Prayer Isn’t a Performance: Why Honest Beats Polished Every Time

Join Shannon Bream as she welcomes Pastor JC Worley, lead pastor of Go Church with campuses in Atlanta and the D.C. area, to discuss his first book, Deeper 21: The Power of Prayer and Fasting. With refreshing simplicity and pastoral wisdom, Pastor Worley explains prayer in about 10 words: Prayer is talking to God and God talking to you. He shares the story of an old farmer who said, “Pastor, I don’t know much about praying. So every day I just come in, I sit down and I say, ‘Hey, Jesus, it’s Joe.’ And I sit there long enough until I hear him say, ‘Hey, Joe, it’s Jesus.'” Prayer doesn’t have to be polished, professional, or complicated. It’s not a performance or an audition but honest, simple, and vulnerable conversation between you and God. Pastor Worley explains that prayer is how we connect to God, while fasting is how we disconnect from the things of the world. Jesus said to His disciples, “Some miracles only come by prayer and fasting,” and Pastor Worley says he’s experienced far too many miracles during seasons of fasting for them to be mere coincidences. Most biblical fasts centered around food, but in 2026 there are so many things pulling at our time and attention. Pastor Worley says the Holy Spirit prompted him with a question, “If you touched the Bible as much as you touch your phone, how different would your life be?” He offers hope for anyone who needs a miracle: financial, physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual.