Pray Bigger

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)

So many of us struggle with prayer.  Many books have been written on the subject and there’s a reason for that.  Prayer comes hard to most of us, in most seasons.  And when we do pray, we often don't know what to say.  What is it that my Father loves to hear about? What are the best things I could pray for, my family, my church, and myself?

When Jesus left the Earth, He promised to be with us forever.  He may have left in His physical form but through the power of the Holy Spirit, He now lives in our hearts.  He is always with us in everything we do and say.  Because we are human we still manage to confine God to our small imagination and images.

Although He may live in our hearts, we tend to put limitations to what God can do because of our finite understanding of Him.  Yet if we are to take God at His word, in fact, Jesus’ very own words, then surely our prayers will start to become more radical and outrageously hopeful. The more we realize who lives in us, the more we realize His power and might.  If the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, and Jesus said ‘You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it,’ then why don’t we start praying bigger prayers?

With man there are so many things that are impossible. Yet with God, in Jesus’ Name, through the power of the Holy Spirit, alive in us, nothing is impossible.  We can pray for a change in our communities, for our bosses and colleagues to be transformed by the love of Jesus, for our world leaders to give their hearts, lives and actions to Jesus, for peace and unity to rule and reign. These things are impossible in our own eyes, but not with Jesus.

Pray bigger, trust for more.