New Year's Prayer

Hello, and welcome back to Nations 4 Jesus. As we step into 2026, I want to talk with you about prayer—not as a ritual or a religious duty, but as the incredible gift God has given us to connect with Him in every season of life.

Pastor Phil Ware writes something that resonates deeply with me: "When I think about prayer, I am reminded that God is faithful to us through all the seasons of our lives. He isn't a fair-weather God. He is an all-season Father."

As we stand at the threshold of a new year, many of us carry the weight of what 2025 held—both its joys and its sorrows. Some of you are stepping into 2026 with excitement and hope. Others are entering it exhausted, wounded, uncertain. But here's the beautiful truth I want us to grasp together: Our God is an all-season Father, and He has given us the gift of all-season prayer.

[The all-season Father - His constant presence]

Ware continues: "He is with us when life feels alive and full of color. He loves us when our lives feel drab and gray. He loves when life looms dark and foreboding. Our God is an all-season Father!"

Think about the seasons you've walked through. Maybe 2025 was a springtime season for you—full of new beginnings, fresh starts, growth, and hope. Or maybe it was a summer season—abundant, joyful, warm, thriving. Perhaps it was an autumn season—a time of transition, of things falling away, of preparation for what's next. Or maybe it was a winter season—cold, dark, difficult, a time when you felt that life itself was dormant or dying.

Whatever season you experienced, God was there. He wasn't absent during the winter and only present during the summer. He didn't love you more in the spring and less in the autumn. He is the all-season Father who never changes, whose love never wavers, whose presence never diminishes.

[God's knowledge and love - from conception to now]

Ware writes: "The Almighty, the Creator, our Abba Father, has known us, loved us, and been with us every moment from our conception through every up and down of life, and is still with us until now."

This is the truth of Psalm 139. Let me read verses 1-4: "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely."

God has known you from the very beginning—from the moment you were conceived in your mother's womb. He has been with you through every moment of your life. Every joy you've experienced, He celebrated with you. Every sorrow you've endured, He grieved with you. Every triumph, every failure, every mountain top, every valley—He has been there through all of it.

And He's still with you now, as you stand at the beginning of 2026. Whatever you're facing, whatever you're feeling, whatever lies ahead—your all-season Father is with you.

[Nothing can separate us - the promise]

Ware reminds us: "As his children by grace through faith, our Father has promised that nothing can separate us from his love for us in Christ Jesus."

This is the glorious promise of Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Think about what that means! Nothing in 2025 separated you from God's love. And nothing in 2026 will separate you from His love. Not failure. Not sin. Not disappointment. Not suffering. Not doubt. Not circumstances. Not other people's actions. Not your own weaknesses. Nothing!

[He will never leave - the guarantee]

Hebrews 13:5-6 promises: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Ware writes: "He will never leave us or forsake us, no matter how we may feel or what we deserve at any given moment, or what others around us do to us."

This is crucial, especially as we enter a new year. You may feel like God has left you. You may feel unworthy of His presence. You may have people in your life who have abandoned you. But feelings aren't facts, and human behavior isn't God's behavior. God promises—He will never leave you. Never forsake you. Not in 2026. Not ever.

[No distinctions - He loves all His children equally]

Ware continues: "He doesn't care if we are young or old, tired or energetic, male or female, rich or poor, light or dark-skinned, upper class, or homeless."

This is the truth of Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." God doesn't have favorite children based on external factors. He doesn't love the successful more than the struggling. He doesn't hear the prayers of the wealthy more attentively than the prayers of the poor. He doesn't care about your age, your energy level, your ethnicity, your socioeconomic status.

If you are His child through faith in Jesus Christ, He loves you completely, hears you fully, and is with you always. Period.

[The ever-listening Father - prayer's incredible gift]

This brings us to the heart of what I want us to understand about prayer in this new year. Ware writes: "Our God is the all-season and ever-listening Father. He is waiting for us to call out to him as our Abba Father."

Romans 8:15 tells us: "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"

"Abba" is an Aramaic term of endearment—like "Daddy" or "Papa." It's intimate, personal, affectionate. God isn't a distant deity waiting to be formally addressed with religious language. He's our Abba Father who delights in hearing from His children!

[When words fail - the Spirit intercedes]

But here's where it gets even more beautiful. Ware continues: "Because we are his children and filled with his Spirit, he listens to the groanings of our emotions too deep for words and hears them with love because of the intercession of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 8:26-27 promises: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God."

Have you ever been in a place where you didn't even know how to pray? Where your pain was too deep for words? Where your confusion was too great to articulate? Where you could only groan or cry or sit in silence? The Holy Spirit intercedes for you in those moments! God hears not just your words, but the groanings of your heart. He understands what you cannot express.

[All-season prayer - the incredible gift]

This is why Ware declares: "That means our Father in heaven has given us the incredible gift of being able to pray in all seasons of life! Real... heart-level... in the trenches of despair and on the mountain tops of joy kinds of praying."

You don't have to wait until you're in a good spiritual place to pray. You don't have to clean yourself up first. You don't have to find the right words or the right formula. You can pray in the winter of despair and in the summer of joy. You can pray when life is colorful and when it's gray. You can pray with eloquent words and with wordless groans. You can pray on the mountaintop and in the valley.

