If you have been in any of the Pentecostal churches around here you have probably heard this chant.
The other day I passed some kids in our neighborhood playing church. I decided there and then that this is the kind of game my kids are going to be playing, not the kind I did when I was their age. Anyway, one of the kids was playing ‘Pastor’ and the rest played quite an enthusiastic congregation reenacting the chant above.

What a difference a couple of letters can make to a word.
When I got closer and heard more clearly what the ‘pastor’ was saying I laughed so hard I didn’t see where I was going.
'Bwana AsifiNYwe!' (Don't press the Lord) loosely translated

'Amen!'

'Bwana AsifiNYwe!'

'Amen!'
After going through Mathew 8, I was thinking about this scene and as funny as it was, the kids actually had something going there.

Jesus came down the mountain with cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Mathew 8:1 For some reason when i read that passage the image that came to mind was batman walking away after winning a fight with Bane with the 'Rocky' theme song as a soundtrack. Just read it again, I'm sure you will see it too.

Jesus had just delivered a pretty intense sermon up the mount and was coming down only to find people seeking his hand.

“Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

“Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

“Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

After reading Mathew 8 I asked myself two things;
Do I have the confidence to ask?-even when I think the answer could be NO!
How audacious is my faith?

These questions come at a time when I am asking God for what I think are pretty big things and like the leper I worry about His willingness to answer (positively); and quite unlike the Roman soldier but very much like the disciples in the storm I worry that my faith is too small .

That’s when I considered the phrase Bwana Asifinywe. How much of God's wonders in my life am I locking up by not being confident enough to ask Him for stuff? How many miracles have I missed out on because I doubted God’s ability? Have I chosen to suffer silently with my requests thinking myself a martyr? Am i constraining the works of God in my life by my inability to THINK BIG?

A comparison is raised between us as children of God the father and us as children of our earthly fathers. When i was a kid i could asked my dad for really just anything my little mind could think up. As i grew older toward my teenage years i began to think twice before i approached my dad for anything. Why? I learned that things cost money and dad didn't always have it, i figured he only had money to buy the 'important' stuff like books and uniform. I began to understand him, the things that were important to him and the things he wouldn't think twice about, so i always restrained myself.

This has crept up into my walk with God. Sure, I would like to ask of God, but like the leper i wonder if He is willing. My long walk of salvation has caused me to become familiar with God, to think that i know how he works, to think that i know what prayers he answers and what prayers He doesn't. I mean, how can i be asking God for a Benz when people are dying hungry or are being killed for their faith? Surely i must get 'serious' with my prayers. I know He is able i am just not sure its His will for me that i have what i ask for. Is it His will? I don't know. What i do know is that He

Is able

Is Merciful

Is gracious

Is loving

Is Mighty and that nothing is impossible with Him. Like it was so aptly put at The Saturday PM;

Lets not trade off what we know for what we don't know.

Take a look at how Jesus responded to the requests in Mathew 8.
Yes, I am willing.

Yes, I will come.

He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

I risk not getting these responses by not asking at all and by not stretching my faith wide enough. I am not going to risk it. Are you?