“When You came down long ago, You did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like You, who works for those who wait for Him!” (Isaiah 64:3-4 NLT)
God answers us in direct proportion to our expectation. If we expect nothing, we’ll most certainly receive nothing; however, when we pray with fervor, sincerity, and expectation, there is no limit to, not only what He does for us, but in and through us. Many years ago, I went to another country to lead Pastors in a series on prayer that had been helpful to me.
After meeting them and learning about their ministries, I confessed that they should be leading on this subject, not me. Perhaps that’s why these words of Ron Hutchcraft spoke to me so powerfully: “I didn’t realize how shallow our faith here is until I met Christians in other countries. They know how to pray powerfully, extensively. They’re hungry, not for jokes and stories. They want solid, biblical teaching. They’re interested in the substance of Christianity, not the style of the speaker. And while we’re having socials, they’re having revivals. While we accept mediocrity, they’re expecting miracles.”
Why do we struggle so much with verses like John 14:13, 26; John 15:16, and John 16:23 which tell us plainly that whatever we ask in faith we’ll receive? Why are we so hesitant to believe boldly that God’s Spirit is working in ways we don’t see to accomplish ends for which we’ve asked? Great need often leads to great faith, which inevitably leads to God working greatly on our behalf.
John Piper gives us insight into our need for powerful prayer when he said: “We cannot know what prayer is for until we know that life is war.” We see things differently when we understand that lives are at stake, not only for this life, but for all eternity.
Several months ago, as I began to lift my neighbors to the Lord in prayer, at first, it seemed what I was asking was overwhelming, like it was too much for God to handle. Then I remembered Jeremiah’s prayer in chapter 32:17: “O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by Your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!”
Then in Jeremiah 65:1-2: “The Lord says, ‘I was ready to be found, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for Me. I said, “Here I am, here I am!” to a nation that did not call on My name. All day long I opened My arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.‘”
My sense is there are few, if any, nations in the world today who are more rebellious and less interested in finding the living God of the Bible than the United States of America. There is a deep sadness that is gripping the lives of countless millions who are seeking pleasure and fulfillment in the things of this world.
Their emptiness screams for help and healing, but the thought of the living God of the Bible rarely if ever crosses their warped and rebellious mind. Nothing can dispel their darkness, because Satan has them tightly in his evil grip, distracted from the Treasure by the trinkets of this world. Please, man of God! Please, woman of God! Join me as I pray with expectation that the God with limitless resources will find someone to reach them. Might that someone be you? Or me?
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 