Big Prayers

This past Sunday, when you think back to what we heard, (I sometimes go back and try to see if I can get any common denominator) our brother taught the adult Sunday school class and took us to Acts chapter 4 and focused upon the generosity of the early church. You could say they were marked with great giving, not indiscriminate giving, but according to the needs. So there's that emphasis on great giving.

Sunday night, we heard a sermon on Abraham's faith by our brother from Hebrews chapter 11. So you could say in terms of what Abraham did, he required big faith or great faith to leave that pagan country and to go where - he didn't really know where he was going. Think of a moving van pulling up to your doorstep and loading stuff and people and your next door neighbor asking where you're going, “I don't know where I'm going.” Well, Abraham didn't know where he was going. And then again in the Sunday service in terms of the sermon I preached, I preached on the fact of big praying.

So you had big giving, big faith, and then we focused upon big prayers. To have big prayers, I think we could simply say that we need to have a big God. Right? You have to have a big God to have big prayers. If you're going to have big praying, you have to have big faith and you have to have a big God. Where do you find a big God? You find a big God in your Bible. There's a little book written by a man called J.B. Phillips titled, Your God is Too Small. So how do we increase our faith? How do we get a proper view of God? Well, we have to continually go to our Bibles and meditate upon what we hear of God or what we see of God in our scriptures, what we hear from God in terms of preaching, but also what we read of God in our Bibles. And so I'm just going to ask you, where do you go to see how big God is in your Bible? If I asked you to take me to a place where you see how big God is, where would you take me?

Creation, Genesis 1, that's a great place where you get introduced to the everlasting God. Isaiah 40 and 44; Colossians 1:15, that's where you get a sight of Christ, the preeminent Christ in terms of his greatness.

What about Psalm 139? Three great attributes are brought before us in Psalm 139. What are they? His omniscience, he knows everything, that comes through in Psalm 139. He is omnipresent, “Where can I flee from your presence?” You also get a sense of his power or his omnipotence in terms of creation, “You formed my inward parts; I praise you, I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Then if we go in terms of big praying, we have a big God, there's no question in our minds. There shouldn't be any question in our minds how big God is. He's an incomprehensible God, he's a majestic God. We should never have any question as to how big he is. So if we believe that, that should shape our prayers. Big God, big prayers. That's what I'm saying, big God, big faith, big prayers.

And so if you go to your Bible, can you find big prayers? I think you can. You find a big prayer, for example in Ephesians chapter 3, he talks about praying that kind of a prayer. Listen to the prayer in Ephesians 3,
 
“For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

That's a big prayer, “filled with all the fullness of God.” So you have a big prayer in Ephesians 3.

But what about a big God? Does Paul believe in a big God? Just drop down to verse 20 of Ephesians 3, here's what he says in terms of how big God is, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us.” So you have a big God and a big prayer. Again we see that in terms of the prayer by Jesus, The Lord's Prayer. Is that a big prayer? I don't think you can find a bigger prayer, “Hallowed be your name, thy kingdom come,” that's a big kingdom, “Thy will be done.”

What about protection from the evil one? That's a big prayer. The devil is pretty crafty, he has a lot of power. That's a prayer that reminds us of how big our God is. We can pray for protection from the evil one. What about forgiveness of sin? Is that a big prayer? Who can forgive but God? Only God can forgive, so that's a big prayer. And when we think of the salvation of sinners, is that a big prayer? You can't save them, I can't save them, only God can, only an infinite God can save the lost, raise the dead, open the eyes of the blind. So when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done;” when we pray for daily protection, even for daily food, you could argue those are big prayers. As we come to God, let's remember how big he is. Let's even pray that God would help us see more of his greatness, more of his majesty, more of his sovereignty so that we would pray bigger prayers.

Pastor Gordon Cook