Monday Morning Manna: What God Can Do, and What We Can Do

To my surprise, the church announced their high-attendance Sunday goal and then prayed that God would help them to reach it. I was only their Interim Pastor, so was not in on the setting of the goal. When I asked how they arrived at the number, the answer was that it was ten more people than they had last year on high-attendance Sunday. Why do we ask God for things we know we can achieve in case He doesn’t? Were they afraid to ask God for fifty or a hundred more people? Afraid that the God who responds to our requests, “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask” (Ephesians 3:20), would not respond and thus they would look bad, like people of little faith? Had they never heard of the law of large numbers – invite 1000 people, 100 would show interest, and 10 would show up. I encouraged them to refrain from asking God for what they could do for themselves – then give God the glory. After all, which is worse, to set a goal for ten and reach it, or set a goal for fifty and only reach twenty-five? Pray big this week. Why not pray so big that if God is not in favor of your request, it will fail.

Dr. Dan Crawford, Senior Professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, is the WestCoast Baptist Association’s Spiritual Life & Leadership Mentor. Follow Dan on Twitter @DrDanRC and Facebook www.facebook.com/dan.crawford.