Praying Big
Praying big prayers and having faith in God to answer them has never been more needed than in these times.
Many Christians have comfortable and small faiths. Read my Bible, go to church, be friendly to people, avoid sin. I notice this in others because I do the same. We were made for so much more!
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”1
Everyone has earnest and passionate longings in their hearts. A common travesty is the notion that we should restrain these deepest desires, bridle our restless hearts, put our dreams away, and rather focus on what God wants for us.
This is a misconception because part of God’s design (assuming we are seeking this design) is that our deepest desires and His deepest desires for us are the same thing. He put those longings in our hearts.
I find that when my prayers aren’t answered - when I don’t receive these earnest desires - it is solely because of my unfaithfulness.
CS Lewis said, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.” Our desires are not too big, but too small. We look at the above verse and don’t really believe it. We hear about the greatness of Yahweh, but don’t truly buy it.
Lewis also said, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
God gives us freewill, and He will therefore not force us to pray and live big. He will let us live small lives, and no one will question it. People might even think that you’ve lived big. But one day, the thought will suddenly come that you could’ve knocked harder. We are far too easily pleased.
“Therefore, my dear friends... continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”2
We must ask God for big things, for beautiful things, for scary things, for challenging things, for honouring things, and for the true desires of our being. These are things after God’s own heart.
God loves these prayers. But He then might say something like this: “Your prayer is great. Your desire is beautiful. But I want to see how badly you actually want this. I want to see if you have put your faith in me, and not in the thing you are praying for, and if you truly trust me. I want to see how much you are willing to fight for it.”
It’s all flowery and brave and bold when we first pray these things, and I believe this is God honouring our bold desires. We feel the power of His spirit.
But then life happens. Feelings fade. Circumstances change. Tragedy strikes. Other people, but mostly ourselves, say “What the hell are you doing?”
Having faith means living life like nothing has changed since the big prayer. It means living a certain way not based on how I feel now, but on how I felt when I prayed the prayer. It means living as though we are going to receive the honouring desire - no matter what is happening in life.
Living in faith means burning the boats,3 and putting yourself in a position where if God doesn’t pull through for you, you’re history. It means cancelling all insurance policies and back-up plans, with your only hope being the living God.
And when God sees us living in full confidence that we will receive the honouring desire, He honours us and answers the prayer. “Them that honour me I will honour.”4
Peter desired to join Jesus and walk on the water, and in faith he did exactly this. But then the wind and the waves came, and he became afraid. “Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith, he said, ‘why did you doubt?’”5 We need to walk on the high seas of life in full confidence of Him. Why do we doubt?
This faith paradigm goes against all of our natural instincts and societal norms: to have certainty, to not venture into the unknown, and to have control. God calls us into the unknown giving full control to Him.
Praying big challenges our belief in God. It brings us closer to Him, because one has to be in constant prayer when one’s faith is being challenged like this.
Praying big tests our patience. But let us be encouraged: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."6
And praying big means that we have hope for greater things. This is a Godly emotion, and to be excited for such things shows our belief. "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."7
In the few instances in my life where I made big faith decisions, I found myself starting from bedrock and questioning my very belief in the Christian God. Then moving onto my belief in the credibility of scripture and finally arriving at the same conclusion that this tough decision or desire is the right one. This is the crucible of faith.
It is encouraging to know that many characters in the Bible also went through the crucible of faith. And this is why we read about them.
Abraham desired a legacy, and God fulfilled his desire with Isaac. But then God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, which went against God’s very promise for Abraham’s progeny. Abraham obeyed God, despite what he and others were saying, and became the “Father of many nations.”8
God was seeing if Abraham truly trusted Him, and if he had put his faith in Him and not in the idea of a great legacy.
Let us keep the sterns of our boats pointed towards the island of faithful desires - even though we can’t see it, even though there’s every reason to jump ship, even though there’s a storm, even though we are tired. Soon enough, the sunrise will come, and the island will be paradise.
The desire to be with God will be fulfilled by an eternal holiday at the sea.
The ultimate tragedy is boats that never leave the harbour, or boats that step on the water and doubt.
“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”9
Matthew 7:7
Philippians 2:12
“Sun Tzu in his book ‘Art of War’ taught armies to burn their boats and destroy the bridges behind them as they advanced into new territory. He argued that soldiers without the option of taking flight are more likely to prevail over their objective. In 1519, Spanish Captain, Hernán Cortés landed on the shores of the new world, Mexico, and gave the order to ‘burn the boats.’” (blenheimpartners.com)
1 Samuel 2:30
Matthew 14:22-33
Peter 3:9
Romans 12:12
Genesis 17:4
Isaiah 40:31