I need to pray for America like this...

I received the following prayer in an email this morning. It has been attributed to Rev. Billy Graham and Paul Harvey. However, this prayer burst into the consciousness of American in 1996 when Rev. Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate. It is not entirely all of his own crafting but rather a version of Bob Russell’s prayer offered at the 1995 Kentucky Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Frankfort. Although, I do not believe Bob Russell’s version drew the attention or the actions that Joe Wright’s version did. I will have to say I have read both versions and we need more prayers like this today.

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 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. Amen! “

The response was immediate, one legislator walked out during the prayer in protest. Another legislator admonished Rev. Wright and the conservatives as being intolerant. Rev. Wright was unaware of the controversy that he caused until his secretary called him on his car phone asking “What did you do?” Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged over 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church received international requests for copies of this prayer.