WASHINGTON (BP) — Southern Baptist Convention First Vice President Brad Graves delivered the opening prayer in the U.S. Senate chamber March 4 in a visit to the U.S. Capitol that will include attendance at the State of the Union address and other events.
The senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ada, Okla., prayed scripture and salvation over senators in the name of Jesus, seeking His mercy, grace and love in a prayer he was required to submit in print days in advance of the event.
“I have been praying for every man and woman in this Senate chamber to come to know the love of God. I pray that ever family represented in this room would experience the love of God,” Graves petitioned God in part. “And I pray for every American citizen to understand the depth of God’s love for them.”
Graves arrived in Washington March 3, his son Levi accompanying him, for a three-day visit that includes attending the State of the Union address and a variety of prayer-related events.
He was invited to attend a Time to Revive African Ambassador Luncheon today with ambassadors of several African nations said to be researching the possibility of beginning a national day of prayer in their home nations. Invited to the event, Time to Revive told Baptist Press, were ambassadors from Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
March 5, he will record a prayer for the upcoming 2025 National Day of Prayer in the U.S., set for May 1.
“Prayer has opened doors of opportunity,” Graves told Baptist Press. “I simply asked to pray for my senator, which led to me praying for the entire U.S. Senate, being invited to the State of the Union, and filming my prayer for the National Day of Prayer.
“My 15-year-old son, Levi, saw firsthand what the power of prayer can do and the doors of opportunity it opens. It was overwhelming at times, but it was also comforting to know that God opened these doors, and I knew He wanted me to walk through them.”
U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black extended the invitation to Graves to serve as a volunteer guest chaplain for the Senate at the request of James Lankford, a Southern Baptist and Republican senator from Oklahoma.
Graves recognized the SBC as the nation’s largest Protestant denomination in thanking senators for the opportunity to pray for them, but said “most importantly,” he was thankful to pray “as a follower of Jesus Christ.”
“So, God of Heaven, I claim the scripture that love ‘bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,’” Graves prayed in the U.S. Senate chamber, referencing 1 Corinthians 13:7. “I claim the scripture that ‘Everyone will know that You are my disciples, if you love one another’ (John 13:35).
“And I most certainly claim the scripture that is so familiar to us, that ‘God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.’”
Graves’ prayer was broadcast live on C-SPAN2 and can be seen on rebroadcasts of the Senate’s March 4 morning session. The prayer will be recorded in the minutes of the session, included in the congressional record and filed in the Library of Congress.
“I’m very clearly praying to the Lord Jesus Christ,” Graves said of the prayer delivered before a Senate that includes, according to the Pew Research Center, 86 Christians, nine Jews, one Buddhist and four whose religions were not specified in Pew’s January release.
“To me, this is a huge opportunity because this is the U.S. Senate, probably the most powerful legislative body in the world, not just currently but historically,” Graves said. “I’m just a guy who prays in his closet every day.
“One day you’re praying in your closet, and the next day you’re praying before the most powerful legislative body in the world. It just means a lot that God can do so much with somebody who just prays, without being some elected official, without having a mega ministry, without having any other type of pedigrees or credentials.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but the only thing that qualifies me to pray is that I pray.”
Graves’ full comments and prayer before the Senate, as submitted to Baptist Press, are printed below:
I want to thank you for the opportunity to pray in front of you as the Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention, our nation’s largest Protestant denomination, as the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ada, OK, as a citizen of the United States of America, as a husband, a father, and a grandfather, but most importantly, as a follower of Jesus Christ.
Let Us Pray:
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’ corner stone in1793, this building has stood as a place not of just legislation but of morality and nobility.
It has been a building that the nations of the world looked toward with bated breath to learn what the United States of America would do, how they would respond to crisis 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, protect their families, and enable their God-Given freedoms.
And this day, March 4, 2025, is no different than any other day. We may not be at war, we may not be on the crisp 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 debate begins we beg you 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 For Someday, and 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 ever family represented in this room would experience the love of God. And 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” (1 Corinthians 13:7).
I claim the scripture that “Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).
And I most certainly claim the scripture that is so familiar to us That “God So Loved The World That He Gave His One And Only Son, So That Whoever Believes In Him Will Not Perish But Have Everlasting Life” (John 3:16).
Guide these men and women today, by your unending, overwhelming love, to do your will and 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 love Christ to a watching world.
I ask these things in the name of my Lord, my Savior, and my returning King Jesus Christ.
Amen and Amen.
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