Well, we've been wrong. 

Yeah, our science books tell us that there are 100 billion galaxies.  We look at our Milky Way, and we see the one galaxy we're in.  We're all excited because we've been able to get an unmanned spacecraft to the edge of our solar system!   Wow.   Our solar system is just one small part of our one galaxy - and they're telling us now that there are 100 billion more.  Well, actually, not 100 billion more. We've been misled.  See, the Hubble telescope has supplied new information. No, there aren't 100 billion galaxies, after all. There are 125 billion galaxies! Don't even try to comprehend it.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Super-Sized Praying."

Now, at the fast food restaurant, you know they'll ask you if you want to "super-size" your fries or your drink - you know, go for something bigger. I think it's time we "super-size" the way we pray - in light of the size of the One we are praying to! He's the God who invites us to "come boldly to the throne of grace." (Hebrews 4:16) That's the throne room from which 125 billion galaxies are governed! Do you pray like that?

Paul understood the size of the One who we're with when we pray - and the size of what we should pray for. In our word for today from the Word of God, from Ephesians 3 beginning at verse 14, Paul captures the wonder of it all when he says, "I kneel before the Father, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power ... I pray that you ... may have power ... to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ ... and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."

Man! Immeasurable love. Incomparable power. All poured out on those who belong to Him. Now, in this next verse, Ephesians 3:20, Paul says our God is the One "who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us." There are many times I think we should "3:20" our prayer - Ephesians 3:20, that is - enlarging our request in light of this promise that God can do "immeasurably more." I wonder if God is listening as we come to Him with our man-sized requests and saying, "Would you like to super-size that?"

I think we forget Who we're with when we pray, and I was reminded again of how big our God really is when I heard that slight correction in the number of galaxies there are - up by 25 billion! Your Heavenly Father is the One who controls them all, and prayer brings you into His holy, omnipotent presence. It's no wonder we are encouraged to "come boldly" - not because we deserve to be there but because Jesus has removed every obstacle by shedding His blood for us. So why do we come so timidly? When's the last time you trusted God for something so big only God could do it? He's told us He wants to show us "great and mighty things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3)

God has so much more He wants to do for us than we're willing to believe Him for. We're under-living because we are under-praying, under-trusting. Before you begin to praise Him and petition Him in prayer, take just a moment to remember how big He really is. You will not pray the same. You'll be humbled. You'll be amazed. You'll be bold. The universe is bigger than we thought it was - and the God who made all those galaxies in a moment is much bigger than we think He is. It's time we super-size our praying!

__________________

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you.
1 Peter 1:18-20


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