Guest Host, Alex McFarland, is joined by Kathy Branzell, President of the National Day of Prayer Task Force

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

1. 0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
2. 0:02It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
3. 0:06This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
4. 0:10It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
5. 0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
6. 0:18And the philosophies of this world.
7. 0:20God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
8. 0:23Even in this dark moment.
9. 0:26Let's not miss our moment.
10. 0:28and now, the Hamilton Corner.
11. 0:33It's been said that prayer is the nerve that moves the muscle of God.
12. 0:37Hi, Alex McFarland here.
13. 0:39Glad to have you with us on the American Family Radio Network.
14. 0:42And I want you to lean in, listen up,
15. 0:44because the next hour of this broadcast potentially could change your life.
16. 0:49And I am praying that it will.
17. 0:51And we're going to be talking about prayer.
18. 0:54Prayer is just one of the greatest tools at the Christian's
19. 0:59disposal, prayer can change circumstances, prayer can rebuild relationships.
20. 1:05I believe, and I know the guests you'll meet in just a moment, believes that prayer can
21. 1:08change the world.
22. 1:10It has, it is, and it will.
23. 1:13And you and I have the opportunity to participate in one of the greatest days on the calendar,
24. 1:20the National Day of Prayer.
25. 1:21Now 2025, it's coming up May 1st.
26. 1:25And how significant is the National Day of Prayer Task Force?
27. 1:28Well, I have got a calendar, a day timer.
28. 1:31It is absolutely secular.
29. 1:34Bought it at an office supply store.
30. 1:36I use these day timers all the time.
31. 1:38And yet on May 1st, it says National Day of Prayer.
32. 1:43And there's a reason for that significance and we'll talk about it.
33. 1:46But with me is the leader of the National Day of Prayer task force, Kathy Brinzel.
34. 1:52She's just an incredibly accomplished woman of God.
35. 1:56been used extensively as a great force in our country and she is the president of the
36. 2:02National Day of Prayer task force.
37. 2:04And I would surmise the National Day of Prayer is more extensive, more deeply entrenched in
38. 2:12our nation and more significant than you may realize.
39. 2:16And so you don't want to miss this upcoming day, May 1st.
40. 2:20to tell us all about this and more is the leader of NDP, Kathy Branzel. Welcome, my friend.
41. 2:28Hey, Alex, so good to be with you. Thanks for the invitation.
42. 2:31Well, thank you. And I know you're always busy, but here we are only days away from National Day
43. 2:37of Prayer 2025. So I'm doubly grateful that you would make time to be with us. And I want to get
44. 2:44into that, but I want to hear a little bit of your background and how long have you been with NDP?
45. 2:49I know for years I thought of the leadership being under Shirley Dobson when I worked for
46. 2:56James Dobson.
47. 2:57Mrs. Dobson was always immersed in National Day of Prayer, but bring us up to speed on
48. 3:04your journey and how God brought you to the leadership position you're in.
49. 3:08Well, very briefly, I was the founder and president of a ministry for educators and you and I
50. 3:17I had both been friends and worked with Paul Cedar
51. 3:21in Mission America and I was on that education coalition.
52. 3:25Got invited onto the National Prayer Committee,
53. 3:28which was actually the parent ministry
54. 3:30of the National Day of Prayer.
55. 3:32Once upon a time, National Day of Prayer
56. 3:34was an initiative of the National Prayer Committee.
57. 3:37And Ms. Dobson led for 25 years in so many amazing ways.
58. 3:42in so many amazing ways.
59. 3:45I got to be very close to Vannette Bright,
60. 3:47who was the first president
61. 3:49and spent an enormous amount of time with her.
62. 3:53And then just as a volunteer,
63. 3:56not even a coordinator, National Day of Prayer,
64. 3:58but as a coordinator and then a board member
65. 4:01with Shirley Dobson.
66. 4:02And if she needed some special project administration-wise
67. 4:06or some research she would call on me.
68. 4:08And I just loved the staff, loved the coordinators,
69. 4:12My husband and I were donors and God had another plan.
70. 4:15And it really, I had no idea I never
71. 4:18aspired to be the president of the National Day of Prayer,
72. 4:21but what God desires, right?
73. 4:23He'll take us to it and through it.
74. 4:25And so got to serve Anne Graham-Lott's
75. 4:29for all she was our interim for a year.
76. 4:31And Ronnie Floyd, I just moved along with him
77. 4:35and helped raise some money and was close with our partners.
78. 4:40and so then lo and behold in 2019.
79. 4:43After 20 years with National Day of Prayer,
80. 4:46just as a friend and a board member,
81. 4:49the board and the Lord called me to be president.
82. 4:52So it was a big surprise that I'm.
83. 4:54Sure, sure.
84. 4:55Yeah.
85. 4:56Well, the Lord is using you
86. 4:58and you're doing a magnificent job.
87. 5:00Before we get too much involved
88. 5:02and we'll circle back to this many times, the website.
89. 5:06And folks, no matter who you are,
90. 5:08no matter where you are, you have an opportunity to participate in the National Day of Prayer
91. 5:13May 1st, it's coming up.
92. 5:15And it really is the hope for our nation.
93. 5:20Give the website and where people can learn about NDP gatherings in their area.
94. 5:26Yeah, NationalDayOfPrayer.org, really easy.
95. 5:31You have to spell it all out though.
96. 5:33NationalDayOfPrayer.org, you can find resources.
