National Bible Week

Floor Speech

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Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Lamborn for organizing tonight's Special Order, as we honor the 80th anniversary of National Bible Week.

We are a divided Nation, we are a divided Congress. In fact, the church is having much division right now. Jesus, in the Scriptures, said it would be like this. That is why we recognize the importance of God's Word, which addresses every issue that divides us, and it also has the power to unite us.

Jesus prayed for us in John 17:21, ``that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.'' Why did he pray that? He prayed that, and He said, ``so that they would know that You sent me.'' That is how important unity is.

The Bible is God's incredible gift to each of us, providing guidance during times of joy and hardship. We are without excuse.

Over 21 years ago, as I was going through a time of trying to really decide what my faith would look like--and actually this is a Bible that we are currently reading here in Congress. It is called the Change Your Life Daily Bible. We have a number of Members who read it. In fact, if you want to know what your Member of Congress reads every day, you can get one of these Change Your Life Study Bibles.

Today's reading was exactly what I was going through at that time 21 years ago. He says: ``If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth, but if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his Word has no place in our hearts.'' That is today's reading from I John 1:8-10.

That cut through me like butter 21 years ago, and I made a covenant with God. I said, You have forgiven my sins. And I prayed that He would forgive my sins on that day, and I told God that I would make him priority one.

What that means, there are about five disciplines. One of them, of course, is reading the Scriptures, meditating on the Scriptures. In doing so, I learned that all of my strength and wisdom doesn't come from me, but through Him and His spirit.

Now could you imagine what this Congress and this Nation would look like if we all learned that our talent and wisdom is a gift from God to serve a purpose and to honor Him and glorify Him? We would have the power in this place to come together as one in truth.

I will leave you with this: There are many promises in the Bible, but God's instructions to us in Joshua 1:8, He said, do not let this Book of Law depart from your lips. Be careful to do what it says, meditate on it night and day, and you will be prosperous and successful.

That is what the American people want. As Members of Congress, I pray that we will come together, that we will share in His Word, that we will test every piece of legislation with His Word; we will pray over every piece of legislation, and that it would be pleasing and a blessing to God.

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