William Carey founded the modern missions movement on the conviction that we should expect great things from God and therefore attempt great things for God. And indeed, he and a generation of missionaries expected much, attempted much, and accomplished much to the glory of God.
Perhaps Carey’s words were in the back of A. W. Pink’s mind when he pondered the tendency of Christians to expect too little from God and said, “Most Christians expect little from God, ask little, and therefore receive little, and are content with little.” Though the Bible calls us to pray and though it promises that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16), we can still have very modest expectations of what God will accomplish through our prayers.
Because we expect little from God, we ask little. And because we ask little from God, we receive little. And because we grow so accustomed to receiving little from God, we grow content with little. We shape our prayers according to our expectations. If we would see God act in mighty ways, we must expect he will act in mighty ways and therefore pray for him to act in mighty ways.
