Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on 4/4/1968. A few days later, Democratic Senator from MI, John Conyers, presented the idea of a day to commemorate this leader of the modern-day civil rights movement. “Conyers would persist year after year, Congress after Congress, in introducing the same bill again and again, gathering co-sponsors along the way, until his persistence finally paid off,” writes historian Don Wolfensberger. Finally, in the 1980’s, a petition with over 6 million signatures, a song by Stevie Wonder, and a 20-year anniversary of Civil Rights Movement Veterans gathering at the Washington Monument, in Washington, DC, finally garnered enough attention. It was brought up in Congress again. It passed and President Ronald Reagan signed it into law. It wasn’t until the year 2000 that every state in the Union finally observed the federal holiday, and even then, only with some strange compromises. We aren’t quite there yet.1

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10; ESV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

  • Thank God for men like Dr. King and other Civil Rights Movement participants for their work to end racism in the United States.
  • Ask God to take the Civil Rights Movement another step forward in this generation, as we are not there yet.
  • Decide to be a part of the Lord’s strategy to heal America.
  • Decide to be persistent in asking God to end racism in this nation. Intercede whenever He encourages you to. Make a difference daily.

A prayer you can pray:

God, I thank you for all those brave men and women, such as Dr. King, who have helped our nation break free of the racist sins of the past. Thank you for their persistence. Thank you for a day like today to celebrate and remember their struggles. I want to be a part of ending racism in America. Grace me to join the battle in intercession, as well as in interaction on a daily basis. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Today’s decree:

I decree that the persistence of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will be multiplied in the United States until racism is vanquished.

Learn more about the Martin Luther King, Jr., federal holiday here.