How often do you really pray for something? Not just a little grace before meals, or a little thanksgiving for a green light. I mean, how often do you open up your biggest fears and grandest hopes to God? If you are like most people, the answer is “not that often.”
That’s normal for many Americans. Most of us are conditioned to be pragmatic and to take care of ourselves. We first think “How will I do this,” rather than, “how will God do this?” We can blame it on our values of rugged individuality, selfishness, and independence. All these traits keep us looking to ourselves and not to God. Maybe this is why so many Americans are leaving the church? They don’t see God anymore.
Recently, the Tuesday Morning Bible Study read The Circle Maker, by Mark Batterson. The author asks the plain question, “Is there a limit to God’s power?” Many of us pray for small things, as if we don’t want to inconvenience God too much. We may have large prayers in a health crisis or catastrophe, but mostly we have small prayers.
Batterson say the obvious: “No, God’s power has no limit!” “Then why,” he continues, “are we so timid in bringing our deepest and greatest prayer requests to God?” God loves to do big things, fire from heaven, water from a rock, sight to the blind, and even life after death! But if we are not asking or looking for God in big ways, we will miss them. How do we pray for such big things? It’s as close as our knees to the floor!
God is doing big things every day! What big thing do you need from God? A new job? Reconciliation with an estranged family member? Reconnecting with an old friend? Revitalizing your faith on a mission trip? When we look at God in the Bible, God is not in the business of little miracles, God loves doing grand miracles, and grand miracles come from bold prayers.
Session has been living into this idea. We are grand prayers, praying every day this past month for Southminster’s ministry (and we will continue on!) We pray for the church community to be a vital and vibrant place of love, worship, evangelism and fellowship. There is no secret that the more a church prays together, the more those people see God answering prayers. Churches that don’t pray, wonder why God has abandoned them. (Hint: it is not God who did the abandoning.)
Join with us in praying regularly for Southminster! And not just for small things, but for big things! What grand miracle will you ask for in your prayer time? Pick a time: dawn, after lunch, before bed? Commit to it! Put a reminder in your phone, and pray every day! I promise you this: God wants us to pray, and God wants to answer us – in a big way!
Pastor Karl
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