The Tribune

By PASTOR JEREMIAH DUNCOMBE

THE Bahamas Global Impact Prayer and Fasting Network and affiliate organisations have launched a campaign to have the January 10 public holiday observed as a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

We have initiated this campaign as a follow-up to our written request to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers to commission a committee, at the earliest possible time, with membership to include Heads of churches and the Bahamas Christian Council president, to recommend to the Government an appropriate date to institute as an annual National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving for the nation.

January 10 is a significant date in Bahamian history, the day we celebrate Majority Rule. We believe it is fitting, therefore, that this date should be designated by the Government to also be a day when the people of the Bahamas, citizens and non-citizens, come together in peace, goodwill, prayer and thanksgiving at designated venues throughout the nation in mass sssembly prayer rallies, in homes and other places of Christian worship, to pray and ask God’s blessings for our beloved country.

We are convinced that when Christians come together in agreement in unity with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and with each other seeking the face of God interceding in prevailing prayer, that there is no force in the world that can withstand such power and love, which will effect repentance, reformation of lives and healing of the nations.

Prayer has always been a foundation of our nation where, with one voice and mind, our founding forefathers united in prayer for God’s guidance, protection and strength for our newly-created independent nation because they believed that one way to ensure protection for our nation’s sovereignty was through prayer. As the Bahamas is facing a crisis of increasing crime and many other challenging issues of national concern, and more particularly, the recent hurricane devastations of the southern islands with God’s providence in the preservation of lives, we believe there is an urgent need to establish this annual national day of prayer and thanksgiving for the nation, commencing on January 10, 2016.

United ongoing continuous prayer for the nation will make a difference. None of our efforts of evangelism or government-positive interventions will achieve maximum success if we fail to fast and pray. There is a God in Heaven who hears and answers prayers and we have His promise given to us in 2 Chronicles 7:14, that: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land.”

We invite Christians throughout the Bahamas to join us in support of the overdue implementation of this annual National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving for the healing and God’s blessing of our country which we hold so dear.