Because He Can’t Think Small

Why Your Prayer Seems Out of Reach?

My Thirty-Thousand-Foot Prayer At Work – Part 4

God-type thinking isn’t small. God doesn’t think small. Any time you hear from God, there’s going to be a lot of work for you to do. I can’t say this enough. When a person talks to God they must be prepared for more than what they anticipate. He can’t think on your level. So when He speaks to you, what He’s asking of you is always big. It’s so big that it can’t be done without His involvement, but it won’t be done until He has yours.

His Ways Are Much Bigger Than Ours
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” – bible.com/bible/116/ISA.55.8-9.NLT

His thoughts, His ways, His ideas, and His plans are greater than ours. This is the reality in which we live. 
He creates worlds.
He makes new creations out of old ones.
He causes dry desolate lands to become a life-filled oasis.
He causes whales to be able to sustain human life.
He takes the least and makes them the greatest.
His ways, His thoughts, His ideas, His plans, and His methods are bigger than ours.

From Nothing to Something Extraordinary
Nehemiah as you know was the king’s cup-bearer. He wasn’t a leader whatsoever, but as soon as he connected with God, the One whose thoughts are bigger and ways are better, Nehemiah became something great. When you pray a thirty-thousand-foot prayer, you must be ready for God to make something great out of you. Let me try to explain this a little better. Where Nehemiah had just one role, one responsibility, it all changed once he placed his boots on the ground doing the work of his prayer. Here’s what he found himself in charge of:

  • He oversaw gate repairs
    The Old City Gate was repaired…
    The Valley Gate was repaired by the people from Zanoah.
    The Dung Gate was repaired.
    The Fountain Gate was repaired.
    They laid the beams, rebuilt, roofed, set up the doors, and installed the bolts and bars for the gates.
    – bible.com/bible/116/NEH.3.6-32.NLT

  • He oversaw teams of people who worked on the wall.
    [A team] worked on the wall.
    They left out a section of Jerusalem as they built the Broad Wall.
    Each one repaired the section immediately across from their own house.
    [Sons and daughters] repaired sections of walls.
    – bible.com/bible/116/NEH.3.6-32.NLT

  • He oversaw the work of repairing the walls.
    [They] repaired:
    – another section of the wall and the Tower of the Ovens.
    – 1,500 feet of wall to the Dung Gate.
    – the wall of the pool of Siloam…
    – the wall as far as the stairs that descend from the City of David.
    – the wall from a place across from the tombs of David’s family as far as the water reservoir and the House of the Warriors.
    – [the] wall across from the ascent to the armory near the angle in the wall.
    – an additional section from the angle to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.
    – the wall as far as a point across from the Water Gate to the east and the projecting tower.
    – another section across from the great projecting tower and over to the wall of Ophel.

    [They] rebuilt:
    – another section of the wall extending from the door of Eliashib’s house to the end of the house.
    – another section of the wall from Azariah’s house to the angle and the corner.
    – bible.com/bible/116/NEH.3.6-32.NLT

  • He oversaw the activity of those who came to work from surrounding areas.
    Repairs were made by the priests from the surrounding region.
    Above the Horse Gate, the priests repaired the wall.
    – bible.com/bible/116/NEH.3.6-32.NLT

Looking Back at It from Thirty-Thousand-Feet
Being at thirty-thousand-feet in the air taught me how to pray differently. When we have vague or big prayers, it’s like looking out of the window of an airplane at thirty-thousand feet. There’s a lot below you and very little you can home in on. Praying for something big is no different, it’s hard to home in on what you are praying for. At thirty-thousand-feet it’s hard to see any changes that are happening on the ground. 

In order to see change, we have to bring ourselves back to the ground. Our boots must be on the ground. I like the idea of starting at thirty-thousand-feet like Moses did. God told him to do something big and Moses talked to God about the problems he saw from this high viewpoint. God was more interested in getting Moses to place his boots, sandals, on the ground. 

From thirty-thousand-feet, God was asking Moses to combat the greatest force in all of Egypt-the Pharaoh. It might as well have been God Moses had to go up against. 
From thirty-thousand-feet, God asked a guy who couldn’t speak well to lead millions of people out into uncommon territory.
From thirty-thousand-feet, God asked Moses, one man to do something that had never been attempted before. 

Now let’s see what it looked like when he placed boots on the ground.
With boots on the ground, Moses with God’s backing, turned his staff into a snake before Pharaoh.
With boots on the ground, Moses with God’s help, caused plagues to over take the Egyptians, but spared the Irealites.
With boots on the ground, Moses got to the Red Sea and God caused the obstacle to get out of the way. I believe that it could have been a mountain and God would have split the mountain down the middle.
With boots on the ground, Moses led his people away from their captures with all their possesses.
With boots on the ground, their enemies were destroyed and no longer had any power over them. 

God wants you to have a thirty-thousand-foot prayer, so that you’ll be excited about getting your feet on the ground. What if you have the opportunity to see how big of an idea God has for you? What if you have the opportunity to go from who you are today to someone much greater? All you have to do is decide to move from thirty-thousand-foot wishful thinking to on the ground action. Your biggest prayers can become your new reality.

Question: Why do you think that big idea, dream has been placed in your thoughts?

Until next Sunday, share this with any of your “big thinker” friends. Thanks for visiting NoLongerCommon.com.

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