[Page S1465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Today, the opening prayer will be offered 
by Pastor Brad Graves, senior pastor of First Baptist Church from Ada, 
OK.
  The guest Pastor offered the following prayer:
  I want to thank you for this opportunity to pray. In front of you 
today is the vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. As the 
senior pastor of the First Baptist Church, as a father, a husband, a 
grandfather, but most importantly, as a follower of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, let us pray together.
  Father God of Heaven, we come to You today in the Name of Your one 
and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
  Countless men and women of faith in You have walked these halls over 
the last two-plus centuries. Ever since the setting of its cornerstone 
in 1793, this building has stood as a place not just of legislation but 
of morality and nobility. It has been a building that the nations of 
the world look toward with bated breath to learn what the United States 
of America would do, how they would respond to crises in our world, and 
how they would assist those in need.
  Our own citizens have looked to this building, wondering with hope 
and prayers that the laws and decisions made in this room and in this 
building would better their lives, would protect their families, and 
would enable their God-given freedoms, and this day is no different.
  This day, March 4, 2025, is no different than any other day. We may 
not be at war, we may not be on the cusp of social crisis, but the 
world is watching our next move, and our citizens need God-fearing 
leadership.
  So now, before the gavel is struck, before the arguments are made, 
before the debate begins, we beg You, God, for mercy on our Nation. 
God, be patient with us.
  We ask for Your grace on our leadership. Lord, they carry a heavy 
burden for which they will stand in account someday.
  We ask for the love of God to be displayed through our actions as a 
nation because we are called by Your Name, one Nation under God.
  I have been praying for every man and woman in this Senate Chamber to 
come to know the love of God. I pray that every family represented in 
this room would experience the love of God. I pray for every American 
citizen to understand the depth of God's love for them.
  So, God of Heaven, I claim the Scripture that love ``bears all 
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.'' I 
claim the Scripture that ``everyone will know that you are [their] 
disciples, if [they] love one another.'' And I most certainly claim the 
Scripture that is so familiar to every one of us, that ``God so loved 
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in 
him will not perish but have everlasting life.''
  Guide these men and women today, dear God, by Your unending, 
overwhelming love, to do Your will and to follow Your ways and to 
especially protect the lives of the most vulnerable, to create 
legislation that supports families and morality and that shows the 
watching world the love of Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven.
  I ask these things in the Name of my Lord, my Savior, and my 
returning King, Jesus Christ.
  And all God's people across the Nation say amen and amen.

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