Day 18 of Prayer

Boldness to Pray 

If someone were to ask the question, "What is the most important thing for a believer to do", what would your response be? If you read the title, then most likely your answer would be prayer. But if you're honest with yourself, are these the practices that you prioritize the most? Prayer and especially fasting are often seen as something that only the spiritually elite or overachievers do, and that if your name is not printed on the church bulletin, then there is no need or requirement to participate. However, the Truth of the Gospel is that this mindset is completely the opposite of what Jesus came to set us free from. The beauty of the finished work of Jesus is that we now free access into the throne room of God. And, when we neglect to pray, we are actually robbing ourselves of God's grace that has been made available to us. 

My 3 year old has recently developed a skill for telling us what he wants every 12 seconds even if we have already given him an answer. This is how I imagine God sees us when we complain about our circumstances and don't invite Him into our lives. It seems as though every day I have to remind my son to ask for the things he wants or needs, and his daddy is more than happy to give him what I can. Perhaps God is using my son to remind me of His desire to work in my life, even more than I ask of Him. 

In Matthew 7:7, the Scripture says, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you." These are promises of God that have no inherent requirements other than you commune with God! You are not required to be perfect that day, to always go the speed limit and never lose your patience with your children. We just have to ask, and it's His desire to give us the Kingdom. One of the most encouraging Scriptures about prayer comes from James chapter 5. In verse 17, it says, "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth." Elijah wasn't famous because of some qualification that he had that no one else did. He was simply a man who asked of God. 

This year, let us not be a people who ask too little of our Lord. Let us believe that our Father can't wait to open the flood gates of Heaven and call down fire when we are bold enough to ask. Don't you think He has SO MUCH MORE in store for us than blessing our Chick-fil-a and keeping us safe while we travel? May we believe for miracles this year because we serve a miracle-working Savior. Let the Lord extravagantly exceed our expectations.

Written by Jon Turner