2026 THEME — “SEEING LIFE FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE” January – Prayer from God’s Perspective
The second service on “Prayer From God’s Perspective” will take us deeper by revealing why God chose prayer as the channel through which we receive everything He has prepared for us. Prayer is not about begging for blessings, but about alignment—shaping our desires, strengthening our faith, and positioning our hearts to carry what God wants to entrust to us. What you receive this year will not be determined by effort or intention, but by alignment, and alignment always begins in prayer. These services are not optional; missing them means missing the foundation God is laying for everything He intends to do in your life this year. They are a spiritual reset and divine recalibration, setting the lens through which you will interpret every decision, delay, and door in 2026.
SUNDAY’S SERMON SUMMARY
Our world is in chaos because people insist on living by their own understanding, and tragically many believers do the same. Yet God called His people to be peculiar—anchored in His perspective—living from a higher plane where homes, churches, and individuals respond with His wisdom instead of pride, preference, or panic. When we see life through God’s lens, offense loosens, fear quiets, and confusion gives way to clarity—delays become preparation, losses become correction, and interruptions become alignment—because our understanding measures moments, while God’s perspective measures purpose, seeing the end from the beginning and working from the finished product He is forming in us. That shift transforms prayer from controlling outcomes to aligning hearts with God’s wisdom, producing peace, direction, and obedience even without full explanation, redeeming difficulty rather than merely removing it. And after a year marked by hidden pain, strain, loneliness, betrayal, medical fear, and heavy responsibility, this truth stands: God did not dismiss the hurt—He stayed close, carried His people, kept His promises, and now calls us forward, not to explain everything, but to trust and obey—beginning 2026 at the altar in surrender, under His Lordship, resisting the enemy’s schemes, standing in Christ’s authority, and believing God will bring us through again.
GO TO www.belmontbaptistchurch.com/sermons and listen to Sunday’s message.
Beats From Your Pastor’s Heart
God Answers Alignment Before He Answers Requests
“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” — Psalm 37:4
From God’s perspective, answered prayer flows from alignment, not insistence. We often come to prayer focused on outcomes—what we want changed, fixed, removed, or added—while God approaches prayer focused on formation. Heaven is less concerned with granting requests than with shaping hearts, because answers placed into misaligned hands eventually become burdens rather than blessings.
This is why Scripture does not say God gives us everything we ask for, but that He gives us the desires of our heart—after we learn to delight ourselves in Him. Delight precedes desire. As intimacy with God deepens, our wants begin to shift. What once felt urgent loses its grip, and what once seemed insignificant becomes sacred. Alignment changes not only what we ask for, but why we ask for it.
Many believers misinterpret delay as denial, when in reality it is often preparation. God is not slow—He is precise. He knows that premature answers can damage us, derail us, or distort His work in us. What He plans to entrust to your life tomorrow depends greatly on who you are allowing Him to shape today. Prayer is not God bending to our will; it is our will being bent into agreement with His.
Why God Works on the Heart First
God loves you too much to answer prayers that would reinforce immaturity, pride, fear, or self-reliance. From His perspective, the heart is the gatekeeper of every blessing. If the heart is misaligned, even good gifts can become idols. That is why God often answers prayer by addressing you before He addresses your request.
When Scripture says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord,” it reveals a spiritual sequence. Delight produces trust. Trust produces surrender. Surrender produces alignment. And alignment produces answers that do not destroy us. God is not withholding good things; He is guarding us from receiving good things at the wrong time or for the wrong reason.
This explains why two people can pray similar prayers and receive very different outcomes. God answers according to alignment, not urgency. He measures readiness, not volume. He is shaping a vessel, not just granting a wish.
Delay Is Often Capacity Training
From heaven’s viewpoint, delay is not wasted time—it is capacity training. God knows exactly how much weight a soul can carry without collapsing. Some blessings require expanded faith, deeper humility, stronger obedience, and settled trust. Without those things, what we desire today could crush us tomorrow.
In prayer, God often stretches us before He supplies us. He teaches patience before promotion, obedience before influence, and surrender before increase. What feels like silence is often God enlarging the space within us so that when the answer comes, it does not replace Him, but glorifies Him.
This reframes disappointment. Instead of asking, “Why hasn’t God answered yet?” alignment teaches us to ask, “What is God forming in me while I wait?” Waiting seasons are not empty—they are instructional. God never delays without purpose, and He never prepares without intention.
When Desires Become God-Shaped
One of the greatest evidences of spiritual maturity is when prayer shifts from demanding outcomes to desiring alignment. As the heart is reshaped, prayers change tone. We stop insisting and start yielding. We stop controlling and start trusting. And remarkably, as alignment deepens, our desires begin to mirror God’s desires.
This is the promise of Psalm 37:4. God does not merely give us what we want—He transforms what we want. When that happens, prayer becomes powerful, peaceful, and effective. We are no longer fighting God for answers; we are walking with Him toward purpose.
From God’s perspective, the greatest answered prayer is not a changed circumstance, but a changed heart—because aligned hearts can be trusted with answered prayers.
Prayer — Praying for Alignment and Authority
Father God, in the name of Jesus Christ, I come before You in humility and faith. I acknowledge that You are Lord, and I surrender every desire, motive, and expectation in my heart to Your authority. I repent for any place where I have insisted instead of yielded, demanded instead of trusted, or prayed from impatience rather than alignment. In Jesus’ name, I renounce every strategy of the enemy designed to distort my desires, rush my timing, or manipulate my prayers through fear, frustration, or comparison. I take authority over every lying voice that says delay is denial, silence is rejection, or surrender is loss. I declare that Satan has no authority over my mind, my prayers, or my perception of God’s goodness. Lord, I ask You to realign my heart with Heaven’s desires. Where my will has drifted, bring it back under Your Lordship. Where my expectations have been shaped by pressure, pain, or pride, cleanse them by Your Spirit. Strengthen my faith so that I do not war against Your timing, but agree with Your purpose. I declare that my prayers will not be hindered by misalignment, doubt, or impatience. I choose trust over control, obedience over understanding, and surrender over insistence. I receive Your peace in the waiting, Your wisdom in the process, and Your power to stand firm against every scheme of the enemy. I declare that what You are forming in me will not be aborted by frustration or fear. I will wait, watch, and walk in obedience until Your answer comes forth in fullness. I stand aligned with Your will, anchored in Your truth, and confident in Your faithfulness.
In the mighty and victorious name of Jesus,
Amen.
Challenge: Ask God to search your desires honestly and without defense. Write down one thing you have been asking Him for and pray, “Lord, is my heart ready to steward this?” Be willing to release it if He says no or not yet, trusting that alignment today leads to answered prayer in God’s perfect time.
TUESDAY’S PRAYER REQUESTS
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