U.S. Senate Chaplain Dr. Barry Black full remarks at National Prayer Breakfast (C-SPAN)

the c-span networks bring you long-form public affairs programming from the nation's capital and are a public service of your television provider c-span created by cable president Trump vice president hence heads of state members of Congress speakers of Parliament visiting clergy my father's children as I listened to that beautiful rendition of I can only imagine I found myself distracted from imagining that one day I could sing like that the Bible says thou shalt not covet and you have caused me to transgress the law of God today I don't get upset with people who sing well I wish however they didn't make it look so easy I want to talk about making your voice heard in heaven as has already been stated our lawmakers get together each week for a prayer breakfast one of the things that really inspires me about that prayer breakfast is the closing prayer when they stand and join hands and they pray together to see Republican Democrat independent praying together I find myself thinking where are the c-span cameras when you need them Hey one senator observed as some of you may have heard it's difficult to pray like that and then leave that room and go to the upper chamber and figuratively stab one of your colleagues in the back the senator quickly added it's not impossible but it is difficult fewer of you may know that the next day in one of the hideaways senators from both sides of the aisle meet for a Bible study the Bible study begins and ends with a prayer again both sides of the aisle praying with and for one another some of you may not know that every Wednesday the Chiefs of Staff get together for a Bible study that begins and ends with a prayer some of you may not know that every Friday more than a hundred staffers capital police officers janitors waiters waitresses come together for a Bible study and that Bible study begins and ends with a prayer Paul headed right in Philippians 4 22 there are Saints in Caesars household and I am encouraged by the robust spirituality of so many who work on Capitol Hill we have senators who are under the radar but ordained ministers I won't out any of them right at this time we also have senators whose spirituality Dwarfs my own and so we need to come together and realize that when we pray we are making our voice our voices heard in heaven I believe they gather because of that now we work at making our voices heard on earth we march we lift placards were involved in social media we blog we've got Lincoln and we've got Google and YouTube and all the ways that we try to make our voices heard on earth but when I see a group of people of faith of this size I get an adrenaline rush because I know that where two or three are gathered together in God's name he is there in the mid so what happens when we get this many people gathered together in his name I feel the palpable presence of God in this place and far more important than letting our voices be heard on earth is the opportunity to make our voices heard in heaven now I know that there are those who say that the efficacy of prayer does not go beyond the interior life of the intercessor prayer doesn't change anything but I agree with Tennyson that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of I also believe that when we pray Humanity cooperates with divinity my friends there are things we will never get except by request only there are blessings that hang on silken cords that we will never receive except by request only James chapter 4 verse 2 says you have not because you ask not in mark chapter 6 Jesus went to his hometown and Jesus had already said a prophet has honour everywhere except in his home in his hometown he got there and the people were skeptical it said isn't this the plot the isn't this the carpenter's son where did he get this wisdom and those so called mighty works and one of the most startling Bible verses I know Mark chapter 6 verse 6 says and Jesus could not do many mighty works there in his hometown because of their unbelief not would not could not do many mighty works because their unbelief in Matthew chapter 17 the disciples made an abortive attempt to cast out a demon from a boy they were unsuccessful of course and when they got Jesus privately got him somewhere privately they asked him why couldn't we cast out the demons and Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 because of your unbelief because if you had safe the size of the grain of a mustard seed you would be able praise God to move mountains my friends when we make our voices heard in heaven it makes a palpable difference so how do we do it mr. president you may be familiar with this scripture because it was read at your inauguration but it is so spot-on first Timothy chapter 2 1 through 4 New Living Translation I urge you said the tent maker from Tarsus to his protege first of all to pray for all people ask God to help them we need to pray for everyone all people whether they read the Bhagavad Gita whether they read the daodejing whether they read the Holy Quran we need to pray for all people hallelujah to the