Give me the faith to believe

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." Psalm 81:10 ESV

"Melissa Martinez, 50 mile" I said as I stepped up to the packet pickup table. "Okay," the gentleman working for the Katy 50/50 run said as he searched through the participants box to pull out the bag with my name and distance on it. Handing it to me, he smiled and said, "Good luck on your run tomorrow." "I'm going to need it," I thought as I headed back to my van while recalling my insufficient training. But within steps of turning around, the man’s wife who was working alongside him called out, "Hey, before you leave write down how long you think it will take for you to finish the race. The person who predicts the closest wins a prize!” Having only prayed up until that point that God would allow me to just finish the race, I quickly turned around and wrote 10 hours, 12 minutes... the time my heart desired to finish the race." And then I prayed, "You are an awesome God and I know this was not my original prayer. But I also know that nothing is impossible with your strength, so...  I boldly ask that you allow me to run strong and finish close to that time." And guess what? I not only finished within two minutes of "that time" but realized, once again, that the Lord can do mighty things when we are bold enough to ask and believe. 

And you know, when it comes to asking large things of God, we would all do well to remember that nothing is too large for the God who parted the sea, rained down manna from heaven and brought water out of a rock - just a few of the miracles the Israelites were allowed to witness. And since the Lord had proved his power time and again to them, the psalmist was confident there was no prayer that God could not answer and so encouraged God’s people, "Open your mouth wide." In other words, be bold and enlarge your prayers and expectations to the widest degree because nothing can exceed the bounty of “the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 

So if you're praying a prayer that you don't think God can answer, think again. God can do infinitely more than you and I could ever dream to ask. We only need to have the faith to believe it. So go ahead my friend... dream big and pray even bigger. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for the reminder that You are capable of doing great things through us if we would only believe. Oh Lord, help us to overcome our fears to step out to do the impossible so that others would see your power working in us. Give us the faith to dream big believing that everything is possible with You. It's in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!!!

Faith to Believe - Shane & Shane