When it comes to our prayer lives, we are living in a realm full of tension. God knows everything, He does whatever He pleases, His plans cannot be thwarted, we know that He can move the mountain…but does He want to? Therein lies the tension, but that doesn’t change the fact that God calls us to bold prayers.

He’s calling us to a faith that captures the attention of Heaven. So why would we pray? Because God is inviting us to believe Him for the miraculous and ask Him for the impossible.

When it comes to our prayer lives, we are living in a realm full of tension. God knows everything. He does whatever He pleases, His plans cannot be thwarted, and we know that He can move the mountains. How do we reconcile our knowledge of His power with the fact that God calls us to be people of bold prayers?

Why should we pray? Because God is inviting us to capture the attention of Heaven, to believe Him for the miraculous, and to ask Him for the impossible.

Luke 7:1-10 tells the story of a centurion who had a servant who was sick. Because this man had shown favor to the Jewish community, the elders asked Jesus to heal the centurion’s servant. But while Jesus was on His way to do so, the centurion sent a messenger who conveyed that the centurion did not feel as though he was worthy enough even to have Jesus enter his home. Instead, the man confessed his belief that even if Jesus spoke a word of healing miles away from the servant, that servant would be saved. Jesus was amazed by his faith, exclaiming that he had not seen faith like this, even in Israel.

Our God loves the posture of a heart of humility.

We should marvel at the opportunity to amaze Jesus with our faith, but we should do so from a posture of humility. The centurion understood this truth: there is one who sits on the Throne of authority, God, the Father. Jesus is under that authority, working out His Father’s will, and therefore shares that authority. The is the faith that gave birth to the Centurion’s confession that all Jesus has to do is speak, and things would change. This correctly calibrated perspective of the authority of Jesus amazed The Savior.

Great Faith Captures The Attention of Heaven.

There are so many stories of miracles throughout scripture, so there can be an obvious tension when what we pray for doesn’t come to pass. It is important to know that just because the miracle didn’t happen does not mean that we didn’t have enough faith. It just means that, ultimately, God is using that particular circumstance to achieve a different outcome. This is a seismic shift in our way of thinking.

John 12:23-28 contains an amazing parable. Here, Jesus explains that a single seed of wheat sitting on a shelf is worth little. But, if that seed goes through the process of falling into the ground and dying, it will take part in a process by which a multitude of other seeds are created.

Here, Jesus is teaching the apostles Philip and Andrew that the time has come for him to lay down his life in the same way. Facing this trial, Jesus teaches them that he can pray in one of two ways:

• He can ask God the Father to save Him from this hour and deliver him from what he is about to face.
• Jesus can trust that God the Father has a great plan at work and choose to Glorify His name.

Was God capable of saving Jesus from the cross he was about to endure? Of course, but He didn’t because He was at work to bring about the salvation of all. Jesus, knowing fully the suffering that was in front of him, chose to trust God and to bless his name. This is miraculous faith.

This is the powerful prayer that God always answers, “Father, glorify your name.” Our prayers for the impossible and for miracles should be informed by a desire to advance the Gospel in the world. We mustn’t live detached from God’s will, and from time to time ask Him to intervene when we feel like we need Him to. The Christian life is to be spent walking in His mission, focusing our prayers on what He wants, not for our own benefit, but for the glory of His Name. Read Acts 4:29, and you’ll see Peter and John, who understood God’s mission, so they prayed that God would consider the threats against them and asked that He would enable them to spread the Gospel boldly.

Louie told a story of revival in (what was once) Burma after a little girl was raised from the dead after burning in a fire. God did the same thing in Mark 5:41-42 and Luke 8:54-55 when He raised Jairus’s daughter. God can absolutely raise the dead. It’s not His normal operating mode, but He can do it for the demonstration of His power and for the proclamation of Jesus so that people will be saved.

So pray the bold prayers, but pray them so that many will come to know Jesus and the Gospel will be spread to those who need to hear it.

Every prayer of great faith results in a miracle. It ends up being incense at the Throne of God. What do you do when you’ve fasted, prayed, believed, and stepped out in faith, but the miracle does not happen? You rest, knowing that your prayer still shook heaven.

Revelation 5:6-9 speaks of bowls filled with the prayers of the saints. They rise like incense around the Throne.

Our prayers are still at the Throne of God, and He is working. There’s no time limit on our prayers. It will only be when we get to heaven that we will see the miracles that did happen far from our knowledge. Our faith touches the heart of Almighty God- that’s a miracle. So focus on knowing God and His character, and learn to exercise a faith that ends up as incense before the Lord.

Every prayer of great faith ends up being a miracle, like incense before the Throne of God. Thanks be to God.

5 Practical Things to Remember About Prayer

1. Don’t get stuck trying to resolve the tension that if God knows everything, why do we need to pray? Just lean into the mystery and know He has invited you. That’s all you need: an invitation to pray big prayers.
2. Pray prayers that are as big as God. Be bold in humility.
3. Don’t fixate on the way God is moving; trust that He’s moving.
4. Make yourself available to pray for things that don’t directly involve you. Pray for things that matter to God. Spend a lot less time informing God and the people around us. He knows all the details.
5. Link miracle prayers to bold mission. Don’t try to use God’s mission to get Him to do what you want Him to do. Make sure you’re connected to God’s mission when you ask for Him to move.