As I write this letter to you today, we are just a few short weeks away from what I believe is one of the most significant and important days in our calendar year – the National Day of Prayer. There is only one day of prayer that is established in our nation’s public law. It’s on this day, the first Thursday of May, that men and women of faith, from every walk of life pause, reflect, and cry out to our Heavenly Father on behalf of our nation.
We pray because we believe God when He tells us in James 5:16 that “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” To avail means to be able. Our humble, fervent, heartfelt, and passionate prayers put God’s abilities in action. These are the prayers that we want to pray with our eyes wide open so we don’t miss a moment of God’s heart and hands moving. Even as our words hang in the air, He is already answering, touched just as Jesus was on earth by the faith with which someone asks and believes. We delight the Father when we exalt Him, adore Him, love Him, thank Him, and in respect for His power and in submission to His authority, we intercede knowing that His answer is always best. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours – and His love is always for us as His children.
We cling to the truth that our prayers avail much. Though at first, I wrestled a bit with the word much – how do we measure much? How do we explain or even begin to explore much? I went back to the original language and found that the same word is also translated great and many. For example, Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:4, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.” In John 21:25 we’re told, “there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” 1 Peter 1:3 reads, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
hat my friends, is how MUCH! When I saw this, I had to pause, pray, and thank God that He takes my “little” and makes it MUCH! He takes our intercession and impacts not just the course of time, but the course of souls and the Kingdom. God uses our prayers to write the history books of tomorrow. What will the history books say because of the prayers you and I pray for our community and country? What MUCH is God about to unveil and avail? What victories are on their way because we prayed fervently to the King of Kings who has brought us victory over the enemy and in the battles we’ve fought on our knees?
The battle for the soul of America is real and the stakes are high. You and I know that every army needs to be equipped and trained, and every mission takes money – our mission to mobilize millions in unified public prayer for America is no exception. Would you please mobilize with us on this mission by making a financial investment? Your investment will not only help us reach millions through thousands of local prayer gatherings, but also help us fund the annual broadcast that takes prayer and the gospel into 110 million homes in the U.S. and over 600 million homes worldwide. You may never know the eternal impact that your investment has – at least not until you get to heaven and meet all the people you inspired to give their lives to Jesus – and to pray.
You can send a one-time gift today or set up a recurring monthly donation. If you prefer to give via mail, you can mail your gift to PO Box 64225, Colorado Springs, CO 80962 or scan the QR code with your phone to make your donation online.
I’d also like to personally invite you to join us on Thursday, May 4th at a National Day of Prayer event in your local community, and for our National Broadcast at 8 p.m. ET. You will be able to watch or listen on many of your favorite Christian television and radio networks, as well as online. We look forward to joining with you as we all gather to Pray Fervently in Righteousness and Avail Much!
Serving Him with gladness,
Kathy Branzell
President
Scan the QR code with your phone to make your donation online.
