Dream Wildly And Prayer Bigger
As I stand here, I remember a conversation a scant two years ago where we were dreaming what if? We had plans for a new school but as we let our hearts dream we couldn’t help but imagine a new soccer field in place of the concrete-hard dirt patch that used to sit here. A soccer field that would be impervious to rainy season and hundreds of feet and hour upon hour of play. We were dreaming…and God took those dreams, answered the prayers and turned them into reality.
We have a bad habit of underestimating God. We underestimate how big, how powerful, how glorious He is, and thus how good He is… That’s why we’re constantly running to lesser things; that’s why we’re constantly looking to the things of this world for enjoyment and satisfaction instead of to God; that’s why we’re constantly seeking to be self-sufficient. That is why we are giving God an “out” and hoping to protect ourselves and our hearts in the process. But if we want to be faithful, and if we want to find true joy and satisfaction we must look to God alone. If we want to truly glorify God we must stop underestimating Him, and instead recognize Him to be who He truly is: the all-sufficient, all-powerful God of the universe upon Whom we are desperately dependent whether we recognize it or not; but we magnify His glory and we get great joy when we do recognize it. And part of the way we recognize the very godness of God is by praying BIG prayers.
I love this story about George Mueller and the impact that he had on the captain of a ship that he was traveling on from England to Canada to preach. I want to pray BIG, bold prayers like this and see God’s hand move in my own life and the lives of the children at Casa Bernabé.
The captain said before meeting George he was an ordinary Christian; but those who knew the captain after his meeting with George said he was one of the most faithful and devoted men of God they had ever met. So what happened when he met George Mueller?
Between England and Canada, George noticed that the ship had pretty much stopped. He went and found the captain of the ship and said, “I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.” The captain explained that they had slowed down because of fog, and he told him that the fog was so bad that it would be impossible for them to get there that quickly. So George replied, “Very well, if your ship can’t take me, God will find some other means… I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years [and I don’t plan to now]…” The captain explained to him that he would help him if he could, but that he was helpless to do anything… So George said, “Let us go down to the chart room and pray.” The captain thought George was crazy, but he reluctantly went with him to pray… But on the way the captain said, “Mr. Mueller, do you know how dense this fog is?” And George replied, “No. My eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.” Then he went down on his knees and simply prayed, “O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in five minutes. You know the engagement You made for me in Quebec for Saturday. I believe it is Your will. Amen.”
When he finished praying the captain thought he should pray as well, but before he could George stopped him and said, “First, you do not believe God will do it; and second, I believe He has done it, and there is no need for you to pray… Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door, and you will find that the fog is gone.” And so it was… And that prayer not only led to the fog being lifted and George getting to Quebec on time, but it also transformed the captain’s life. God answered prayer, and then some… He did far more abundantly than all that was asked of Him… And that’s because that’s who God is… He’s a BIG God that answers even BIG prayers exceedingly abundantly beyond what we could ever ask or think…
I pray that I could be filled with this kind of unshakable faith. Imagine what would happen if we approached the throne boldy and believing in the God of the impossible.
God is able, He is powerful to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think… I love that Paul adds that last part, because sometimes we think things that we wouldn’t dare pray. There are things we think about asking for, but we just can’t bring ourselves to voice it to God because we think we’d be asking for too much. But here Paul is saying that God is able, He is powerful to answer prayer, even those really big prayers that we aren’t comfortable asking for…
Our prayers, our dreams, our words, our actions, our lives as a whole should display to the watching world that God is the greatest treasure in all of existence—that there is more joy and satisfaction to be found in Him than in anything else in all of creation. Our lives should proclaim to the world that they are underestimating God.