The Bold Prayers

So often the deepest and most desperate prayers of the heart are more half-hearted than bold.  Our praying often sounds more like, "God, You wouldn't want to bless me, would You?" or, "I know this sounds impossible, but I thought I would ask it of You just in case."  This is not the prayer of faith, but the prayer of doubt.  James wrote about such praying in the early part of his letter to the church:  "But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord." (James 1:6-8).   

Too many times we have come before the Lord with our petitions in hand not really expecting our prayers to make any difference.  It is as if they are thrown into a wind that blows them back in our face instead of toward the throne of grace.  Over and over the Scripture tells us to pray with faith.  Again and again the Word calls us to pray with boldness.  Perhaps, the first prayer we must pray in the face of what seems impossible is to ask God to deliver us from a spirit of timidity and fear.   

Anyone who takes prayer seriously certainly understands that the prayer room is shrouded in divine mystery.  We are told by the Word that it has great power, but we do not always see it.  Once our prayers are spoken with faith into the ear of God, they become as building blocks useful to Him for the work of His will.  How it all works we may never know in this life, but He knows and that is enough.