[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 7639]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Today's opening prayer will be offered by 
Rev. Harold D. Mathena from Oklahoma City, OK.
  The guest Chaplain offered the following prayer:
  Our Father in Heaven, we bow before You in Jesus's Name to ask Your 
blessing upon this place, to ask Your blessing upon His people. What a 
joy it is to have access to the throne of God and be able to intervene 
on behalf of these.
  We trust, Lord, in Jesus's Name that You would give Godly wisdom and 
discernment to the men and women who serve in this place. We ask You to 
give them an unusual power and ability to perform and to do the things 
that are pleasing to You.
  We pray, Lord, that You sanctify every person in this room to 
salvation, that You would enlighten us, enable us to comprehend and 
know better the mind and heart of God.
  Lord, we pray that You would convince us of our sin, of 
righteousness, and of judgment to come. We pray, Lord, that You would 
draw an imaginary circle--if we could do that--about this room and that 
You would get in this circle with us, empowering us and enabling us, 
equipping us, if You will, to do the work that You called us to do. 
This certainly isn't a difficult job; it is an impossible job, apart 
from Divine wisdom, Godly wisdom.
  I trust, Lord, even now, that every person who is responsible for the 
leadership of this Nation would be under the guise and under the 
leadership of God. We thank You so much for all the blessings of life 
and for Your goodness to us.
  I pray, Lord, even now that You will continue to bless America. In 
Jesus's Name we pray. Amen.

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