Tag Archive for: Public Prayer

‘Americans Witnessed Something Extraordinary’: Trump’s First Cabinet Meeting Begins with Prayer

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On Wednesday, President Donald Trump held the first cabinet meeting of his second term. To start off the momentous occasion, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner delivered a prayer that’s got conversation buzzing:

“Father, we thank You for this awesome privilege … to be in Your presence. We all thank You that You’ve allowed us to see this day. The Bible says that Your mercies are new every morning and … we give You the glory and the honor. Thank you, God, for President Trump … [and] for anointing us to do this job. Father, we pray You will give the president [and] the vice president wisdom … as they lead. Father, I pray for all of my colleagues that are here around the table and in this room. Lord God, we pray that we would lead with a righteous clarity … as we serve the people of this country and every prospective agency, every job that we have.

“Father, we would humble ourselves before You and we would lead in a manner that You called us to lead and to serve. Father, the Bible says, ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.’ … Father, we today honor You and in Your rightful place. Father, thank You for giving us this opportunity to restore faith in this country and be a blessing to the people of America. And Lord God, today in our meeting, we pray that You will be glorified in our conversation. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

Through this prayer, Turner extended a bold proclamation of God’s character and sovereignty in a room full of some of the most powerful people in our country. It did not go unnoticed. Directly following the prayer, President Trump paused, looked at Turner, and said, “Scott, that was a very good job you did.”

Additionally, a Fox News reporter highlighted that this may be the first time a cabinet meeting began with prayer. In an interview following the meeting, Turner told Fox, “It’s a great privilege to be called upon to pray for the cabinet, for our country, and for our president. And I take that very seriously.” He went on to explain that “being a man of faith, a pastor, and a Christian, to be able to pray … and honor the Lord … was awesome. I look forward to the days ahead to continue to pray for the American people and also do great work.”

Fox also reported that Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins explained how the cabinet had started a Bible study. One Fox anchor commented, “I think the whole country loves that, because [Trump’s administration is] putting God first. President Trump promised that when he ran. He wants to bring God back into our government.” And indeed, given the responses on X, it appears many did appreciate the prayer Turner gave.

“Do you know how refreshing it is to see this??” one user wrote. “We have a government who loves our country, we the people, AND most importantly JESUS!!!” Another posted, “God is bigger than every person in that room. And to see a room of powerful people, heads bowed to the grace of God, it brings tears to my eyes. God is bigger than all that power, and when prayer is lifted up, He is present and presiding and HIS WILL BE DONE. Amen.” Others explained how “prayer needs to be the foundation prior to important decisions,” and that “leaders praying for wisdom and putting faith in Jesus is always the best way to start.”

Evidently, for a meeting that touched on several key issues, including both international and domestic goals, the prayer seemed to garner the most attention. While there was some opposition to the practice, many celebrated it and expressed a desire for more of it within the government.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins also chimed in. “Encouraging to watch President Trump begin his first cabinet meeting in prayer,” he wrote. “Let’s join in praying that God will give them wisdom and direction.” Additionally, FRC’s David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview, shared his thoughts with The Washington Stand.

“A month into President Trump’s second term,” Closson stated, “Americans witnessed something extraordinary yesterday in the first cabinet meeting. The important meeting started off with prayer, and in my view, Secretary Turner wonderfully set the stage for one of the most important meetings of the second Trump administration.”

“Simple and straightforward,” he added, “Secretary Turner acknowledged God’s authority and expressed a desire to be led by the Lord. Even President Trump seemed moved by the prayer.” Considering how influential the figures are that Turner prayed for and with, Closson emphasized that “Christians should be very encouraged” — both by the prayer and the fact “that godly men and women are in positions of authority.” And moving forward, he concluded, “we should pray that they will steward that authority for the good of the country.”

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Franklin Graham after Seeing Hamas’s Carnage: ‘It’s Like Every Demon in Hell Was Let Loose’

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Warning: Graphic descriptions of Hamas torture are included below.

Everyone who’s witnessed the aftermath of Hamas — who’s stepped inside the charred houses or walked the bloody streets of a kibbutz after October 7 — has been changed. Like so many people who’ve seen pictures of the destruction on news sites across America, nothing prepared Franklin Graham for the sight of real graves, of bullet-holed walls, and haunted survivors. “These communities are empty,” he said somberly, but the echoes of their tragedies live on.