97. 5:36find gatherings. We can talk more about that. There's prayer resources year round. We're not
98. 5:41just that one day a year of ministry. So many other things invite you to subscribe to our weekly
99. 5:47article, Devotionals. And so, nationaldayapraer.org. Kathy, before we go too far, I want to talk about
100. 5:55Bill and Vannette Bright for a moment. They were very, very special folks. I cannot overstate
101. 6:02how monumental was all that God did through their lives.
102. 6:07And we interviewed Vynette Bright
103. 6:10on the American Family Radio Network,
104. 6:12shortly before her home going, interviewed Bill Bright,
105. 6:16but they were very special to me, Kathy,
106. 6:18because when I was a seminary student, 30 years ago,
107. 6:23Bill Bright taught my evangelism class,
108. 6:27and he came and did a week-long module, an intensive,
109. 6:31That's where you do like 30 hours in a week.
110. 6:34And his son Bradbright later told me that that was probably,
111. 6:38this would have been in 1990, probably the last time
112. 6:42Bill Bright taught a college class.
113. 6:45He was so busy with campus crusade.
114. 6:48But he wrote this amazing book, Witnessing Without Fear,
115. 6:52which I urge everybody to read.
116. 6:54And I had the privilege just on a very brief level,
117. 6:57but I got to know Bill Bright and Vannette.
118. 7:00and talk about them for a moment,
119. 7:03because they need to be known by Christians
120. 7:07throughout this country, would you agree?
121. 7:10Absolutely, and it's just such a reminder
122. 7:14that people that we know and adored,
123. 7:17we have to tell the next generation about them,
124. 7:20we have to keep telling, and remember and tell,
125. 7:22remember and tell, especially the shoulders
126. 7:25we get to stand on, and those who went before us,
127. 7:28and they were so instrumental, you know,
128. 7:31along with Reverend Billy Graham and Greg Laurie,
129. 7:34many others, but they were so instrumental
130. 7:36in the Jesus movement and with starting campus crusade
131. 7:41for Christ and I'd love for people to email you
132. 7:45and tell you about their campus crusade,
133. 7:47their crew now as it's called,
134. 7:49experiences on college campuses and in their neighborhoods
135. 7:52around the world.
136. 7:54but I had the privilege of meeting Bill Bright
137. 7:58a couple of times, but spent a lot of time with Vannette
138. 8:02and it was so fun in our history.
139. 8:05I would describe Vannette as passionate about prayer,
140. 8:11loving Jesus with all her heart and tenacious
141. 8:15when she had an idea, when she had a calling,
142. 8:18when God made something clear to her,
143. 8:19like she did with National Day of Prayer,
144. 8:23because telling the history of NDP,
145. 8:29it was established as a law.
146. 8:31I'd love to tell you that story,
147. 8:33but Vanne was like, a law wasn't good enough.
148. 8:36She needed to organize, strategize, and mobilize.
149. 8:40Like she wanted thousands as we'll get to experience
150. 8:44next week on May 1st, tens of thousands of gatherings
151. 8:48to be hosted, but that took organization
152. 8:51that took an organization of ministry and that's how we were birthed.
153. 8:56You know, when the book of James says, Faith Without Works is dead being alone.
154. 9:03And yeah, we know the Lord does the work and it's the power of Jesus.
155. 9:08But we have the duty and really the privilege to put some shoe leather into it ourselves,
156. 9:16don't we?
157. 9:17When you talk about Vannette's tenacity and others like that, yes, it's all by the Lord's
158. 9:24power, but we humanly have to get involved and do our part as well, don't we?
159. 9:32Absolutely.
160. 9:33Yes.
161. 9:34So here's how it happened.
162. 9:35In 1952, the Reverend Billy Graham stood on the steps of the Capitol and he challenged Congress
163. 9:41and then the president to honor God and honor prayer by putting it into law and calling for a
164. 9:48national day of prayer here in the United States of America. Congress took him very seriously in a
165. 9:53matter of just a few weeks. We had a unanimous vote. The resolution went to President Truman and
166. 9:58he signed it into law done. Now in the first few years it could have been any old day. It was every
167. 10:05year but it was up to the discretion of the presidency when he called that day. It could be his birthday.
168. 10:10It could be Fourth of July.
169. 10:11It could be in times of trials or triumph.
170. 10:14And that's what drove on that crazy.
171. 10:16So Mr. Graham got it started, but he was an evangelist.
172. 10:19He wasn't about to run a permit history.
173. 10:21And Vannette was like, pick me, pick me.
174. 10:24And so she started working on getting the day.
175. 10:28And so it was amended.
176. 10:29The law was amended in 1988 because of her tenacity.
177. 10:33And here today I'm standing on her shoulders
178. 10:36with 19,000 coordinators across the United States.
179. 10:40Wow.
180. 10:41Okay.
181. 10:4219,000 prayer coordinators.
182. 10:47That's got to be an administrative challenge.
183. 10:49I mean, a logistical heavy lift.
184. 10:52How do you do that, Kathy?
185. 10:54You love them.
186. 10:55I love them.
187. 10:57And so we are so grateful that we get to.
188. 11:02And so our mission statement is we mobilized unified public prayer for America.
189. 11:06So we actually have a year-long cadence of mobilizing prayer so that on the National Day
190. 11:13of Prayer, it's a celebration and culmination of 364 other days of prayer and all the relationships
191. 11:20that they've built in their communities with the leaders of the seven centers of influence
192. 11:27And all the churches and there's this coming together, you know, prayer can be the common
193. 11:32unity in a community.
194. 11:35And that's what happens on the National Day of Prayer.
195. 11:37I think one of the reasons it's on your calendar is because it's a law and a lot of people don't
196. 11:42know that.
197. 11:44But I hear people tell me all the time that it is the most unified day on the Christian calendar.
