Evangelist Greg Laurie has asked for prayers instead of arguing with gay activists who are pushing for government officials to drop him from the National Day of Prayer event in Washington D.C. He is invited to lead in prayers as the honorary chairman.
Human Rights Campaign, the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) advocacy group in America, points out Laurie’s position against LGBT lifestyles. OutServe-SLDN, an association actively serving LGBT military personnel, is calling on the Pentagon to remove the pastor from the agenda.
“Pastor Laurie’s message is out of step with what the majority of people of faith across this country believe,” said Dr. Sharon Groves, director of Human Rights Campaign Religion and Faith Program. “In greater numbers than ever before, people of faith are feeling compelled to speak up and organize for equality – because of their faith.”
In response, Laurie wrote on his blog, "I would appreciate your prayers as I pray for our nation. We all need to take the very real challenges facing our nation seriously. America need God's help. We cannot back away from what He says in Scripture. The enemy will always attack when we seek to do God's work, so let's keep praying!"
Laurie, founder of Harvest Crusade and senior pastor at Harvest Christian Church in Riverside, have preached that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and that the Bible teaches that homosexuality is a sin.
According to recent media reports, polls have shown the public’s growing support of same-sex marriage despite the continued opposition to homosexuality from the Christian communities.
Despite gay activist's contention against him, Laurie has emphasized that "America needs to return to God" as the nation faces several crisises.
Two weekends ago, Laurie was invited to speak for Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in Southern California. In his sermon, he addressed the threats from Boston Marathon bombings, nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea.
He said, "Are we going to put our hope into acknowledging the only place where we can legitimately place our hope and that is in God?"
“We need to pray for God’s blessing on our nation. The church needs revival and the world needs evangelism,” he said. “As we pray for our nation we can pray for those in power and we should, but let’s start by praying for ourselves.”
In this year’s NDOP, Laurie will join Dr. James and Shirley Dobson, Congressman Robert Aderholt, Vonette Bright, Pat Boone, Congressman Frank Wolf, and others at the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill.
With the theme “Pray for America”, the 62nd annual event will emphasize the need for individuals, corporately and individually, to place their faith in the unfailing character of their Creator, who is sovereign over all governments, authorities, and men, according to organizers.
“We have an unprecedented opportunity to see the Lord’s healing and renewing power made manifest as we call on citizens to humbly come before His throne,” stated NDOP Task Force. “To echo the words of Mary Washington, mother of our nation’s first president, we believe it is time to ‘Remember that God is our only sure trust.”
The Scripture chosen for this year is from Matthew 12:21, “In His name the nations will put their hope.”
The following is Greg Laurie’s prayer to be prayed at the NDOP event in Washington D.C., May 2nd, 2013.
Father, we come to You to pray for our nation, the United States of America.
How You have blessed us through the years, Lord! We rightly sing, "America, America, God shed His grace on thee." Yet we see trouble in our culture today. We see the breakdown of the family, crippling addictions, and random acts of horrific violence.
Lord, we need Your help in America. In recent days, we have done our best to remove Your Word and Your counsel from our courtrooms, classrooms, and culture. It seems, as President Lincoln once said, that we have "forgotten God." But Lord, You have not forgotten us! You can bless and help and revive our country again.
Scripture tells us that "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). Lord, in Your mercy, we ask that You would exalt our country again. We have had a number of great awakenings in America. We have experienced times of refreshing, and revivals that changed not only the spiritual but also the moral landscape. As the psalmist said, "Will You not revive us again, so that Your people may rejoice in You?" (Psalm 85:6).
That is our prayer for America today, Lord. Send a mighty spiritual awakening that will turn the hearts of men and women, boys and girls, back to you. You have told us if we will humble ourselves and pray, and seek Your face and turn from our wicked ways, that You will forgive our sins and heal our land (2 Chronicles7:14).
Forgive us today, Lord, and heal this troubled land that we love so much.
We ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
