God’s Prayer Challenge

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. —Jeremiah 33:3

God has been convicting me about my prayer life recently.  It is not that I’m not praying. I do pray (although not as much as I should).  The area God has convicted me is about the content and smallness of my prayers.  My prayers have been pretty anemic at times.

The content of person’s prayers, or their lack of prayer, reflects what they believe about God. For example, if a person doesn’t pray, it says they either don’t believe in God, or they don’t believe prayer does any good. If a person prays very small prayers most of the time, it reveals either the smallness of their faith or they don’t believe God still works a big or miraculous way. If a person’s prayers are usually about themselves — “bless me, help me, comfort me, be with me” — then this reflects their belief that God is there to serve them.  Using prayer as a last resort after you’ve tried everything you know and failed, this reflects that you believe God is like a “spare tire” that you use in case of an emergency.

Can you remember any specific things you prayed for last week? If you cannot remember any, what does that say about your belief in God?  Is He just as forgettable?

Or, to put it another way: If God answered “yes” to all of your prayers last week, would there be any noticeable difference in your life… in your world? What difference?

If we want any big changes in our life or world, we must pray some BIG prayers. God challenges us to pray boldly. God says in Psalms 81:10, “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.”  God is saying, “Hey, I’m the same God that delivered Israel out of Egypt. That was a big thing.  Therefore I challenge you to “open your mouth WIDE,” — make some BIG requests—“and I will fill it.” Wow!

God deliver me from small, safe, and sterile prayers.  “Lord, use me today, use me for Your glory, make me bold, stir me up, give me eyes to see the needs of those around me… give me a heart sensitive to those who are hurting…  prompt by Your Spirit to witness to those You bring in contact with.”

Ephesians 3:20— Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ASK or think, according to the power that worketh in us.