Many people nationwide hit their knees in prayer on Thursday, May 5, for National Day of Prayer, and locally people were hard at it as well. In Kidron, a number of people gathered together at Flo-Care to promote the day, and offered a chance for community members to get involved.

The mission of the National Day of Prayer is to mobilize prayer in America and to encourage personal repentance and righteousness in the culture.

Local pastor Mark Fowler helped organize and lead the event, and said that the entire day was dedicated to bringing people into prayer for the crucial aspects of life today that are influential in our community, nation and world.

Fowler based his interpretation of the National Day of Prayer fundamentals on a book by Johnny Enlow titled The Seven Mountain Prophecy.

Each mountain represents an area of influence that is vital to humankind, and an area for which Fowler said people must constantly pray.

The seven mountains represented, and the basic mission of each is: Government, fill the roles with humble, servant leaders with integrity; Family, the prioritization of family unity; Economy, transfer wealth into kingdom purposes; Religion, infuse life and ministry based on a model by the Holy Spirit; Media, pass along good news; Education, bring in new fear-of-God based curriculum; and Military, develop military based on Godly principles.

“It’s basically the seven kingdoms of influence in our world that have so much power in our lives,” said Fowler. “And in Revelation 112:15 it says, the kingdom of our God will be over the kingdoms of this world. The idea is that God wants to establish Himself over those kingdoms and take those back and raise up Godly people with the understanding that they have an authority in that kingdom to raise it up as a Godly kingdom of influence rather than an ungodly one.”

As for the day of prayer, which took place at the meeting center of Flo-Care in Kidron, the event was dedicated to having anyone who wished to offer up prayer for any of the seven earthly kingdoms to venture in and do so, and even provided stations within the hall, where people could write down ideas for prayer and post them, so that others could also prayer specifically for those requests.

“The idea was to give people an opportunity to express their prayers,” said Fowler. “For many people, you spend five minutes in prayer and kind of run out of ideas. To be able to have stations where you can bring to mind different prayer aspects is encouraging and helpful. We could pray all day and never cover everything we need to pray for, but our minds get distracted. This just helped bring a focus to it.”

While people came and went throughout the day, the finale for the event came at 7 p.m., when a number of local representatives from each of the mountains led in a responsive prayer time, and then those in attendance could pray when led by the spirit.

Wayne County Commissioner Scott Wiggam led in the prayer for government, stating in his prayer, “We pray for each of our leaders who represent us to have the wisdom they need to govern laws that are good. May they seek You for wisdom, knowledge and understanding. Let them be of one mind, without selfish ambition.”

Wiggam, as one of the Wayne County commissioners, was then surrounded and prayed for by those in attendance, with a knowledge that the decisions he helped make as a government official would have direct bearing on local issues.

The prayer for families was led by Monica Fell, who prayed on behalf of all families that God would hear the hearts of those who seek Him earnestly, and that parents would work together to promote harmonious family relationships by loving one another and by instilling Biblical principles in their children.

“We pray that parents will establish Biblical values and daily family worship in the home, encourage and support good work ethics and insist on courtesy and respect at home and at school,” said Fell.

Gary Gerber, an Army veteran, prayed for the military, asking for protection of those serving, direction, and praying for those military members who have been injured, and for the families of those serving their country.

“Bring a Holy Spirit-inspired revival to all of our military people,” prayed Gerber. “Revive their marriages and pour out Your Spirit upon their families. Give them a sense of the higher purpose You have for each of them.”

Fowler led in both the mountains of Education and Church, praying for both the leaders of the educational systems around the nation and the students themselves. He requested God to raise up morally right teachers and leaders, and that the young people in the nation would learn the value of instruction and understanding.

As for the church, Fowler prayed, “Bring revival into every city and town, and into every church. Help us proclaim the gospel as revealed in Your Word. Bring multitudes into Your kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Dave Mast led the prayer for media, noting in prayer, “May the media become a powerful force for good instead of evil.”

David Fell offered up the prayer for the economic and business mountain. Fell asked in prayer, “Help us not to be greedy for gain, but as we do our work, enable us to receive financial rewards and blessings from it. May we give as You direct us, and bless Your people so that we may be able to bless others.”

Fowler said that the preparation for next year’s event will begin in about one month, as they figure out how they can best promote the day of prayer.

“We all need to take time out and recognize the need for God in our lives,” said Fowler. “This is a time dedicated to recognizing that God is our God, and that he is the great area of influence in our world today. We want to celebrate everything that God is and does for us.”