Alabama legislators and other public officials heard a clear and direct message from Alabama Baptists Feb. 4 — “We are praying for you.”
“This year’s theme, ‘In God We Trust,’ is more than a motto,” said Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM).
“It is a message of our hearts,” he said. “We pray diligently not only for our nation but also for our state.”
Speaking during the annual Legislative Prayer Luncheon — held in Montgomery and cosponsored by the SBOM and the governor’s office — Lance assured the public officials they are prayed for daily.
Gov. Bob Riley said he depends on those prayers.
“I don’t want to miss an opportunity to ask you to help,” he told the estimated 550 in attendance. “This body of believers, we need to come collectively together for what we believe in.
“As a body of believers who believes in the power of prayer, if we come together we can reform this state and can restore the moral compass back to Alabama and this nation,” Riley said.
“It ultimately is up to us,” he explained. “We have to lean on each other. We have to be supportive of each other. Working together, we can focus that strength, and we can accomplish so many great things in God’s name.
“There is nothing we can’t achieve if we believe in the full sovereign power of God,” Riley said.
“The Bible tells us that when we pray, expect miracles,” he noted. “Continue to keep us in your prayers. Continue to keep the Senate and House in your prayers. Continue to ask God to guide us in everything we do, everything that we say and every deliberation we make for one purpose: to make this a better state and ultimately to glorify God in everything we do.”
Gary Hollingsworth, pastor of First Baptist Church, Trussville, delivered the keynote address during the luncheon.
Highlighting “What is right with America and what is right with our great state of Alabama,” Hollingsworth read Psalm 33:12–22: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. … We depend on the Lord alone to save us … protecting us like a shield. … Our hope is in You alone.”
Pointing out what is right with America and with the state, Hollingsworth noted four areas.
Providential foundation.
“Our founding fathers and mothers certainly had a wish that we would have freedom of religion,” he explained.
Personal freedom.
“Aren’t we grateful we don’t have anyone who sits upon us telling us what we can or can’t do?”
But with personal freedom comes personal responsibilities, he added.
“John 15:5 says, ‘Apart from God we can do nothing.’ There must be a strength greater than ourselves if indeed we are going to experience those personal freedoms.”
Public failures.
“I have learned a lot more from my failures than from my successes,” Hollingsworth said. “Our public failures can be a great part of our nation.”
Promised future.
“We don’t trust just in great military power and fantastic political prowess, but in the name of the Lord our God,” he said, pointing to 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people … will humble themselves and pray … then will I hear and heal their land.”
“We have to have a contrite and confessional heart, not a defensive and unrepentant heart. Then God has promised us a great future.
“Our Bible tells us that we are mandated, dictated and given the privilege to pray for you,” Hollingsworth told the public officials. “It is our pledge and our support to pray for you. When you meet the devil we are right there with you. We are praying for you.”
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