198. 11:49And that's beautiful that it's not just about even coming across the aisle, it's about coming
199. 11:53across the street and churches that have never done anything together coming together ministry
200. 11:59is launched in communities by various churches coming together various people coming together
201. 12:05who would have never met if they hadn't come to pray together in the park at the prisons at the
202. 12:11hospital at somebody else's church in a parking lot in a board room in a dorm room in a classroom
203. 12:18And so we are grateful to get to be used by God as that catalyst in prayer.
204. 12:25Sure, sure. Folks, if you're just tuning in, Alex McFarland here, the voice you're hearing is
205. 12:29that of Kathy Branzel. She is the director of the National Day of Prayer task force, which as she
206. 12:35said is a law. It's not just an idea, but this is reality and the National Day of Prayer this year
207. 12:45is just in a few days. It is May 1st, 2025. And Kathy, we've got a break coming up. But
208. 12:53if you would give the website and with 19,000 coordinators and participants, I'm sure people
209. 13:01would not have to drive very far to find a prayer gathering in their region of the country,
210. 13:06would they? No, I pray they wouldn't. And if they do, well, then they could start one too. You
211. 13:13You could have one right there on your front porch.
212. 13:15So go to nationaldayofprayer.org,
213. 13:20click on the gathering finder,
214. 13:22put in search by your state, that's the easiest way.
215. 13:26And you can see all the gatherings
216. 13:28that our coordinators have listed at this time for May 1st.
217. 13:34What do you say is the most effective prayer gathering?
218. 13:39What does success look like for you?
219. 13:44Oh, okay.
220. 13:46I was like, oh, there's all kinds of successful prayer gatherings,
221. 13:49but in the end, it's a God's glorified
222. 13:52that it's not a pre-chathon, it's not a speech-a-thon,
223. 13:56that here's my prayer,
224. 13:58that when we ask people to come and pray,
225. 14:01they come and pray,
226. 14:03that you don't dare get up to the microphone and say,
227. 14:07Hey, before I pray, let me, it's like, wait,
228. 14:10you just put God on hold.
229. 14:13You just said, before we talk to God,
230. 14:15I want you to listen to me.
231. 14:17And like, no, no, don't do that, don't do that.
232. 14:19We have-
233. 14:19Don't grandstand.
234. 14:21We have wonderful, wonderful pastors that preach
235. 14:23and wonderful teachers that teach all year long.
236. 14:26Could we just go into the throne room
237. 14:29and talk to God and hear from Him?
238. 14:31And so I love it when God is praised, when God is thanked,
239. 14:36when there's repentance and confession, when there's intercession, and when we worship Him
240. 14:42by singing our prayers. But it's all about God and God glorified.
241. 14:47Indeed. Well, we've got a brief break. Alex McFarlane here, Kathy Brinsill of the National
242. 14:52Day of Prayer. Stay tuned. We're going to come back for more inspiration and call to intercession.
243. 14:57Don't go away. All right, Sandy Reus with you. One more drama playing out. Is the sky falling?
244. 15:05Are we going into a recession? Are you going to lose all of your 401k? Are you going to lose your job?
245. 15:10Are you going to be able to afford groceries? People better be training their kids, getting back into
246. 15:14church, Sunday school, reading the Bible. That revolution will save this country. We've had a
247. 15:19political revolution now. We need a spiritual revolution. Sandy Rios on Sandy Rios 24-7.
248. 15:27Listen on the podcast page at AFR.net.
249. 15:41Welcome back to the program Alex McFarland sitting in for Abe Hamilton and
250. 15:46before we resume our conversation with Kathy Branzil I want to thank everybody
251. 15:50who they tell me they listen to exploring the word we are live five days a
252. 15:56week on the American Family Radio Network and we teach the Bible and
253. 16:00everywhere I go people come up and they say that they listen to exploring the
254. 16:04word and we give God the glory for that and so we invite you to tune into all the
255. 16:09the programming on the American Family Radio Network, it's the gospel, it's the word of
256. 16:15God, it's the biblical worldview for all areas of life. And so the website is aFR.net and there's
257. 16:22a station map. And you know, in addition to all of the terrestrial radio stations throughout
258. 16:28the USA, we know that people listen around the world. We have people listening online in the
259. 16:34the Middle East in Europe.
260. 16:36And so we give God the glory and we encourage people,
261. 16:39tell somebody about the American Family Radio Network,
262. 16:42but most of all, tell everybody about Jesus.
263. 16:45Well, let me read a verse and then we're going to resume
264. 16:48our conversation with a National Day of Prayer leader,
265. 16:51Kathy Branzel, Romans 1513.
266. 16:54Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
267. 16:58in believing so that you will abound in hope
268. 17:02by the power of the Holy Spirit, Romans 15, 13.
269. 17:06And Kathy, I know that verse really is the foundation
270. 17:10of this year's theme for the National Day of Prayer,
271. 17:14May 1st, 2025.
272. 17:16Kathy, if you would, tell us the theme
273. 17:19and really the implications of that theme for each of us.
274. 17:24Absolutely, well, our theme this year is pour out
275. 17:28to the God of hope and be filled.
276. 17:31So every year since I've been present and I make sure that the theme somehow is a call to prayer.
277. 17:37And this year, in a time of prayer and fasting, just going before the Lord saying, Holy Spirit, prompt, what is your theme for this year?
278. 17:47I kept noticing over and over again, people, even deeply deep followers of Jesus talking about feeling hopeless, running on empty.
279. 17:59I'm on fumes.
280. 18:02I'm just so hopeless right now.
281. 18:04Is there any hope for America?
282. 18:06Hope, hope, hope.
