by David Morgan, Lawrence County Executive
I hope you are already aware of the call for prayer and fasting in Tennessee during July, issued by Governor Bill Lee and the State Legislature.
Resolution 803 received overwhelming bipartisan support with 27-1 approval in the state Senate and 82-6 approval in the House. Its author, Rep. Monty Fritts of Kingston, stopped in Lawrenceburg last Wednesday as part of his schedule of visits to all 95 counties. He read the resolution and led prayer for the crowd that gathered on the Square that hot afternoon.
If this is your first news of Resolution 803, it is not too late to join the effort. Your commitment to prayer and fasting at any point this month – while also tending to other demands on your time and attention – is important.
Prayers are more powerful when we pray together, even when we are not physically at the same place. Just imagine your prayers mingling with others’ from across the state. What an awesome idea that you could be praying for the same thing at the same moment as folks from Memphis, Gatlinburg, Smyrna, Pulaski, and dozens of other places, big and small. With a state population of 7,126,489, the odds are good that you are.
Those chances are improved because Resolution 803 suggests prayer on these points:
- That we ask for God’s mercy and that He not remove His blessings from us;
- That we recognize our sins and shortcomings before Him;
- That he heal our land and remove violence, human-trafficking, addiction, and corruption.
- That the Holy Spirit fill the halls of our government, schools, businesses, churches, and homes with peace, love, and joy.
These prayers cover a multitude of problems, including some mentioned specifically: violence perpetrated against citizens by fellow citizens and non-citizens; crime in schools; human trafficking; drug addiction; the scourge of Fentanyl; driving under the influence; corruption in government; and the fact that there are 9,000 Tennessee children in need of foster care.
Now for a word about fasting. It can mean water only, which can be dangerous if it’s not approached properly. The resolution actually calls for intermittent fasting, restricting daily eating to six or eight hours in a 24-hour period. The benefits of intermittent fasting include weight loss, improved heart and brain health, and improvement of conditions associated with inflammation including Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, and stroke.
The powerful combination of fasting and prayer is mentioned several times in the Bible. Ezra 8:23 states, “So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer.” When the disciples fail to heal an epileptic boy, Jesus rebuked the demon of the illness and it
came out. Jesus told his followers that “. . . this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Fasting is a spiritual discipline, an act of denying our physical desires in order to focus more clearly on God, to declare Him more important than ourselves, and trust more deeply in Him. Romans 8:13 says we are to “put to death the deeds of the body,” with help from the Holy Spirit. Fasting helps us learn how to do that.
I didn’t clear this with the Legislature or Governor Lee, but please add local leaders to your prayer list. With your help, we will make the best decisions for our community.
