Blessed Father, awaken Americans to the founders’ belief that happiness and virtue are interlaced. Restore to us, God, the respect and pursuit of virtue in our personal and public lives.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9
Your good morals in the army give me sincere pleasure as it hath long been my fixed opinion that virtue and religion are the great sources of human happiness. Gouverneur Morris to General Anthony Wayne on May 21, 1778
Operation World Pray for Africa : Nigeria and the Sahel, through which runs the north-south fault line between Muslim and Christian majority areas, are in profound need of prayer. The sporadic outbreaks of violence in Nigeria escalated into more frequent and intense pogroms against Christians by increasingly bloodthirsty fundamentalist Muslim groups (often importing fighters from farther afield). The Nigerian-originated Islamist and anti-education movement Boko Haram now assumes the role of most-feared terror group in Africa. Christian response to Islamist predations has been largely peaceful, but not always. Besides the religious fault line, the conflict also touches upon tensions over land between southern settled farmers and northern pastoralists. Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and other West African nations face similar tensions. Should something as terrible as north-south civil war in Nigeria break out, the likelihood is high of meltdown in much of the rest of West Africa. Pray for those orchestrating violence to be foiled and for those on both sides who love peace to prevail through wisdom, discipline and graciousness. Pray also for Christians to continue evangelizing the region’s Muslims with love and without fear.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21 (NIV)
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