Honest Thoughts from a Pastor

The first Thursday of May always sticks out in my mind. This day has been set aside as the National Day of Prayer since at least the 1990s. I remember a small ensemble from our high school choir singing at City Hall in Portsmouth, Virginia where I grew up. Ever since then, this day has been engrained in me.

While many use this as a day for corporate prayer, let me challenge you to use this day as a time of intense private prayer. Many of us have more public prayer time than we do private. We can check off the prayers at meals and with other people. For me personally, I knew I needed some time this morning to pray alone.

If you are like me, you need to talk to God about things within that need to change. You need to face some facts about yourself and lay them at the feet of Jesus. In order to lead well in your home, community, church, or wherever, the same old coasting just won’t do. As you examine your own life, you see areas in which you’ve been negligent, and you can’t go on that way.

On this National Day of Prayer for 2022, I want to challenge you to face the issues within. We cannot neglect personal responsibility. It would be easy to turn today’s prayer meetings into a public performance. Let’s start with the man in the mirror so we can authentically lead by example. Leadership is more than a title; it is a lifestyle.