The Prayer: Rise with Jesus — 30 Days to Transform Your Life, a 69-page, easy-to-read devotional, could help the Brazilian soccer team lift the 2026 FIFA World Cup trophy this summer, according to the book’s authors, Stefania Leão and Alexander Debelov.
“You know, … especially in football, there’s a certain amount of luck,” Debelov, who is the founder of Virool and scooter-sharing platform Go X, told The Christian Post in a recent interview. “If you look at most of the World Cup finals, you will see that, a lot of times, it’s just that extra minute, extra second, extra kick, it completely changes the fate of one country over another. And makes one country champion, [and] another, not.”
And it’s in that realm of luck that Debelov believes the faith of Brazil’s “deeply Christian” team can be put to work in their favor.
Last Wednesday, Leão, who is Brazilian, personally delivered 30 copies of the devotional to the team at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, before Brazil’s 3-0 victory over Scotland.
The devotional was inspired by Leão’s life as she leaned on her Christian faith while going through difficult seasons.
“The actual writing process took several months,” she told CP. “But in many ways, the book represents years of personal experiences, prayers, struggles, and spiritual growth. Every page carries lessons that God taught me throughout different seasons of my life. The book wasn’t just written at a desk … it was written through life itself.”
The book, which was published just over a year ago, boasts several records, including Amazon’s No. 1 Best Selling Prayer Book for May, June, July, and August in 2025.
Debelov told CP that because of soccer’s popularity in Brazil and the position it holds in the psyche of the nation, he reached out to the team to gift the copies of the books to be used as a spiritual aid, and Rodrigo Caetano, the general executive coordinator of the men’s national teams for the Brazilian Football Confederation, responded positively.
And the message to the team in their bid for the 2026 trophy, Debelov said, is “we’re all praying for you. We’re all with you, but most importantly, God is with you guys.”
Debelov, who translated Leão’s personal reflections into English and made some additions to create the devotional, said he was inspired by the way she simplified biblical truths. For general readers of the book, Leão hopes they will be inspired to still seek God, even in periods of doubt.
“So many people feel like they need to be perfect before approaching God, but that’s just not true. God meets us exactly where we are … in our doubts, in our struggles, in our victories, and in our everyday lives,” she told CP. “I want readers to understand that prayer doesn’t have to be complicated. A sincere conversation with God … that alone can change a life.”
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