Pray BIG

God can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. That is why our prayers should not be limited by what seems possible to us.

In this message, we learned that bold prayers honor God and that many of our greatest battles are not won through our own strength, but through prayer.

Just as the people of Israel walked around the walls of Jericho, we can surround our circumstances with prayer, hold on to God’s promises, and persevere until we see His answer.

In this message, we learned a four-step model for prayer:

🙌 Adoration: recognize who God is.
🤍 Confession: open your heart and ask for forgiveness.
💛 Thanksgiving: remember His faithfulness.
🙏 Supplication: present your requests and pray bold prayers.

Don’t stop on the sixth lap. Keep praying.

👉 Identify the “Jericho” in front of you and bring it before God. He can do immeasurably more than you could ask or imagine.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Mission Orlando's podcast. We hope that through this word you will get closer to Jesus. Be sure to subscribe so we can get you new messages every week. Have a blessed day. So we're gonna talk about bold prayers, pray, praying for big things. So he can do more according to his power, he can do more, and the only thing we need to do is ask, and he will give us more than we could think or imagine. That is our God. We have a powerful, almighty God. So say to the person next to you, pray big prayers. And I read this book, it's called The Circle Maker, and it starts with the story of this Jewish priest in the first century before Christ, who uh you know he was leading the synagogue in a time where a big draught was happening, so everything was dry, no rain for several months, and uh they were desperate for rain. Everything was drying out, no crops, no food, the animals were starving, and he decided to do something. They came to him and they said, Can you please pray to God for a miracle? He went out to a field, it was a dry, dry field. He stood in the middle of the field, and with his staff, he drew a circle around him and he started praying. The first thing he said, he said, Lord of the universe, I swear before your great name that I will not leave this circle until you have shown mercy upon your children. Then a little drizzle started coming from the from the heavens. And then he went again, he kept praying, and he said, This is not the rain I asked for. Then a torrential downpour of rain came, and he prayed, Now, not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain of your favor, blessing, and generosity. So the rain kept coming, and the fields were alive again, the animals had water to drink, and uh everyone was praising the Lord. Everyone was praising God, and he became known as the circle maker. So the story is not about a guy making a circle, the story is about the power of prayer. There is power when we pray. Let me tell you, when you pray, big things could happen. When you pray and you believe in God, He can do anything that we can ask for. How many of you of you can say amen? How many of you can say amen? So the question is today, are we praying for things that only God can do? You know, sometimes uh we pray for small things, but are we praying for big things? When when you know people come and they ask me for prayer, sometimes it's an easy request. So it's easy to pray with faith and oh, maybe you know, a new job or you know, something like that is easier. But how about when people come with maybe a life and death situation? But a couple of months ago, a couple from the church came and they asked me to pray because uh the husband he had a heart condition, and uh basically he was his heart was dying slowly but surely the the heart was dying. And the the wife came and she said, I believe that God can do a miracle. And then a couple of weeks later, she came and she said, God gave me a word that He will give my husband a new heart. And for the glory of God, last week he received a new heart, a heart transplant, and it went completely successful, it went well. But let me tell you, it's hard to pray for those things. I remember my my dad used to tell this story back in the day in Colombia. Uh in the church, they did a a miracle campaign, miracles campaign, like a huge campaign. They rented this Coliseum, and they invited a couple from here from America that were used in miracles and wonders. So they came about a month earlier, they trained some of the leaders. My dad was part of the leadership team in the church, and uh actually my my pastor Caesar, my pastor, my father-in-law, he he always remembers this as well. And that first day of the crusade, he uh sent the leaders to go pray for people. And my dad went and he went out looking for the easiest miracle he could find. And in the front row, a whole bunch of wheelchairs, people like you know those people that look really sick, and he was like going to the back, to the side. So Pastor Caesar saw him, and he called him out to the side and said, Why are you going to the back? You need to have the same faith that you're using for praying for the people in the back, is the same faith you need to pray for the people in the front. So don't be afraid and pray for those people. And it's so funny