Prayer, Faith, and Your View of God

Saints,

In my opinion, our prayer tends to be too little, too infrequent, and based on a faith which is much too small.

Maybe, some of you would agree with these qualifying words concerning your own prayer. Today, we will consider that one reason for a lack and littleness of our own prayer is our little view of God and our view of how God designed prayer to be a part of His kingdom.

To start off, let’s review our life circumstance before God somehow affected our lives. Paul explains this in Ephesians, dear brothers and sisters, before God did something in our lives--we were dead in our sin.

Ephesians 2:1-2 (NIV)

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

Sometimes we can forget that we did not save ourselves. We did not conjure up enough faith to somehow please God. We did not do enough works to make the most-high God smile on us. We did not educate ourselves enough about God until God approved of our wonderful godly knowledge. God saves us. He does it all. He provides the way to Himself. As I understand the scriptures, for those of you who have received Christ, we were dead in our sin. Then, God somehow reached into our deadness and caused the light of God’s truth in our lives that we received this truth. The truth is that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead to pay the penalty of our sins and to purchase a place in heaven for us.

So, God did it all. Please embrace the reality of whom we are and who God is. We are utterly dependent on God. Don’t let yourself think otherwise.

The second issue for us today centers around our view of God. Let me ask you, “How big is our God?” Is our God big enough to save your neighbor? Is our God big enough to revive a faltering church which seems bent toward splitting up? Is our God big enough to keep us from habitually sinning? Is our God big enough to save a demon-possessed man? Is our God big enough to cause churches which are very inward-focused to become more outward-focused? Is our God big enough to cause discipleship to happen in a tribal people on an island off Malaysia in which there are only brand new Christians? Is our God big enough to awaken a spiritually sleepy and seemingly unresponsive country to His gospel? Please know that the answer to these questions in reality is yes—regardless of what we may think!

So, how does this relate to prayer? I remember the first time I prayed for every pastor in the world. I stopped praying. The thought caused me to falter. Would God answer a prayer like that? How would I know if He answered a prayer like that? Was He big enough for that kind of prayer?

Saints, please remember our God has things in his mind far beyond what we may ask or think or imagine. Again Paul in his letter to the Ephesians,

Ephesians 3:20 (ESV)

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,”

I was struggling with my small view of God in prayer. Of course God is big enough to answer prayer for every pastor in the world. The question is, “Is our faith based on a God who is big enough to hear us utter a prayer like that?” Is our understanding of God rooted in the truth of His Word or our own lack of understanding of His truth?

God is big. He is at work. He has designed prayer to be part of His kingdom work—incessant, persevering, faithful, Scripture-based, in Jesus name, heart-felt, sacrificial, not a merely as-you-drive or brush-your-teeth kind of prayer.

May God convict us of our weak understanding of Him. May God show us how to pray Bible-based, Holy-Spirit led, kingdom-centered, prayer in Jesus name for His glory.  

I know we have looked at this before, even so, please consider Daniel Henderson’s definition of prayer,

“Prayer is intimacy with God that leads to the fulfillment of His purposes, accomplished by His power, for His glory."

Father, we implore you as Jesus taught us to pray in Luke 10—cause your church to be a praying church. Cause her to embrace the truth of who you truly are—how powerful you really are. Father, convict us of our little and lacking prayers. Fill us with your Holy Spirit to empower effective prayer which impacts your kingdom!  We ask this for your glory and in Jesus name, Amen. 

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve