prayer

June is Pride Month, a time when many who identify as LGBT will spend this month celebrating that identity. As Christians, we are saddened by the celebrations of this month, because not only do we know that Pride Month is a celebration of sin, but we also know that we will never be free until we find our identity, salvation, and hope in Jesus Christ.

Yet, that very realization makes Pride Month an incredible opportunity for prayer and for the Gospel to go forth.

So today, at the beginning of June, I want to share two things with you: an answer to your questions on this topic, and a prayer for our LGBT neighbors.

Answering Your Questions

First off, an exciting announcement: we are pleased to announce that we’re launching a new video series! Ask Meridian is an opportunity for you to send us your questions – and get answers! Last month, we kicked off this initiative by asking you to send us the family policy questions you’ve always wanted someone to answer. Among the many submissions were questions asking how you could express your views on sexuality in a loving way.

We know this can be a challenging conversation to approach.

So, today, we are pleased to release to you the first video in the series: How to Love Your LGBT Neighbor. In this video, I share when and how to talk about our views on sexuality with friends and family who identify as LGBT. We hope you find this helpful!

Click here to watch:

Have a question for a future Ask Meridian episode? Send us an email at mail@familypolicyalliance.com!

A Prayer for Our LGBT Neighbors

This month, will you join me in this prayer?

Lord, in this month our hearts are heavy for those who identify as LGBT. Your Word is clear about both sin and salvation – and our own consciences testify to this truth – yet so many live with the hope that they will find their “true self” or even their worldly salvation in a broken identity.

So this month, we lift up this challenging issue before you.

For those within the walls of the church who may claim the identity of LGBT, we pray for the work of your Holy Spirit and of the Church to call those in sin to repentance.

For those Christians who continue to struggle in this area, and yet who choose faithfulness to your Word, we pray for great faith and encouragement.

For those who are uncertain about their fearfully and wonderfully made bodies, we pray for peace and confidence that you did not make a mistake – that they were not born in the wrong body.

For children who are hearing messages that make them question their own sexuality, we pray for protection over their minds and hearts.

For all those who identify as LGBT, or who are struggling with their sexual identity in another way, we pray that they would find the joy and freedom that only comes from following you as Lord. We pray that their hearts would be opened to see sin for what it is – and to see the joy of your salvation as greater.

For those in ministry to our LGBT neighbors, we pray for the strength to speak the truth in love – and more than anything, to make your Gospel known in the words they say and in the way they live.

For those of us with LGBT friends and family, we pray for great love and great discernment.

For each of us, we pray the hard prayer for conviction of our own sin and for freedom in repentance. We pray that our first priority – in our own hearts and in our conversations – would always be the magnification of Christ. We pray that our identities would not be rooted first in our work, our sexuality, or even our families, but that we could say as Paul that for us, to live is Christ. May our identity, our security, our salvation be ever fixed to you – and may that be first in our hearts and in our words.

Lord, this month we pray that as we speak the truth, the manner in which we speak it would be such that we are known by our love.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

I hope you’ll join me in that prayer this month, and that the Lord will give you wisdom if you have opportunities to speak into the lives of LGBT neighbors.

Sincerely,

Meridian Baldacci
Policy and Communications Strategist

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
1 Timothy 2:1-3

On this National Day of Prayer, New Jerseyeans from across the theological spectrum and political aisle will dedicate a time of prayer. Democrats and Republicans will bow their heads – and some will even humble their hearts – to pray for the common good.

As we reflect and earnestly pray today for those in authority, let us remember what the Apostle Paul said was the end result of those specific prayers – a peaceful and quiet life. Is that even attainable in our current climate?

Our nation is inflamed with intentional polarization thereby making civility a rare commodity. Big tech profits from political antagonism, creating the preferred echo chamber that keeps people unchallenged in their ideology. Some politicians desperately, and at times, hypocritically, engage in un-statesman like public rhetoric to increase small donors and heighten their national profile. Big media cloaks reality in their conceived narrative to persuade the consumer and control their actions, rather than simply informing and educating them on the facts.

Those in authority have been given a unique platform by which to lead. Despite the best of intentions or the worst of objectives – their decisions, conduct, and priorities can make life challenging. In other words, whether you agree or disagree with their policies and positions on certain issues, you are urged to pray for them, because the failure to do so will impact your family. And above all, we pray because it pleases God.

Let me reassure you that we pray weekly for Governor Murphy and the state legislators in both political parties. I want to encourage you to do the same. Please do not forget that in the middle of policy disagreements, grassroots mobilization, and election activity, we have no enemies, only opportunities.

Hopefully, you can join other believers on this National Day of Prayer. We are also praying for you and all our ministry partners. If you ever have any prayer requests, please email newjersey@familypolicyalliance.com so we can lift you up before the Lord!

Protecting your family,

Shawn Hyland
Executive Director

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:5-7

Here is the latest update from Under God, One Nation.

Our last update was in February and we continue to be in prayer about many of the same things. A few new developments have occurred about which you need to know – see updates in the sections below.

Here are some of the most prominent issues we see continuing to develop and which we have been praying about in recent weeks:

The Hyde Amendment – The Hyde Amendment is an important legal protection that keeps federal tax dollars from paying for abortions in most cases. Since 2016, the Democratic Party has included the repeal of the Hyde Amendment in its national platform. Their goal is to implement taxpayer funding of abortion nationwide. While Joe Biden had historically been a longtime supporter of the Hyde Amendment, he flip-flopped in 2020 and now supports its repeal – essentially advocating for publicly funded abortion.

In recent months, the Hyde amendment has been attacked as a racist policy. The truth is that the Hyde amendment has restrained Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses from targeting poor and minority communities with taxpayer funds. The Hyde amendment has stood in the gap against racism over the years and for the Left to claim otherwise is a political attempt to rewrite history and help abortion businesses target minority women.

We continue to pray that such evil intentions would be thwarted and that pro-life policies would overcome these efforts.

Biden Gender Policy and the Equality Act – As expected, Joe Biden began signing executive orders hours after he was inaugurated. Some of his recent orders have dealt with gender issues. We all know how dangerous this is for our nation’s social structure and the wellbeing of its people. Family Policy Alliance held an Equality Act Exposed Rally to highlight many issues with this dangerous legislation. Tens of thousands of Americans saw this rally appear in their social media feeds.

UPDATE: As expected, on February 25^th the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act. It has since been sent to the Senate for consideration. The Senate Judiciary committee recently held a hearing on the bill. Congress is currently on a break until after Easter but given the desire of the Biden Administration and Democrat leadership to push this through, we suspect it will be considered very soon in the Senate. The Biden administration also continued on this dangerous path implementing even more executive orders in March which further seek to erase gender in federal law.

The Equality Act would erase sex-based distinctions throughout our nation’s laws and open the door to persecution of any who adhere to biblical views of gender and marriage.

The pressure on many members of the Senate will be intense as this effort unfolds. Pray for the steadfast strength of many to oppose this effort.

Filibuster – Currently, Senate rules require 60 votes to end debate and move most legislation to a final vote. That 60-vote requirement (the filibuster) has been around for generations. This rule is still the centerpiece of a lot of discussion. As we noted last month, there is good reason for the current focus on it – with the Senate split 50-50 Republicans to Democrats, Kamala Harris is placed in the very powerful position of breaking any tied votes in the Senate.

The filibuster rule is key to preventing that from happening. Abortion and LGBT advocates (and other progressive forces) across the nation know this and they will continue to pressure the Senate intensely to make it easier to advance their agendas.

All previous efforts to remove the rule have failed in the past, whether the Senate was controlled by Republicans or Democrats. With the current 50-50 split, Democrats have once again considered attempting to scrap the rule in order to push through their agenda, regularly using Harris as the deciding vote.

Thankfully, not everyone in the Democrat party agrees with simply changing the rules for political gain.

UPDATE: While the intensity of this discussion has subsided in recent weeks, it is important to keep this in prayer. Two senators, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) (and a few others) have now stated that they are not interested in changing the rules of the Senate. Pray for them and their positions on this rule. While we do not know what to expect from Democrat leadership in the Senate in the coming weeks, this procedural rule has stopped them from advancing the Equality Act (and other dangerous measures) so far this year.

Biden Cabinet Nominations – Joe Biden has nominated a number of progressive, radical individuals to lead federal agencies. Each has been chosen for a reason – whether it is a rabidly pro-abortion and anti-religious freedom record or a progressive stance on gender, each one promises to bring drastic change to national policy in federal agencies.

UPDATE: Earlier this month, the Senate did confirm Xavier Becerra, a radically pro-abortion and anti – religious freedom nominee, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The Senate also confirmed Rachel Levine, a biological man living as a woman, to be Assistant Secretary of the same department. The Department of Health and Human Services oversees a massive budget with policies touching millions of lives every day. In light of that, please pray for these leaders, especially that they would know the Lord and the truth of His Word would be apparent in all aspects of their work.

Election Integrity – Some in Congress are seeking to protect the integrity of our elections and how they are conducted. We support their stance and continue to pray their ideas would gain traction and that their efforts would prove successful.

Girls’ and Women’s Sports – All across the nation, courageous state legislators are using their positions to push back against the radical, progressive attack on girls and women’s sports.

UPDATE: We now know that 30 states that have introduced legislation to save girls’ sports and send a powerful message back to the Biden Administration’s radical gender agenda. There have been 3 states that have enacted the most robust version of Save Girls’ Sports provisions so far: Idaho (in 2020) Arkansas (2021), and Mississippi (2021). We are hopeful for more to come! It is exciting to see states enact these laws! We pray for boldness in their work and for the success of their efforts.

Abortion in New Mexico – In New Mexico, a radical abortion bill was passed and signed into law.

UPDATE: Led by a pro-abortion governor, who has been bent on eliminating the very few abortion restrictions in the state for several years, the new law removes all restrictions on abortion in New Mexico while also eliminating conscience protections for pro-life doctors and the very basic requirement of consent from a woman before having an abortion. Please keep the state of New Mexico in your prayers.

LGBT Curriculum in New Jersey – New Jersey has been no stranger to the gender identity discussion. Just a year ago, the state enacted an LGBT curriculum requirement for junior high and high school students. Many parents were unhappy with this radical requirement and have been fighting back since that time. This year, and despite assurances to the contrary, the legislature went one step further – enacting the curriculum all the way down to Kindergarten. New Jersey voters are extremely upset about this and are fighting back. Our ally on the ground, Family Policy Alliance of New Jersey, continues to lead the way. We pray for their continued advancement and engagement on this issue.

We appreciate you partnering with us in prayer. Please share this list with your church, your small group, your pastor, and your Sunday School class in the coming days. Please encourage them to join you in signing up for a prayer time so that we can continue to lift the nation and these issues in the coming weeks and months.

Prayerfully,

Robert Noland
Communications Manager

Friends,

Shortly before Inauguration Day, Family Policy Alliance® launched a national prayer initiative, Under God, One Nation. You (along with over 1400 others!) signed up to join us in prayer for our nation. We are still praying, and we know you are too!

Since then, a lot has happened and there remains a multitude of things that we can pray for both nationally and in the states. Here are some of the most prominent issues we see currently and which we have been praying about in recent weeks:

The Hyde Amendment – Since 2016, the Democratic Party has included the repeal of the Hyde Amendment in its national platform. Their goal is to implement taxpayer funding of abortion nationwide. While Joe Biden had historically been a longtime supporter of the Hyde Amendment, he flip-flopped in 2020 and now supports its repeal – essentially advocating for publicly funded abortion.

In recent months, the Hyde amendment has been attacked as a racist policy. The truth is that the Hyde amendment has restrained Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses from targeting poor and minority communities with taxpayer funds. The Hyde amendment has stood in the gap against racism over the years and for the Left to claim otherwise is a political move to rewrite history in efforts to further proliferate the ability of abortion businesses to target minority women.

We continue to pray that such evil intentions would be thwarted and that pro-life policies would overcome these efforts.

Biden Gender Policy and the Equality Act – As expected, Joe Biden began signing executive orders hours after he was inaugurated. Some of those orders dealt with gender issues. We all know how dangerous this is for our nation’s social structure and especially for our military.

We need to continue to be in prayer as we have heard that Equality Act will be considered in Congress very soon (possibly next week) with the full support of Democratic leadership and President Biden. The Equality Act would erase virtually every sex-based distinction in our nation’s laws and open the door to persecution of any who adhere to biblical views of gender and marriage.

The pressure on many members of Congress will be intense as this effort unfolds. Pray for the steadfast strength of many to oppose this effort.

Filibuster – A well-known Senate debate rule has become the centerpiece of a lot of discussion in recent weeks. There is good reason – with the Senate split 50-50 Republicans to Democrats, Kamala Harris is placed in the very powerful position of breaking any tied votes in the Senate. The filibuster rule is key to preventing that from happening.

Currently, Senate rules require 60 votes to end debate and move most legislation to a final vote. That 60-vote requirement (the filibuster) has been around for generations. Despite efforts to outright repeal it, all have failed in the past whether the Senate was controlled by Republicans or Democrats. With the current 50-50 split, Democrats have considered scrapping the rule in order to push through their agenda, regularly using Harris as the deciding vote. Thankfully, not everyone in the Democrat party agrees with simply changing the rules for political gain.

Right now, two senators, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have stated that they are not interested in changing the rules of the Senate. Pray for them and their positions on this rule.

Clearly, requiring 60 votes to advance legislation is the key to stopping a lot of bad legislation in the current environment. Abortion and LGBT advocates, as well as other progressive forces all across the nation, know this and they will continue to pressure these two senators intensely in order to make it easier to advance their agendas.

We continue to pray about those confirmation hearings and that those nominated individuals would know the Lord and the truth of His Word on these issues.

Girls’ and Women’s Sports – All across the nation, courageous state legislators are using their positions to push back against the radical, progressive attack on girls and women’s sports. We know of more than 10 states that have introduced legislation to save girls’ sports and send a powerful message back to the Biden Administration’s radical gender agenda. We pray for boldness in their work and for the success of their efforts in every instance.

