Tag Archives: Prayer

2026: The Year of Big Prayers

As I look back over the last year and look forward to the next one, I’m reminded of how quick I am to underestimate what God can do, and how often He’s proven me wrong.

I can’t tell you how many times I saw Him do this in the past twelve months. There were times I prayed for a hope of mine to come to fruition, for a hard situation to be resolved, and for healing or a change of situation for someone in my life. In each of these, I kept trying to right-size my request and make sure I wasn’t asking too much. In theory I knew that anything was possible with God, but I regularly found myself praying for what I thought was realistic rather than what I truly hoped for (you can tell I haven’t conquered this habit yet, as this is not the first time I’ve written about this topic).

And yet, despite my doubting, in each of these situations God showed up and answered the actual desires of my heart, not the watered-down version that I gave Him.

Years ago when I was struggling a bit with my health, I thought I could only pray for healing on the small scale – God, don’t let my blood sugar get too low right now,or God, please keep me out of the hospital. I didn’t expect to get to a place where I could travel and exercise without issue, or be able to get the flu and not end up in the hospital, or be pain-free for such long stretches of time like I am now. I was praying small prayers back then, but God was answering big ones.

Plenty of times I asked God to help me find the right person – someone who would love me as Christ loves the Church, who would be a strong, kingdom-minded, spiritual leader in our home, who would be excited about joining me in what God has called me to and would be called to things that I can join him in as well. Even though I prayed for these and many more qualities in a future spouse, the temptation was always there to settle for less, because I thought I might be asking for too much. And yet, just three months from now I will get to marry the love of my life, who has been an answer to one very specific prayer after another (if you’re reading this, LJ, lova ya). I was praying big prayers, while tempted to pray smaller ones. But God was always planning on answering the big.

There were also times this year I asked God to help people in my life out of a bad – sometimes life-alteringly so – situation. In these moments, I prayed because I knew I should. But truthfully, I didn’t expect to see much, if anything, change. It seemed too difficult, too unlikely. Yet, each of those circumstances did a complete 180, thanks only to God. Once again I was praying small prayers, while God was answering big ones.

I think it’s natural to feel like we have to shrink our prayers and expectations. We’re human, and are so used to our own limitations that we forget our God is limitless. I know I have a tendency to assume that things will always stay exactly as they are; when I have one reality in front of me it’s hard to visualize any other.

It can also be hard to pray big prayers after disappointment. When we don’t get the answers we want, it feels safer to manage our expectations and not get our hopes up. When that person isn’t healed, or we lose that job, or life doesn’t look the way we wanted it to, it’s okay to feel the pain of that. God meets us in our grief just as much as He meets us in our joy. But praying smaller prayers doesn’t stop us from hurting when life is hard; it only stops us from experiencing the wonder that comes from seeing a prayer answered in supernatural specificity.

Something I need to ask myself is this: Did it seem realistic to the Israelites enslaved in Egypt that they would ever see freedom, or that Pharaoh would willingly let them go? 

Did it seem realistic that God would split the sea in two, letting them walk through on dry land? Or that He would provide manna every day for forty years? 

Did it seem realistic that Jesus would heal a sick woman simply by the touch of His cloak, or that He would cast out demons, or raise the dead?

Did it seem realistic that the Son of God would suffer, die, and be raised to life in order to give life to a fallen creation?

Thankfully, we don’t serve a God who is realistic. We serve a God who can’t be boxed in by our tiny expectations, who does the impossible like it’s nothing. Not only that, but we serve a God who delights in giving good gifts to His children. 

So, in 2026, I’m challenging myself to pray bigger prayers. 

God knows the desires of my heart anyway, so I might as well verbalize what I’m hoping for. And He is present whether I get the answers I want or not, which means I can pray without fear of disappointment, knowing that my true joy is found in Him.

I can especially pray with confidence if I’m asking for things that I know are in His will: that those around me would come to know Him, that they would be freed from sin and shame, that they would find spiritual healing and rest in their Savior. I can ask these things in faith, knowing that I’m aligned with the heart of the Father on this. 

