Members of America’s National Prayer Committee (NPC) met in late January in San Diego, CA, to pray, share reports, and envision the coming years in the prayer movement.

Several of the national prayer leaders reflected on the increased level of prayer in 2016, especially leading up to the elections. Dave Butts, NPC chairman, told the group, “I believe the prayer movement is on the verge of explosion. We’ve never seen anything like what we’ve seen in the last year.”

“And we are starting even better in 2017,” he added. “I’ve not seen the letdown that I’ve seen in other seasons [of prayer].” Butts challenged prayer leaders to repent of not praying for the past administration as they perhaps should have—and then pray for the Church to rise to the challenge of a new window of opportunity to see revival in the nation.

“God is calling us right now to be the greatest generation,” he said. “We may have limited time to cry out to God for His mercy—and it’s going to cost us. Revival always costs and takes you out of your comfort zone.”

David Kubal of Intercessors for America, a ministry in the Washington, D.C., area, observed that “enduring desperation has grown over the past eight years. People are now willing to continue to pray and intercede with the view of hope.” He described the increase of technology (websites, Twitter, Facebook) that allows for the Trump administration to be the most prayed-for administration in history. Websites such as prayasone.org and prayforamericasleaders.com are examples of sites that promote strategic national prayer.

Anne Graham Lotz, chairperson of the National Day of Prayer, spoke to the group about the pattern of prayer found in Daniel 9–10. Lotz urged NPC members not to become discouraged about praying for revival, recognizing that there is “a delay right now of severe judgment. We need healing in our land even more than we did two weeks ago!” Prayer initiatives in Washington, D.C., in the coming year include:

May 4: The National Day of Prayer
October 6–9: Awaken the Dawn, which includes a plan for 50 prayer tents (one for each state) to be set up on the National Mall for continuous worship and prayer—pointing toward the completion of the Great Commission.