question... (01)

Please note: your thoughts on this have been requested... Thank you!

This morning I was doing my readings... Got through pretty much all of them without having something jump out at me, that was until I started Romans 4! The last half of 4:17b reads:
Even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. (NASB)
Or
The God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as
though they already do. (NET)

I really want your thoughts on this one.

I remember ages ago, I was told to pray like this, calling into being that which does not exist... After reading this small chunk I'm wondering if that is right - I'm not God, nor am I meant to be God! I am only meant to be like Him! How then, could I have been taught to "call into being that which does not exist"?? Is there any other verses/chapters that will back this line of thinking up? Or have I simply been taught a pile of rubbish?

This is kinda why I'm seeking your thoughts! :)

Edit: I decided to check out what the Message translation says:
We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. (Romans 4:17 Message translation) ...trust God to do what only God could do... I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that I was taught a pile of cow poop!!! :/