[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 52 (Wednesday, May 4, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Reverend Richard C. Halverson, Jr., of Falls Church, VA, offered 
the following prayer:
  Let us pray:
  Almighty God, as the Nation prepares to enter into a solemn day of 
prayer tomorrow, we ask for the outpouring of the spirit of prayer upon 
the land, that our petitions may be acceptable in Thy sight.
  We know that our prayers are sometimes not heard or answered, for in 
times past, even when Your priests offered many sacrifices, 
supplications and services, You ``* * * sought for a man among them, 
that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before * * * the 
land * * * but * * * found none.''--Ezekiel 22:30.
  The psalmist declares, ``If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord 
will not hear me.''--Psalm 66:18.
  The apostles explain that, ``Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask 
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.''--James 4:3. Even one 
of our poets confesses, ``My words fly up, my thoughts remain below, 
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.''--Shakespeare, Hamlet, III, 
3.
  Therefore, we humbly ask Thee even for the ability to speak to Thee 
in faith and repentance, in unity and in the spirit, with perseverance 
and according to Thy will.
  In the name of Christ Jesus who ``ever liveth to make intercession 
for us.''--Hebrews 7:25. Amen.

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