Back from the Israel-Gaza border, Billy Graham’s son tried to put into words the barbarity and destruction he saw. “The people have had to flee,” he explained to “Washington Watch” guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice. “They can’t live that close to the border with the fighting, so they’re in hotels throughout the country.” Instead, Graham said, “The Israeli army is there — a lot of them.”

Scanning what remained of the houses — some in rubble from rockets, others black from fire’s ash — Graham walked through the ravaged neighborhoods. “They took me to the command centers to show me the video pictures from just their surveillance cameras on that day.” He remembers seeing truckloads of people, streaming across the borders “with “heavy machine guns in the back of the trucks, with soldiers or terrorists that jump out and just shoot people on the side of the road and go on.”

“And then you meet people and talk to people that lived through this and somehow escaped, but they lost loved ones.” That was difficult, he admits. “I met a woman whose husband was a doctor, and they remember they didn’t know what was going on. At 7:30 in the morning, they just heard some gunshots. And this doctor said, ‘Please come to the clinic.’ And so he runs to the clinic, which was maybe a block away, and there he was shot. All the patients were shot.”

Graham relayed horror after horror. “Hand grenades were thrown into the clinic. Women were captured, raped. One was raped, and while the man was doing this act, he takes a gun and shoots her in the head. And then things like cutting their breasts off and throwing their breasts like a like a football to each other.” He stopped. “I’ve never witnessed brutality like this. And some of the terrorists that were captured were asked, ‘Why did you kidnap children? Why did you take children as hostages so that they could rape them?’ And it’s like every demon in hell was let loose.”

He met with families still stunned by shock and grief. “It’s had a huge impact,” Graham insisted. “And I just pray for these families that have lost their loved ones. I pray for the families who have loved ones down in those tunnels that were taken hostage. One lady who lost her daughter, whose daughter was killed in that [same] clinic, she said, ‘I’m so glad my daughter is dead.’ She said, ‘I wouldn’t know what to do if she was a hostage. I wouldn’t know how to handle that.’ But just the fear that’s in people’s hearts.”

Graham says he tried to pray with “everybody I met.” “I would quote Old Testament Scripture to them and remind them of God’s promises and His love. … And they were so appreciative of prayer.” He tried to remind them that “the only one that can heal their hearts is God, and He’s the God of all comfort.”

Meeting with the parents whose sons and daughters were kidnapped and taken into Gaza was especially heart-wrenching. “I prayed for these mothers,” he told Hice, “for their children and loved ones that are down in those tunnels that are being held hostage. I said, ‘[They’re] not down there alone. God is there with them.’ And we would pray that God would put his loving arms around those hostages, and that they would sense the presence of God as we prayed. And everyone was so appreciative of prayer. [Their] people are hungry spiritually. They don’t have any answers. They’re not getting answers from anyone. And when you pray for them, it touches their heart.”

Including, Graham said, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “First of all, I wanted to encourage him. … And so we talked for a while. But then I asked him, ‘Mr. Prime Minister, is it okay if I pray for you?’ And he was very appreciative of that. And we prayed and just prayed that God would give him wisdom and strengthen him and guide and direct him as they move forward here in these next few weeks and months. It’s going to be very difficult, and I just pray that God would just be with him and strengthen him.”

For now, the evangelist wanted people to know, Samaritan’s Purse is going to be “working there for some time.” “We’ve got great teams on the ground helping those [who] are stuck in the hotels and have no place to go.” But for everyone here at home, he said there’s one thing we can all do: pray. Pray for the hurting families, pray for Israel’s leadership and America’s leadership, but most of all, Graham urged, pray for the church and volunteers. “Pray that we will be faithful to lift up Christ wherever we go.”

AUTHOR

Suzanne Bowdey

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Speaker McCarthy, Leaders Gather for Prayer and Repentance

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On a snowy Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C., hundreds of people made their way to the Museum of the Bible for a unique event: the National Gathering of Prayer and Repentance. Before dawn had even broken across the city, almost 60 speakers from different nations, organizations, political districts, and backgrounds responded to God’s call to humble themselves and seek His face.

