Worship and prayers filled the air of Legislative Plaza in the heart of downtown Nashville on Wednesday as lawmakers unite in prayer for the state of Tennessee and the United States.
It was a celebration following the call from state lawmakers to unite in prayer for the entire month of July.
State Rep. Monty Fritts (R) recently took the historic step of spearheading a resolution calling Tennesseans to 31 days of prayer, fasting, and repentance.
In the resolution, called “House Joint Resolution 803,” lawmakers declared, “We as public servants in the Tennessee General Assembly, seek God’s mercy upon our land and beseech him to not withdraw his hand of blessing from us.”
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“We’re so thankful for our leaders here in Tennessee who felt called by God to really call the Body of Christ,” said Barbi Franklin who, along with her husband Terry, co-founded Worship City. It’s a ministry that helps to cultivate prayer, fasting, and worship that transforms families, cities, and nations.
“They really don’t want to be the leaders of this. They have said we’re carrying the wood and the church needs to light the fire,” Barbi told CBN News.
Fritts admits that his move to start this effort came from a frustration over his state’s many issues, including violent crime, human trafficking, drug addiction, and government corruption.
“There are things we can do with those but it’s not legislative solely. And there’s nearly not a budgetary solution to many of those things ’cause they’re spiritual problems,” Fritts explained.
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GOP State Senator Mark Pody helped move the bipartisan measure through the Tennessee Senate, and Gov. Bill Lee signed off on the resolution.
“We want to invite God back to Tennessee,” Pody said in an interview with CBN News. “We want to be as public as we can to say Jesus Christ is Lord. We even wrote that in the resolution.”
Pastor Michael Obi of Mount Zion Prayer Center applauded the move.
“When a legislator, a government body establishes a call to repentance that is an answer to prayer,” Obi said. “Because repentance precedes something on God’s heart for the next step.”
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Fritts, along with pastors and other leaders, visited 95 counties during July and have witnessed revival taking place across the volunteer state.
“God led us to not focus on differences between denominations,” said Fritts. “Let us focus on Jesus. Let us focus on our need to repent before a holy God. That’s been a common theme,” CBN News reported.