One Question I Have Been Wrestling With A Lot Lately...

"If my prayers actually reach God's ears then why do I consistently pray so small?"

I have been thinking a lot about prayer in preparation to teach over the subject the next few weeks at Merge.   It has been an interesting journey actually talking with God about talking with Him.  One thought that is really steering this entire season and series is my willingness to spend so much time praying for things that really have little to no eternal consequence.  That is not to belittle prayer or to say that we should only be praying deep, theological, King James sounding prayers; it merely recognizes that if our prayers are actually heard by the God of the universe then why don't we pray for greater things that have less temporal influence and more eternal possiblilties?

I am pretty sure I spend more time praying for financial blessing than opportunities to share the Gospel fearlessly.  I ask for things that would make me just a little bit more comfortable in life over Paul's prayers for the Ephesians when He is pleading that the church would understand their great inheritance in Christ.  With very little effort my prayers can become selfish, self-seeking and self-glorifying, treating God as if He were a bit player in the story of me (kind of like a side-kick, tights and all).  

I wonder what it would look like if a church really got this?  I wonder what it would look like if THE CHURCH really got this?  I wonder what this would look like if YOU got this?  My prayers lately have been that I would get this.  

Prayer is more than just a magic list of wants.  I think we all instinctively know this but few ever get any further than engaging pray in this way.  This is the exciting part of the journey for me right now, I feel God is (as Paul prayed) opening the eyes of my heart that I may know the hope to which He has called me.

So I suppose the only proper way to end this blog thought is...

TO BE CONTINUED

Heart and Soul,
BAG
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