More than half a century ago, Dr. John Hash grasped what should be to all of us the obvious connection between reading Scripture and knowing how to pray. Unless you know what the Bible says, you cannot know what you believe. Unless you know what you believe, you cannot be committed to living it.
There are more than 250 prayers recorded in the Bible, as well as a pattern for prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, found in Matthew 6:9-13.
Prayer is the bedrock of Concerned Women for America (CWA) founder, Beverly LaHaye. In 1979 she met around her kitchen table with a group of ladies to specifically pray for our country and its leaders. She had heard Betty Friedan claim that she spoke for ALL women. Mrs. LaHaye knew Friedan was not speaking for her.
Today CWA is a national organization with the corporate office in Washington, D.C., and Prayer/Action Chapters in almost every state in the nation. Prayer is still the bedrock of everything that we do at CWA. As State Director in Maine, I am proud to tell you that we have two lady coordinators working with me as members of our Steering Committee. They are definitely answers to prayer!
Let me introduce to you, Janet Pinkham, who coordinates CWA’s Encourage-A-Legislator program. Through this program, every lawmaker in the State Legislature is paired with a person who prays for them each day and send an encouraging CWA post card once a month throughout the legislative session. No lobbying is done through this program, only prayer and encouragement.
Theresa Aiello is also with me today. She coordinates all of CWA’s Prayer/Action Chapters. She is working to organize Prayer/Action Chapters all over Maine and training and encouraging our leaders along their way. The Prayer/Action Chapter leader receives a CWA newsletter once a month with up-to-date news of what’s happening across the nation and in D.C. We provide each of our leaders with prayer and praise items to stimulate their time of prayer together. We also provide actions to take so that the participants can make a difference in our culture. The action item could be to write a letter to the editor or a letter to your Members of Congress or your lawmaker in Maine, or it could be to make a phone call or send an e-mail.
I just returned from Washington, D.C. where I lobbied with CWA’s Project 535. (Congress has 535 lawmakers – 435 in the House and 100 in the Senate.) We lobbied the House on the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA), which prohibits abortions based on the baby’s sex. You talk about a war on women. There are more than 160 million missing girls in the world. They were killed for only one reason they were girls. In China with their one-child rule, if the baby is a girl, it’s aborted because families want boys to carry on the family name. You can imagine the societal consequences this has created with 37 million more males than women. Kidnapping and sex-trafficking are major problems to name just two. Sex-selection abortions aren’t just a problem for other countries, they happen every day here in America. Three states have already passed PRENDA laws of their own – Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Arizona.
Every child deserves the right to live, regardless of its sex. Our Founding Fathers clearly delineated the right to life as one that is unalienable and endowed by our Creator. It is horrific that in America today babies are being killed on the basis of their sex or race. Yes, race, according to Loxafamosity Ministries, nearly half-million African-American babies are aborted every year. This is five times greater than the number of Caucasians. Pure and simple, these abortions are eugenics.
Even more shocking was an expose by Live Action, which caught Planned Parenthood clinic representatives agreeing to accept funds for the abortions of minority babies. This video coupled with the fact that 70 percent of abortion clinics are located in minority communities is another reason that PRENDA is urgently needed.
CWA of Maine will be a steady presence in the halls of the Maine Legislature again this session. We are looking at Rep. Ayotte’s bills on the medical risks of abortion and sale of fetal tissue, Rep. Davis’ bill on parental consent for minors’ abortions, and Rep. Espling’s informed consent bill among others. I’m happy to report that we have a more pro-life legislature this session than last. All but one Republican losing the election were pro-abortion, and two or three Democrats who won this time are pro-life.
We have a Legislative Prayer Caucus that meets once a week at the Capitol before the start of the day’s session to pray for each other’s needs and for God’s wisdom in the decisions to be made in that place. We know that prayer is essential to good decision-making.
40 Days for Life’s prayer work, and it is work, has accomplished much for our cause. We have seen the facility in Portland closed. Of course, we are praying that this one here in Augusta will be closed; we know God is at work, He hears our earnest prayers, and He promises to answer. Prayer is our most powerful weapon in this battle for the unborn. Janet LeBlanc and I will be praying here tomorrow night from 5:00-8:00 p.m., and we encourage you and everyone you know to come and participate in this life-saving endeavor.
We have seen workers in the abortion industry come out as a result of 40 Days. Joan Appleton is one; she was head nurse at the Commonwealth Women’s Clinic in Washington, D.C., and a former member of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Others are Jewels Green, a former abortion worker just outside Philadelphia, and Abby Johnson of Texas Planned Parenthood who actually went to Shawn Carney and David Bereit for help in leaving the industry.
I believe prayer is a must before we act. If we act in our own strength, we’ll move in our own strength. But when we pray and then act, we move in God’s strength. Jesus’ disciples asked their master to teach them how to pray. I’ve learned through experience that the more we pray the more natural and needful it becomes to us in every situation every day of our lives. John 17 is Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. In verse 5 He asks His Father to glorify Him with God’s own self, with the glory which Jesus had with God before the world was.
Isn’t that what He wants for us? We are to glorify the Father and Jesus, the Son, with the life He has given us here and now. Our prayer work here honors Him as we remain a quiet witness to protect the lives of those He has created in His own image and for His glory. Jesus’ earthly work was almost finished when He prayed His prayer. May we remain diligent in prayer until our work here on earth is finished.