Do you have categories of prayers? Surely I’m not the only one. You know, there are the “all-through-the-day” little prayers you whisper just to keep the wheels on the tracks. And then there are the BIG, BOLD prayers that are the faith-filled requests you ask when your mind is not on yourself or your immediate needs. I like to call the latter ones my “big-girl” prayers because they feel so different (but aren’t we glad Jesus hears them both)!
I think I categorize them separately because they seem to come from a different place than my personal need/want list. I believe the source of these big prayers are from my renewed mind (Romans 12:2). When I ask the Lord, “What is on your heart today? What do you want to see accomplished today?”, ideas and vision and opportunities are highlighted to me. Once I have a picture of God’s desire for a place or people group or individual, it seems to come with the faith to agree for that to come to pass! The conversation with God isn’t me begging for something. But agreeing with His heart, speaking scriptures that align with that idea, and searching my heart for how I can use whatever resource I have to put action to words. It feels fun, exciting, full of potential and possibility. Praying from a mindset motivated by God’s intent just has a different tone, weight and authority.
If we were at coffee, I would be leaning in and asking, “what have your “big-girl” prayers been lately?” Mine have been asking God for radical transformation in the marketplace. And not just for people… I’ll explain in a second. As I interact each day in a “culturally Christian” city, filled with people aware of the gospel but still asleep, I am filled with anticipation for God’s purposes to be revealed in men and women in their everyday jobs. Authentic sons and daughters are more than “real”, or “genuine” or “honest about the weaknesses”. Authentic sons and daughters in the marketplace have been radically transformed to care about God’s desires, to surrender to His ways and to live COMPLETELY opposite of what our culture deems as important. Mindsets, motives, marriages, careers, and generations are turned upside down when His love and power invade and bring that kind of transformation.
Can you see with me people in coffee shops, gyms, offices, conference rooms, stores, and restaurants so transformed by the power of Jesus that they too pray big, faith filled prayers for every place of darkness to be filled with light? I feel God’s desire to see people leading and working in businesses and corporations completely lit up with a passion for Jesus. Not just accepting of the gifts and goodies of the gospel message- anyone can nod at God after a blessing… Transformation is all together something else. Transformation in God is deep, life changing, and wrecking. When the power of God recreates us from the inside out, our motives are revealed, our desires are shifted, and our life’s work is no longer enough.
And what about land and buildings? That’s what I meant about transformation not only in people. God has an original design and kingdom purpose for places all over our city!!!! How fun is it to pray for His intended occupants to fill vacant buildings and for landowners to hear the purpose of the land they formerly believed was merely an investment?
I could go on for days but what am I saying to you? Jesus said the greatest commandment is to
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and the second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12: 30-31).
Loving God with EVERYTHING you have and loving your neighbor are so much easier when you take the time to communicate with God about what He wants, what He sees, and HOW he thinks about the world we live in. Waiting for His impressions, His ideas, His timing, His big plans for people and cities is the key. Try it and let me know what “big-girl” prayers and faith-filled adventures you find with Jesus!
