For years, even as a pastor, Brian Phipps found it difficult to pray for big things in his life. He wanted to influence the kingdom in a big way, but didn't know how to pray it into existence.
What he discovered was that he needed simply to follow the message of obedience in Luke 16:10 of "he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much."
"I'm one of these people that had a hard time praying big because I felt like it would require a big obedience," Phipps told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of "Greenelines" on the Charisma Podcast Network. "I wanted to pray for massive influence, but I felt like it would take too big of an effort.
"As I was reading Scripture, I realized that most of the people that had big influence had obeyed in the small things. I just started obeying in the small things. Jesus, what do you want to tell me today, and what do I need to do about what you're telling me today? Over time, it was the little steps of obedience that led to more catalytic-type influence and so I just started praying that I would daily pray big and obey small. When you mess up, ask God how you can obey Him to fix the situation.
"Obedience in the moment brings character change over time. It's never a light switch you can just turn on, though God can certainly do that. Change is always a journey. The Holy Spirit is applying salvation and sanctification in our lives. We just have to learn to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and that's when transformation will come."
Today Phipps is the founder and president of Disciples Made, a ministry that equips disciples with truth and wisdom to help transform communities.
For more about Phipps' ministry on helping people find their kingdom calling, listen to this podcast.
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