2026 THEME — “Seeing Life From God’s Perspective” January – Prayer from God’s Perspective
Why do some prayers soothe the heart while others release heaven’s authority? This message will uncover why prayer becomes powerful through alignment with God—not volume, emotion, or effort. When Prayer Becomes Agreement with Heaven is a must-hear call for 2026, inviting you to stop negotiating with God and start praying in agreement with His will—where faith shifts, authority is released, and God begins to move.
SUNDAY’S SERMON SUMMARY
This month, God is teaching us that prayer is not meant to be filtered through our limited understanding, but shaped by His eternal perspective. He invites us to revisit the most painful chapters of our lives and see them not as wasted seasons, but as moments He was actively protecting, preparing, and redirecting us. What felt like abandonment was often a quiet work of refinement, deepening trust and guarding us from what we could not yet discern. Healing begins when surrendered memories stop defining our identity and begin instructing our faith. From God’s viewpoint, prayer is not a mechanism to manage outcomes but a sacred lifeline that keeps us near while His purposes unfold. When disappointment drains expectation, prayer may grow cautious, yet God is not moved by polished words—He responds to humble dependence and supplies help through the Holy Spirit. Faith takes root where understanding runs out, as we release our need to explain and rest fully on God’s unchanging character. This moment is an invitation to return—not with answers, but with trust—choosing to pray closer, lean deeper, and place every burden back into faithful hands.
GO TO www.belmontbaptistchurch.com/sermons and listen to Sunday’s message.
Beats From Your Pastor’s Heart
Reframing the Past Through God’s Eyes
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…”—Rom 8:28
Some of the strongest prayer lives are not born in ease, but in pain that has been reinterpreted through God’s truth. What you remember as loss or delay, God may remember as protection, preparation, or redirection. Healing often begins not when the past changes, but when the lens through which you view it does. God is not asking you to deny the pain—He is inviting you to trust His purpose in it. When pain is surrendered instead of rehearsed, it becomes a place of encounter rather than accusation. Prayer deepens when memory is healed by truth instead of governed by emotion.
God Sees More Than the Moment
Your understanding remembers the sharpest part of the pain—the moment it hurt the most. God’s perspective holds the entire story, including what He was preventing, shaping, and aligning. Prayer weakens when we judge God by a single chapter instead of His full design. Trust grows when we believe that God was present and purposeful even when we couldn’t see it. God never wastes a season, even the ones that wound us. What felt confusing to you may have been carefully ordered by Him.
Pain Misinterpreted Can Distort Prayer
When pain is left uninterpreted by God, it quietly shapes how we pray. We pray cautiously instead of confidently, guarded instead of surrendered. Many believers are praying from their wounds instead of through them. When God is allowed to tell the truth about what He was doing, prayer regains boldness and clarity. Unhealed pain often turns prayer into self-protection rather than trust. But healed pain becomes a testimony that strengthens faith and expectation.
When God Renames the Season
The enemy wants your past labeled “abandonment” because that accusation weakens trust. God renames seasons by fruit, not feelings. What felt like delay may have been preparation; what felt like rejection may have been protection. When God renames the season, the wound no longer defines you—wisdom does. Heaven does not agree with the names pain gives your past. When God speaks His name over the season, authority replaces confusion.
You do not need a new past to have a strong prayer life—you need God’s perspective on the one you already lived. When the lens changes, prayer changes. Trust deepens, confidence returns, and faith begins to speak with authority again. What once weakened your prayers can become the very place they gain weight. God redeems memory so that prayer flows from truth, not trauma.
Prayer: Father, in the name of Jesus, I take authority over every lie the enemy has attached to my past. I renounce false labels of abandonment, failure, and loss. I declare that You were present, purposeful, and faithful—even when I could not see it. I break agreement with bitterness and accusation, and I receive Your truth, healing, and wisdom. Align my memory with Your heart. Let every place of pain become a place of authority, and every wound become a well of trust. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Challenge: Write down one painful season you still call loss. Ask God to rename it. Then thank Him—out loud—for what He was protecting, preparing, or redirecting in your life through that season. Refuse to revisit that memory without inviting God’s truth into it. Let gratitude replace accusation as an act of faith.
TUESDAY’S PRAYER REQUESTS
Brind Gray’s Uncle
Aston Savaage
Joni Oberhage
Linda Mays
Carol Lawhead – Riverside in Conyers
Mandy Martin – Mary May Martin 6 lbs. 7 oz.
Myles Elliott
Rose Fuller – Pruitt-Monroe Nursing Home, Forsyth GA
Amy Garner’s Dad
Brando Echarte
Debbie Foskey
Don Franklin’s Daughter, Darlene, Son, David
Ed Adkins – Friend of Brian Edwards
Gloria Young
Jake Jenkins
Jenkins son-in-law
June Cronan
Jean Partee’s Sister
Kim McClain’s Daughter, Amanda
Deon Lotter
Doris Loyd
Nancy Brown
Annette Ford
Andrea Nix– Friend of the Shelnutt’s
Angela Bryan’s Sisters
Ann Stanley
Danny Jarrard
Darlene Wiggins
Doris Loyd
Dr. and Mrs. Davis
Eric Magnusson’s Mother
Eric Ward
Friend of Linda Hodge
Gayle Sparks
Linda Alexander
James Burnette
Jessica Headrick
John McClain’s Mother
June Cronan’s Sister
June Davis
Kailey Bateman
Kim McClain’s Mother
Kim’s Sisters – Ann & Brenda
Lee Cronan
Lillianna Magnusson’s Mom
Lonzo Christian
Lori Blount’s Mother
Mary Williams
Mary Williamson – Dana Jackson’s Mom
Mrs. Franklin
Nora Allison
Ron And Johnnie Barry – Friends Of Ashton & Glenda Bateman
Scott Lanier
Scotty Nix
Stephanie Seivers – Friend of the Shelnutt’s
Steve Michaels
Tom Witcher