Bold Prayer
By Richard Lineberry

Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find;
knock and it shall be opened to you.
Jesus, Matthew 7:7

Jesus wants us to learn to pray effectively.  He is as interested in getting answers for us as we are.  Seeking God is not to be done with an “if it’s not too much trouble” approach.  It is God that has invited us into His presence so we don’t need to apologize for it.  Bold prayer doesn’t mean that we talk to God roughly or irreverently demand things but with boldness of faith in His goodness and desire to give us things that we need and that will glorify Him.

“Asking, seeking, and knocking” also demonstrates a process.  Processes take time and patience.  My prayers have often lacked this continuity.  Often trials last so long, I doubted His willingness to help.  Sometimes, I’ve felt my prayers were a futile act of trying to talk God into doing something that He didn’t want to do.  My strength, that is, only lasted through the asking stage into part of the seeking stage but then even if the door was opened, I was too worn out to enter in.

The key I learned starts like this.  I know that God is interested in my need and wants to draw me unto Himself.  His Spirit is constantly hovering, leading and wanting to take me into His presence.  I make my request known to God.  I wait on answers.  I ask Him to give me His perception (wisdom) about what I am praying for.  I ask the question, “What are You saying?” rather than “What are You doing?”  The seeking part is not so much to keep God reminded as it is for me to trust and listen for how He is directing my next steps.  It is the Holy Spirit that supplies the power of persistence, not my own ego strength. 

Praying is so that God’s will be done in us.  That means my motives and goals must be open for change.  The change, of course, is for our betterment.  He knows our needs even before we do and wants the best for us.  He knows how to shine light on our darkness and give us wisdom over and above the tactics of things that will keep us from Him.  Never cease praying!