Pray Big Prayers to Our Big God!
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon talked much about praying prayers that are commensurate with God’s almighty power and abundant generosity:
“We do not come in prayer …. To God’s poorhouse where He dispenses His favors to the poor, nor do we come to the back door of the house of mercy to receive the leftover scraps, though that would be more than we deserve … But when we pray, we are standing in the palace on the glittering floor of the Great King’s own reception room … And should we come there with stunted requests and narrow and contracted faith? No, it does not become a King to be giving away pennies and nickels; He distributes pieces of gold.” (Spurgeon, Spurgeon on Prayer and Spiritual Warfare, 72)
What do our prayers say about our belief in the character of God? That he is rich and generous, or that he is reluctant and economical? What a phrase Paul uses in Ephesians 3! Look how he stacks the descriptive modifiers: “Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us” (Eph 3:20; emphasis added). When we encounter God through His Word and go before Him in prayer, it should create a longing for the inbreaking of God’s mercy and power in our lives, in the church, and in the world. One of the ways we cultivate this longing and anticipation of God’s reviving work is by recalling the past. How has God demonstrated His perfect faithfulness to you and others?
If we don’t pray for things that might set us up for disappointment, we’re not doing it right. We are not called to merely pray safe, self-protecting, “realistic,” face-saving prayers. So often I pray prayers that match the normal patterns I see in life. In everyday life, hard-to-reach people continue to be hard to reach. In everyday life, the church exerts little influence on the world around us. But on page after page of Scripture, God is seeking to convince us that he has options! He intervenes. He brings life where there was death. He brings beauty from ashes. He removes fear while we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He can cause his word to not return void. He can bring reviving grace to any person you know, and resistant people group, and he could do it by the end of the week.
Charles Spurgeon spoke of the poor condition of the church one hundred years prior. The Church of England, Spurgeon said, was asleep. “It looked as if the living church of God would be extinguished altogether; but it was not so, for God did but stamp his foot, and, from all parts of the country, men like Mr. Wesley and Mr. Whitefield, came to the front, and hundreds of others, mighty men of valor, proclaimed the gospel with unusual power, and away went the bats and the owls back to their proper dwelling-place.” (On Expectations)
When is the last time we were audacious enough to ask God to stamp his feet? We are to pray and hope as though God had options!
(Excepts taken from Christ-Centered Exposition: Psalms 51-100, “Psalm 85” by Matt Mason)
Recommended Resource – The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn
Randy Alcorn bases his brief, motivational message on the words of the world’s foremost financial consultant, Jesus Christ, who advised listeners to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). In a concise power-packed style, he leads the reader toward the Treasure Principle mindset by proposing and illustrating key truths. “God owns everything,” writes Alcorn. “I’m His money manager. What I call my money is really His. The question is, what does He want me to do with His money?”
In contemporary, easy-to understand language, Alcorn offers readers a six-step plan to finding the immediate pleasure and eternal rewards of the Treasure Principle. Once readers discover the liberating joy of giving, life will never look the same. And they won’t want it to!