Maybe you want 2026 to be the year of praying big prayers for you, too. I’d encourage you to join me in this, and in looking ahead at the year to come with excitement and expectation.

Related Scripture

Ephesians 3:20-21

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Exodus 12:31

Then [Pharaoh] called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, ‘Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said.'”

Exodus 14:10-14, 21-22

“As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, ‘Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’ But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent’…Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.’

Matthew 9:20-22

“And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, ‘If I only touch His garment, I will get well.’ But Jesus turning and seeing her said, ‘Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.’ At once the woman was made well.”

Romans 8:26-28

“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Jeremiah 32:17

“Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You.”

Matthew 19:26

“And looking at them Jesus said to them, ‘With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'”

Matthew 7:7-11

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Psalm 66:19-20

“But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor His lovingkindness from me.”

Prayer – The Answered and the Unanswered Kind

If you’re anything like me, it can be scary for you to pray really specific prayers. The thought that often goes through my head is “What if God doesn’t answer me? I don’t want to be disappointed, so I just won’t ask for this thing.” 

But honestly, that’s pretty silly on my part. God wants us to ask Him for what we need, and He listens to our prayers. And I do believe that prayer makes a difference, that at specific times and in God’s wisdom He will intervene – either in our circumstances or in our hearts – based on our prayers. 

So really, I shouldn’t be afraid to pray just because I might be disappointed. Instead, I should be afraid of missing out on the answers God could provide or the ways He wants to involve me in His plans, just because I was too afraid to ask. Think about the verse that says “you do not have because you do not ask”; doesn’t that indicate how important it is to just try and see what happens?

Now, there will be times when you pray and see God respond. But there will also be times when you pray and God doesn’t seem to answer, or doesn’t answer the way you want Him to. What then? 

A while back I was praying for something, and I felt God nudging me, “But how will you respond if the answer is no?”

I had to really wrestle with that. If God didn’t answer me the way I wanted, how would I react? Would I lash out in anger at Him? Would I give up on prayer completely, deciding that He’s forgotten me or doesn’t care about me? Would I refuse to accept His answer and try to make it happen on my own? 

If I were to respond in one of these ways, it’d be natural. But I have to remind myself that when the answer is no, it doesn’t mean that I prayed wrong, or that I’m not good enough for God to do what I want, or that He doesn’t care. The only thing it means is that the answer is no. 

In Luke 11, Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray. In verses 9-10, He tells them that those who ask receive, and those who seek find, and those who knock have the door opened to them. Then right after that, He says the following:

“Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

I think one of the reasons Jesus says this right here is because not all of the answers we get from God are what we want. Think about Paul asking God to remove the thorn in his flesh, or even Jesus asking God to let the cup of suffering pass from Him before His crucifixion.

In those moments of disappointment, it would be easy for us to say “You said that those who ask would receive. Then why did I not get what I prayed for?” We might feel as though (to follow the analogy) we asked God for a fish or an egg, and were given a snake or a scorpion instead. And so I think it’s really perfect that Jesus says this here. He reminds us that no matter how unjust things seem to be, no matter how wronged we feel by our circumstances or by God, He is working on our behalf even still. He is providing for us and redeeming our most painful circumstances, even if it doesn’t feel like it.

One last thought – I think we can get it wrong when the answer is yes, too. We can get our desired answer from God and then begin thinking that we got it because we’re just so deserving of it. We can idolize the gift rather than the Giver. We can become entitled, thinking God owes us something. 

So whenever we pray, we need to ask ourselves “What will I do, with either answer?” 

If the answer is yes, we can thank God and humbly steward what He’s given us. If the answer is no, we can still worship Him for being good and for being the source of our strength to endure. And that frees us up to pray honestly and specifically for what is important to us; we can pray open-handed, knowing that no matter what answer we receive, we can trust the One who hears us.

Related Scripture

Luke 11:1-13

“It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.’ And He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’

Then He said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?'”

James 4:2-3

“You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

1 John 5:14

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

Philippians 4:6-7

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

“Concerning [the thorn in my flesh] I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”