lamb of God ask God to help them intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity [Music] this is good and pleases God our Savior who wants here this who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth praise God one word for those who want to make their voices heard in heaven so how do we do this first of all we pray from a sense of need I used to have about 45 seconds worth of prayer material until I became a parent my son is here today then you got plenty of prayer material praise God you pray out of a sense of need my friends God wants us to pray when we need him even as a parent wants to be with a child who needs him or her the Bible says in the fiftieth song verse 15 call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you in Philippians 4 6 and 7 the Bible says have no anxiety about anything but pray about everything with Thanksgiving we pray out of a sense of need once international bestseller Bruce Wilkinson's book the prayer of Jabez what a wonderful story 1st chronicles chapter 4 9 and 10 the Bible says of this jay-bez fella who prayed a powerful prayer he made his voice heard in heaven it says jay-bez more honorable than his brothers and his mother named him jay-bez because she said I bore him with sorrow now imagine having your given name sorrowful imagine being introduced you know senator I'd like you to meet chaplain sorrowful black I mean imagine the pushback that you would get ladies and gentlemen our speaker sorrowful black I mean it just said and jay-bez says verse 10 praise God called upon the sovereign God out of a sense of need he said I love this prayer he said oh that you would bless me indeed because every blessing is not a blessing indeed in in South Carolina where my mother came from and grew up they used to talk about I sho'nuff blessing that's a blessing indeed I hope the translators won't have a problem with that but we'll we'll help you out alright and jay-bez said jay-bez says I want you to enlarge my territory you see you have not because you ask not and then I love it he says I want you to keep your hand on me o my friends just to have God's hand on us we ought to pray that God's hand will be on our president I was talking with the vice president backstage and I said I'm praying that the hand of God will be on you Ezekiel 37 says the hand of the Lord was upon me we need people who govern who had the hand of God on them and then he said I want you to keep me from evil that it will not grieve me my friends God is no respecter of persons Acts chapter 10 verse 34 if he did it for jay-bez he will do it for you and he will do it for me so pray out of a sense of need secondly pray with intimacy jesus said to his disciples in John 15:16 I no longer call you servants I call you my friends God wants a relationship with us jesus said again and his wonderful intercessory prayer in John chapter 17 verse 1 says he lifted his eyes to heaven and said father the hour has come glorify your son that your son also might glorify you as you have given him power to give to as many as would receive him eternal life and verse 3 of John 17 this is life eternal that they might know you Abba daddy and Jesus Christ whom you have sent my oldest son is in the audience and one of my pet peeves is he calls and when he calls he says hello dad this is Barry really I mean I've got caller ID and he's got to identify himself if I get a call that says hello darling I should not respond who is this God wants an intimacy with us and so in my tradition we sing a hymn that I love I come to The Garden alone someone knows this hymn while the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear falling on my ears the Son of God discloses and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me Barry you belong to me and the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known pray with into me intimacy pray like Hannah in First Samuel chapter 1 when she wanted that baby she prayed with such specificity and such intimacy in such fervency that Eli the priest thought she was unenumerated we need to pray with that passion and phurba finally pray for those who govern praise the Lord pray for those who govern pray this way for kings and for all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity we fasted and prayed for months during the presidential election the presidential primary we fasted and prayed hundreds of us on Capitol Hill that the will of God might be done isaiah 55:8 9 god says my thoughts are not your thoughts my ways are not your ways newsflash God God is smarter than we are I know that startled some of you [Applause] one of the most startling verses in the Bible for me is Daniel chapter 1 verse 1 it says and God gave Jehovah Kim the king of Judah good guy into the hands of delivered him into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar now you remember brother Nebuchadnezzar was the guy who said to Shadrach Meshach and Abednego heat the furnace seven times hotter than it is right now God delivered Jehovah Kim into the hands of never kanessa now Nebuchadnezzar had a dream he couldn't remember the dream and he said since you wise men can't remember