BITE-SIZE REQUESTS

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

Bite-Size Requests

Read:  Mark 11:20-24

Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you

receive them, and you will have them.  Mark 11:24

Lots of things are easier to do when they’re bite-size.  If you have a major task to get done, for example, it helps to divide it into smaller units and tackle them one at a time.  This is true whether you are redecorating the house, packing for a vacation, or directing a church project.

Rosalind Rinker suggests that the same is true of prayer.  She found that when she made very general, all-inclusive requests of God, it seemed that nothing happened.  But when she began making specific, bite-size requests, she saw results.

She recommends that we make our requests very specific, and ask for what we really believe is according to God’s will.  Rinker adds that as we see God’s answers to relatively small requests, we will find that we are asking for bigger needs with a greater degree of faith.

Have you been praying general, world-encompassing prayers without seeing results?  It’s wiser to ask for something smaller and more specific and really believe that it will be answered.  For example, if you’ve been asking God to destroy all the pornography in the world, it would be better to pray that the convenience store on the corner would stop selling it.  Then ask God what you can do to help bring that about.  

Let’s begin making bite-size requests!        DCE

PRAYER SUGGESTION

If you don’t already have one, make a prayer list that includes

several bite-size request.

Keep the list, and then record how God answers.

Be specific in your prayers if you want specific answers.