{"id":2756,"date":"2016-03-02T11:24:10","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T16:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?p=2756"},"modified":"2016-03-02T11:24:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T16:24:10","slug":"praying-with-audacity-praying-with-tenacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2016\/03\/praying-with-audacity-praying-with-tenacity.html","title":{"rendered":"Praying With Audacity, Praying with Tenacity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>\u201cNow all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.\u201d (Ephesians 3:20).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em><strong>\u201cSo let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.\u201d (Hebrews 4:16)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>It is often said, \u201cYou can\u2019t out-give God.\u201d True indeed. But it seems I can\u2019t out-ask him either.\u00a0But in a surprise bonus God answers my audacious imposition with \u201c\u2026exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all I can ask think or desire.\u201d No matter how big I think I\u2019m praying, he\u2019s going to answer bigger still.<\/p>\n<p>I must have inherited the Eeyore gene. My faith-walk plays out as a chronic moderation hedging my bets against disappointment. Jesus blows right past my sheepishness. \u201cI have something coming you cannot possibly imagine!\u201d His first answer to what I consider a big and bold prayer is to up the ante, and to challenge me to up my expectation. \u201cOh, if you only knew how good and powerful I really am, and how right now I am turning heaven and earth upside down to bless you!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And what response do I hear from God? I expect him to furrow his brow and mumble, \u201cMy, that is a lot to ask. Let me see how I can bend a few rules. Would you settle for 50%?\u201c Instead, God chuckles at my big ask. \u201cIs that all? he replies. \u201cOf course! And so much more, you can\u2019t even imagine!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Father ALWAYS answer \u201cyes.\u201d Yes indeed, in ways far richer than my wildest prayers can express. He fills the gaps of my requests and exponentially compounds the outcome. After all, he only asks for \u201cseed\u201d faith. This last day I again take the prayers I have been praying all month and hold them again as mere seed. I offer it back to the Father knowing that in his hand a seed grows into an oak tree that he has been planning all along! And as much as I think I\u2019m asking, he\u2019s intending far, far more!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Response<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cFather, I have asked, and do so again. I know you are not exhausted by my persistence. You welcome it, even insist upon it. So, once again, bless me indeed! And one last word: I won\u2019t be surprised when you surprise me above and beyond my request! You are, right now designing a gift of your choosing. I know your goodness will stun me when it arrives, but nudge me with a reminder of this prayer: that I promised to expect your unexpected kindness!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cNow all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.\u201d (Ephesians 3:20). \u201cSo let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.\u201d (Hebrews 4:16) It is often said, \u201cYou can\u2019t out-give God.\u201d True indeed. But it seems&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,7,4,25,3,1],"tags":[1621,787,1623,450,452],"class_list":["post-2756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-bible-prayer","category-daily-prayer","category-god","category-jesus","category-prayer","category-uncategorized","tag-asking-big","tag-belief","tag-eeyore","tag-faith","tag-unbelief"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Praying With Audacity, Praying with Tenacity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2016\/03\/praying-with-audacity-praying-with-tenacity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Praying With Audacity, Praying with Tenacity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cNow all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.\u201d (Ephesians 3:20). \u201cSo let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.\u201d (Hebrews 4:16) It is often said, \u201cYou can\u2019t out-give God.\u201d True indeed. But it seems&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2016\/03\/praying-with-audacity-praying-with-tenacity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prayer, Plain and Simple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-02T16:24:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark and Jill Herringshaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Praying With Audacity, Praying with Tenacity","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2016\/03\/praying-with-audacity-praying-with-tenacity.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Praying With Audacity, Praying with Tenacity","og_description":"\u201cNow all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.\u201d (Ephesians 3:20). \u201cSo let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.\u201d (Hebrews 4:16) It is often said, \u201cYou can\u2019t out-give God.\u201d True indeed. 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