Faith@First - May 29, 2026
As a pastor, I’ve prayed many prayers.
Prayers of resurrection on Easter Sunday, hope on Christmas Eve, comfort whispered beside hospital beds and spoken over caskets. I’ve offered prayers of joy for new babies, new homes, and new marriages. And for those sacred moments, I’ve often tried to get the words just right.
But as a pastor, I’ve also learned something else.
Some of the most powerful prayers don’t come with preparation at all. They came in moments of desperation, exhaustion, grief, fear or indecision. If “great” prayers come from the heart. These are the kind of prayers that come from gut.
Prayers like :
“God, save me!”
“Lord, I can’t do this anymore.”
“Jesus, don’t leave me.”
Or simply: “Bless me.”
As we close out our series When We Pray, I realized our journey through scripture would be incomplete without exploring this kind of prayer. The kind that desperately asks for God’s presence and power.
This Sunday we will meet a man named Jabez, who prays that kind of prayer. And we’ll be reminded that God hears all of our prayers. Even the ones that aren’t proofread or polished. The ones prayed through tears, fear, frustration, and trembling faith.
Because thanks be to God, perfection has never been a requirement for prayer. Just a willingness to open our hearts before God.
I hope you’ll join us this Sunday if you need to lift a prayer like this to the Lord and join with others who will believe with you, that God will answer.
Let Us Pray:
Lord, hear our prayers. Hear us when our words are polished and when they fall apart. Meet us in our desperation, our fear, our hope, and our need. Remind us that no prayer is too small, too messy, or too broken for Your love to reach. In Jesus’ name we pray- Amen.
Keep the Faith@First,
Pastor Nicole
