Today, May 1, 2008, is the National Day of Prayer. Made official by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1952, this day is meant to encourage people all across America to set aside some time for corporate prayer.

Churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious institutions are participating, with the plan to encourage members or followers to call upon God to intervene on our nation’s behalf.

I won’t tackle the issue of people from various religious backgrounds praying, that is something that they can do, but as a Christian I know that my wife and I will be calling upon the God of our fathers, who manifested Himself personally as Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit we will pray and we’ll not only be praying for our nation, but for everyone in it.

…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. — II Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

In II Chronicles, the people of Israel were encouraged to call upon God to ask Him to heal them of their sins. The Israelites were beset by many problems including national division, invading armies, internal strife, double-mindedness, you name it.

In other words, they were afflicted by the same sins common to all man — rebellion against God.

God doesn’t want us to stay away from Him and He gives us the steps necessary to make our return: humbling ourselves, praying for forgiveness, and turning away from our sin. If we do, then God promises to heal our land.

I realize that the application of this verse was very much for the Israelites, but I believe that if we personally repent, then God will heal our land — specifically, our own relationship with God.

We don’t need to have one day to make our relationship right with God, but I’ll take it nevertheless. Any reason to repent is a good one, whether it is on the first Thursday of May or some other day during the year.