Pray Boldly

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:14

Some years ago, I had a dear friend who was sick. I remember calling him, and this is pretty much how the conversation went.

Me: “Hey, I heard that you were not doing so good. I just want you to know that I am praying for you. “
Friend: “Thanks, Josh, I appreciate that. But I don’t want you praying for me unless you are praying, believing God is going to do something.”
Friend: Ends the call abruptly.

I remember that conversation like it was yesterday. The Lord used my friend to convict me on how I pray. I had found myself rarely praying with confidence in God. I would often go through the motions of praying, but really never expecting much out of it. The Bible is full of scripture where we are told to come to the Lord with all our requests and we should trust Him to do what is best according to His will. But for some reason, we often pray with little hope or confidence, and I think it is a result of one of two things. First, we often come to God with the answer we want. I don’t think this is totally wrong, but when we come to God with the answers we want and not trusting God to do His will, it can lead to low-confidence prayers. I also believe we pray with little hope because we don’t really trust God to do God things.
 
At the very core of our failure to pray confidently is a heart issue. Does my heart trust and believe that God is who He says He is, and do I surrender to His will? The good thing is that God is lovingly patient, kind, and faithful. He longs to hear our fragile prayers, and even better, He loves to answer those prayers according to His will. I have found that to boost my confidence in prayer, I only have to look back and see how He has been faithful in answering prayers, often in ways I never predicted.
 
We are two-thirds of the way through our month of prayer and fasting. I want to encourage you to take some time and pray confidently for the provision of our building and its completion. Pray that not only our building, but also the fundraising, would not become an idol. Pray that our ministries would not be neglected for the sake of fundraising. Pray specifically for Calvary 85 as we move forward with planting a new church along the 85 corridor that will reach the lost with the Gospel.
 
Let's be bold in our faith through prayer to trust God to do God things.