Tennessee Day of Prayer & Fasting

Tennessee Visitors Center flowers at the Kentucky border

Tennessee governor, @govbilllee, has set aside today, September 12, 2025 as a day of voluntary prayer and fasting for our state.  Thank you, Governor Lee, for recognizing the sovereignty of God. Thank you for leading Tennesseans to, as you stated, “humble ourselves before God, acknowledging our own brokenness and to seek His wisdom for our state”.

It is easy to get caught up in the news reports concerning our nation and state. If not careful, we could consider the situation hopeless. Isaiah 8:20-22 describes a hopelessness or “darkness” we all can feel when confronted with the condition of our world.  “If anyone does not speak according to the word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.” Isaiah 8: 21-22.  

When we look at the world through the world’s filter, we see “only distress and darkness and fearful gloom”. This darkness is ushered in by “not speaking according to the word” because having “no light of dawn”.  The “word” Isaiah is referring to in this prophecy is Jesus! Isaiah goes on to explain, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.” (Isaiah 9:1-3)

Our burdens have been “shattered” by Jesus! “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end, He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Jesus is “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” (John 1:9).

Jesus is “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”.  (John 1:14).

Jesus says of Himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) and this, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (John 12:46).

1 John 1:5-9 “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Because of the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, God’s children do not have to live in “distress, darkness, or fearful gloom”! “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4).

This free gift does not leave us unchanged. This is where “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” comes from (Philippians 4:7). 

This is my prayer for our state and for our nation, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) May Tennesseans become the “light of the world”. May we let our “light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16)