283. 18:07And I'm like, Lord, I'm listening.
284. 18:09I'm listening because last time I checked, Lord,
285. 18:12you're still on your throne.
286. 18:13And so as long as the God of hope is still moving
287. 18:19in our prayers, Alex, at the beginning of the show,
288. 18:22you mentioned the E.M. bounds, a quote.
289. 18:25And I've always heard something similar
290. 18:29about how our prayers move the hands that move the universe.
291. 18:33And so as long as we're praying to the God of hope,
292. 18:36there's hope.
293. 18:37And so he led me to Romans 15, 13.
294. 18:41And hope is often thought of as something in the distance,
295. 18:45something in the far off.
296. 18:46I would dare to say that we even have friends who pray
297. 18:51who think, okay, well, I'm gonna pray now
298. 18:53and God's gonna answer later.
299. 18:56And we don't realize that God is answering our prayer
300. 18:58even as our words are hanging in the air.
301. 19:01Now there might be a preparing time,
302. 19:03there might be a time that we are waiting,
303. 19:07but know that the answer is happening in the heavenlies,
304. 19:12that people, and so with that, that word now,
305. 19:16now made the God of hope.
306. 19:19So hope isn't a wish upon a star.
307. 19:21It's not, ooh, lucky day for me,
308. 19:23I found a penny on the sidewalk.
309. 19:25Hope is God.
310. 19:27And we're told in scripture to be ready with the reasons
311. 19:31for our hope.
312. 19:32And so we wanted this year at National Day of Prayer Task Force
313. 19:35to spend the year reminding you of all the reasons
314. 19:40of your hope and who your hope is, but God of hope, right?
315. 19:46And we just celebrated Easter.
316. 19:48And so perfect timing.
317. 19:49Thank you for the National Day of Prayer,
318. 19:52talking about a bounding and hope
319. 19:53by the power of the Holy Spirit.
320. 19:55So the same power, the same spirit that brought Jesus from the grave is the same spirit and
321. 20:02bringing about a bounding hope in your life in believing.
322. 20:07And so what are your reasons for hope?
323. 20:10The same ones as mine because Jesus lived because he is risen because he reigns and because
324. 20:16he's returning, amen.
325. 20:18And that's the beautiful artwork that we got from this year's theme is a Revelation 19
326. 20:24of Jesus returning. That's our artwork this year. And so our reasons aren't based on what's going on in us right now in the earthly realm.
327. 20:35It's not about situations and seasons in our earthly lives. It's about what's going on in the heavenlies as we pray and the God of Hope is causing his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
328. 20:50You know, Kathy, if you were in my homiletics class, I would give you an A plus because that
329. 20:56was alliterated.
330. 20:58He has risen, he reigns, and he is returning.
331. 21:02And parenthetically, and I want to talk about this theme, but there may be somebody listening,
332. 21:08and maybe you're listening to Kathy and I, and you've got a lot on your shoulders.
333. 21:13Maybe you're praying about a family issue or a prodigal child, or you've gotten a diagnosis
334. 21:20that has just turned your world upside down.
335. 21:23When Kathy mentioned the resurrection,
336. 21:25think of it this way, folks,
337. 21:27about Jesus Christ being your source and your sufficiency.
338. 21:32He conquered the grave.
339. 21:34He can meet your need.
340. 21:37I mean, Jesus paid the sin debt of humanity,
341. 21:40rose from the dead.
342. 21:41He has the power to intervene for you.
343. 21:44And so, Kathy, I love this that you mentioned,
344. 21:48inbounds, power through prayer, that's just a classic.
345. 21:52And there's so many great realities that are part of the Christian experience.
346. 21:58That prayer is not just, you know, God is my vending machine.
347. 22:03I want something, here's, you know, prayer is like putting a coin in a machine.
348. 22:09Wouldn't you agree that really prayer is our relationship with Jesus?
349. 22:14And maybe we have a crisis and we fold our knees,
350. 22:18we cry out to God.
351. 22:20Or maybe we have something we desire
352. 22:23or something that deeply concerns us, so we intercede.
353. 22:27But the beautiful thing about prayer,
354. 22:29yes, God does answer and things happen.
355. 22:33But the beautiful thing is it's the avenue by which
356. 22:37our relationship with Jesus,
357. 22:40it deepens and deepens and deepens, doesn't it?
358. 22:43Absolutely. I mean, going, I mean, just start at the root. It's a relationship. Now, we all have
359. 22:51relationships and I pray you don't have any relationships where the person only communicates you when they
360. 22:57want you to do something for them, right? I mean, that's, that would be the vending machine example that
361. 23:04you just gave us. But in our relationships, we praise one another and praise discusses character.
362. 23:11It's about who you are, not what you've done for me.
363. 23:14And so we praise God for who he is and he is worthy of our praise.
364. 23:20But you know, you love people because of your relationship with them,
365. 23:25not because of what they've done for you, but then there is thanks.
366. 23:30And that person who has come to you before and said, will you do this for me?
367. 23:34I pray they've come back and said, thank you.
368. 23:37And somebody's done you wrong.
369. 23:40Somebody hurt you whether accidentally or on purpose and they come back and said,
370. 23:44I'm so sorry. Will you please forgive me? Also listening, that's a part of prayer.
371. 23:51If you've got a friend that only talks and never listens or that'll come and ask for advice,
372. 23:56for guidance, for direction, you've got to make a decision. Could you please help me?
373. 24:01And you start to give some wisdom and they walk off, you're like, oh, okay, never mind.
