Six games – six goose eggs – six games – six shutouts. Coaches were upset; players were upset, parents in the stands were upset. Their Pop Warner team had lost every game they played without having scored one touchdown. Now, halfway through game seven they were losing again, big time, when one parent, Mike, in desperation resorted to prayer. He stood up, lifted his hands towards heaven and cried out, loud enough for all to hear:

“God, if you let my boy score a touchdown, I’ll go to church next Sunday”

Before some parents had stopped laughing, their team’s quarterback took the snap from center on the very next play, handed the ball of to Mike’s son, and for the first time all year a hole opened up in the middle of the line, and Mike’s son went through it, like the second coming of Walter Payton. Through the hole, past the opposing team’s defensive line, past their linebackers, then out and around their secondary, the boy ran, sixty yards in all, untouched for a touchdown.

In the stands, still standing from his prayer, Mike watched in disbelief. His prayer had been answered, unexpectedly answered. People began to tease him, remind him of his pledge to God. “Where you going to go to church, Mike? You gotta go! Better keep praying, Mike!” Mike wasn’t sure what to say in return. He was not a churchgoer.

Just a few feet away, another father, this one a Christian, a pastor, sits and wonders. He too, has a son on the same team, and for the last seven weeks he’s been praying a different prayer. He’s been praying that God would build some bridges, some evangelistic bridges between him and the other parents. Was this one of those bridges? He had heard Mike’s prayer; saw what happened next, the team’s first touchdown all year. People were calling it a miracle.

So that fast, this second father, the pastor, leans over and says to Mike:

“Let me give you directions to the church I pastor.”

“I’ll be there.” Mike says. True to his word, the next Sunday, Mike was there. And there in church another hole opened up, this one into Mike’s heart and through that hole, upon Mike’s humble, repentant request for forgiveness, walked Jesus Christ. Two weeks later Mike’s son, the one that scored the touchdown, accepts Jesus as his Savior. First one miracle – the touchdown, now another. And it all happened so unexpectedly. And Mike just can’t keep quiet about it. God heard his prayer; God was in that huddle, and now God’s in his heart. Every Sunday Mike goes to church now. And outside the church, he prays, he looks, he shares with those he knows, what Christ has done for him. It’s all very personal; it’s all very sincere and its all-very Christ centered.

Now my question to you is this: we know from scripture that no one comes to Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44); so what role did God’s Spirit have in putting those father’s sons on the same team? What role did God’s Spirit have in prompting those fathers to pray the prayer they prayed, one for evangelistic bridges, the other for a touchdown? All of that didn’t just happen. It happened because God was at work; only He could orchestrate and accomplish the events the way they unfolded, in a way that I have chosen to call The More Factor.

Before explaining The More Factor, let me just draw your attention to Ephesians 3:20-21:

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Please notice the term more, in describing God’s capabilities. God is able to do more! Repeatedly as one reads through the scriptures, you see God doing more, not less, but more than one would expect. Now here’s the key, often that more is connected to people praying. When people cry out to Him. Consider the following Biblical examples:

· Elisha asked for a double portion of the Spirit that had empowered Elijah. In response, God gave him more.

· Solomon asked for wisdom to shepherd and rule God’s people. In response, God gave him more.

· Moses after seeing God’s glory manifest in such a variety of ways throughout the exodus, asked God to show him even more of His glory. In response, God shows him more.

· At the end of his life, Samson asked for more of God’s strength. In response, God gave him more.

· Nehemiah after hearing of the condition of Jerusalem and its inhabitants, cried out to God. In response, God put a vision on his heart of the more that God had in mind for him to do.

Elsewhere we’re told in scripture that the key to more peace in life is prayer:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and you minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7

More prayer, more peace. More prayer, more power. More prayer, more vision. The list goes on and on. Listen again to David’s prayer in Psalm 138:3: “When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.”

More prayer, more courage. The point is this, when we prayer as we should, as God would have us to, “more” happens. I remember Howard Hendrix saying to me back in seminary, “You can always do more after you pray, but you can’t do more until you pray.”

Remember how the prophet Elisha scolded King Jehoash of Israel for not hitting the ground more with the arrows Elisha had placed in his hand?

Then he (Elisha) said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

But you may ask, how was Jehoash supposed to know he was to strike the ground more; through prayer. We don’t always know exactly what God will do when we pray, but we can be confident in this, He will do more, often immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine. So my challenge to you today is this… Pray! Pray that you might know God more; pray that God would glorify Himself through you more; pray and watch God do more.

Listen to God doing more ->