Make Lent Real: Pray Differently | 2/19/26

Are we really praying for what matters? During Lent, many of us try to pray more—but this week’s challenge invites us to pray differently. Instead of only adding more prayers, what if we asked God to soften our hearts… especially toward the people we find most difficult? In this reflection, we’re reminded of Jesus’ teaching that anger and resentment begin in the heart—and that real conversion starts there.
🔎 In this video, you’ll learn:
• Why Lent is about changing our hearts, not just our habits
• What Jesus teaches about anger and resentment
• A simple 7-day prayer challenge you can start today
• How praying for difficult people can transform your own heart
🙏 This Week’s Challenge:
Choose one person you struggle with and pray for them every day for seven days—not that they change, but that God helps you love them differently.

Full Text:
We all know, during Lent we’re supposed to pray and we should increase our prayer life. Absolutely. But are we really praying for what matters? How about for this first week of Lent, I want to challenge us to go deeper and to pray for that person that rubs me the wrong way. That person that it’s like nails on a chalkboard. Every time I have to see them, we all have those people in our lives. Am I using my prayer during this Lent to soften my heart? Remember what Jesus says, in the gospel. If we have anger or resentment built up in our heart, then we’ve already committed a sin. It’s our hearts we need to change over these next 40 days. So let’s not just increase my prayer time, let’s increase our praying so that I can change my heart. So the challenge I’m going to give you this first week of Lent is to pick someone in your life that you find difficult, someone who rubs you the wrong way, someone may be that you’re still harboring resentment. And for the next seven days to pray each and every day for them, Not that they get hit by a bus, not that they have a miraculous conversion, but that you can look at them and love them in a different way. That’s the kind of beneficial prayer Lent needs to be about.