Just When You Thought It Was Over

When You Thought It Was Over

The End Is Just The Start of It All – Part 6

I wanted to draft a conclusion to this section of the thirty-thousand-foot prayer because I wanted to make certain we don’t miss these points. I wanted to again bring them to your forethoughts, but this time from a leadership or personal development standpoint. Most of us know what we know about prayer from what’s been handed down. It has little structure and is mundane if I can say so bluntly. But when you have the results in a prayer like what’s found in the Bible then prayer becomes an activity you enjoy and look forward to.

1.You must prepare your growth plan when you pray.
Prayer, a thirty-thousand-foot prayer (big request), is interesting because it takes you on a journey. It takes one out of their comfort zone. When you think about what happened to Nehemiah it’s shocking. His thirty-thousand-foot prayer moved him from humble cup-bearer for the king to leader of a nation. Think about what it takes to go from, lack of a better term, lowly cup-bearer to a political office with a staff and leading people to re-establish a nation. In this case, prayer is a growth plan. You must have a plan to grow into the roles produced by the action your prayer will require of you. You will no longer be that person you used to see in the mirror, your prayer will make much more of you. What “lowly” position are you in right now awaiting a thirty-thousand-foot prayer to take you to greater heights?

2.You get better with each prayer workout.
Prayer workout? I bet you’ve not heard it like that before. Prayer is like exercise and like any exercise, you need a few things in order to have the results you desire. In this case, you desire prayers that are answered. More specifically, you want God to talk to you when you pray. Here’s a couple of pieces you need for the exercise of prayer. 

• One: you need a coach.
  We need someone who can show us how to do the workouts. We need someone to keep us from falling back into our old habits of not exercising, praying. 
• Two: you need the routines.
  We need to know the routines and how to execute them properly. I know what you’re thinking. I thought prayer was just closing my eyes and saying a few words. [To the left] No. That’s not what it is. In fact, what that is, is a person who gets very little from prayer. What can you expect out of meeting with the CEO & Founder of the universe when you go to Him in this manner? If I were God, I’d be insulted and wouldn’t show up to another meeting with you until you learn how to be prepared and take it seriously. Let me move on. 
• Three: you need to know it’s not one and done.
  You have to show up if you want results. You can argue this if you’d like, but the truth is this. Based upon the only place that defines prayer for us, it implies that you might just have to get up early in the morning, stay up late at night, or even climb a mountain. In other words, prayer is like having faith and faith without action is useless. It’s not over in one simple step.

Once you understand this, you’re ready to begin the discipline it takes for the exercise of prayer.

3.You must treat prayer like a person treats the work of any business.
This leads me to our next point. There’s a business side to prayer. Let’s take a step back in our thoughts to what prayer really is. Even in the most normal sense of defining it, prayer is bringing our requests to God. Notice I didn’t say make a request of your friend, nor a parent, not a colleague, nor a neighbor. Prayer involves God. Therefore, one might just need to understand what that means and looks like.

When a person says they prayed and it didn’t work, what they are really saying is that God’s not God. He’s incapable of handling what it is we brought to Him. Really?! [To the left] When we say that prayer doesn’t work it’s like saying we’re an atheist. Let me put that to bed for you once and for all. Prayer works every time because God is always available. It says that your Guardian God won’t fall asleep on you, nor will He ever doze off.¹ The point is if you want to be successful in prayer, you must consider the business side of it. Since prayer takes action, then you need a plan on how to act, where to act, and how to report the actions. I get that’s not what you signed up for and may decide the request is asking more of you than you are willing to give and that’s okay. Know this, the results you need are based on that decision and if you choose to do without the results, then do nothing. That’s normal, but as you know I don’t believe in normal, average, ordinary, or mediocre. In order to have different results, one must have a different set of actions.

4.You must be ready to handle the bigness of God.
Lastly, there’s something I need you to brace for. If you pray like we’ve been teaching, then be ready for God to approach you. What do I mean by that? God’s not afraid to speak to you. In fact, He does it more than you notice. However, when you pray and are in tune with Him, He comes close to you. What that means is, your thoughts, plans, and ideas get elevated beyond what’s normal. That’s how He works. He’s going to always have more than you think you can handle, available. Dr. & Pastor Creflo Dollar once did a teaching called “Jehovah Too Much” where He described God as too much in every way you can imagine. For example, when God pours on love, it’s too much love. When He provides, He has too much provision. When He heals, it’s too much healing. When He speaks, it’s too much information. God doesn’t know how to do it small because He is too big. He does it big.  He’ll do it big for and in you. He’s Jehovah Too Much!

As we bring “The End Is Just The Start of It All” to an end and prepare to go into our final series of The Thirty-Thousand-Foot Prayer, let me encourage you with this. While prayer may seem like a lot of work and it is, the God-like results you get because of it makes one overlook the work put in and see the blessing in its results. No pain, even in prayer, means no gain. We’re talking about praying big prayers, therefore we must be willing to do what it takes to get big answers.

Question: are you ready for the changes that come with getting a big request answered?

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Reference #1: ‭Psalm‬ ‭121:3-4‬ ‭MSG‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed December 17, 2020, https://www.bible.com/97/psa.121.3-4.msg

All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.