Let's pray BIG!!!!!

Happy Friday everyone! Are you ready for the weekend? I really enjoyed the great weather here in east Tennessee yesterday. Today, I would like to talk to you guys about something I think we all struggle with. I have had God lay some really big things on my heart lately and I must bath them in prayer. I mean I have been praying but, I need to really kick it into overdrive. I sat back yesterday and thought about my prayer life. How is it? Do I pray enough? What do I pray about? How do I pray? Let's dig into the good stuff and see what God says about the subject.........

Bible Verse: Ephesians 3:14-15 For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named.

Here's the deal, most of the Christians I know, including me, have a prayer problem. Not only is prayer hard work and easy to skip, we're often only half-convinced that it even matters. We believe God hears and answers prayer, generally speaking. We're just not sure sometimes that our prayers are worth putting out there. That they aren't that important in the overall scheme of things.

Does that sound harsh?  Well, if you and I really believed we were talking to the God of the universe, the God with unlimited power, the God that raised Jesus up from the grave, the God of unlimited patience and love and forgiveness for us. Then how often would we talk to Him if we believed all those things? Does that change that way you think about prayer? But here's the thing, our small faith leads to small prayers. When we do pray, we usually ask for little things that have to do with money and health and travel and relationships. Now does God care about those things? Yes, God cares about all of those things with us, but we can also pray much, much bigger. Remember, He is a huge God!

I want to tell you a quick story about our new worship team for the youth group. I spoke to Dylan Scandlyn, one of the youth leaders and my brother-in-law about an idea he had concerning the worship team. He asked the youth in the team to bring a pillow with them to practice Wednesday night. Of course they asked why. Well, when they came to practice Dylan and Lyndsey talked to them about prayer and that they wanted them to pray for 10 minutes on their knees. He asked them to ask the Holy Spirit to show them what they should be praying for. Can I ask you a question? When was the last time you prayed for 10 minutes straight? Have you lately?

This week, I am going to try to "kneel to the Father" just like Paul did and try to copycat his super giant prayers. I am going to pray big and have big faith. I hope you're not afraid to ask for the same kind of things for yourself and those we care most about. Let's pray big! No, let's pray HUGE! I have another question for ya. Do you think it matters what position your body is in when you pray? Why do you think Paul made a point to say he kneels when praying? How does kneeling or bowing or closing our eyes help us to pray more meaningfully? Ask God to help us to approach Him respectfully when we pray and to be so glad to call Him Father. Let's wear our knees of our pants out! Let's read Ephesians 1:15-23 and see how Paul offers another way to pray. Check it out. Have a great day and God bless.