By Allen Palmeri
Associate Editor
JEFFERSON CITY—The lawmaker-sanctioned “Show Me Your Glory Lord!” prayer emphasis for a balanced state budget kicked off March 29 with Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of Billy Graham, speaking in a packed State Capitol Rotunda before a vocal crowd of at least 800 people.
A total of 736 received free copies of the The Journey to Wholeness and Holiness, a book written by Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Prayer and Spiritual Awakening Specialist Bob Loggins to be used as a prayer guide.
Hosts for the event were Bott Radio Network, National Day of Prayer, and the MBC. The bipartisan 40-day prayer initiative will continue to revolve around times of fasting and prayer right on up to May 7, the date when a balanced budget must be completed. Lawmakers are staring at hundreds of millions of dollars in budget shortfalls, which means cuts.
“We’re asking for a future for the children of Missouri,” said MBC Executive Director David Tolliver in remarks that prefaced his March 29 invocation. Tolliver proceeded to pray in a manner where he welcomed God’s presence in the Capitol and asked for believers to experience His power.
Lotz, founder of AnGel Ministries of Raleigh, N.C. which seeks to give out messages of Biblical exposition through her speaking, tapes and books, is inviting all of her Internet friends around the world to join her in 40 days of prayer for revival in Missouri. To register go to www.annegrahamlotz.com.
She flew in to remind Missouri’s prayer force that Jesus is in charge. Her message was punctuated by a woman blowing several blasts on a shofar, which is a ram’s horn formerly used as a signaling trumpet by the Jews in battle. Lotz, who has been holding revivals for women in sports arenas in over 30 cities all over the world, often delivered her words in the fiery manner of her father in the 1950s.
“When it looks like the world is unraveling, it’s just falling into place at the feet of Jesus,” Lotz said.
Her trip to Jefferson City came about due to the bipartisan invitation of Missouri state senators and representatives through their appointed leaders for 40 days of prayer and fasting for fiscal responsibility and the avoidance of administering unnecessary pain through cuts that will need to be made.
The rallying cry for “Show Me Your Glory Lord!” was uttered by Bott Radio Network President Rich Bott, who read Joel 1:14—“Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.”
Toward the end of the kickoff event, Lotz deployed the hundreds who were seated and standing in the Rotunda area into groups of 4-6 for the purpose of seeking the favor of God. She noted that all have sinned, which means both Republicans and Democrats, presidents and paupers. All have fallen short.
“Jesus said that when you pray in His name, God will hear your prayer, answer your prayer—listen to me, Jesus said so!” Lotz said. “What Jesus says is so. No one has higher authority.”
One of the prayer warriors in one of the groups prayed for the federal government to recognize that “we are a people under God, and we will vote that way, we will pray that way, and we will live that way so that we can be a beacon to this whole world.”
Latter House Kingdom Ministries of Columbia contributed musically by having a soloist sing “God Bless America” and “Amazing Grace” as well as having a band perform stirring kingdom songs outside on the front steps of the State Capitol so that prayer participants knew they were leaving the building blessed.
Harold Hendrick, member, First Baptist Church, Ferguson, and a longtime Bott Radio personality in St. Louis, served as the master of ceremony.
Tolliver enjoyed being in the middle of a battalion of intercessors.
“Anytime that God’s people come together to pray, that’s a good thing,” he said. “This event today and the whole emphasis of 40 days of prayer and fasting really is just us doing what we said we would do in January. For the last six years we’ve been doing the prayer breakfast for the legislators. We’ve been promising we’re praying for them. That’s just what we’re doing.”