This 5-day devotional draws directly from Christian Fellowship Church🔹Pastor Scott Cheramie's sermon “According to His will - 2026-06-29” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
When You Pray, He Hears You
Monday — Understanding the Truth
Have you ever wondered if your prayers actually go anywhere — or if you're just talking to the ceiling?
Today's Scripture "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." — 1 John 5:14
Reflection Prayer can feel like a mystery. You bring your honest requests to God, and sometimes the answer comes quickly. Other times, silence. Other times, the answer is simply no. It's easy to wonder: does any of this matter?
Here's the foundational truth that changes everything: God hears you. Not eventually. Not when you've cleaned yourself up or said it perfectly. Right now, exactly as you are.
The confidence this verse describes isn't arrogance — it's assurance. Because of Jesus, you have open access to God at any moment. No appointment needed. No waiting room. The picture is less like approaching a CEO's office and more like walking into your father's living room and climbing up on his lap. You are always welcome.
And here's the shift that makes prayer come alive: prayer isn't primarily about convincing God to do what you want. It's about drawing close enough to him that you begin to see what he wants — and trusting that his will is better than your own, even when it's hard to believe that in the moment.
That's not resignation. That's faith.
Today's Step Take a moment today to simply say: "God, I know you hear me. Help me trust that your answer — whatever it is — comes from love."
A Closing Thought You are not shouting into the void. You are speaking to a Father who leans in close every single time you call.
Not My Will, But Yours
Tuesday — When It's Hard
Be honest: have you ever prayed for something with everything in you — and the answer was no?
Today's Scripture "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." — Luke 22:42
Reflection If anyone deserved a yes, it was Jesus. And yet, in the garden of Gethsemane, on the worst night of his life, the answer from heaven was silence — and then, essentially, no.
That should stop us in our tracks. Jesus prayed honestly. He didn't pretend to be okay with what was coming. He said plainly, I don't want this. He was fully human, and the weight of the cross was real. But then he did something extraordinary: he surrendered. Not my will. Yours.
This is where prayer gets genuinely hard. We pray for healing and the illness stays. We pray for a relationship to be restored and it isn't. We pray for relief and the pressure doesn't lift. And in those moments, it's tempting to think either God didn't hear us, or he doesn't care.
But the truth is harder and more beautiful than that: God is more concerned with shaping your character than securing your comfort. That's not a cold statement — it's what love actually looks like from an eternal perspective. He sees what you can't see yet.
The no doesn't mean he's absent. It means he's working.
Today's Step Think of one prayer that hasn't been answered the way you hoped. Can you bring it back to God today — honestly, without pretending — and add the words, "But not my will, yours"?
A Closing Thought Surrender in prayer isn't giving up. It's trusting the One who sees the whole picture when you can only see today.
How to Pray When You Don't Know How
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
What do you actually do when you sit down to pray and the words just won't come?
Today's Scripture "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." — Romans 8:26
Reflection Here's something quietly liberating: you don't have to have it all figured out before you pray. In fact, the Bible acknowledges plainly that we often don't know what we ought to pray for. That's not a spiritual failure — that's just being human.
So how do you pray in a way that actually aligns with God's will? Two practical anchors will help you.
First, go to Scripture. God's word is the clearest window into his will. He will never lead you in a direction that contradicts what he's already said in writing. When you're unsure what to ask for, start by reading — even a psalm, even a few verses — and let his words shape yours.
Second, invite the Holy Spirit into your prayer. You don't have to manufacture the right words. Romans 8:26 is a genuine promise: when you don't know how to pray, the Spirit intercedes for you. You can simply sit quietly and say, "Spirit, pray through me. I don't know exactly what I need, but you do."
Prayer doesn't have to be polished. It just has to be honest and open. Start there.
Today's Step Today, before you list your requests, spend two minutes reading a passage of Scripture first. Let what you read shape what you say to God.
A Closing Thought You don't have to come to God with all the answers — just come. He'll meet you exactly where you are.
The Thorn That Changed Everything
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
What if the very thing you've been praying to get rid of is actually doing something important in you?
Today's Scripture "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" — 2 Corinthians 12:9
Reflection Imagine someone who has seen God move in remarkable ways — prayers answered, lives changed, things that defy explanation. And yet this same person carries something painful that simply won't go away. They've prayed about it. More than once. Three times, the Bible tells us. And each time, the answer is the same: no.
That's Paul. And the reason God gives is striking: the thorn stays because without it, pride would creep in and undo everything. The very thing Paul wanted removed was the thing keeping him grounded, humble, and dependent on God rather than on his own ability.
Now think about what you're carrying right now — the chronic situation, the relationship that hasn't healed, the door that hasn't opened. It's easy to read Paul's story and think, well, that was Paul. But the same God who answered Paul is the God you're praying to today.
What if the unanswered prayer isn't a sign that God has forgotten you? What if it's evidence that he trusts you with something that's quietly doing a deep work — building patience, compassion, or a dependence on him that nothing else could produce?
His grace really is sufficient. Not just as a saying on a wall — but as a living reality in your actual life.
Today's Step Ask yourself honestly: Is there something I've been praying to escape that God might be using to shape me? Sit with that question today without rushing to an answer.
A Closing Thought God's no is never the end of the story — it's often the beginning of something deeper than you asked for.
Carry This With You
Friday — Carrying It Forward
As the week closes, here's a question worth sitting with: has the way you think about prayer shifted even a little?
Today's Scripture "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." — Hebrews 4:16
Reflection All week, we've been sitting with one central truth: prayer is less about getting God to do what we want, and more about drawing close enough to him that we begin to want what he wants.
That's a quiet revolution in the way most of us approach prayer. And it doesn't happen overnight. It's a gradual, ongoing journey — learning to bring your honest requests, then opening your hands and trusting the One who hears every word.
Hebrews 4:16 gives you a beautiful picture to carry into the weekend. You can approach God's throne — not timidly, not with a long list of qualifications — but with confidence. Because of Jesus, the door is always open. And what you find there isn't a judge waiting to evaluate your prayer technique. You find mercy. You find grace. You find exactly what you need for whatever you're facing right now.
This weekend, when worry shows up — and it probably will — you don't have to face it alone. When things don't go as planned, you can return to this: He hears me. He sees me. His will is better than mine, and his grace is enough.
That's not a small thing. That's everything.
Today's Step Before the weekend gets busy, find one quiet moment to simply say: "Father, I trust you with what I can't control. Your will, not mine."
A Closing Thought You are never more than a breath away from the God who made you, loves you, and is already working in ways you haven't seen yet.