Devotionals

Devotional: How to Pray God-Sized Prayers {Mark 10:49-50}

By: Lindsey Bomgren, CPT | February 16, 2019

‘So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.’ {Mark 10:49-50}

I’ve been thinking about this verse in the early mornings when I lay in my bed tempted to hit the snooze button. “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.”

If only I could jump out of bed every morning to spend time with Jesus with the excitement and enthusiasm Bartimaeus did.

You see, Bartimaeus was a blind man sitting on the roadside begging, but when he heard Jesus was coming into town he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

While bystanders told him to be quiet, he persisted. Bartimaeus had not seen Jesus’ previous miracles, but he responded in faith to what he had heard.

And then Jesus called on him.

This is where it gets really good. Because after Bartimaeus jumps up and runs to Jesus, Jesus asks him “What do you want me to do for you?”

How to Pray God-Sized Prayers

Before I tell you the rest of this story, I want you to stop and just imagine for a moment Jesus asking you this very question. I literally picture myself sitting at my kitchen table, where I spend my quiet time in the morning. Tea in one hand and Bible in the other, with Jesus sitting across the table from me, asking me “What do you want me to do for you today?”

And then confidently tell him like Bartimaeus did, ‘I want to see.’ Or fill in the blank with the desires on your heart.

I have been doing this for several months over something I’ve personally been praying for.

If you’re familiar with the story of Bartimaeus {Mark 10:46-52} then you know that Jesus immediately gave Bartimaeus his sight, telling him, “your faith has healed you.” And after receiving his sight, Bartimaeus followed Jesus along the road.

This is another important part of the story for me personally. His faith is what healed him. NOT his work, not his service record, not how hard he tried…but his faith.

I pray for Bartimaeus’ boldness in coming to Jesus each morning with a God-sized prayer request, and then believing by faith that He will hear and answer my prayers.

I am writing this because my personal prayer has been answered and now, like Bartimaeus, it’s time to follow Jesus even more obediently along the road. Because while we tend to focus on Jesus as the Jesus who gives us something, we often like to overlook that following Jesus also costs us something too {for further explanation read Mark 8:34-36}.

Dear God,
You are such a faithful and merciful God.
Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer.
Give me a bold faith like Bartimaeus.
A faith that jumps out of bed with excitement to meet you each morning,
and a faith that denies myself to follow you wherever you may lead me.

Find more faith-inspired stories and devotional posts here.