Praying God-Sized Prayers
According to Ephesians 3:20...
... God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine because His power is at work within us. I can imagine some big things and God wants to do even more than that through prayer! Elijah was able to ask radical things of God, and God answered because Elijah was asking in order to show God’s glory to others. James refers to this example because if you were to read Elijah’s story, he prayed a God-sized prayer (stop the rain), and it produced a God-sized outcome (NO RAIN FOR THREE YEARS). Then he prayed another God-sized prayer (RAIN), and it produced a God-sized outcome (RAIN!).
God wants the world to see His awesomeness.
That happens when our God-sized prayers reveal how truly amazing God is. Elijah prayed audaciously because he had a clear understanding of who God is and what God can really do. Elijah believed God when God says to ask and it will be answered.
Our prayers are small sometimes because we have a small vision of who God is or what God wants to do in our lives.
E. M. Bounds puts it like this, “Our praying needs to be pressed and pursued with an energy that never tires, a persistency which will not be denied, and a courage that never fails.” God wants us to pursue Him. He wants to build strength and perseverance in us and He does that sometimes by not answering our prayers right away. He is growing us and maturing us all the time. When we don’t give up asking, seeking and knocking what we receive is of more worth to us.
Let’s pray prayers as big as our God, knowing that He wants to be revealed to the world through our answered prayers.
Written by Carrie Botkin
Carrie Botkin is the Campus Director at the Scripps Ranch Campus and a member of the Lead Team at Newbreak. She loves adventuring around San Diego with her husband, Matt, two kids and their pug named Marshmallow. Carrie has been on staff at Newbreak for 21 years. She believes in the mission, vision and values of Newbreak and loves seeing lives changed through Jesus!