Prayer -
Minister Joe Wright, before Kansas Senate
Thought you might enjoy this
interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate.
It seems prayer still upsets some people.
When Minister Joe Wright was
asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the
usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
"Heavenly Father, we
come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and
guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good"
but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual
equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that.
"We have ridiculed the
absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism; We have worshipped other
gods and called it multiculturalism; We have endorsed perversion and called it
alternative lifestyle; We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery;
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare; We have killed our unborn and
called it choice; We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable; We have
neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem; We
have abused power and called it politics; We have coveted our neighbor's
possessions and called it ambition; We have polluted the air with profanity
and pornography and called it freedom of expression; We have ridiculed the
time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
"Search us, Oh, God, and
know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and
bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of
Your will, to open ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen"
The response was immediate. A
number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In short weeks,
Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000
phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.
The church is now receiving
international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.
Commentator Paul Harvey aired
this prayer on "The Rest of the Story" on the radio and received a
larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.
With the Lord's help, may this
prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we
again can be called one nation under God.
If possible, please pass this
prayer on to your friends.
"If you don't stand for
something, you'll fall for everything."
