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

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more