“What you’re about to see,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said, “is something you won’t see on MSNBC, CNN, or even Fox — that is, members of Congress who are praying and crying out to God. … Know that God is answering your prayers, America,” Perkins urged, “by raising up leaders who love Him and fear Him.” Led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (La.), 16 Republicans from across the country — Mary Miller (Ill.), Brian Babin (Texas), Rick Allen (Ga.), Michael Cloud (Texas), Robert Aderholt (Ala.), Tracey Mann (Kan.), Burgess Owens (Utah), Michelle Steel (Calif.), Gary Palmer (Ala.), Warren Davidson (Ohio), Randy Weber (Texas), Brandon Williams (N.Y.), Diana Harshbarger (Tenn.), Dan Bishop (N.C.), Nathaniel Moran (Texas), and Mike Johnson (La.) — took turns confessing sin and asking for God’s wisdom in the days ahead.

“We have lost our way,” Congresswoman Miller admitted, “because we have rejected you as Creator, Lord, and Savior. Now we are adrift and foolish, calling evil good and good evil. …We most humbly ask you to intervene, deliver us here in Congress and in our country from going our own way and thinking our own thoughts. Please, Heavenly Father, take the scales off our eyes. Help us to acknowledge our need of You. Our need to weep and mourn over our pride, our immorality, child abuse, and idolatry. Draw us back to you and to your word.”

Rep. Bishop asked forgiveness for a nation that has failed to understand “our dependence on You — for imagining that our blessings have come by virtue of our merit, our entitlement, our intellect, our effort.” We repent, he continued, “for acquiescing in the status quo. Forgive us for our lack of courage, our resignation, our cynicism, our hopelessness, our narrow self-interest, and ambition. Forgive us for making our government an idol and then for turning a blind eye as its instrumentalities have accumulated power and turned it against the humanity, the dignity, and the rights with which you have endowed the people. You ask who will go for me and whom will I send? Lord, send me. Forgive us, Jesus, King of all nations.”

After Leader Scalise read Psalm 33, Speaker McCarthy turned to the audience and said he was also asked to share a Scripture, but decided he’d like to “pray and read, if that’d be all right.” He started by thanking God that “we can still honor Your word, study Your word, and teach the next generation.” He asked for the Lord’s blessing on the leaders of Congress who joined him on stage and those who weren’t there today. “I want you to open their hearts. I want you to help them be bold.”

Then, knowing the difficult debates facing both parties, the speaker prayed for the president. “Father, you know I will meet with him today. Father, I ask that you open both of our hearts … that our meeting [would seek] your truth and help for this nation. … [W]e continue to seek your guidance. We ask that you give us the patience of Job. We ask that you give us the intellect, the leadership that you gave David.”

Perkins, who co-hosted the event along with Pastor Jim Garlow, also welcomed Anne Graham Lotz, Ambassador Sam Brownback, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, former congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Pastor Carter Conlon, and 19-year-old Jacob Kersey, who recently resigned from his Georgia police department when he came under fire for posting a Bible verse about marriage.

Kersey pointed out how much we take for granted the privilege of coming before God in prayer. He lifted up the 800,000 “brave men and women serving in law enforcement,” many of whom are “excellent examples of strength, fortitude, character, and integrity.” “But Father,” he admitted, “we have problems too. We’re sinful human beings. And the events in Memphis and Minneapolis shed light on our brokenness and sin. … We need the Prince of Peace, Jesus. We need you.”

Too many believers, Brunson said — “many teachers of the church” — “have become ashamed of the clear teachings of Jesus Christ. Many care too much about maintaining respectability and social standing and … are not willing to stand against the mainstream of our society, to go against the current. There are all kinds of ways to rationalize compromise. We need to repent and love the truth.”

Luke wrote that “there would be times of distress with perplexities,” Bachmann explained, “meaning that the days would become so difficult that the problems would be humanly impossible to solve. That is our day,” she insisted. “And so it is altogether fitting and proper that we come to our Father with prayers and repentance. It is the only way. It is the best way. It is the right way. It is the healing way. It is the life giving way.”

To watch the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, click here.

