In seminary, many of our classes were very large, with 150-200 students per class. The head of our branch campus was Dr. Don Aderhold, one of the finest men I’ve ever known, and he also taught several classes. One of his habits was calling on one of us to open the class with prayer.
Connie was one of our classmates whose husband was the pastor of a Korean church. She had already told us that her church opened its doors each morning at six o’clock so that people could gather to pray, and that the church was full each morning. She could never understand why American churches didn’t do the same, asking, “Do you not believe in the power of prayer?”
Then one day Dr. Aderhold called on Connie to open our class in prayer. Connie hesitated and said, “But I pray in Korean.” Dr. Aderhold said it was okay to pray in Korean. So she did.
We had no idea what Connie was saying. None of us spoke Korean. But Connie prayed with such passion that we didn’t need to understand her language. By the time she finished her prayer, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. There was a long period of silence before Dr. Aderhold started to teach.
Our friend Connie was a woman of prayer, but beyond that, she was a woman of deep faith. And when she prayed, she knew the truth of this statement no matter what the request: “God can.”
Faith and prayer are closely aligned. When we ask God for something, it’s important to believe that God can do what we ask.
So how’s your faith?
Do you believe that God is big enough, strong enough, powerful enough to answer your prayer?
Maybe this is a good time to read Psalm 139 and remind yourself of God’s greatness and knowledge and presence.
Or read Isaiah 40 and allow God to remind you who he is. Listen to what God is asking you:
To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. (Isaiah 40:25)
Is your view of God big enough?
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40:28)
When you come to God in prayer, you’re approaching a God of limitless power and wisdom. You’re approaching a God who is all-powerful and all-knowing, a God who is sovereign over every single part of his creation.
Is that the God to whom you go in prayer?
Sometimes when we look at our problems, we tend to forget just how big God is. Our problems seem really big because our God seems really small. We know deep down inside that God is almighty, but in our minds, we reduce God to the size of our biggest problem and wonder whether he can handle it.
Here’s what God promises us:
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
Unless your God is that big, your God is too small.
Come to God in prayer, believing that God is able. There is no problem bigger than God, no need more powerful than God, no supply beyond God’s ability to provide.
If your faith needs to grow, start with what faith you have. Your faith will grow as you spend time with God, regularly pausing to experience his presence, read the Bible, talk to him.
Your faith will also grow as you simply have faith. Learn to trust by trusting. As your relationship with God grows, so will your faith in him.
Jesus tied faith and prayer together:
And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” (Mark 11:22-23)
You can choose not to believe that statement. But you’d be saying that Jesus was wrong or that he lied. Or you can choose to believe Jesus the best you can; you can come to God with whatever amount of faith you have, and ask.
Does this mean that you’ll get everything you ask for every time? No, because we must surrender our prayers to God’s will. In another post, we’ll look at whether God will. Today I’m talking about whether God can. And he most definitely can.
This is powerful, Richard!