National Day of Prayer - May 2, 2019
Our Founding Fathers were strong believers in the Bible, which shaped their thinking and writing of their laws and documents. Their principles and ethics of Judeo Christian values were a foundation for our Founding Fathers that formed their political ideas, which resulted in the Republic and Constitution that we have today.
One such document is the Proclamation of the National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer of the Second Continental Congress of June 12, 1775, setting aside July 20, 1775 for such a day. This Proclamation was issued shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, when the War of American Independence had just begun.
This was the first National Day of Prayer, the second being May 17,1776. Note the conciliatory language towards Britain as compared to the Second National Day. This document is published in the Journals of the Continental Congress, and signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress, and affirmed by Charles Thomson, Secretary. Our Christian heritage is clearly evident in this Proclamation.
In 1795 President George Washington issued a Proclamation. When he said;
I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations and to all persons whomsoever within the United States, to set apart and observe a day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer.
With devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience.
Therefore, on that day we shall meet together to render sincere thanks for the mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation;
Especially for the possession of constitutions of government which unite and establish liberty with order, and to also preserve our peace, both foreign and domestic and for reasonable control which has been given to a spirit of disorder.
This shall promote prosperity for the condition of our affairs, both public and private, and at the same time humbly and fervently beseech the Kind Author of these blessings graciously to prolong them to us.
To imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations for them.
To teach us rightly to estimate their immense value.
To preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity.
By our gratitude for these blessings, and by a corresponding conduct as citizens and as men to render this country more and more a safe and propitious asylum for the unfortunate of other countries.
To extend among us true and useful knowledge.
To establish habits of sobriety, order, and morality and piety.
President George Washington January 1, 1795
In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln continued a call for a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer.
In 1952 Congress established a National Day of Prayer as an annual event and signed by President Truman.
In 1988 President Reagan designated the annual National Day of Prayer as the first Thursday in May.





