Back in January, I wrote a blog about my word for this year, which was to pray bigger prayers. Never have I had such response from anything I have written! And never have I seen almost immediately results from other people. At the time it was first written, I had several people see big prayers answered in their own lives, and I even have a couple answered myself. But now as we face the COVID19 crisis, I see this word for my life becoming a word for this entire season for our church.
In hard times, we often stop believing God and His ability to do the impossible. To do the big. Frankly, we can stop believing that He can still do miracles. Friend, He is the same God that did the big, the impossible, and the miracles in the Bible. He has done it in my life. He has done it in the lives of those around me. But the tough times have the tendency to take away our faith that He could do it again.
Jesus Himself instructs us to in Matthew 7:7 to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and to keep on knocking (see the Amplified Version). But we are human. We want to see results. And when we don’t see them in our time table, we tend to give up.
This is definitely not the time to give up praying! Our pastor has called us to fast and pray. Our Southern Baptist leaders have called us to prayer. Louisiana’s governor asked us to fast and pray on Tuesday. Even our President has asked us to pray. And that’s what we must do. So how do we pray big?
First, we need to pray globally. Yes, we need to always remember to lift up our families and those we are closest to, but we also need to look beyond that. At this season, we need to be remembering our leaders both locally and nationally. We need to pray for our health care professionals who are working so hard. We need pray for those who are trying to find a vaccine. Beyond our country, we need to be praying for our missionaries around the world. We have IMB missionaries in Italy right now who desperately need us to be standing in the gap for them. Our other missionaries in other countries need it, too. I know of a missionary family that is in quarantine right now. We need to remember those around the world who have it much worse than we do here.
Secondly, we have no idea what is going on in the heavenly realms. God may be using this time to bring awakening. Oh that He would! The Sunday before all of this happened, I just felt led to pray that the revival would begin that day. We don’t know that it didn’t! God does indeed work in mysterious ways, and this trying time may be what He’s using to get the world’s attention. This is the time that we must be the church and show the world the hope that we have in Jesus! This could be the awakening in our day! Pray for our pastor and staff, but pray for the Church Universal at this time. I truly believe God is up to something big. We live in an age where the gospel is literally at every single person’s finger tips because it’s in their social media news feeds when we share a church service live feed or a scripture meme or if we share our personal testimony.
But for every action of God, we know there is an equal and opposite action of the enemy. We need to be praying against the evil one and what he is trying to tear down and destroy. Since we are stuck at home right now, I know the enemy is working overtime in me to bring anxiety and discouragement. A verse that I have clung to for years is James 4:7 in The Message translation: “Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper.” I am having to say a whole lot of “NO!” To the enemy right now! A friend and I were texting the other day, and I told her that I’m trying to see the gift in all of this. She replied that she believed God would bring beauty from these ashes. We cannot let fear win! We cannot let anxiety and depression get the best of us while we may be stuck within the four walls of our homes. We need to be aware of the enemy’s schemes and start praying big against him!
Finally, we need to pray in hope. When I asked Zach what it means to pray big, he said he thought it meant to pray hopefully. I think he may be right! We cannot let this crisis take our hope. We just can’t. Without hope, we will have a very bleak outlook. For believers, hope is a sure thing named Jesus. My favorite book of the Bible is Hebrews, and that writer talks so much about the hope we have in Jesus, that that hope is the anchor for our soul. I encourage you to search “hope” on your Bible app or in your concordance and read all Hebrews has to say about hope. But one verse that keeps ringing in my ears is this one – Romans 12:12: “Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.” We need to keep on praising our Living Hope, Jesus. We need to be patient in this time of suffering. But most of all, we need to be constant in prayer.
The Friday that it was announced that school would be out for 31 days, I received an early birthday present from my best friend. She is amazingly thoughtful, and always gives the best gifts. This was the gift.
Just an hour or so later, life changed dramatically. God sent me a great reminder that I have posted in our living room. It’s time to not limit our prayers. It’s time to pray big. That doesn’t necessarily mean pray long or loud. I think it means praying Ephesians 3:20-21 prayers:
“Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us — to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 CSB
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