"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV)
Last week, we talked about the importance of seeing life from God’s perspective—not getting distracted by small problems but keeping our eyes on the big picture that God sees. This week, we focus on the next two steps: be a person of prayer and develop your potential.
2. Be a Person of Prayer
If you want victory in your life, you’ve got to constantly pray: Lord, open my eyes. Let me see the best, let me see the good, and let me see the bigness of what Your plan and purpose is for my life. Be prayerful. Be persistent in prayer.
Let me tell you a story that shows the power of prayer. There was a family that got a little kitten for their family pet, and they were so in love with this kitten. One day, they were playing in the front yard, and the kitten quickly ran up a tree. It got out on a limb and fell, holding on only by its front claws and paws. It didn’t even have the body strength, at such a young age, to pull itself up. The family was terrified and called the father, who happened to be a pastor. He came running and said, “I can fix this.”
He backed his car up, got a rope, tied it to the fender, and then tied the other end around the tree—not a very big tree. He told the family, “I’m going to pull the tree back slowly, and when I get it down far enough, reach up and grab the kitten.” Slowly, the tree bent back, just as planned, but suddenly, the rope broke, and the kitten was flung far away. That was the end of the story…or so it seemed.
Two weeks later, the pastor and his wife went to visit a woman in their church. They knocked on the door, and the mother opened it and invited them in. There was a beautiful little kitten, and immediately, they recognized it. No doubt about it, it was the same kitten that had been lost two weeks before. The mother explained how her daughter had been pestering her day and night for a kitten. One day, she had finally prayed with her daughter in the garden, saying, “If the Lord Jesus Christ wants you to have a kitten, He will send one from Heaven,” and a kitten came flying out of the sky to them. What some might call a coincidence was really an answer to prayer.
This may be a slightly exaggerated children’s story, but the lesson is clear: when we pray, coincidences happen. When we don’t pray, they don’t happen. PUSH—Pray Until Something Happens. Don’t pray for a day or a week and give up. Keep praying until you see God’s hand move.
3. Develop Your Potential
God has given each of us enormous potential, but potential doesn’t automatically become achievement. Look at the koi fish: in a small bowl, it may grow only four inches. In a pond, it may grow 18 inches. In a lake, 42 inches. Your environment, challenges, and willingness to stretch determine how much potential is realized.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you (Romans 8:11, NIV). Don’t stay in a fishbowl life. Step out, get challenged, and ask God to expand your boundaries. Pray: “God, release my potential. Stretch me. Let me move from faith to faith, from victory to victory. Don’t let me settle for less than what You have for me.”
Combine prayer and potential, and you start living in alignment with God’s plan. See what He sees. Pray until something happens.
Your life can be abundant, victorious, and full of purpose.
Prayer: Father, thank You for giving me the power of prayer. Help me to pray without ceasing and to trust You to work in ways I cannot see. Release my potential, Lord. Stretch me, challenge me, and move me from faith to faith, from victory to victory. Show me the big picture of Your plan and purpose. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Watch the Full Sermon Here