374. 24:05right? But that's all apart communication is part of relationship. And so think of prayer
375. 24:12that way, not praying, you know, in the King James Version language, in some glorious tone,
376. 24:20with long big words. And you know, just I had somebody saying to me the other day, I'm afraid to
377. 24:26pray because I'm going to pray a stupid prayer. And I'm like, well, there's no stupid prayers.
378. 24:31just talk to Abba Father, talk to him respectfully, but you don't have to put on the King James language.
379. 24:40Well, Kathy, let me ask you this. How do you encourage or dare I say coach people to feel comfortable
380. 24:49to pray in public? And let me put it this way. I've been in many pulpit at churches and I would,
381. 24:55you know, maybe in conclusion. I would say, well, let's close in a word of prayer and maybe if,
382. 25:03and I've seen Christian adults looking at me, shaking their head like, don't call on me. Alex,
383. 25:09please don't call me. Yeah, please don't call on me to pray in public. And yet, like you say,
384. 25:15you know, God is not expecting, you know, Elizabethan English or some verbose, you know, thing, he just
385. 25:23wants the honesty of our heart. Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me. Lord Jesus, you're
386. 25:29so faithful. I praise you. Amen. How do you encourage people to go out of the comfort zone
387. 25:39and actually pray from their heart in public? Well, we do a lot of coaching. That's the number
388. 25:46one request we get year round. Teach me how to pray. Like I want, I never, there's people
389. 25:52who and don't feel guilty about this.
390. 25:54There's people who are like,
391. 25:56I've never gotten past God is great,
392. 25:57God is good and we think in for our food, amen.
393. 26:00It's like, oh, good, that's a great start.
394. 26:02Now, oh, is God great?
395. 26:05Dear Lord, I just want to tell you, you're great.
396. 26:08And name a couple of ways that he's great.
397. 26:12Name a couple of ways he's good.
398. 26:15And you think in for your food,
399. 26:16but could you name two or three things each day else
400. 26:20that you're thankful for?
401. 26:21That's a really, really good start for if you've got family, if you've got kids in,
402. 26:27you play the high-low game. Everybody play that game? What was the high point of your day? What was
403. 26:31the low point of your day? That's a great way to learn how to pray because you stop and you go,
404. 26:36oh, wow, that was a great part of your day. Let's stop and thank God for that right now.
405. 26:42And then what was the low part of your day? Oh, gosh, that sounds like a really hard situation.
406. 26:48Why don't we pray to God about that right now to give us some wisdom?
407. 26:53Or how do we fix that? Or how do you go back and apologize to that friend? Or whatever?
408. 26:58And so there's this way, this discussion that prayer is caught more than taught by practicing prayer.
409. 27:06And it's so funny you said that at the beginning, I've told pastors, if you ever need nursery workers,
410. 27:12all you have to do is go up before your service, about five minutes before your service,
411. 27:17and announce that you're going to randomly call on people from the audience to come up and pray for
412. 27:24just 30 seconds at the microphone throughout the church service and people will flock to the
413. 27:29two-year-old rooms. They'd rather spend 90 minutes with three-year-olds than get up and pray out loud
414. 27:34for 30 seconds. So don't feel ashamed about that, but just put prayer into practice and the articles
415. 27:40that we send out on Thursdays, they always end in prayer. And so reading other people's
416. 27:46prayers and seeing how they pray in all those different forms, but just pray what's on your heart
417. 27:52as you would have a conversation as if you were walking with a friend.
418. 27:57You know, to a degree prayer, I'll say it this way, it's a discipline, isn't it?
419. 28:05I've heard preachers talk about doing the work of prayer, and I don't use the word
420. 28:11work as it's laborious or burdensome, it's not. But really, to have a fervent and a powerful prayer
421. 28:18life, it is a discipline we may cultivate, isn't it? Right. I'd say put it into practice. You know,
422. 28:26this year my co-host for the National Day of Prayer is Tim Tebow. And he's an amazing, brilliant man
423. 28:34of God. So many people don't realize how smart he is. They may know how passionately he loves Jesus,
424. 28:40but they don't know the work he does around the world.
425. 28:44And I think about him in his football career,
426. 28:47especially being a Georgia bulldog and he was a Florida gator
427. 28:51and a good one at that, right?
428. 28:53And so, but I guarantee you, Tim, practice more than he played.
429. 29:00And so there's a, it becomes a part of our life, not a,
430. 29:05oh, I need to check this off my day, but it needs to just be
431. 29:09a spiritually significant and treasured and protected part of your calendar.
432. 29:15So I've had a lot of people say, I do not have time in my day to pray for 15 minutes.
433. 29:21Well, you do if you'd get up 15 minutes earlier, like the God of the universe will be up.
434. 29:28And so you can.
435. 29:29Amen.
436. 29:29And I did that for years with little kids because, you know, the only time I was going to have to myself all day was at 4.45 in the morning.
437. 29:38But it set my day and it set the pace and the practice and the priority of prayer throughout
438. 29:47my day when it was a sneaky first moment of my day.
439. 29:54You know I love that the God of the universe is open 24-7.
440. 30:00Now on the website for National Day of Prayer and it's spelled just like it sounds National
441. 30:07day of prayer.org. There are some categories here about praying for families, government,
442. 30:14education, business, military, church, media. Elaborate on that, would you specifically
443. 30:24praying for these various areas? Right, and you can see our route right there
444. 30:28to Bill Bright and those seven centers of influence. And of course we pray now for technology
445. 30:36and we pray for healthcare, you know, we can tuck those into business and education and
446. 30:41media as well. But it's our opportunity to cover every sphere of influence, every thing
447. 30:49that touches us, we can touch and pray, or even if you've never met the president, you can
448. 30:55pray for the president, but I beg you to pray for your pastor as often as you pray for our
449. 31:00But we remember that we're praying for people, not places.
