Tennessee governor signs bill calling for 30 days of prayer and fasting in July

Tennessee House Joint Resolution 0803 asks the people of the state “to seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee.”

A letter signed by Tennessee state Senator Mark Pidy and Representative Monty Fritts accompanying the resolution invites “those who are physically able and spiritually inclined to do so to join in a 30-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting for the month of July as a means of humbling ourselves to receive God’s grace, mercy, and blessing in Tennessee and in our Nation.”

“We are respectfully inviting you to join with us in leading the people of God across Tennessee into a time of humbling ourselves, praying, seeking God’s Face, and repentance during July,” explain Pidy and Fritts.

The language of the legislators is reminiscent of 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

They ask that the resolution be read during church services across the state on Sunday, June 30, and for congregants to:

• “Examine our lives in light of God’s Word and confess of our sins,”
• “Acknowledge that we, as the Church, have failed to stand for the principles of God, ask for His Forgiveness and Mercy, and commit to stand firmly on those principles going forward,”
• “For those who are able, join in prayer and intermittent fasting as a means of demonstrating our desire for repentance.”

The resolution begins by acknowledging the many ways that the “State and Nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by our citizens” and “non-citizens.”

The people of Tennessee are called to repent and pray because “human trafficking is an unacceptable and violent evil in our State, enslaving lives and violating the core values of our Creator-endowed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The resolution goes on to acknowledge that drug addiction overwhelms Tennessee families and the state’s finances, especially fentanyl.

A RESOLUTION to seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee.

WHEREAS, our State and Nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by our citizens; and 

WHEREAS, our State and Nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by non-citizens; and

WHEREAS, acts of violent crime in our schools are unacceptable; and

WHEREAS, human trafficking is an unacceptable and violent evil in our State, enslaving lives and violating the core values of our Creator-endowed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and

WHEREAS, drug addiction overwhelms our families, our government finances, our workforce productivity, as well as our healthcare and our law enforcement resources; and

WHEREAS, deadly fentanyl flows uncontrollably across our southern U.S. border resulting in the deaths of Tennesseans; and

WHEREAS, Driving Under the Influence, drunk driving, results in great pain and injury for Tennessee families; and

WHEREAS, we have approximately 9,000 children in need of foster care, indicating a brokenness in many Tennessee homes; and

WHEREAS, evidence of corruption in our federal government stands to impact every Tennessean; and

WHEREAS, our National and State Founders trusted in the omnipotent hand of Providence to guide and bless our land; and

WHEREAS, over decades, these leaders called our people to seek out the Creator’s favor by issuing proclamations like the one from John Adams on April 15, 1799: 

[This day] be observed throughout the United States of America as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that the citizens on that day abstain, as far as may be, from their secular occupation, and devote the time to the sacred duties of religion, in public and in private; that they call to mind our numerous offenses against the most high God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore his pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgressions, and that through the grace of His Holy Spirit, we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience to his righteous requisitions in time to come; that He would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety and licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to Himself and so ruinous to mankind; that He would make us deeply sensible that “righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” [Proverbs 14:34]; and

WHEREAS, we hold that our Founders correctly acknowledged Truth in their words; and

WHEREAS, we hold that “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1); now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE CONCURRING, that the period of July 1, 2024, through July 31, 2024, be recognized as a time of prayer and fasting in Tennessee.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we recognize that God, as Creator and King of all Glory, has both the authority to judge and to bless nations or states.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we, as public servants in the Tennessee General Assembly, seek God’s Mercy upon our land and beseech Him to not withdraw His Hand of blessing from us.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we recognize our sins and shortcomings before Him and humbly ask His Forgiveness.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we ask the Lord Jesus to heal our land and remove the violence, human-trafficking, addiction, and corruption.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we ask that the Holy Spirit fill our halls of government, our classrooms, our places of business, our churches, and our homes with peace, love, and joy.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call upon all those who are physically able and spiritually inclined to do so to join in a thirty-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting as we begin a new fiscal year as a means of seeking God’s blessing and humbling ourselves to receive His Grace and Mercy, transforming ourselves, our communities, our State, and our Nation.

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