Because prayer isn't about our performance—it's about our relationship with an all-season Father who is always listening, always loving, always present.

[No place or time excluded - God is always available]

Ware writes: "There is no place or time or situation that God is not available to hear your words and feel your heart's emotions in prayer."

Think about that! There is no place too dark for prayer. No situation too desperate. No emotion too raw. No sin too shameful. No confusion too great. No joy too small. No gratitude too simple. God is available to hear you—right now, right where you are, exactly as you are.

[After a difficult year - entering with new hope]

Ware, writing after a particularly difficult year, says: "After a year like 2023, and now dedicating ourselves to prayer for this New Year with New Hope, this is good news!"

Some of you had a difficult 2025. Maybe you lost someone you loved. Maybe you faced health challenges, financial crises, relationship breakdowns. Maybe your faith was tested in ways you never imagined. Maybe you're entering 2026 exhausted, wounded, uncertain.

If that's you, hear this good news: "The Father wants us to know he is listening, standing on tiptoe to hear from our hearts as we enter into this New Year in the shattered mess of our previous one."

God isn't disgusted by your mess. He's standing on tiptoe—leaning in—eager to hear from you! He's not waiting for you to get it together first. He's waiting for you to come to Him exactly as you are, in whatever season you're in, with whatever words or groans you can muster.

[The gift and the Giver - why we can pray]

Ware concludes: "We have been given the gift of all-season prayer because we have a loving Father who is the all-season, grace-giving, always-listening God who loves us."

The gift is all-season prayer. But the reason for the gift is the Giver—our all-season, grace-giving, always-listening Father who loves us. Prayer isn't a technique we master. It's a relationship we enjoy. And the relationship is secure because God is faithful, loving, and unchanging.

[A New Year's prayer - entering 2026 together]

So as we enter 2026, let me lead us in a New Year's prayer—not a formal, religious prayer, but a heart-level conversation with our Abba Father.

Abba Father, we come to You at the beginning of 2026, and we come exactly as we are. Some of us are excited about this new year. Some of us are exhausted and hesitant. Some of us are hopeful. Some of us are hurting. But all of us are Your children, and we thank You that You are our all-season Father.

Thank You that You were with us through every moment of 2025—the joys and the sorrows, the victories and the defeats, the colorful seasons and the gray ones. Thank You that nothing in 2025 separated us from Your love in Christ Jesus. And thank You that nothing in 2026 will separate us either.

Lord, as we look toward this new year, we don't know what we'll face. We don't know what seasons are ahead. But we know You'll be with us through all of them. Help us to remember that You are the all-season Father—present in spring and summer, autumn and winter. Present in joy and sorrow. Present in clarity and confusion.

[Continued prayer - specific needs]

For those of us who are entering 2026 exhausted from 2025, we pray for rest and renewal. For those facing health challenges, we pray for healing and strength. For those in financial difficulty, we pray for provision and wisdom. For those whose relationships are broken, we pray for restoration or peace. For those grieving losses, we pray for comfort and hope.

For those who don't know what their calling is in this new year, we pray for clarity and direction. For those preparing for major transitions—like our daughter heading to Korea for YWAM training—we pray for courage and trust. For those developing new ministries or businesses, we pray for wisdom and perseverance. For those who feel stuck or stagnant, we pray for breakthrough and fresh wind of Your Spirit.

[Prayer for the persecuted church]

Abba Father, we also lift up our brothers and sisters around the world who are entering 2026 under persecution. The believers in North Korea who must hide their faith. The Christians in Nigeria who face violence. The Afghan believers practicing faith in secret. The Chinese church facing government pressure. The Iranian converts risking everything.

Lord, be their all-season Father in ways that we who live in freedom can barely comprehend. Give them strength for winter seasons that seem to never end. Give them hope in darkness. Give them courage when threatened. And use their faithful prayers—their groans and cries and whispered worship—to advance Your kingdom in the hardest places.

[Prayer for missions and the nations]

And Father, as we think about the nations, we pray for the 7,401 unreached people groups representing 3.4 billion individuals who have little to no access to the Gospel. Raise up missionaries in 2026! Call young people to go. Mobilize churches to send. Provide resources for those serving in hard places.

We pray specifically for Korea—both North and South. For the hidden church in the North suffering under brutal persecution, and for the vibrant church in the South sending missionaries worldwide. We pray for Nigeria, that the violence would stop and the church would grow stronger. We pray for Mexico, that revival would sweep the nation. We pray for Egypt, that the ancient Coptic Church would experience renewal.

Let me pray

As you step into 2026, I want to encourage you: Don't neglect the gift of all-season prayer. Whatever season you find yourself in this year—spring, summer, autumn, or winter—talk to your Abba Father. He's listening. He's leaning in. He's standing on tiptoe to hear from you.

And remember: You have an all-season Father who loves you completely, hears you fully, and is with you always. Not just in 2026, but through every season of your life, until the day you see His face and your eternal spring begins.

Until next time, remember—keep your eyes on the nations, and keep your heart connected to your all-season Father through all-season prayer!

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