Abortion in New Mexico – In New Mexico, a radical abortion bill is advancing in the legislature. Led by a pro-abortion governor, who has been bent on eliminating the very few abortion restrictions in the state for several years, the legislature seems poised to approve this bill. Conscience protections for doctors and the very basic requirement of consent from a woman before having an abortion are on the chopping block. Please keep the state of New Mexico in your prayers.

LGBT Curriculum in New Jersey – New Jersey has been no stranger to the gender identity discussion. Just a year ago, the state enacted an LGBT curriculum requirement for junior high and high school students. Many parents were unhappy and have been fighting back since that time. This year, and despite assurances to the contrary, the legislature went one step further – enacting the curriculum all the way down to Kindergarten. New Jersey voters are extremely upset about this and are fighting back. Our ally on the ground, Family Policy Alliance of New Jersey, is leading the way and we pray for their continued advancement and engagement on this issue.

We appreciate you partnering with us in prayer. Please share this list with your church, your small group, your pastor and your Sunday School class in the coming days. Please encourage them to join you in signing up for a prayer time so that we can continue to lift the nation and these issues in the coming weeks and months.

Prayerfully,

Robert Noland
Communications Manager

Today is Presidents’ Day – a national holiday which historically calls us to remember George Washington, our nation’s first president whose birthday is on the 22nd. The day has been interpreted to also include Abraham Lincoln as well, whose birthday is on the 12th. More recent iterations claim the day honors all past U.S. presidents.

Regardless of which president we are remembering today, the fact that our democratic republic has stood the test of time for nearly 250 years is astounding when you look across the globe at how many other nations have come and gone in that time.

Our system of governance was inspired and crafted by godly men (including Washington) who sought to craft a better nation, one which was not under the influence of a king. They especially hoped to create a nation where religious freedom could flourish, unencumbered by civil government.

The President is the leader of this system and as we pause today to remember Presidents Washington and Lincoln specifically, but also all Presidents in general, we feel a call to prayer.

First, a prayer of thanksgiving that we live in a nation where we are endowed with the privilege to choose our leaders and judge their fitness for leadership on many different fronts. “We the People” are the power behind the process of selecting our leaders, good or bad, and that is a freedom known in far too few places the world over.

Second, a prayer of remembrance for those who have served in the highest office of the nation, a role often described as the “Leader of the Free World” – a description that recognizes the founding of our nation as one of freedom and liberty. Whoever serves in this role has an enormous burden and gives much to their nation while sacrificing time with family. Those are sacrifices that we should honor, regardless of whether we voted for any particular president.

Third, a prayer for the current president (a prayer not unfamiliar to many of us, no matter who holds the office) – that he would be given great wisdom and that he would seek first the Lord and His kingdom and His righteousness. And may the Lord place people in his midst who would provide a lasting godly influence in all his interactions.

We ask you to join us in these and many other prayers for our nation and its leadership as we work toward a nation where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive and life is cherished.

Prayerfully,

Robert Noland
Communication Manager

Under God, One Nation

It is a pivotal time in our nation’s history for Christian values, religious freedom and the
public debate over the direction of our nation.

Please join us in regular prayer for God’s direction for our leaders regarding the issues
and spiritual matters facing our nation.

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:16)

Over the interim between the 2020 Budget Session and the 2021 General Session, Legislators have been neck-deep in the chaos of lawmaking as well as elections and pandemic protocols. It’s intense, with long hours and pressures that can challenge legislators’ principles and the stability of their families.

Adding to that pressure, Wyoming has launched the 2021 General Session of the Wyoming Legislature. It will be different this year. On January 12, the session was officially gaveled in (started) remotely for the first time in history. They conducted opening ceremonies and received the Governor’s address and then adjourned until January 27 for a 3-day session in which they will discuss the Committee bills that have been worked through this past year.

Then, if everything goes according to plan, we may be able to start our regular legislative session on March 1.

With all of these things going on, your legislators will still carry the task of setting policies that will impact real people for good or for bad. The laws they pass will protect lives or end lives, will mislead children with twisted ideology or will protect them and help them flourish – and so much more.

It’s no wonder that one of the clearest directives we have in Scripture regarding our role in government is to pray for our leaders.

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2:1-4)

Before the chaos starts, will you take a moment to let your legislators know you’re praying for them?

In all of this, Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming® will be involved – working with our state allies and letting you know at key times when you can make your voice heard on important legislation.

But before most of that happens, will you send a quick note to your legislators– thanking them for their service, acknowledging the burden of leadership, and letting them know that you are praying for them?

Thanks for praying for your legislators – and for Family Policy Alliance of Wyoming as we engage on pivotal legislation in 2021.

Nathan Winters
Executive Director

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A Prayer for Our LGBT Neighbors