Our boys have summer birthdays that are just a couple of weeks apart. We celebrated those birthdays recently. But in a previous celebration, the conversation turned to the good ol’ days. The twenty-somethings asked how Mom and Dad did birthdays way back when. Before I knew it I was trying to explain things they had little chance to understand. 
How does one explain the old Christmas Wish Book to young people who never looked through one? They don’t know a world without the Internet! And what does prayer have to do with all that?
I remember the Christmas catalogs arriving in our mailbox. Everything I wanted was marked, dog-eared, and/or initialed. There was no way Mom or Dad could miss what I wanted for Christmas. Did I know what everything I marked would cost? Of course not. Did I care? No. I just knew what I wanted and believed my parents could/should get it. And about Halloween I had to answer the question, If you could only have two or three of those things…?
Life teaches us about limits. We learn to lower our goals, dreams, and expectations. Those lessons become so ingrained we forget how to dream big dreams. This is just one reason Romans tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. A transformed, renewed mind helps free us from small, self-centered prayers. Is your prayer life small and limited or is it marked by big dreams and big prayers? It might help to know what big prayer sounds like.
Elijah’s Big Prayer
A web search for the subject God-sized prayers will turn up many things from the name-it-claim-it group. Fortunately there are much better examples of a God-sized prayer. Elijah prayed such a prayer. He wanted God to do the impossible for God’s glory and God’s purpose. The answer Elijah sought didn’t have anything to do with Elijah.
There are some God-sized things in this ministry that need our prayer. Mission teams, mission trips, mission funding, and evangelism projects are just some of them. Jesus says we must come to Him like a child. Remember, it was a child that used to believe his parents could get everything in the Wish Book. To pray like that, we need to realize;
- Our Heavenly Father is truly is limitless
- Nothing is beyond His power
- He wants to answer God-sized prayer.
He can and will do exactly that if we just offer that kind of prayer! Will you do it?
Soli Deo Gloria!
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