now to remember. But my dad started praying for uh the people in the front as well. And let me tell you something: there is power when we pray and we believe that God can do what we ask for. Amen. Amen. So later he he will share this story saying how now he wasn't afraid for you know any type of prayer. He he wasn't afraid uh for praying maybe for someone who was sick or was dying because he received the faith in that moment. So let me tell you, if you're going through a maybe a difficult time, a hard time, this could be the time to pray for those miracles. How many of you can say amen? Amen. So there are four types of prayer, and this is uh uh just a short introduction. And um, the first type of prayer, and is using the the word axe. Axe, A, C T S. So the first type is adoration, and that that's how we can start praying. So when when you start your prayer time, start with adoration. The Psalms gives us uh the book of Psalms gives us a great example of that. For example, Psalm 103, verse 1 and 2 says, Praise the Lord, my soul, in my inmost being, praise his holy name. So you start by praising the Lord. The second is confession, and this is when you confess your sins and you ask for forgiveness. You say, Lord, I'm sorry, forgive me for what I did. And in 1 John 1 9, it says, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins. So we have a God that forgives our sins. How many of you can praise God for that? Amen. Amen. The third is thanksgiving. So before you start with adoration, then you confess your sins, then you can start giving thanks to the Lord for everything we do. So everything we have, everything we have the opportunity to do, you say, Lord, thank you for this opportunity, thank you for this day, and you know, so on and so on. And the last with the S is supplication. And that's when you start asking God for your petitions, your the needs that you have. And and I want to focus on that today because so many times we ask for those small things, but we need to believe for the big miracles that God can do. If we go back to the book of Joshua, chapter 6, verse 2, uh and in the whole chapter 6, we see the people of Israel getting ready to possess the land they were promised. Imagine this, they were promised a land, a rich land where they were gonna have their own space to live, to create their own nation, but more than 40 years had passed, and they were just walking in circles, going to different places, moving from one uh part to another part, just walking and asking, when is this going to happen? Until one day Joshua starts leading the people, and the Lord tells them, This is the time to possess the land. In verse 2 of Joshua 6, it says, Then the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands. Notice this, it says, I have delivered Jericho into your hands. The Lord had already done it. It doesn't say, I will give you Jericho, it says, I have already delivered Jericho into your hands. Maybe you have a Jericho which is a super huge wall for you that you want to conquer, but you haven't been able to. This is the time where God can do a miracle through your prayer. Amen. Amen. So they're facing their first big conquest. So they see the land, they know it's good, they know it is the promised land, but the city was surrounded by a huge tall wall. Impossible for any army to come and break it or go into it. But the Lord said to them, you're not gonna fight on your own strength, you're gonna start marching around the wall, around the city. I don't know, but I thought I if I if it were me, I'll be like, that's crazy. By just walking, the wall is going to fall. So the Lord told them, You need to for six days go around the wall marching in silence. Then this on the seventh day, you're gonna do it six times, and then on the seventh time, you're gonna finish with a shout of war. And I could I could imagine Joshua telling the people, can you imagine? Well, I have good news. This is what the Lord told me. You're gonna just march around the the wall, and guess what? On the seventh time, we're gonna play our trumpets, and the wall is going to fall. If I were one of those people, I'll be like, I think Joshua is crazy, I don't know if this is gonna work, and it's kind of like the same thing today because you you're you know waiting for a miracle on your finances, your immigration status, you're waiting for a miracle on your emotional area, you've been praying for someone to come, and when you come here to church, you pray with one eye open, one eye closed, the open eye you start looking, Lord. I see no one. You've been waiting for something to happen, and now the Lord is telling you, you're just gonna have to walk around for 21 days and pray. You're gonna have to really go down deep in the word, and every morning just connect to a Zoom meeting where people are in different places, and you're gonna pray for 21 days, and the miracle is gonna happen. Many of us could think, well, that sounds crazy. Uh, for the world, that could sound crazy, but let me tell you, we have a God that does miracles, and he can do great things, and we need to start praying big prayers because he honors big prayers. Actually, I I read this somewhere. Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. So we need to honor God by praying big prayers. Well, what is it? What is in your heart? What do you want to who do you want to be? What kind of person do you want to be in a few months from now at the end of the year? You want to get closer to God, you want to see a different reaction in your family, you want to see your family committed. Maybe the the jericho that we're talking about today is for your husband to come to know the Lord. Maybe the Jericho that you're facing today is for your kids to come and learn how to worship the Lord, get to know Jesus, have a personal encounter with Him. Let me tell you, if you pray during these 21 days of prayer, God will do a miracle and you will have a testimony to share. How many of you believe it? So obey God even without seeing the result yet. Maybe you don't see the result yet, just obey the Lord. That's what they did, they just started marching around, and they were like, Okay, here we go. One lap next day, one lap, but they kept going, and this is probably the the last point I want to emphasize today is be persistent. Imagine that. What what could have happened if they stopped in the sixth lap around the wall? Imagine, maybe they said, Well, this is the sixth lap, seventh day, nothing happened. Ah, this is not gonna work. Maybe you've been praying for a few months, maybe you've been praying for years, maybe you you've been praying for you know several days, several months, and it nothing has happened yet. The Lord is telling you right now, be persistent, keep praying, keep praying because God will do a miracle and He will respond to our prayer. How many of you can say amen? Amen. And the interesting thing is what happened after the wall fell down, and that that's a reason why God honors big prayers, it's not because of our own glory, is because He receives the glory when big miracles happen. That that's what happened at the end of the seventh lap around the the Jericho wall, as they sounded their horns, as the trumpet sounded, as they gave the shout of war, the walls came down, and then they started praising the Lord, saying, Lord, you're good, you fulfill your perp, your promises. So let me tell you, at the end of your miracle, remember to honor God, remember to keep honoring and giving him the glory because he's the only one who deserves the glory, the honor, our worship, our adoration. Amen. Amen. So, uh a practical application of this is a is a question: what Jericho, what walls do we have today? A marriage, a child, an illness, a death, a ministry, maybe an addiction, family restoration. Maybe it's not only one of them, maybe several of them. Just do the do a circle around those things. Do a circle and say, Lord, I'm gonna keep praying until I see your favor upon my life. Let me tell you, you have been chosen by God, you have been chosen by the Lord. That's why you're here. The Lord loves you, and He already gave you the victory over that situation. Amen. I want to invite you to stand. And Philippians 4:6 and 7. It says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This is what happens when we pray. When you ask for big things, when you pray big prayers, the Lord says that when we present to him our petitions, it says, the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So as soon as you start praying, the peace of the Lord comes upon you, and you feel such a peace, such an assurance that maybe the everyone else in the world are freaking out, but you have the peace of the Lord, you know that your life is in his hands, and you have the peace, the confidence, the faith to see the miracle through. You will see the miracle happening in your life. Amen. Amen. So that's the first miracle that happens. We have peace and we have joy in the midst of the situation. We have peace in the middle of the process as we go through it, as we keep marching around that Jericho, we have peace, we have confidence, we have joy that the Lord will do a miracle in our life. So, right now, think what's your what's the Jericho that you're facing right now. Place your hand over your heart and just start asking the Lord and say, Lord, today I'm ready to pray for this. I'm not gonna be anxious about this, but in every situation, as your Lord says, I'm gonna ask in prayer and petition, thanksgiving. I'm presenting my request to you, and I know the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. I know that your presence is here, Lord. Help me to persevere in prayer, help me to pray, help me to pray during these 21 days of prayer to not quit, to persevere, because I know that you will respond to my prayer. Lord, show me what do I need to circle in prayer. I know that in my own strength it's impossible, but with you, everything is possible. And Lord, give me the faith, give me the faith to believe it, give me the perseverance to keep praying for it until I see the miracle in the name of Jesus. I believe it, I believe it, I believe it. If you believe it, praise Jesus.

unknown 22:17

If you believe it.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Thanks so much for tuning in. We hope this message blessed you greatly. We encourage you to subscribe and share it with your friends. For more content from our church, visit Mission Orlando Church.com.