Why Bother Praying?

I love love love that saying! Growing up in a Christian home and school, I've always prayed a lot. However, I never prayed BIG. I prayed because I liked talking to God, not because I expected anything really big to come of it. However a few years ago, everything changed.

I opened my Bible one day and read this, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20. I distinctly remember thinking "Well I have at least mustard size faith I think, but I sure don't see mountains moving whenever I ask them to!!" Instantly the Lord pressed something on my heart. He responded to my words and said "But when have you asked?"

With that He rendered me totally speechless. I thought back through every instance of my life and realized that indeed, I had never really prayed for BIG things to happen. I prayed more vaguely like "Lord please bless so-and-so" or "Please give peace and courage to so-and-so." While these things are great, God can do even more!

I knew that God could move mountains, but I was afraid to be disappointed. I didn't want to pray for real things only to see those prayers go unfulfilled. I was afraid that God would disappoint my big requests so I never even gave Him the opportunity to prove Himself as One who exceeds expectations!

As I started to pray for bigger and bigger things, I started to see bigger and bigger results. When my prayers aligned with God's will, they were ALL fulfilled. It was totally crazy and bizarre. It blows my mind some of the ways that He's answered my prayers. I could list hundreds and hundreds of examples. Just today I had a crazy answer to my prayer.

I lost my brand new debit card almost instantly after getting it in the mail. I was really upset that this was going to turn into something stressful, so I said a quick prayer in my head as I often do throughout my day, "God PLEASE let me find this card." I pushed it out of my mind and continued on with my day. A few hours later I opened up my Bible and right on cue my debit card fell out. It literally just fell out of my Bible. I was absolutely stunned.

These things start happening all the time when you start praying all the time. Other people like to peg them as "coincidences" or "random miracles" but us Christians know that its more than that. It's direct answers to our prayers.

Praying to find my debit card was obviously a small prayer and a small answer, but it was a very clear and potent one. I've prayed for some really really big and personal prayers too. Sometimes God's answer hasn't been what I wanted and sometimes it has. If it isn't God's will for your request to be granted, then He's not going to grant it at that time, but He will hear, He will listen, and He will act. So pray boldly! Your prayers do not go unheard and they always promote action.

TODAY'S CHALLENGE: Go out on a limb today and pray boldly. Just one bold prayer from your heart. Give God a chance to exceed your expectations. And don't forget to pray confidently because NOTHING NEVER HAPPENS.

If you want to talk more about prayer or hear a few more examples of prayers being awesomely answered then send me a message and I'd totally love to have a conversation!