Matthew West on Why He’s Focusing on Prayer This Year: ‘Hardest Thing I Could Do’
By Movieguide® Contributor
During his first podcast episode of 2024, Christian artist Matthew West explained how a resolution last year set the tone for 2023 and shared what he plans to focus on in 2024.
“This season, as I look behind me in the rearview and I look at 2023, I see a season where I felt like the Lord put something on my heart – that theme of my story, your glory – and then the question is, ‘What are you going to do with that? Am I going to sit on it?…Or am I gonna step forward? Am I gonna run my race with perseverance and keep my eyes on Jesus and say, Lord, how do you want me to spread that message with the world?” he said.
The singer explained that he lived out that theme through songs like “Me on Your Mind” and “My Story, Your Glory.”
That commitment to pursuing what God places on his heart at the beginning of the year is something West hopes to recapture this year.
“I can’t encourage you enough to be praying, asking God to show you what He wants to show you here at the beginning of the year, and it’s gonna evolve and grow throughout the year, the more we spend time with Jesus, guess what, the more our hearts are open to receive what it is He has to show us, how He wants us to grow,” West encouraged his followers.
“And so, I say all that to say that at the end of this past year, I was starting to ask the same question about 2024, ‘Okay, Lord, here I am. Stepping into a new year, it’s a blank slate. What do you have for me?’
He explained that his physical fitness journey over the past year challenged and fueled him. However, “a lot of times we can be well intended in trying to figure out the best ways we can grow and become the best versions of ourselves, but man, so many times we forget to care of what really matters.”
“I’ve been convicted these pasts several months, just saying, ‘Lord, here I am focusing on doing a cold plunge because that’s a hard thing, here I am focused on eating healthy, but what’s going on with my spiritual diet? And why am I starving myself spiritually? And why does it seem like sometimes the hardest thing I could do in a day is to dedicate time to spend with the Lord in prayer?’ Maybe that hits you as hard as it hit me,” West continued.
He’s decided to “commit to doing hard things…but they can’t get in the way of the most important thing. And so I’m making a commitment to prayer.”
Prayer is the focus of West’s upcoming song, “Don’t Stop Praying,” releasing on Jan. 5.
“I hope when you hear this song you are reminded that God is listening when you call on His name,” he wrote on Instagram. “The Bible says in James 5:16, ‘The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.’ Your Father is with you. He sees you and He hears you.”
He’s also getting ready for his “Don’t Stop Praying” tour with Cochren & Co. “Join them for a fun night of faith, hope and encouragement on the ‘Don’t Stop Praying Tour,” K-LOVE posted.
Movieguide® previously reported on prayer:
Movieguide® Award-winning actress and producer Roma Downey recently encouraged fans, friends, and followers to put their faith in God and continue pray.
Although Downey is best known for her roles in the movie and TV business, she recently released a new book called “Unexpected Blessings: 90 Inspirations to Nourish Your Soul and Open Your Heart.”
“[Prayer is] a very powerful tool that’s available to each and every one of us,” Downey said of her book in a recent interview with CBN. “I haven’t made any decision big or small that I haven’t prayed about first.”
The former TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL star is candid about her faith, releasing several faith-based projects over the years, such as THE BIBLE and A.D.
Downey said that prayer is a regular part of her everyday faith.
“Prayer is so powerful, and I’ve just seen in my own life, the power of prayer and how prayer has worked,” she explained. “If it didn’t always bring the miracle that I prayed for, the miracle was that it brought maybe peace and comfort to my own heart. Maybe it helped take away some of that worry.”
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