Show Me Your Glory, Lord

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

"For the sake of Your Word and according to Your will, You have done this great thing and made it known to Your servant[s].  How great You are, O Sovereign Lord!  There is no one like You...."
2 Samuel 7:21-22

To God alone be all the glory for the great things He has done in the state of Missouri!  The "Show-Me State" has demonstrated what it looks like when God's people humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways....

For 40 days this spring, hundreds of people prayed for the state's government leaders who were faced with a critical budget crisis - needing to trim millions of dollars in order to deliver a legally-mandated, balanced budget to Governor "Jay" Nixon by May 7th.  The 40-Days of Prayer were kicked off on March 29 in the Capitol Rotunda, with a message from Anne Graham Lotz - part of an interdenominational, non-partisan Sacred Assembly that also included prayer throughout the Capitol grounds.

God answered the 40 Days of Prayer, giving the leadership:

• Wisdom to find the necessary cuts, while minimizing the difficult impact on those in need
• Humility and unity across party lines as the grueling deliberation took place
• Strength and stamina for the long hours required to finish the complex budget process

Praise God!  Praise God!

• His eyes were open to the needs of all affected by the budget decisions!
• His ears were attentive to the prayers offered on Missouri's behalf!
• His heart poured out to all who sought His face, turned from their wicked ways and had spirits ready to receive His forgiveness!

As a result, the budget was balanced, agreed upon by both Senate and House - eight days ahead of the deadline!

These comments from the Budget Chairmen of the House and Senate testify to the power of the prayers offered up:

"This is my fifth year to serve as chairman of the House Budget Committee.  I have been chairman in good times and now bad times so I think I Have seen just about everything possible.  I, for one, appreciate just knowing that there were people praying for me and for others on a daily basis - it always gives you that underlying reassurance.  We always seek God's guidance just because of the difficulty and complexity of what we do with the state budget, but knowing that there are people around the state that were actively praying and aware of the situation we faced gave some level of comfort knowing that it is very possible that through God's direction and guidance we would make the right decision.

As it turns out, we finished the budget eight days early - which, in my five years has never happened!  That, in and of itself, is a miracle!  I talked to some people who have been in the building for over 30 years - they can never remember a situation like this - especially given the potentially contentious nature of having to cut budgets."

--Representative Allen Icet, House Budget Chairman

"God is always faithful and I don't know why we doubt Him but if you know that you're within His will, and you're doing things that He wants you to do, He's going to empower you and give you the resources and place people in your lives to get that goal accomplished.  And He did that.  And I know it was through the prayers of thousands of Missourians that sustained me and enabled me to lead the budget process along with Chairman Icet and the House and craft a budget that was done eight days early.  Praise goes to the Lord for that."

--Senator Rob Mayer, Senate Budget Chairman

And the following testimony gives insight into the very personal blessing these prayers have been to those intimately involved in the process:

"As a Missouri citizen, a wife of a Missouri State Representative, and as a fellow Christian, I would like to thank you for all that you have done.  The Prayer Event at the State Capitol was one of the most awesome days of my life...I could do nothing that day but cry tears of Glory because of the blessings that were poured out that day!  To hear HUNDREDS of people singing Amazing Grace in the Capitol Rotunda.  To hear Anne speak.  To hear her along with other wonderful prayer partners praying for our State and for our Legislators.  It was amazing and I could not help but cry tears of joy to know that the presence of Jesus our Savior was there in that place and to feel his presence.  Thank you for the website and for the daily devotionals.  It made it so much easier to know how to pray for our State, but more importantly, it showed us Jesus." 

Praise God from whom all of these blessings have flowed!!! 

Let the people rejoice!  For the glory of His name!

Though the official 40 Days of Prayer for the state budget crisis have triumphantly concluded, there are other needs in Missouri.  For those of you who would like to continue interceding on behalf of the state leaders, you may click here to go to The Capitol Commission's website and print a downloadable Prayer Calendar.  Please send an email to moprayerteam@gmail.com to sign up.

Click the link below to listen to the message Anne delivered in the Capitol Rotunda to kick off the 40 Days of Prayer: 

Listen to Anne's Message in full (45:44)

Please note: It may take a few minutes to download the audio to your computer and begin playing.  Thank you for your patience.