As you read

this, a wonderful event would have just taken place.

Last

Thursday, May 4, men and women and students will have

gathered at the fountain near the square in Fayetteville

for the express purpose of certainly one of the oldest

religious activities. These people, me included, will be

bowing their heads to petition heaven and God himself in

the celebration of the National Day of Prayer.

This will

have been done early in the morning, at noon and in the

evening. Earlier in the morning, prayer warriors would

meet to pray for all our city government officials.

Throughout the day, other prayers will have been

conducted for all our leaders in the various capacities

where they serve.

No matter

what happens to us personally or to our nation as a

whole, God's people will still continue to get together

to pray. If the stock market rises or crashes or if we

are at war or peace or standing in a hospital room or at

the grave of a loved one, God's people will still get

together to pray. God's people will still meet together

where ever they can whether it is in the American Legion

Log Cabin or in a multimillion-dollar building to conduct

worship and praise services.

God's

people will still conduct Sunday school and Bible classes

and still teach the young and old the precepts of God led

read God's word and attempt to apply His meaning to their

lives. People will still wade into the baptismal waters

to be baptized by emersion or by sprinkling in their

churches. People will continue to share their faith as we

are commanded to do in sharing the great commission.

I remember

when we were serving in the Berlin Brigade in West Berlin

in 1977-80, 110 miles inside Communist East Germany. The

hated Berlin Wall was this ugly scar which ran right

through the middle of this beautiful city and seperated

thousands of people from their families. Some families

had been visiting one side of the city the day the wall

went up. Wives and husbands and young children were

separated depending which side of the wall they were on

when the communists sealed the border.

Until the

wall fell, families were separated for 11 years. People

in Cuba and North Korea and China still await liberation.

I can

remember the prayer meetings we and all the churches

conducted week after week, winter after cold winter, to

ask almighty God to tear down the wall and let the

families be reunited with their loved ones. We stared at

that wall for over three years never knowing if God would

in our lifetime tear it down.

But then

one day the wind of the Holy Spirit swept through that

city and God's people and others who wanted freedom and

who had been praying for it began moving. No force of

evil could stop it. The rest is seen in the historical

films of a sea of humanity beating the wall with sledge

hammers, and section by section, it fell apart.

Praise the

Lord! There is, I strongly believe, a message to us

today. We must get out of our comfort zones and into the

battle zones and take back our society for God.

It begins

with believers of all denominations who stop fighting

each other and band together in unity to fight the real

enemy. If not us, then who? Here am I, Lord, send me.

The Rev.

Dr. Knox Herndon is the pastor of His House Community

Church and a substitute school teacher in the Fayette

County school system, and a former Army chaplain. The

church is currently meeting in the American Legion Log

Cabin across from the fountain on the Square in

Fayetteville. Prayer line 770-719-2365; e-mail [email protected] .