Dearest lp, Tab and Champ
Every year, God will challenge me to pray big and to expect the unexpected. 2012 is no different.
Ephesians 3:20 was given to me years back and I have written this vs down in my little prayer book.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
God can do much more than we can ever imagine or guess and throughout the ages, this has been the experience of men and women of faith. Abraham has been called the Father of Faith who was told by God that he would have to count the stars and grains of sand to understand the abundant blessing that was coming his way. God didn't say how He would engineer the blessing and circumstances certainly didnt look positive because he and Sarah were past their child bearing years. Yet in the end, as Abraham waited , God defied science, and caused Sarah to conceive Isaac and started the Jewish nation.
When we pray, most of us would be hoping rather than have faith in God's Word. Hope is a beautiful and necessary thing when it is about heaven, the 2nd coming of Christ, & everything God has promised us in the future.
This scripture Hebrew 6:19 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." This kind of hope can become a hurdle to answered prayer when it is MISAPPLIED. There are blessings that God wants to give us in the present day, NOW! Believers who have the perspective that blessings are for the future, will receive the future blessings for which they have hope and faith, but they will miss out on the blessings God wants to give them today. For eg when you ask God to meet your need for next month's mortgage, you dont need the money at a future time. You need it now. That requires faith, not hope.
I have also learnt that there is a type of hope that is really just wishful thinking. It is not based on faith, as biblical hope is. Instead it is based on uncertainty or doubt. Suppose you ask God for something according to his Word, and you say, "Lord, I believe." Then you get up from your prayer time and say, "Well, I hope it happens." You have just nullified your prayers.
When you pray for a present day blessing, display a confident expectation that what you asked for is on its way.
I have many prayer requests before God. I was also given 2 tasks which I felt God has asked me to do -they are big but my resources dont match them. And sometimes today's economy looks more barren than Sarah's womb.
But when I think of how God fed a multitude with a child's lunch, caused the sun to stand still, turned water into wine, parted the Red Sea, or win 5,000 converts with one sermon, then He can do exceedingly beyond whatever I can ask or think.
As you ponder your goals and plans for 2012, allow God to stretch your faith and expectations. And then expect God to go way beyond that. Pray big and ask God to surprise you. No puny prayers.
Coming up with Jesus' Model Prayer next.
