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 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.
We ask this 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 six 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
can again, truly be called:
