Inside: why you should expect an answer when you pray
Confession: I am not a fan of radio preaching.
I don’t know what it is about it (actually, I think I do), but most times, I just flip the station to some Christian music instead.
Don’t get me wrong. I think radio preaching is a wonderful thing. Most people listen to the radio in the car (unless you’re a crazy person, and, well, I can’t help you there), so it only makes sense to share the Gospel on the radio.
But… I am just not a fan. I think it’s why I’m also not a fan of online church. (Thank you, Pandemic, for forcing most of us to have to resort to online churchin‘.) I don’t have a major problem with online church either.
But, for me, I just like to be there. In-person. Watching the preacher pour his heart out. Praying I’m not in the splash zone. (If you know, you know. Ha!)
So, imagine my surprise when I caught myself listening to a sermon on the radio as I was running errands.
Why is it hard to have faith?
I don’t have a clue who was preaching (and I even listened all the way to the end to catch the guy’s name!), but he was preaching on going to the Lord in prayer and expecting God to speak and answer.
I am guilty, as I am sure most of us are, of going to the Lord about something and only half-heartedly praying. What I really mean is, praying without any faith to back that prayer up.
The Word says we only need to have faith the size of a mustard seed. According to the ol’ Google, a mustard seed is only 1 to 2 millimeters big. But, why is it so hard to have faith of that size? 1 to 2 millimeters is nothingggg.
Maybe you don’t put as much faith in it because what you’re praying about is a big, hard thing and you’re doubting the Lord can fix it. Been. There.
Or, maybe it’s just a small, seemingly unimportant prayer and you don’t want to bother God with it because He’s clearly very busy with the big stuff. Been there, too.
But, you know what this radio preacher said about prayer?
And I quote, “If you’re going to prayer meeting to pray for rain, you might as well bring an umbrella.”
Let that thought simmer a minute.
Pray for Rain, Bring an Umbrella
Let’s say you needed some rain and you truly believed the Lord would send it, you’re eventually going to need that umbrella. Might as well be prepared because He will answer, if you believe He will.
Believing He will answer is the important part there.
We know the Lord can do anything. Ephesians 3:20 is pretty clear about the Lord’s abilities. You know, He is able to do exceeding abundantly more than we can ask or think.
So, why do we doubt Him so much? Why is it to easy to lack the faith that He will answer our prayers?
There are countless accounts in the Bible of people that were expectant when they prayed. The centurion, for example in Matthew 8, believed if Jesus could only speak the word of healing for the servant, the servant would be healed.
And guess what? The servant received healing.
(Matthew 8:13, is my favorite verse, by the way, to slap my name into to help with my faith. “Go thy way, and has thou, Cassie, has believed, so be it done unto thee.” Those are Jesus’ words, you know.)
Paul and Silas had some literal prison walls blocking them and they needed to pray their way out of it. Want to know what happened when they prayed, praised, and expected the Lord to move?
Yup, they walked right on out of that prison.
Elijah prayed that God would destroy the altar of Baal with fire. Guess what was burned to a crisp?
I could go on and on with examples from the Word, but I think you get the idea.
Pray with expectation
Imagine the work the Lord could do in our lives (or the lives of the people we are praying for), if we truly expected the Lord to answer our prayers when we prayed.
Expectation, friend, requires some faith. Just the size of a mustard seed.
I guarantee you, if you truly started to believe the Lord would answer your prayers, you’d see a giant work done in your own life.
Go ahead, pray with expectation and watch the Lord move.
Shine bright!
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Thoughts?