Around 5 a.m. Thursday, the 2016 Bible Reading Marathon on the square in downtown Troy officially concluded with the reading of Revelation 22:21, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

At that point, the Holy Bible had been read in its entirety, beginning with Genesis 1:1 at 6 p.m. on Sunday. However, holding with tradition, the Bible Reading Marathon continued with the reading of the New Testament until noon, the hour set for the National Day of Prayer service.

The Bible Reading Marathon and the National Day of Prayer Service are hosted annually by the Salem-Troy Baptist Association with all churches and all people invited to participate.

Special music was presented by Shelia Jackson to open and close the prayer service. The devotional was by the Rev. Luke Lane, pastor of First Baptist Church of Troy.

Lane chose Matthew 6:16-18 as his text for the National Day of Prayer devotional. He spoke to the gathering on the subject of fasting, not for physical purposes but for spiritual purposes – “about self-denial.”

“We fast for many reasons,” Lane said. “We fast as a way of confession of our sins, for sickness, for national deliverance, for leadership in church, for direction in decisions. We fast to get our hearts right with God.”

Lane said this nation needs to fast for revival, for a national awakening.

“There will not be an awakening in this nation until there is revival in our churches,” he said. “We should pray and fast for the lostness of our culture and that the church will be the change agent. We should pray and fast for the sanctity of life.”

Lane encouraged those who came to participate in a nationwide prayer service to pray for families, for the situation of marriage, for children to be disciples and elected officials to be followers of Christ.

He challenged those present to fast from television, phones, electronic devices, from the Internet and social media, from sports and 24-hour news – from all things that can become idols.

“Fasting will give you more time to spend with God,” he said. “More time for prayer, for reading God’s word, for worship and praise singing, for silence to sit before God and pray and read scriptures.”

The National Day of Prayer service concluded with the participants in prayer for the city and county, for the state and the nation and for peace and harmony in the world.

The Rev. Ken Baggett, Salem-Troy Baptist Association director of missions, and Donnie Dunn, mission and outreach director, expressed appreciation to all of those who read, prayed and volunteered during the Bible Reading Marathon and all who came to pray for the nation and its people on the National Day of Prayer.

“This town will never be the same because of the seeds of gospel there were planted in lives this week,” Dunn said.

“We are blessed to be able to come and read God’s Word publicly and pray publicly. There may be a time soon when we can’t do this. We must be faithful and obedient to God’s Word.”