National Repentance - 1

The prayer of Daniel.

National Repentance - 2

When Pastor Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate (1996), everyone was expecting the usual politically correct generalities. But, what they heard instead was a stirring prayer, passionately calling our country to repentance and righteousness.

The response was immediate and a number of legislators walked out during the prayer. In six short weeks, the Central Christian Church (USA) had logged more than 5,000 phone calls, with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. Commentator Paul Harvey aired the prayer on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other program he has ever aired. The Central Christian Church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.

Pastor Joe's prayer is reprinted here as an encouragement and challenge for each of us to stand for the truth of the Gospel whenever the Lord gives us the opportunity.

The Prayer:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, 'Woe on those who call evil good', but that's exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that:

We 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 an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

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 political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbour'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-honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O 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 here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you to govern this great state. Grant them the wisdom to rule, and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen."

Pastor Joe Wright
Kansas Senate 1996

National Repentance - 3

"Father, why is the thing we need the most, the thing we do the least? Why are most of us so busy we don't have time? You must have many frustrated days when Your eyes roam to and fro throughout the earth in search of someone whose heart is completely Yours. You must weep often when You seek for a man or woman to stand in the gap to fill the breech and find no one. Your heart must ache at times for us, Your people, to rise up and be what You've called us to be.

We humble ourselves before Your throne and ask You to forgive us for our lack of prayer. And forgive us as leaders, Lord, who have not told Your people the truth. Forgive us as a church-the Body of Christ ­for allowing evil to rule in this land when You have more than more than enough power in our wombs to change it.

Forgive us, for it is not Your fault, that we have a generation marked X. It is not Your will that we kill the next generation before it takes its first breath. It is not Your plan that we still have not overcome the princi­pality of hatred that divides this land.

Forgive us, Lord. Cleanse us now and break the curses we have allowed to rule over us. Forgive us and cleanse us from the sin of apathy, complacency, igno­rance and unbelief. Wash us with the water of Your Word. Break off of us this lethargic prayerlessness, which we justify a thousand different ways. It really boils down to disobedience, unbelief and sin.

Father, please forgive us and deliver us. Set us free from being hearers of the Word only, and not doers. Give us homes and churches that are founded on the rock of obedience to Your Word. Rise up in Your people with the stubborn tenacity that Jesus had, that the Early Church walked in. Cause us to cast off everything that would oppose Your Spirit and move us into a realm that pays a price and lays hold of the kingdom of God.

Author: Dutch Sheets
Intercessory Prayer, page 211.