Skip to main content

Think Bigger


You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)

          Sunday morning, Pastor Scott challenged us with the idea of listing ten “Big God Prayers” for the coming year. Those prayers are the sort that we can’t answer. They are also the sort of prayers that a lesser god, like the ones we tend to want to serve, can’t handle. They demand an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, true and living God, and they demand trust and obedience from us. They’re the sort of prayer that I am afraid to pray. It’s not that God can’t do more than all I ask, but that my asking will mean that God has to say “No” because anything I ask is the wrong thing, my motives are wrong – I want it to glorify me, not God.
         Looking back at the four passages that have haunted my life, I think I see a few Big God Prayer possibilities.
          Abraham followed God based on the promise of a land, a seed, and a blessing. Those sound like Big God Prayers. I’m not sure how they’ll translate to my life, but they’re a good place to start. A part of that translation is always that God will give Himself. That is often in my prayers: to sense His presence, to hear His voice, to feel the touch of His hand….
         Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but Thine be done, O Lord.” To me, that feels like a huge God prayer. Not so much huge in His power to give something to me, but Huge in comparison to me and my wants. 
         Paul wrote that “my God shall supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus,” and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” These are the two that feel biggest. Yesterday, I used “need” as my word of the day. The etymology ties the word to one meaning “danger.” It’s not a want. Without it, I’m in trouble.
         I need to take care of Dad for as long as he lives in a way that honors God and him. That’s my most immediate need. To do that, I need health, sanity, wisdom, and a good attitude. I may have other needs that I don’t recognize, but God knows, and they are His to provide.
          I also need hope, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and the armor of God. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
         What I may not need, but think I do, is to finish my book and have it become a best seller. If I put it more broadly, however, I think it fits the qualifications of needs: to be creative and/or productive and earn a living. Along with that, I need to contribute to society, to have a purpose, to be of value. 
         If I keep it in terms of my haunting passages, that’s only four Big God Prayers. I need to think bigger!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shepherd!

                 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep . (John 10:14) God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths     for his name’s sake. Even though I walk     through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,     for you are with me; your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. (Psalm 23:1-4) For the Jews, it was politically incorrect to make claims about yourself as a teacher (or possibly as anything else.) Teachers were expected to take pride in the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more