450. 31:06And so when we go into businesses, when we go shopping,
451. 31:10when we go to the gym, wherever, when we go to school,
452. 31:13when we go to work, we can be praying
453. 31:16and we take the spirit of God with us everywhere we go.
454. 31:19God doesn't wait in the car while we go into school, right?
455. 31:23And so with those centers of influence,
456. 31:27it gives us a chance.
457. 31:28And again, you asked about growing our prayer life.
458. 31:30How do we do that?
459. 31:32When we challenged our children,
460. 31:34there's seven spheres of influence that we follow.
461. 31:37And so seven days a week and each day we picked,
462. 31:42as a different focus.
463. 31:44And so we would say, who do you know at the church
464. 31:47you wanna pray for on the church day?
465. 31:50Who do you know in arts, entertainment, media?
466. 31:53And it was more than just being a fan
467. 31:56of a sports figure or a pop singer or a Christian,
468. 32:02whatever, an influencer.
469. 32:04It was a chance to pray into their life,
470. 32:06a teacher at school to pray into their marriages,
471. 32:09their families, any diagnosis or concerns.
472. 32:12We knew about in their families,
473. 32:13it made prayer personal and taught that inner consent
474. 32:18isn't just Lord bless our food.
475. 32:21Kathy, forgive me, we've got a break.
476. 32:23We've got to pull away Alex MacFarlane,
477. 32:25Kathy Brinzel, National Day of Prayer.
478. 32:27Stay tuned more after this.
479. 32:31Is our theology of money upside down?
480. 32:34Our vision is that all Christians would see God
481. 32:37as their ultimate treasure.
482. 32:39You know, it's a game changer of an idea.
483. 32:42And we start with this idea that God owns everything.
484. 32:46And we are his household managers
485. 32:49of what he is entrusted to us.
486. 32:50So we own nothing, but we have stewardship responsibilities.
487. 32:54faith and finance with Rob West weekdays at 9 a.m. Central or on the AFR app.
488. 33:00Hamilton Quarter Podcast and One-Minute Common Terrets are available at
489. 33:10eFR.net back to the Hamilton Quarter on American Family Radio.
490. 33:15Welcome back to the program. I hope you're having a wonderful day in the Lord and we
491. 33:21often say this Jesus is as close by as a prayer and that's really true. Hey we're
492. 33:27gonna resume our conversation with Kathy Bransill in just a moment from the
493. 33:30National Day of Prayer. I want to remind everybody about the wonderful things I
494. 33:35give God the glory for all the things going on in our corner of the world. My
495. 33:40own personal website is AlexMcFarland.com and I would ask all of you to please
496. 33:45pray. We have a lot going on this just had a citywide evangelist at crusade in
497. 33:50Alabama and we've got several other things this year. I'll be at the Cove, the
498. 33:56the Billy Graham Training Center, July 18-20,
499. 34:00teaching the book of Job.
500. 34:02Then I'll be back July 28th through August 1st
501. 34:05with Jay Warner Wallace doing a week on apologetics.
502. 34:09And the website is thecove.org.
503. 34:12We always have people from 50 states and internationally.
504. 34:16And if you've never been to the Cove,
505. 34:19the Billy Graham Conference Center,
506. 34:20it's just amazing, it's in Western North Carolina.
507. 34:24and I would love to see you there and it's just really,
508. 34:28I don't say this lightly,
509. 34:29you will feel the presence of God there.
510. 34:32But may I ask you also to please pray for our speaker series.
511. 34:36Our ministry is doing a conference series
512. 34:39through the end of this year called Conversations That Matter.
513. 34:43And we're bringing in a lot of great speakers
514. 34:45like Dr. Gary Chapman,
515. 34:47who wrote the Five Love Languages and Charlie Kirk,
516. 34:50but May 4th, just days after the National Day
517. 34:54prayer. We've got Dinesh D'Souza and Dinesh has been a close friend of mine for 18 years.
518. 35:00He's a brilliant Christian thinker and so there is still time to come to America's number one
519. 35:06beach destination, Myrtle Beach, and go to my website if you would, AlexMcFarlane.com
520. 35:12slash Conversations and we'd love for you to be there with us May 4th to hear Dinesh D'Souza
521. 35:18and be inspired to stand for God and country.
522. 35:22Of course, we have seven summer youth camps,
523. 35:25and we'll keep you informed on those.
524. 35:27We'll have about 1,200 teenagers in Biblical worldview camp
525. 35:32all summer long, and please keep that in prayer.
526. 35:35But right now, I really want, in the final segment here,
527. 35:39to really challenge all of you,
528. 35:41go to the website if you would nationaldayofprayer.org.
529. 35:46And one of the tabs, find the local gathering,
530. 35:50the National Day of Prayer Toolbox, it's awesome.
531. 35:53There are digital promotional tools, resources,
532. 35:56you can donate as well, and my goodness,
533. 35:59what a worthy worthy thing to be a participant
534. 36:03in calling our nation to prayer.
535. 36:05Kathy, less time slip away, I just wanna say thank you.
536. 36:10I've known you a lot of years.
537. 36:12You have a work ethic like nobody else I know.
538. 36:16You're always on the go, on point for God and country.
539. 36:21And it's gonna be a great year I know.
540. 36:23The Lord is blessing your work.
541. 36:25But I wanna say thanks for your commitment,
542. 36:29which is just exemplary.
543. 36:33Thank you.
544. 36:33Wow.
