A few months ago I wrote about the value of praying . I’ve received significant spiritual encouragement thinking about and praying those small prayers — and remembering to acknowledge that I frequently observe God answering small prayers.

But this got me thinking about the other end of the spectrum. What about enormous prayers? I don’t mean big prayers. I mean colossal prayers. (I’ll come back to big prayers in the second half of this post, since that’s what this post is actually about.) But first, what about those massive prayers? Such as:

  • That world hunger be eliminated.

  • That a permanent and lasting peace in the Middle East be established.

  • That despotic dictators disappear from the earth and get replaced by wise and just leaders.

  • That hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and tornadoes — and their terrible aftermaths — cease.

  • That Jesus returns as conquering king.

Now, think about our expectations regarding enormous prayers. Do we expect that we will receive positive answers to such immense prayers? No. In most cases, we don’t — and shouldn’t — expect to witness complete answers to such prayers. We know that we live in a fallen world that is twisted and ravaged by sin; and most of us are aware that answers to such longings — and prayers — will only be fulfilled when Christ returns and sets up his final kingdom.

Perhaps, then, we shouldn’t pray enormous prayers like those listed above. Is that right?

No. We should pray such prayers. Jesus teaches us to pray at least one massive prayer: “May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Elsewhere, we observe Christians praying the prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20; cf. 1 Cor. 16:22) — even though we know that Jesus will return when and only when God the Father is ready for him to return. Along with Christians all over the world, God wants us to express our longings for the ultimate consummation of all God’s promises.

The issue with enormous prayers, of course, isn’t about God’s ability to answer. God, who is omnipotent, can order world events in any way that he wants, via any timetable he wants, to make sure that he accomplishes all that he intends. And he most certainly will! But we know that such prayers will not be answered — or will only be answered in part (i.e., initial in-breakings of the kingdom in the present age) — as long as we live in this fallen world before the return of Christ.

Hence, we should not expect that these vast prayers will be answered — unless, of course, God has planned for tomorrow to be the day Christ returns to set up his righteous reign on earth. Otherwise, even though we pray along with other Christians, and wait expectantly for God to fulfill his massive promises (which he eventually will!), we are correct not to get discouraged when we don’t see massive prayers answered.

In other words, on the “small” end of the spectrum, we should live with ongoing expectation that our small prayers will be answered — and that there will be demonstrable evidence that God is regularly answering our prayers, but at the “gigantic” end of the spectrum, we properly expect no such (at least short-term) response.

Why does this matter? Why even travel down this thought trail? It’s because thinking such thoughts helps us consider how to approach big prayers (not enormous prayers, but bigger than our daily small prayers), the kinds of prayers that generate the most disappointment and angst when Christians pray. Such as:

  • That a person close to us will come to faith.

  • That a person with a long-term disability will be healed.

  • That a local church will make a powerful and lasting impact on its community

Thinking about gigantic prayers helps us consider how to pray about these big prayers (that fall on the spectrum somewhere between small prayers and gigantic prayers). Here are two implications of this discussion for Christians trying to pray big prayers, the area of greatest discouragement for most people when they pray:

The first implication comes from the small-prayers side of the discussion. That is, when we bring a big prayer to our heavenly Father, we might benefit by breaking a big prayer into smaller prayers. Instead of praying for someone’s salvation (over and over, using the same words), we can ask God to guide us into other smaller prayers that become stepping-stones toward an answer to a big prayer. For example, instead of simply repeatedly praying for friends or family members to get saved, we could pray:

  • That our friends or family members start to feel dissatisfaction with their current state of affairs.

  • That their willingness to discuss spiritual things will increase.

  • That God will bring other believers into their lives.

  • That events will take place that will signal that God exists and is calling out to them.

  • That God will send dreams that will move them toward Christ.

…or other such prayers that the Holy Spirit moves you to pray that seem appropriate to particular people and situations.

The second implication comes from our consideration of the gigantic-prayers side of the discussion. That is, we shouldn’t allow ourselves to get discouraged when we don’t see immediate and full answers when we pray big prayers. We know that God can answer such prayers outrightly (and sometimes does), but we also should remember that God may have multiple and complex purposes he is seeking to accomplish whenever we pray big prayers.

Therefore, let us:

1. Continue to pray , with growing expectation that God will regularly answer such prayers (assuming, of course, that we are ).

2. Continue to pray big prayers, but sometimes parcel them into smaller prayers. We also shouldn’t get discouraged when answers are not speedily forthcoming.

3. Continue to pray enormous and expansive prayers such as those found in the Bible like “Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20) and “Your kingdom come” (Matt. 6:10), even though answers to enormous prayers are tied to the Second Coming of Christ and the establishment of his future kingdom.

“May your kingdom come! Come, Lord Jesus!”


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