By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

Sometimes I think we have a pretty small-minded view of God. 

The Old Testament writers didn’t have this issue. They had no problem telling stories of him holding the sun in place or leveling entire cities. Splitting the sea seemed to be child’s play for Yahweh, never mind providing food and water in the wilderness.

The New Testament is the same way. God is raising the dead and healing the sick. Christ was no stranger to miracles and mystery. 

Scripture talks of God and his works with awe and wonder, but never surprise. The writers seemed to know God was full of power and capable of doing big and impossible things. 

But what about us? When we talk about God, do we still speak as if he is an active and dynamic force in the world today? Do we believe he has the power to heal and to destroy? Do we think he is still capable of ushering in newness? 

Or are the awe-inspiring acts of God best constrained to Scripture? This is the real world. Things don’t happen like that nowadays…

And why not!?

What event occurred that made us stop praying for seas to be split in half? When was God’s power sapped? When was he crippled? Does he no longer have the ability to bring newness? Is he restrained to the rules of the world just as we are?

Those are a lot of questions. But they are questions that demand to be answered. 

Too often, Christians are tempted to pray small-minded prayers and perceive short-sighted visions. We think (but would never say) that some people are just too far gone to be radically and wonderfully transformed by God! We believe that some situations are just too hopeless ever to change. 

It’s as if we pray small prayers because we don’t want to be disappointed. We’ve stopped believing that seas will be split because we can already feel the spray tickle our face. 

What do you have to lose? Do you think that God is offended by big faith? Do you think big visions intimidate him? Do you think he is afraid of impossible prayers?

We lose when we keep God’s work contained to what we can believe and comprehend. The Israelites got in trouble because they thought there was no way to find water in the desert. But they didn’t account for water spewing from a rock. 

We lose when we keep ourselves from praying big prayers because we think God is too small.

God is still God. He is active and operating in our world today–transforming, resurrecting, healing, and empowering. He is splitting seas and producing manna. He’s ushering newness into individuals, families, and churches. 

The question you have to ask yourself is this:

Do you believe it? 

Then pray like it. Act like it.