William Gurnall was an English author and clergyman during the 1600's. While speaking on the subject of prayer and having an expectant heart, he said the following:
"An unbelieving heart in prayer is like one who shoots an arrow at random, without paying attention to where it falls. He doesn't follow the outcome of his praying."
"Failing to look up may cause many a prayer to be lost. If you do not believe, why do you pray? And if you believe, why do you not expect? By praying, you seem to depend on God; but by not expecting, you again renounce your confidence. What is this, but to take His name in vain? O Christian, stand on your prayer in a holy expectation of what you have prayed for. Mordecai, no doubt, had put up many prayers for Esther, and therefore waited at the King's gate, looking for what answer God would give. You do likewise."
In Matthew 17, the disciples asked Jesus why they lacked power while praying over a demon-possessed boy. His response?
"He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)
So many times it seems that we get things backwards - we think we have to have the faith of a mountain to move a mustard seed. We need to come to an understanding that God CAN and WILL answer prayer – but there are some other things we need to understand about prayer as well. Another Scripture we love to quote about prayer is found in Psalm 37:4:
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
There's something about the verse that we sometimes fail to recognize: before God gives us the desires of our heart, He must first change the desires of our heart. Our desires can be selfish and self-centered; His desires are always focused on His kingdom and His love for others.
There is way too much to be said about prayer to cover it all in one devotional, but for today I simply want to focus on this: our God is a God who can and will answer prayer. His power and His love are without limits. He longs to display His power and love to us, and as His children, He desires to give us good gifts. But we must always bear in mind that these gifts are intended to draw us closer to Him and to share with those around us. But as long as that is our desire, we should pray in faith and with expectation. When we pray according to His will, He promises to answer – and to answer in amazing fashion.
He's a big God. Ask big - and believe for Him to answer. I'm convinced that we are about to be astounded at the things God is about to do in the earth.
The best is yet to come.
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