Just this morning, I was praying for my wife - like I do every morning. And as I was, something hit me hard. God gave me a realization that what I was doing was absolutely amazing. I was talking to God! And when I realized this, I was fascinated! God gave us the ability to talk to him, and we should never take it for granted. Here are 3 things that make prayer so awesome:

1. Prayer is an awesome thing.

Think about it. When you pray, you talk to the Ruler of the Entire Universe. You aren't just uttering a quaint pre-dinner phrase. You are entering the throne room of heaven to lay your humble request at the feet of the Lord of All. And the thing that is really amazing is that, in Hebrews 4:16, He calls us to do this with confidence!

2. Prayer is amazing thing.

Not only is prayer a high privilege, but it is uniquely special because it opens the door for us to have a living, breathing relationship with the One who breathes stars. Psalm 33:6 says,

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And their starry hosts by the breath of His mouth.

The moment you cease to be amazed by the fact that you are known and loved by this God is the moment you have lost sight of Him altogether. You can't relate to God without having your mind blown consistently. He is infinite in His glory, splendor, and desire for you!

3. Prayer is an affecting thing.

Prayer has a great effect. Prayer affect God, ourselves, others, and our world. How cool is that??? God has specifically given us, as fellow heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), the ability to reach into the storehouses of heaven and affect God and his activity here on earth. THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!

Andrew Murray said in his book With Christ in The School of Prayer,

"Lord, teach us to pray." Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child canary, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal.

So I want to challenge you today to reach into the heart and hands of your heavenly Father and experience the wonder and power of prayer. This is the unique privilege and plan God has given to you in this very moment. Don't let today end without laying hold of this amazing blessing.

This week, the Lord really impressed upon my heart the need to ask big things of Him in my life.

I have been journeying through the book of 1 Samuel and I was spending time in the account of the battle between David and Goliath. And I think that the main thing that we always notice in this narrative is the truth that you can overcome any giant in your life when you fear God more than the giant in front of you.

However, something I didn't notice until the Lord showed me this week was that David could have been in my youth group. He was the same age as my high school students. He was the young guy on the outskirts of the circle. He was the kid that his youth leader didn't notice too much. He was the dude who was trying (however unsuccessfully) to get his crush's attention. He was the student that nobody ever noticed.

And yet, what happened? God chose little David to change the course of his nation's history and to bless the world for eternity through his Messianic seed. Could anybody have seen this when he was fifteen? Absolutely not! But as God revealed to Samuel at the anointing ceremony,

"Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." ~ 1 Sam. 16:7

So what is the difference between what people see in a person or situation and what God sees? The difference is the unpredictable power of the Holy Spirit.

And what is the difference between what I see in a student or a situation with at work and what God sees? The difference is the unpredictable power of the Holy Spirit. He can do "far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20) with every single impossible situation or person. Anything I could possibly dream of God doing pales in comparison to what he can actually accomplish. My biggest dreams are small potatoes compared to His divine ability.

What's left for me to do is to "ask big." James 4:2 says, "You have not because you ask not..." So this week, I was convicted to ask huge things of God - things that I don't see ever happening - because I know that that is the place where He loves to show Himself off. I need to ask big, hairy, audacious things of God.

God operates in the realm of big, hairy, audacious prayers (BHAPs). That is His happy place. Things that occur naturally, and thus don't require a miracle, don't fall into that category. Faith is asking God for the impossible, and then acting as if the answer is on the way. That is what it means to pray BHAPs to God. And when the answer comes, it will be obvious that God was the only one who accomplished it.

So I prayed some impossible prayers this week. I prayed that thousands of souls would be saved as a result of our youth ministry. I also prayed that God would do something so big in and though our students that it would still be affecting people hundred of years from now.

Only God could be responsible for such an amazing outcome. So I continue to pray that way, and I continue to pray BHAPs because I have to believe that God is still in the business of doing huge things on planet earth today.

So what about you? What's the most impossible thing you could pray for this week?

I am often like this mouse.

   A few weeks ago, I was out in my backyard mowing the grass. I had to turn the mower off for a second in order to move something out of my way. And just before I was about to begin mowing again, a little field mouse scurried past my dirty shoes. It was odd that I would see a mouse in the first place. They are just not something you see everyday. But it was also odd because he was running in circles right past me. I don't think he eve knew I was there because he was blind. That is why he was running in circles. He was looking for some sort of point of reference. He was lost and looking for his way. I wanted to help him, so I bent down to pick him up and take him somewhere that he could find his way. But when I touched him, he jumped away from me. He was naturally scared of me, that I would hurt him. But eventually, after several tries, I finally picked him up and escorted him to the woods, where he would have many points of reference and could make his way despite his blindness. When I knew he was safe, I resumed my lawn mowing.


   While I was finishing the job, I was thinking about that mouse. I am often like that mouse. In this life, I have no point of reference. I can't know on my own what is right or wrong, true or false, safe or dangerous, healthy or cancerous. And when God sees me running in spiritual circles, He gently reaches down to pick me up and lift me to safety. I want to go one way, but he sees where it leads and corrects me or lifts me out of harm's way. And I fear his touch, thinking it will harm me. Little do I realize that it is the best thing that could possibly happen to me. The thing that seems like the worst possible idea at the time, is often God's loving hand protecting me from something really bad.


   God is lovingly sovereign. He does nothing for our harm. He loves us tenderly, and has the wisdom of an all-knowing Father. But sometimes he has to override our own will in order to bring us to safety. And often he has to wait for us to realign our will before he can use us greatly. On the one hand, when our will is contrary to God's, we are speeding toward danger. On the other hand, when our will is contrary to God's, He can't use us for His amazing purposes and we can't grasp His love. Our will must be submitted to Him before we can live a life that is worth living.


   But how must we can we submit our will to God, if it is our will that drives everything we do? It seems almost contradictory, like making a robot that recreate itself, or designing an engine to be its own mechanic. It is hard to grasp the concept of submitting your will, until you can understand that God is greater than you and that you desperately need Him. This is the essence of worship: declaring that God has infinite worth, not only to you, but also to all of creation because He is greater than all and needed by all to even exist (cf. Colossians 1:17). And when you begin to worship - not only with your words, but with your whole life - you have taken the first step to a life that matters. Worship wins the war for the will. And it is a lifestyle of worship that makes God proud.

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So how are you doing at submitting your will?

If you gave someone permission to be honest with you, would they recognize a pattern of worship in your life? or just selfishness?

Are you up for the challenge of submitting your will to the One who holds all things together?

How are you doing at submitting your will?

I dare you to be brave today: Tell God you are ready to submit your will to Him, and ask Him to show you specific way you can worship Him with your life. And DON'T back down from what He shows you.