagner of Clermont said regarding the changes she has seen in recent years.
The National Day of Prayer was formally established by Congress in 1952. This year’s theme is “Pray for America – Unity” and is based upon a part of St. Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus (western Turkey): “Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3.
“We’re not trying to make this a church event by any means, but we’ve got more and more churches and pastors that want to be a part of it, and more businessmen - we’ve got new businesses this year that we never had before,” Wagner said enthusiastically.
“It is really a great response from the community. We’re just so grateful…that we have the privilege to be a part of this …to start the Day of Prayer off right,” she added.
Keynote speaker Sikes resides in Chattanooga and leads an international ministry launched 26-years ago called “You Matter”. He has spoken to over 3-million people worldwide about the significance of every human being with a strong focus on teen suicide and eradicating hopelessness.
“I do about 150 high school events a year all over America,” Sikes told the audience.
“Everyone in this room has an assignment; there’s something that you were called to do that only you can do it…and I tell (that to) teenagers constantly, daily…that maybe you don’t see anyone doing the one thing you want to do because we’re all waiting on you to go do it,” Sikes said.
Sikes said discovering and accepting your purpose in life is imperative, but so is being honest before God and those He puts into our lives. Mentioning areas of his life that underwent that process he said pointedly, “If we do not deal with our emotions our emotions will deal with us.”
As the NDOP continues numerous churches in the area are open and available for prayer, and a lunch hour prayer time is scheduled for the Gainesville Square. The public is encouraged to come and participate.
As in previous years participants are asked to focus prayer on seven key areas: government, the military, media, business, education, the church and families. To learn more about the annual National Day of Prayer click here.
