Is there hope for America? Will we become the nation that we are capable of becoming? Is it possible for our country to turn to God for moral direction and government based on integrity? Or will we slip deeper and deeper into moral and spiritual decay?

Our first responsibility is to set our own hearts on doing God's will. During the days of Micah the prophet, God's people kept straying spiritually and nationally. He asked them, "...what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:6).

When our own hearts are right with God, then we can join together to humbly seek God's forgiveness and guidance. Only God can turn our nation from its downward spiral and put it on the road to righteousness.

A guiding prayer for such a hope was first spoken several years ago in the Kentucky legislature by Pastor Bob Russell. His prayer became widely known later that year when his friend Joe Wright read his version before the Kansas State House where it caught the attention of the media and the Internet...

Heavenly Father,

We come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that...

We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism.

We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversions and called it alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us and see if there be some wicked way in us....Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people...and who have been ordained by You, to govern..... Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will.

I ask it in the name of your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ.

How is your standing before God?

Do you know the God to whom this prayer is directed? Do you know "the Living Savior, Jesus Christ?" Do you have the gift of God's presence in your life?

God has provided the way to right living now and eternal life in heaven through His only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said when He was on earth, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Do you agree with Jesus, that He is the only way for anyone to know God? Do you agree that when the Bible says "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23), that includes you?

Without Jesus "on your side," you stand condemned before God: "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already" (John 3:18).

The good news is that the whole purpose of Christ coming to earth was to take the place of sinners and accept the punishment we deserved for our sins. "There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

When you trust completely in Christ as your Savior from sin and its consequences, God promises to forgive you and reserve you a place in heaven with Him forever. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Will you place your faith in Christ today? You can tell God in a prayer like this...

Dear God, I know I'm a sinner. I understand that forgiveness comes only through Your Son, Jesus, who died for my sins. I want you in my life, and I want to spend eternity with You in Heaven. I now place my complete trust in Jesus Christ alone as my Savior who took my punishment. Thank you for loving me and making this possible!