Glen's Quotes Db (3184 total)

Pastor Joe Wright of Kansas was asked to lead the Kansas State Senate in
prayer. They were expecting the usual formal prayer to open the session
but that is not what happened. The pastor used the moment as a
confessional and prophetic opportunity. As he prayed there were some
senators who got up and walked out. When Paul Harvey (a national known
radio news and editorialist) got a hold of the prayer and read it on his
program he got more requests for copies of it than any other thing he
had ever done.

Here's what Rev. Wright the prayed:

"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's exactly what we have done. We have
lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted 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 multi-culturalism.
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 a 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 neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and called it freedom of
expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called
it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be
some wicked way in us; 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 Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the
center of Your will....Amen."

The stockbroker received notice from the IRS that he was being audited. He showed up at the appointed time and place with all his financial records, then sat for what seemed like hours as the accountant pored over them.

Finally the IRS agent looked up and commented, "You must have been a tremendous fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."

"Why would you say that?" wondered the broker.

"Because you've made more brilliant deductions on your last three returns than Sherlock Holmes made in his entire career."

Pray Together, Stay Together?

Want a marriage that lasts? Dust off your hymnal. A 15-year study found that couples who went to church once a month were less than half as likely to divorce than non-churchgoers. In the study, 37 percent of those who rarely attended church divorced, while only 14 percent of regular churchgoers parted company.

Researchers James P. Swyers and David B. Larson of the International Center for the Integration of Health & Spirituality found faith had "a strong, beneficial influence on the stability and quality of marriages. Spouses who attend church regularly have the lowest risk of divorce." But if one attends church much more than the other, the marriage is less likely to endure.

Swyers and Larson say churchgoers solve problems more constructively
than church-skippers who are more prone to verbal aggression and
stonewalling. And it doesn't hurt that religious couples see their marriage "as having sacred, spiritual significance." Whether they were of the same denomination didn't seem to matter.

Prayer played a big role: 53 percent of those who prayed about conflicts reported good marital adjustment, compared with 17 percent who didn't seek divine help.

So to shore up your marriage, you may have to cancel Sunday brunch!

If I die, I forgive you. If I recover, we shall see.