"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. "Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. "Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name. "But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. "For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. "O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours. "Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You. "O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You; 1 Chronicles 29:11-18 NASB
I pray that your Thanksgiving was overflowing with gratitude just as King David’s prayer is overflowing in these verses in 1 Chronicles 29. I shared some previous verses with you two weeks ago, as he began this prayer overflowing first with praise. I pointed out the detail and power of these prayers with a significant “timestamp.”
King David was giving praise and thanks to God for the incredible abundance of giving that had just taken place as the Israelites brought an unimaginable amount of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, precious stones and alabaster, as gifts to build the House of the Lord. Notice that David thanked God; noting that everything comes from God and the only reason they could give is because God gave it to them to begin with. We are tested with what God gives to us; it tries the heart to see if we will have a joyful heart as we respond and offer it back to the Lord for His work and will to be accomplished. We get to be a part of His great plans and He still provides the earthly resources through people who are willing to make offerings and gifts to Him.
We extend a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to each one of you who has contributed your time, talent and treasure: The thousands of local volunteers who spend time, energy, and effort to organize events on the National Day of Prayer and mobilize prayer throughout the year. The thousands who use their talents to sing, play instruments and exhort at annual NDP events. Our partners in ministry who use their broadcast resources and production skills to create the National Observance Broadcast. Those of you who pray fervently in agreement with us over the seven spheres of influence and for the transforming power of the Gospel to be made known in our nation. Those who graciously invest your treasure to make all of these things possible on the National Day of Prayer and year-round.
We thank God for His gifts and we thank God for
We also have the opportunity to develop and introduce an accredited, collegiate level curriculum on prayer for colleges, universities and seminaries to bridge the present gap in training up and coming pastors, missionaries, and ministry leaders.
These media and educational initiatives are in addition to our ongoing work praying into the Generational Wins with our partners at Alliance Defending Freedom, as well as discipling our culture into a prayer, care, share lifestyle through our United in Love initiative.
All of these amazing opportunities to #ShareMorePrayer are in need of funding, and with the generous financial support of partners like you, all are possible. Take a moment to imagine the hope of Christ that could take root in our culture!
As the world around us moves into Giving Tuesday, please ask the Lord what He would have you to do to respond in generosity like the people of Israel in David’s day. Whether you can make a generous one-time donation today, or you support the work of the Task Force with a regular monthly gift, we will be exceedingly grateful and careful stewards of this significant assignment that God has established us to complete together. Your gift will be an investment with an eternal return, as Luke 6:38 says, “pouring into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”
Serving Him with gladness,
Kathy Branzell
President
P.S. If you feel led to give, you don't have to wait! Click here to join us to #ShareMorePrayer!