It really took me by surprise. I was in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the World Prayer Assembly in May and was excited about hearing from prayer leaders around the globe. But by the end of the first day, God had pulled me completely off my focus and onto His. By the end of the week, I couldn’t wait to come back to the States and give myself fully to the task of calling our nation to pray as never before – to passionately pray for the forty days before our elections!
 
You see, during the course of that week, God sent six different prayer leaders from six different nations to tell me that they had been mobilizing their intercessors to pray for the elections in the United States! Wow, talk about convicting! If Christians in China, India, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Great Britain were praying for our elections, how could we not? They then graciously posed this question – which I took as a challenge – “Are Christians in America praying?”  
 
As I’ve shared this experience here at home, the response has been incredible. All across the nation, Christian leaders are issuing calls to pray before the elections. Whole denominations, para-church ministries, and individuals are developing powerful websites and tools that point believers to the critical role of prayer. The elections and all of the issues facing our country are obviously a huge touch point and a catalyst to ignite this growing movement to pray.
 
Ultimately, I believe that God is simply using what’s important to us – the elections, to accomplish what’s important to Him – mobilizing a praying church. His desire is for His people to humble themselves and trust Him to accomplish His purposes in His people. Accordingly, the call to prayer rolling out across the nation is not merely for God to help us select leaders for our country but is a cry of repentance and humility – a plea for revival and longing for righteousness to be established.
 
I’m convinced that the destiny of our nation is dependent upon the prayer response of the people of God! We must be a people who pray! The call to prayer that America’s National Prayer Committee and many other leaders have issued encompasses and encourages all of the prayer initiatives that we’ve seen the Lord raise up. Simply put, it is a call for all Christians to pray. No programs . . . no required curriculum . . . no big budget . . . just prayer!
 
As a leader in your church and community, I would like to personally encourage you to raise up a standard with me! For the 40 days between September 28th and November 6th, let’s allow ourselves, our friends, and our congregations to be challenged by the same question that I was asked in May – “Are Christians in America praying?” Let’s get the word out through every means possible, so that millions of Christians in America can join together and answer with one resounding voice, “YES WE ARE!”
 
May the Lord richly bless your efforts as you lead people to pray!  
 
David Butts
President, Harvest Prayer Ministries
Chairman, National Prayer Committee
 
P.S. We’ve created a website called 40daysofprayer.net and have made some great tools available to help engage the millions of believers who will be praying for our nation the 40 days prior to the elections – and beyond. Desperate for Change (http://www.40daysofprayer.net/resources/desperate-for-change) is a powerful, non-partisan, Scripture-based prayer guide to use.
 
Purchase copies of Desperate for Change (http://www.40daysofprayer.net/resources/desperate-for-change) for you, your small group or congregation. The books are available right now so click here to place your order (http://www.prayershop.org/40-Days-of-Prayer-for-America-p/pin-bud-bk-002.htm). Even though online delivery is inexpensive, we’ve found that more people will pray with a hard copy in their hands!
 
The content of this guide will also be available free of charge online during the 40 days (September 28 - November 6). Receive each day's entry via email/RSS feed. You can sign up today. There are two different sources that will be running the entries during those 40 days: Connection (http://connection.harvestprayer.com/), the daily devotional of Harvest Prayer Ministries (http://www.harvestprayer.com/) and our Blog at this website (http://www.40daysofprayer.net/blog/topic-articles). Click on a link and sign up to receive them. Feel free to put these links on your website and tell others about it via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/prayforelection) or by email.

Note: We would deeply appreciate your prayers for the USA between now and the national election on November 6 for the 3 Rs - revival, righteousness and right leadership.