text: Issue 493 – National Prayer Needs | The Presidential Prayer Team
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  Issue 493 – National Prayer Needs
  National Prayer Needs	Posted on June 3, 2021 • Updated June 7, 2021 180
  Admiral Mike Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations, says the Navy is charting a new course after a rash of problems. Speedy littoral combat ships had propulsion failures. The gun on a stealthy destroyer is a dud because of expensive ammo. The newest aircraft carrier had problems with the system that launches aircraft. And photos of rusty ships have underscored delays in maintenance, made worse by the pandemic. Additionally, China's navy now out-numbers that of the U.S. The Navy is now on a "positive trajectory" said Gilday but will have to rebuild confidence under congressional scrutiny as it prepares a new strategic plan that will include another long-term investment in unmanned vehicles.
  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin indicated he is not concerned about what the leaders of China and Russia are doing. "I will not lose one minute of sleep about what the Chinese leadership is saying or what Vladimir Putin is saying. What I will focus on, and what I am focused on is the defense of this nation, and making sure that we have what's needed to be successful," he said.
  Pray for America's military leaders and its civilian leadership to keep the security of the U.S. uppermost in their planning and working.
  Russian President Vladimir Putin's team said ahead of the coming summit with President Biden, "The Americans should proceed on the premise that a number of signals from Moscow…are going to be uncomfortable for them, including in the coming days."
  Germany and the U.S. are holding talks in Washington to try to resolve a dispute over Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Further details were not given in the announcement, but a German negotiator said, "I am confident that we will succeed in finding a way, even though it will certainly not be easy and may not happen quickly." The pipeline is about 95 percent complete and is expected to be operational in September.
  Pray for administration officials, including the president, who are having or will have with foreign adversaries and allies.
  Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said they are "taking a very close look" at vaccine passports for international travel either into or out of the country. The European Union is set to allow travel for vaccinated Americans this summer,
  More than half of all American adults have been vaccinated against COVID-19, the White House said, roughly six weeks before the president's July 4 goal of a 70 percent inoculation rate. The number of new infections in the U.S. fell to a seven-day average of 22,877 last week, the lowest since last June and less than one-tenth of its post-holiday peak of more than 250,000 last year, according to the CDC data.
  Pray for federal officials as they evaluate policies in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, including in areas of mental health, student struggles, businesses that remain closed, and the return to a sense of calm.
  As the stalemate to elect a prime minister continues, a bloc of Israeli politicians is said to be negotiating a power-sharing deal in order to select a new prime minister. Yamina Party leader Naftali Bennett said, "For four elections, we've watched our beloved country tear itself apart, weaken itself,[and] lose its capacity to function. Two thousand years ago we lost a Jewish state because of internal hatreds; that won't happen again, not on my watch."
  Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his first official trip to the Middle East, said the U.S. would work to expand economic opportunities for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to help preserve a cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hamas. He also said he would move forward in the process of reopening the consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem which was closed in 2019. "That's an important way for our country to engage with and provide support to the Palestinian people," he said after meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
  Pray for the strength of the U.S. relationship with its ally, Israel.
  Consumer confidence continues to flounder and decrease as Americans lack confidence and say they are largely unhappy with the nation's current trajectory, a new Gallup poll reported.
  Demand continues to overwhelm supply for both new and previously-owned homes sending prices surging. A price index group said people were paying 13.2 percent more in the year that ended in March. March marked the highest annual rate of price growth in homes since December 2005.
  Pray for the nation's leaders as they work to meet the need of nation and work to stabilize the economy.
  California Governor Gavin Newsom has been ordered to pay $1.35 million in a settlement reached with a Los Angeles area church after a lawsuit related to the state's coronavirus restrictions. Under the terms of the settlement, the governor's administration can no longer place pandemic restrictions on houses of worship.
  Pray for state and local officials to seek God's direction as they create policies that impact churches and houses of worship.
  A retired Tennessee police office and father of an active-duty Air Force serviceman said he wanted an American flag for his birthday. He is severely limited due to Parkinson's disease, so he posted a request for a power screwdriver on the community's Nextdoor app. To his surprise, while he was at a doctor's appointment, an anonymous neighbor installed his flagpole. Another one dropped by shortly after and raised the flag. "I cannot tell you what that meant to me," he said. "It's nice to know that in this day and time that there's still the Tennessee tradition of volunteering."
  Pray that the spirit of volunteering would be seen among Christ-followers in America, particularly as neighbor assists neighbor.
  Florida is the first state to have a law aimed at curbing Big Tech censorship and give citizens the ability to punish Silicon Valley companies for engaging in partisan de-platforming. In signing the law, Governor DeSantis said, "Many in our state have experienced censorship and other tyrannical behavior firsthand in Cuba and Venezuela. If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable."
  A federal judge refused CNN's motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by legal scholar Alan Dershowitz over the network's coverage of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial. Dershowitz has alleged the network provided an edited version of his remarks and a misleading narrative about his views that damaged his reputation as a scholar, and he is seeking $300 million in damages.
  Pray for God's truth to be revealed and for any bias or dishonesty to be uncovered and made known.
  A high school valedictorian in Michigan was recently told by her principal to scrub all references to God from her graduation address. The decision was then reversed by the superintendent's office in order to protect freedom of speech. In a text she had submitted to the principal, she said, "For me, my future hope is found in my relationship with Christ. By trusting in him and choosing to live a life dedicated to bringing his kingdom glory, I can be confident that I am living a life with purpose and meaning. My identity is found by what God says and who I want to become is laid out in scripture."
  Pray for teachers, students, and others in education who are standing for their faith in God and speaking up.
  The Senate delayed a vote on legislation aimed at helping the U.S. maintain its lead in technology after several lawmakers argued that the bill was being rushed through without full debate. The bill addresses the rising competition from China and is now scheduled for a vote on June 8 after lawmakers return from their Memorial Day recess.
  Pray that the senators will be given an opportunity for debate on the bill dealing with U.S. technology.
  The Wisconsin state legislative Assembly Speaker said he is "hiring three former police officers to lead the legislative investigation" into actions taken by outside nonprofit groups during Wisconsin's election last fall. Reports point to outside nonprofit groups using grant money to gain access to election operations in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Racine, and Kenosha.
  Legislators in Illinois approved a bill prohibiting law enforcement officers from using deception tactics while targeting minors. Advocates have long argued that juvenile suspects are especially vulnerable to making false confessions. This is the first legislation of its kind in the U.S., although others have introduced similar bills. The legislation is headed to the governor who is expected to sign it.
  Pray for state legislators who are dealing with many issues involving police reform.
  "Divisions are both real and necessary… the goal here is to be on the right side of the fault line when the catastrophe comes. In the meantime, we must love. I do not mean that we must accept the world's faulty, emasculated, unbiblical version of love—the version that sees any disagreement or confrontation as inherently unloving. No, we must love each other with a tenacious, biblical, Christlike love. … I know it is hard. I don't like losing friends, being called names, or being ousted from platforms any more than you do. However, you and I must love the truth more than we love our friends, our reputations, or our platforms." – Voddie Baucham, Pastor of Preaching, Grace Family Baptist Church, Spring, Texas