Terri's BlogChristian perspective on today's issues.

     1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to pray without ceasing. That doesn’t seem to be a problem for me as I’m always asking Him to help me find my eyeglasses, phone, car keys, and even the occasional golf ball. And I’ve always eventually found them (except for some golf balls that will likely never be found). I call these short prayers “arrow prayers” because they are short requests sent up on the spur of the moment, usually when I think of something or someone in need of God’s assistance and care. I don’t substitute these for my morning or evening prayers, which are much more intentional and specific.
Do you think “arrow prayers” are what Paul meant in this scripture? I do.  I believe he is saying WHENEVER you think of a person or situation that needs His attention (especially when I remember to THANK Him), DO IT THEN, before it’s too late.  It sure keeps me in contact with Him throughout the day and reminds me of all He can and does do.
Now look at the very next verse, 1 Thess 5:18 where Paul gives us an extremely important reminder: “Be THANKFUL in all circumstances, for this is God’s Will for you in Christ Jesus.” We all want to know His Will in our lives, right? And being Thankful in our prayers may certainly be one of the prerequisites for getting answers from Him. Plus, maybe we could know His Will better if we were thankful more often? Just sayin.
So, PRAY FOR WHAT? World peace? An end to hunger? A cure for cancer? Of course.  Why wouldn’t we?   However, while I believe in praying BIG, those are extremely broad subjects and I’ve often found that I need to be more specific in my requests, otherwise the answers may come in a manner I hadn’t quite intended (like, I’m too old and feeble to go fight a war for peace, and while I will donate to fight hunger I don’t want to give up steak or ice cream or take food from my children’s plates.)  You’ve heard the expression to “be careful what you ask for”? And I cannot count the number of times when I think of the Garth Brooks song “Thank God for unanswered prayers”!!  Also, I thank God He knows my Wants aren’t what I Need, amen?
Speaking of PRAYING BIG, do you think God ever gets tired of all my dinky prayers (to help me find things, or please let that traffic light stay yellow until I get through it, etc.)?
Do you think He might wish I would ask for something much bigger and more important? Prayers that when answered would bring Him glory and honor? Something that would allow Him to “show off” on occasion?  He certainly got to (10 times!) when He had Moses ask Pharaoh to let His people go; when He split the Red Sea for their escape; when He gave victory to Gideon with a very small army; when Elijah called down fire from heaven and burned up the sacrifices that had been soaked with water. I’m sure you can think of many, many others (like the talking donkey story in Numbers 22?).    Don’t ever think He doesn’t answer BIG prayers still today.   Let me give you an example (I’ll try to keep it as short as I can).
My younger sister was once a pen pal to a man in prison. He was an African, very new to our country, stuck in New York City, and needed work. He was “recruited” to deliver a package across town, which would have paid him handsomely. He was told not to ask what was in it, only that it was important. When he got to the destination, he was arrested – it was a drug bust! Consequently, he wound up in prison. He hadn’t been there long when he heard that a law had been passed to help innocent victims like himself have their sentences done away with. It would take a while to go through each case, but he was assured he would likely be out by year-end. This was also about the time he and my sister began corresponding. By March, my sister had begun telling him about our loving, forgiving Creator, and teaching him about prayer being the way we communicate with God. When he asked her what he should pray for, she encouraged him to pray for something BIG enough that the answer would convince him there IS such a God.  He wrote to her about the new law, and that his prayer was that he would be freed in time to see his younger brother graduate from high school in May. My sister’s heart skipped a beat or two when she read this in his reply letter and wondered if she hadn’t gone a bit too far with her encouragement to Pray Big. I can understand how she felt, can’t you? She wasn’t sure what to say in reply, so decided to let things play out and prepare an answer “in case” it didn’t happen.
(Oh, ye of little faith. 😁) Several months went by without hearing from him, and she was concerned that his prayer hadn’t been answered and he had gotten discouraged. Finally, mid-June, she got a letter from him.  Inside was a picture of him with his arm around his little brother – who was wearing a cap and gown!!! It had happened – His prayer had been answered! The letter was so full of his excitement about how his prayer had been answered, and that he had not stopped thanking God for this. He also told her how he had explained the “miracle” to all of his relatives here, and that they, too, wanted to know more about this God. He even had them all going to church.  God was GLORIFIED, amen??? What a witness god gave this man.
2 Chronicles 16:9 (NLT) says “HIS eyes search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”  Again, “His eyes search the entire earth… to strengthen (grow the faith of) His committed believers.” What would it take to strengthen your faith? A BIG answer to a BIG prayer? Then grab a fellow believer, or your Sunday School class, or even your church, and get started! Pray BIG prayers and expect BIG answers.  Just remember it will happen in His way, in His time, and for His glory.
Lastly, but extremely important to this lesson, read Matthew 17: 19-20, where the disciples were asking Jesus why they weren’t able to cast out a demon. He answered, “You don’t have enough faith”. He goes on to tell them (I’m paraphrasing) “If you just had the faith the size of a mustard seed…you could move a mountain”.  Let that sink in. Such a small amount of faith could move mountains.  When you pray, do you pray BELIEVING?  EXPECTING?  Our little faith sometimes constrains our prayers! Let’s don’t limit what God can (and wants) to do for us!
Now go to Ephesians 3:20 which says (again, I’m paraphrasing) “God is able to do ABOVE and BEYOND…what? (Some versions say, “exceedingly abundantly”, which are great descriptions).  Read it yourself: …”beyond anything we could ASK or THINK.”  Now, put this together with the 2 Chronicles 16:9 verse and it comes out something like this:  God’s eyes are searching for the entire earth, wanting to increase the faith of His followers, above and beyond anything we could possibly imagine. WOW! He’s WANTING TO and searching for one who is asking Him to. Let’s give Him a chance. Let’s let Him show off!       PRAY BIG!!    And EXPECT BIG!!    And always be thankful, not only for what He’s done, but for what He’ GOING TO DO.  And when He answers, it will glorify Him. (Not us, ok?)

In His service, and yours,
Mike Jared

TCM Board Member