AUTHOR

TWS Staff Report

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

A House United: How Prayer Played a Central Role in Electing a Speaker

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In the wee morning hours of Saturday, January 7, the 434 members of the House of Representatives swore an oath to “bear true faith and allegiance” to the Constitution. After 15 votes, they had finally chosen a House speaker and could all take the oath of office. A short time earlier, seven of their number had acted out their true faith and allegiance to a different, higher governmental authority.

“We have a prayer caucus in the House,” explained Representative Mike Johnson (R-La.) on FRC’s “Pray Vote Stand” (PVS) webcast. “We gather for prayer, for example, the beginning of each week … and ask the Lord for his wisdom and discernment and guidance.”

As Friday dawned with the House no closer to choosing a Speaker, “we were in a real bind,” Johnson confessed. So, the prayer caucus gathered to pray in the House chamber “in the early morning before the session began. … We repented to the Lord for our individual transgressions, and those collectively as a legislative body, and as a people, as a nation. And we asked for his divine guidance.”

“I believe the Lord has answered the prayers of many because there was an outcome in which I believe the Congress is stronger,” remarked FRC President Tony Perkins, who hosted PVS. “Last Friday, as the future looked questionable — there was a lot of angst, a lot of tension — you and your colleagues gathered on the floor of the House to pray.”

Johnson agreed. “My specific prayer in that circle was, ‘Lord, the House is divided. We know that a house divided cannot stand. And we ask you to unite this House.’ And in short order, that’s what happened. And I tell you, this morning at the meeting with all the House Republicans, I think this group has never been more united than it is right now.”

In four rounds of voting during the Friday session, 20 Republicans who had opposed Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker changed their votes to him or “present,” enabling him to win a majority with 216 votes on the 15th ballot.

“The core group that joined together on that floor for prayer [is] accustomed to praying together, because we do it routinely,” said Johnson. “We pray for individual prayer requests, often of our constituents and those that we know who are struggling. And it’s just a great time of unity and bonding.”

“Friday’s events proved the power of prayer in miraculous ways,” said Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.), one the members who prayed on the House floor. “We lifted the speaker’s race up to the Lord, and immediately after the prayer of seven members, 14 members changed their vote. And, by the end of the day, it had concluded, and we had a speaker. My church and many others prayed together at the same time, and the power of the Holy Spirit was seen in the results thereafter. I want to thank Jon and Jolene Hamill of Lamplighter Ministries for the prayer.”

Steube’s office provided The Washington Stand with a copy of his prayer on the House floor, which read in part, “Father God, we lift up to you the seat of authority of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. We bring this seat literally before the Throne of the Ancient of Days, in the highest Court of the Kingdom of God. We ask for Your verdict of justice in favor of the saints. … Forgive the sins that have taken place by those stewarding this seat, including all sexual immorality, abuse of power, abuse of children, unjust bloodshed, occult sacrifice, betrayal of national interest, etc. Ultimately, they are all a betrayal of You. Please forgive these grave injustices. …”

Another member who knelt in prayer was Representative Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). “As a person of faith, I believe in the power of prayer — both in calm and challenging times,” he told TWS. “Before the vote took place, my colleagues and I bowed our heads and knelt on our knees in the well of the House to seek God’s guidance and ask that His almighty hand continue to watch over and sustain our great land.”

Johnson said that many “committed, solid believers” serve in Congress. “They’re not always the ones you see on TV, but they are the ones that I believe in many ways are holding the country together. And we’re seeking God’s providence, guidance, and direction every single day. There’s always been a remnant that God works through, and this group here believes that that’s still possible.”

Perkins noted this prayer on the House floor was “in sharp contrast to the efforts we’ve seen in recent years to remove God from Congress.” Last spring, in response to Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, Representative Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) retorted, “What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.”

“This is a spiritual battle,” Johnson added. “When people of faith have their voices censored and silenced routinely and increasingly, it’s a threat to the survival of the republic. I mean it; this is not hyperbole.”

But no one interrupted the Friday morning prayer circle. “Desperate times lead people to turn to God,” said Perkins.

Last Wednesday, The Washington Stand reported on the unanimous outpouring of prayer for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin. In seeming answer to those prayers, Hamlin was safely discharged from the hospital this Wednesday, nine days after the 24-year-old suffered cardiac arrest on-field during Monday Night Football.

AUTHOR

Joshua Arnold

Joshua Arnold is a staff writer at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This The Washington Standard column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.