And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:29-31
One of our goals in the 30 Days of prayer is to increase your prayer time to the point where you start encountering God. As this happens, your faith will grow in leaps and bounds. Praying three times a day will open doors for you and others, and will draw you closer to God in ways you may not have experienced before.
Increasing your prayer time may also attract the attention of the enemy. As you embark on this journey you might experience the emotional pressure not to pray, thoughts of doubt (“what good is this going to do?”), or a sudden flood of distractions. We can study the Bible all day, but it’s when we dig into prayer that we become spiritually dangerous to the gates of hell, because this is where our spiritual power comes from.
Today, we will pray for boldness.
In the scene in Acts 4, Peter and John have been called out by the Pharisees for preaching about Jesus. After the religious people threaten Peter and John, the apostles go to their friends and have a prayer meeting. As they pray, they ask God for the boldness to speak His word, regardless of the consequences, and then they ask for miracles (healing, signs, and wonders.) These Rogue Christians were willing to put it all on the line—remember, they were just threatened by the people who killed Jesus.
God immediately responded by rocking the building, and filling them with the Holy Spirit. Don’t miss that. If you’ve felt the power of the Spirit coursing through your spiritual veins you know it’s amazing.
After this small band of believers offered a big, bold, prayer, the Lord rewarded them with a God-sized response. There was no Bible study on the “10 ways to pray,” they had no church building or worship band, nor did they ask if they should pray with force. They just went for it. It still amazes and saddens me that we have more resources than good sense and we’re losing our country, while the early church had nothing but prayer, each other, and the apostles, and they changed the world.
The early church’s big, bold prayers show their passion for God, their faith, and their heart. When we pray like a weasel, we get an appropriate response. Pray for boldness, without regard to what others think, and you better hold onto something ‘cause the ground might start shaking or the Lord might bless you with the amazing power of His presence. This isn’t “name it and claim it to get a million dollars;” what we’re asking for is the courage to make an impact for eternity, no matter the cost.
So today, go after God and pray for boldness. Roll with what He puts on your heart to cry out for, and don’t hold back, no matter what it is. Keep praying three times a day and get others involved.
In the coming days we will be offering up big, bold prayers together.
