JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ABP) — Just as Isaiah caught a fresh understanding of God in the face of adversity, God’s people in Missouri must catch a fresh vision as lawmakers wrestle with cuts
necessary to balance the state’s budget, according to evangelist Billy Graham's daughter.
Anne Graham Lotz speaks to an overflow crowd at the Missouri Capitol Rotunda March 29 at a prayer rally to kick off 40 days of prayer and fasting for Show-Me State lawmakers as they face finding ways to trim $500 million from Missouri's budget.
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Anne Graham Lotz called the state's Christians to prayer, sacrifice and an attempt to understand Christ's provision and the needs left unmet as the state faces a massive financial crisis during a March 29 appearance at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City.
Lotz was the featured speaker at a prayer rally after state legislators, struggling to bridge a $500 million budget gap, had called on spiritual leaders to pray over the state’s financial woes.
Some legislators approached registered lobbyist and Missouri Family Network president Kerry Messer, a longtime Missouri Baptist, and Sue Stoltz, Midwest national area leader for the National Day of Prayer, to organize 40 days of prayer and fasting.
The noon prayer service in the building's rotunda kicked off “Show Me Your Glory, Lord,” followed by prayer-walking around the complex. Constituents also prayed with their respective lawmakers. The 40-days-of-prayer emphasis is slated to end on May 7, the day the budget is due.
Billed as a non-partisan, non-political event, the prayer focus drew a standing-room only crowd, with onlookers watching from both rotunda galleries, as well as lining the steps.
Using Isaiah 6 as her primary text, Lotz asked listeners if they had ever slept through their alarm. “An alarm is meant to wake us up,” she said. “I believe alarms are going off in our world.”
She pointed to the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center bombing, Hurricane Katrina, record weather events and the world economic meltdown as alarms. “It’s time to look up and ask God…, ‘What do you want to tell me?’” she said.
Christians must capture a fresh sense of Jesus’ power, Lotz emphasized. “What causes you to doubt that Jesus is in control?” she asked.
Jesus is the power even to solve the financial crisis. “Look up and seek God and ask for his wisdom … even when we are where we are and it’s our own fault… By his grace he will help us out of it,” she said.
Isaiah described how the Lord’s train filled the temple. Believers must be filled with Jesus to impact the state, the nation and the world. “The church is you and me…. What would it be like if all of us were filled with the presence of God?” Lotz asked. “I believe you and I hold the answer” to the world’s problems.
“In America, we’re so good at becoming a victim,” she said. “We blame somebody else for the mess we’re in…. Even with the economy … could it be our own greed?”
The “fundamental” problem in the nation is sin, she believes. She called on the believers present to examine their lives in the light of Christ, to recognize Christ as Isaiah did and then to repent of the sin God reveals.
“I wonder what would happen in this state if God’s people, who are called by his name, would humble themselves and pray and seek his face and turn from their wicked ways. We’ll never know until we do it,” Lotz said.
Groups of four to six people spend 20 minutes praying for Missouri lawmakers during a prayer rally March 29 for God's guidance to fill a $500 million gap in the state's budget.
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She broke the crowd into groups of four to six individuals for a 20-minute prayer time to pray specifically for Gov. Jay Nixon (D), Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (R), the state auditor and the chairs of the House and Senate budget committees.
Lotz has added a Missouri-specific page to her website where individuals can sign up for a daily e-mail prayer guide throughout the 40-day emphasis. Messer will provide updated information for the page.
The internationally known speaker believes that prayer will make a difference in the state’s financial crisis, she said in a short press conference following the rally.
When asked if prayer is the only answer, Lotz responded, “[Through prayer] I know that God can give us ideas that we couldn’t imagine…."
“[Prayer] is a way that God can take out the politics,” she added. Through prayer, the Lord can “impart wisdom to” legislators and direct them to make cuts “in the right places” and to “see new sources of revenue.”
When asked to name specific actions churches might do to assist, she reemphasized praying for state leaders. The body of Christ also must again function as God intended.
“People used to come to the church for help,” she noted. “But as the government has taken more responsibility, the church has backed off…. The church can pick up ways to help…. It’s what we should have been doing anyway.”
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Vicki Brown is associate editor of the Missouri Baptist Word & Way.