545. 36:34That is a really, that is a treasured eulogy,
546. 36:39right there, friend.
547. 36:40So many times that we do that all the time.
548. 36:43We here in America over here in the West,
549. 36:46we goof it up because we wait till people are dead
550. 36:48to say nice things to them and about them in a eulogy.
551. 36:52But that's what the Jewish people do every Friday night
552. 36:54on Shabbat.
553. 36:56Our husband sings Proverbs 30 over his wife
554. 37:00and he says, here's what I see God doing in your life
555. 37:02and here's where I see him leading you
556. 37:04and here's how I bless you.
557. 37:05And so Alex, thank you for blessing me.
558. 37:08You and I have been friends a long time
559. 37:10and I'm very grateful for you, all the work you're doing,
560. 37:13and in growing my prayer life.
561. 37:15So you just, as you were just talking about everything
562. 37:17that you have going on in the speaker series and the camps,
563. 37:20you know, I'm jotting it down in my prayer journal.
564. 37:23You gave me prayer prompts to pray for my brother, Alex,
565. 37:27and I appreciate that.
566. 37:29And then one more thing, talking about the cove.
567. 37:32I mean, we love the cove and you're speaking on job, wow.
568. 37:36Right? But what, I mean, this is like prayer life,
569. 37:39If you were taking a prayer series with me,
570. 37:42this would be like the 400 class.
571. 37:44The 400 level class,
572. 37:46what does God have Job do at the end of Job?
573. 37:49He has to pray for those rotten friends.
574. 37:51Right?
575. 37:52That's true.
576. 37:53People that came and they accused him
577. 37:55and they were no comforters at all.
578. 37:58And so what does Job have to do, God says,
579. 38:01I'll forgive you if Job forgives you and prays for you.
580. 38:04And so one of the things that is part of our National Day
581. 38:08per coordinator oath. Here's the line. Every year they take this oath that they will pray
582. 38:14for their enemies as fervently as they pray for their family.
583. 38:18Amen. There's a 400 level stretch you that if there's anyone who really should be coming
584. 38:28to you and asking for forgiveness or anyone who's caused you great angst or hurt. If you're
585. 38:33walking around with woundedness, if there's somebody you totally disagree with on any
586. 38:38subject matter, even politics, but anything like that that has caused a separation in the
587. 38:46oneness that God calls us to. I'm going to beg you to pray for them and let go of you
588. 38:51in that way. Kathy, that is so vital. And so we're going to get really pastoral with
589. 38:59you now, folks. And let's talk about this because, Kathy, the Lord's allowed me to travel
590. 39:06all over the world. But I really do care about America. And I would say if there's anything
591. 39:12that has really hindered the full work of the Holy Spirit in many a church, it's been friction
592. 39:20and static between brothers in Christ and sisters. And so the devil loves that. You know,
593. 39:27when Christians are crossways against each other, I'm talking born again Christians.
594. 39:32The devil loves it.
595. 39:34And you mentioned Job, it said,
596. 39:36the Lord turned the captivity of Job
597. 39:40when he prayed for his friends.
598. 39:42And so you've thrown down a great challenge.
599. 39:45And folks, let me just say,
600. 39:47and we've all been there, family, life, I mean, look,
601. 39:51it's a messy world invariably.
602. 39:54Even the best of people have some things
603. 39:58to get resolved sometimes.
604. 40:00when you pray for that person that you feel like has wronged you, or you pray for your enemy,
605. 40:07God will bless that. He really will. Because Kathy, isn't that loving like Jesus? The Bible says that
606. 40:13we were, we were enemies of God. And yet not only did Jesus intercede, he intervened and went to the cross.
607. 40:23That's the Jesus kind of love, isn't it?
608. 40:25exactly and forgiveness doesn't make what they did right. It makes you right. Right?
609. 40:33Because there's three things that I keep in mind and that take every thought captive
610. 40:38moment and it's like, okay, what's about to come out of your mouth because it's going
611. 40:42to reveal what's in your heart, Kathy? So hang on to it for a second and I asked
612. 40:47myself these questions. So God, Jesus said, love one another as I've loved you. Give
613. 40:55mercy as your Father in heaven has given mercy and forgive as you've been forgiven. And I'm
614. 41:03think I stop myself and I say, am I loving as Christ loves me? Am I forgiving as Christ
615. 41:10forgave me? Because boy, that's a lot. And am I being merciful as my God in heaven has
616. 41:16been merciful to me? And if the answer is no, well, we think it, re-pray it and then decide
617. 41:26what comes out of there. But that's really a great way. And, you know, the, the wisdom of God is first
618. 41:34peaceable, scripture says, yes, it was what's coming out of my mouth. I always stop and think,
619. 41:40what do I want to accomplish by what am I about to say? What will I really accomplish by what I'm
620. 41:47about to say? And is it going to be peaceful? Is it going to be glorifying? Or is it just going
621. 41:54to make matters worse. And so I stop and pray before I say.
622. 42:00Pray before I say, you know that would be good advice for all of us. And the National
623. 42:07Day of Prayer for those just tuning in, Alex McFarland here, we're talking with Kathy Brinsill.
624. 42:12She is the leader of the National Day of Prayer task force. And May 1st is coming up. Now,
625. 42:19Kathy, is it like sun up to sundown?
626. 42:23Is it 24 hours?
627. 42:26How much of that day may first
628. 42:28will be devoted to activities of NDP?
629. 42:32Right, all day long, way before the sun comes up
630. 42:36in America and way after the sun goes down in Hawaii.
631. 42:41And so we do invite you,
632. 42:43there will be a prayer gatherings in your state,
633. 42:46in your community,
634. 42:48We have things in the morning, lunches in the afternoon,
635. 42:51stop by on your way home from work.
