How often do you pray only for what seems realistic? Perhaps you ask for just a little more opportunity at work or a bit less conflict in a relationship, when in reality, you could use a lot more help from God. Some prayer requests are small compared to the big God you’re speaking to in prayer. God is much more powerful than someone who occasionally bestows small blessings. The wonderful truth is that God has unlimited love and power! God answers small prayers, but God also answers prayers that are far bigger than what you can imagine. So, why limit yourself to praying only small prayers? It’s time to stop praying small and start stretching your faith by praying big prayers – even for what seems impossible. By praying bigger prayers, you’ll see God send you greater answers, and your faith will grow in the process.
1. Expect the best, not the minimum: If you’re not expecting much from God, you’ll only pray small prayers. You need to adjust your expectations to align with the reality that God wants to give you the best. When you expect the best from God, your prayers become more profound, and your faith is challenged to grow in tandem with your prayers. Think about why you’re limiting your expectations of what God can and will do. Maybe you’ve been disappointed before, or perhaps you feel undeserving, so you only ask God for the bare minimum of what you hope for. But your loving Heavenly Father doesn’t want you to survive; he wants you to thrive. God is generous, and he wants to bless you abundantly! The Bible tells you in James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” When you pray, try to change your focus from hoping that God will give you at least something to what God is capable of providing you, which is anything that’s best for you. Think about what the best-case scenario would be for your situation, not just the minimum amount of help you need. Are you encouraging your children to excel in their school classes? Try praying for them to develop a lifelong love for learning that helps them discover God’s wisdom and leads them to God’s best for their future. Are you seeking only relief from a temporary financial hardship? You can pray bigger by praying for a breakthrough that increases your income in the long term, allowing you to live debt-free and give generously to help others as God leads you. Remember that God’s best is always connected to his good purposes for your life and the world. When you pray for the best, you’re helping yourself live into your purpose well, which will bless you and many other people in the process.
2. Pray for what only God can do: Are you limiting your prayers only to what you think may happen, even if God says “no” to your requests? If the answers to your prayers can be explained away by your own hard work or some coincidence, your prayers are probably too small. A truly faith-stretching prayer is one where, if it were answered, you would have no choice but to say that only God could have done that. Don’t be afraid to pray for a miracle – something only God can do! Ephesians 3:20 points out that God can do even more than you can ask or imagine: “Now to him who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” The phrase “immeasurably more” should encourage you to ask for the most significant outcome possible. Jesus assures you in Matthew 19:26: “… with God all things are possible.” Prayer works, and it’s powerful! So, go ahead and pray for what only God can do. If you’ve been estranged from someone you love and the relationship seems hopelessly broken, don’t give up. Instead, ask God to change your heart and the other person’s heart to inspire a breakthrough in that relationship. If you want a job opportunity but haven’t been able to make any progress on your own, ask God to open doors for you and work through you to bless many people once you secure the best job for you. When you pray for what only God can do, you’re exercising your faith and helping it grow. So, take your focus off your own limited strength and focus on God’s unlimited power. Let that power flow through your life by trusting God to do what you can’t do. Let go of your logical expectations and look forward to God doing something miraculous in your life!
3. Move from praying about your own needs to praying about God’s kingdom: Are you praying only about the immediate needs that you and your loved ones are facing? While God cares deeply about you and your loved ones, He also wants you to contribute to His kingdom work in this world, and that includes praying for it. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says that God will meet all your needs as you focus on God’s kingdom first: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” So, step outside of your own circle and pray for God’s kingdom to advance in this fallen world. Set your mind on what matters most for eternity, and pray about those topics regularly. There’s a big difference between praying for God to help you get enough money to pay your bills, versus praying for God to give you the resources and opportunities to contribute to a ministry that helps thousands of people. Kingdom prayers change your motivation from supporting yourself or a family member or friend in the present, to helping that has eternal value for many people. The Bible reminds you in 1 John 5:14: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Praying for God’s kingdom always lines up with God’s will. Try praying about God’s kingdom by praying for topics such as spiritual revival in your local area, healing divisions in your nation, or help for missionaries around the world. Think of all the people God loves beyond your own circle, moving out farther and farther into the world, and pray for them regularly. Pray for what you hear about in the news, as well, asking for God’s will to be done in each of those situations. If your motives line up with God’s purposes, you can pray with confidence and expect big answers to your prayers.
4. Pray for spiritual changes, not just behavior modification: While it’s good to pray for God’s help in changing an unhealthy behavior, God can do much more than help you or someone else make changes on the surface. God can empower you and other people to change at the deepest level, spiritually. So, instead of praying small prayers, such as asking God to help your spouse stop doing something annoying or asking God to help you control your temper, ask God to work on the root cause of those behaviors, not just the symptoms. Pray bigger prayers for God to bring renewal and revival to you and to other people in your life. Only God can change people’s hearts spiritually, as Ezekiel 36:26 says: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” So, when you pray for yourself, don’t just ask for help changing a behavior you want to stop, but tell God to give you a “heart of flesh” – a complete spiritual transformation – that will naturally motivate you to change the behavior. When you pray for difficult people in your life, don’t just pray for them to be less irritating; ask the Holy Spirit to give them a “new heart” that helps them learn and grow spiritually. God can do much more than any human effort or therapy can accomplish. Praying big prayers for change welcomes God’s unlimited power to work in every situation you bring to God in prayer.
5. Pray persistently and with faith: Finally, big prayers involve not just the size of the requests you make, but also the faith you show God by praying with persistence as you wait for God to answer your prayers. To pray for more from God, you must be willing to pray persistently until you see an answer. You may still struggle with doubt, but you should have enough faith to ask God to meet you where you are and help you find the strength to believe. When a father asked Jesus to heal his son, who was possessed by an evil spirit, the father was honest with Jesus that he believed a bit and doubted a bit, as well. Mark 9:22 records the father telling Jesus: “… if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” The following two verses, Mark 9:23-24, add: “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ Immediately, the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” That was enough for Jesus to respond in a significant way, by casting out the evil spirit and healing the boy. Jesus taught a powerful principle in Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Jesus says that first – before you can see God’s answer to a prayer – you should believe that you have received it. This isn’t easy. But if you take Jesus’ challenge and choose to have faith that God will answer your prayer according to what’s really best, you’ll eventually see the answer come. So, don’t let doubt shrink your request back down to a manageable size. If you start to doubt, ask God to give you more faith to believe in the big answer you originally asked for. God will meet you where you are and give you more faith.
In conclusion, it’s worth it to pray big prayers, since you have a big God who answers prayers in significant ways. Stop praying small prayers that don’t expect much from God. Start praying for more, and choose to believe that God will do more for you when you pray big prayers. As you do, your faith will grow, and you’ll discover that God can do more than you can even imagine!
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