the dream I tell you what I'm gonna do I'm gonna kill you and kill the members of your family and make your home's dung Hills and Daniel and his friends step forward you remember Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego okay they got together hey that's right there are african-americans in the old yet now some of you'll get that on the way home but anyhow huh Shadrach Meshach and Abednego I just want to make sure you still with me okay and they prayed for King Nebuchadnezzar whom Jeremiah 27 6 God calls never kanessa my servant nebuchadnezzar proverbs 21 1 says the heart of the king is in God's hand and he turns it any way he desires he gave Pharaoh a dream of fat cows and thin cows in order to make Egypt the breadbasket of the world and Daniel walked out to Nebuchadnezzar and said we've been praying for you God has given us what you dreamed and the interpretation of the dream we must pray for those who govern and make our voices heard in heaven I grew up in Baltimore Maryland in fact I grew up in Freddie Gray's neighborhood yeah you remember that my mother had a fourth-grade education the daughter of a sharecropper an activity that Martin King called a new form of slavery covered up with certain niceties of complexity so I grew up about 30 miles from Washington DC I did not shake hands with a white person until I was 16 years old okay no white people in my church no white people in my neighborhood no white people in my school my mother motivated my siblings and me to study the Word of God she provided us with a monetary incentive five cents for every verse you memorized so if you would enter our domicile you would find my siblings and me searching the Word of God for short Bible verses I know every short Bible verse in the book okay my favorite bible verse is not John 3:16 it is John 11:35 jesus wept powerful verse powerful ver I love Luke 1732 remember Lot's wife powerful verb powerful birth first Thessalonians 5 is a treasure trove quench not the spirit rejoice evermore in everything give thanks despise not prophesy in fact I was I was doing my riff on 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 and my mother put me on a flat-rate she said hold it hold it hold it I don't care how much you memorize you only gonna get a quarter okay all right but my mother knew what she was doing one day I memorized first Peter 1:18 and 19 I was only 10 years of age it says and we are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and even at 10 I had sufficient analytical skills to know that the value of an object is based upon the price someone is willing to pay and when it dawned on me little little guy in the inner city that God sent what John 3 calls in the Greek the mono Ganesh the only one of its kind his only begotten Son to die for me no one was ever able to make me feel inferior again moreover moreover I discuss I said I got to get to know this man who died for me so now it was not just for the nickels that I started reading the word it was to try to find this man and as I search the scriptures it was like a movie with the man with no name I kept finding him and in Genesis he Shiloh in Exodus he's the I am and numbers he's the star in cept I in Deuteronomy he's the rock it in intra Samuel he's the Lord of Hosts and job he is the Redeemer in Psalms he is the great Shepherd in proverbs he is the beloved I kept running into that man and Isaiah he's wonderful counselor the mighty God the everlasting father the Prince of Peace and Daniel he's the fourth man in the fiery furnace in Micah he is the one who's going forth of old is from everlasting to everlasting in Zachariah he is the branch in Malachi he is the messenger of the Covenant Matthew calls him Savior mark calls him Son of Man Luke calls him the Great Physician John calls him the Word made flesh ax says he is the one who will mobilize us to witness Philippians says God has exalted him so that at his name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father first Thessalonians says he is the one who will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God and Jude says he's able to keep me without stumbling or slipping and present me without fault without blemish before the presence of his glory with unspeakable aesthetic delight in triumph and joy and exaltation and John said I was in the spirit on the Lord's day on that isle of patmos in the Aegean Sea I saw him high and lifted up he is Alpha he's Omega he is beginning he is ending and so because I kept meeting that man my hope does not rest in the various branches of government executive legislative or judicial my hope does not rest in the Alliance's that we build my testimony is simply this my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus's name on Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand all other ground is sinking sand god bless you you

Channel: C-SPAN

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Keywords: Barry Black, Senate, National Prayer Breakfast, C-SPAN, CSPAN

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Length: 26min 37sec (1597 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 02 2017