636. 42:53I know churches are keeping their doors open all day long for prayer.
637. 42:57So pray in your communities, gather in your communities to pray and then join us at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
638. 43:05Go to nationaldayapraer.org.
639. 43:07And you can see all the places that our broadcast is being aired.
640. 43:12We're so grateful for all of our partners.
641. 43:15and you can watch it even right there on our website.
642. 43:18It'll go live at eight o'clock, Eastern time,
643. 43:21and you can join us for our broadcast
644. 43:23that will be televised in every country around the world.
645. 43:28So please pray for us because we're handing out hope,
646. 43:32we're mobilizing prayer, and we're sharing the gospel
647. 43:35in every country in the world.
648. 43:38And so our hope is that people who have never, ever, ever prayed,
649. 43:42who don't even believe in God, will hear something,
650. 43:46will stumble upon a prayer gathering,
651. 43:48will come across the broadcast.
652. 43:51Even those who maybe have pulled away and been distant,
653. 43:54and they may pray,
654. 43:55Lord, I've never spoken to you before,
655. 43:57I don't even know if you're real,
656. 43:59or I haven't talked to you in a long time,
657. 44:03but Lord, if you are the God of hope,
658. 44:06show me that you're real,
659. 44:08I want to know you and have you as my Lord.
660. 44:12And so if you'll pray for us, that is the goal of the day, of course.
661. 44:18You know, my heart is just moved to think of this.
662. 44:22I mean, this is going to be one of the biggest gospel
663. 44:25outreach is one of the most extensive witnesses to the human race.
664. 44:31Like ever, isn't it?
665. 44:33Yes, I'm so grateful.
666. 44:36So grateful.
667. 44:36We just get to.
668. 44:38So please be in prayer for us.
669. 44:40James 4 verse 2 says, you have not because you asked not.
670. 44:48And listen folks, on National Day of Prayer, this outreach, this broadcast is going to
671. 44:53be all over the world, like everywhere.
672. 44:56Let's pray for God to move and save souls in all these parts of the world.
673. 45:01Kathy, I think about places like North Korea or China or North Africa.
674. 45:08And so many places where, you know, really to go public with your faith in Jesus could
675. 45:14be a death sentence.
676. 45:16We really need to intercede for these places and the precious multitudes of people there,
677. 45:21don't we?
678. 45:22Absolutely.
679. 45:23And the people leading those places and the people, you know, who are opposed to God in
680. 45:28those places, again, praying for those enemies.
681. 45:33God turns Saul to Paul, right?
682. 45:35Amen.
683. 45:36God that turned Saul to Paul can turn those oppressive leaders, those who say no Christians
684. 45:44in my country, I'll kill you.
685. 45:47He can turn them into Paul's.
686. 45:49Amen.
687. 45:50Amen.
688. 45:51Hey, Kathy, let me share something with you.
689. 45:52I'd love your insights on this.
690. 45:55About a decade ago, I interviewed 32 of the world's most famous atheist, and it was going
691. 46:02to be one book.
692. 46:03It became two books.
693. 46:04And my publisher asked me to write a book responding to atheism.
694. 46:08And so I went to the local bookstore and I got all these names.
695. 46:12Now a couple of these guys I knew because we had debated.
696. 46:15But I spent about just over two and a half years, I had these face-to-face conversations
697. 46:21with 32 atheists, people like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins and Michael Schurmer and the
698. 46:29published atheist.
699. 46:30It was interesting because I really felt like they trusted me and I said, look, I'm going
700. 46:36to show you what I write before it's published because I don't want to mischaracterize you.
701. 46:41But I would ask these atheists, you know, there's no God right.
702. 46:45No such thing as God, Christianity is false.
703. 46:47I said, do you ever pray?
704. 46:50And it was interesting that virtually all of the atheists, the professed atheist said,
705. 46:56well, of course, it's just human.
706. 46:59I've prayed.
707. 47:00Isn't that amazing?
708. 47:02And one atheist said, I said, what are you doing?
709. 47:03He walks through a person they don't believe in that.
710. 47:06That's awesome.
711. 47:07I've never heard that.
712. 47:08That's great.
713. 47:09This one guy, he said to me, he said, you know, I was almost in a car wreck, a semi truck,
714. 47:14and I cried out, oh God, help me.
715. 47:17And I said, said, do you believe in God?
716. 47:19He said, no.
717. 47:20I said, but you weren't in the wreck.
718. 47:22Talk to you, right?
719. 47:23I said, God answered the prayer.
720. 47:25You cried out.
721. 47:27But I guess my point is prayer is a universal human endeavor, is it not?
722. 47:34Absolutely.
723. 47:35It is.
724. 47:36I mean, it's amazing to me the number of people who don't believe in God, but it'll
725. 47:41say to us, will you pray for me?
726. 47:44Sure.
727. 47:45You know, okay.
728. 47:48But I'm going to pray for you to believe, you know, Christian foremost.
729. 47:54with that also I'd be interested to know and I want all of you to think about this
730. 48:00because every fruit has a root. Everything that we do every way that we
731. 48:06think and we behave there's something that we experienced whether we saw it or
732. 48:11we experienced it ourselves that caused this highway, this pathway for us
733. 48:18and believing. It's why we need to be so protective of what our children are
734. 48:22hearing and their younger students.
735. 48:25We're almost out of time.
736. 48:29Kathy Brinzel, thank you for your time.
737. 48:31This has been the Hamilton Corner.
738. 48:33You can listen again at aFR.net, but please participate in the National Day of Prayer.