5 Days of PrayerSample

PRAYER FOR BOLDNESS

If you ever read the book of Acts (which I highly recommend, btw), one thing that becomes incredibly clear is that the early church was ALL ABOUT prayer. I mean, if you search the word “pray” in the book of Acts, it comes up with 34 hits…that’s a lot of praying in just one book! At the same time, you see this massive movement of God sweeping the known world, and thousands and thousands of people being saved by Jesus in a relatively short period of time. That certainly wasn’t NOT affected by the fact that these early Christians were praying all the time! 

One of the greatest examples of an early church prayer is what we’re about to read in Acts 4. Two of the Apostles, Peter and John, had just gotten out of jail. They had been arrested, put on trial by the religious leaders of the day, and threatened that if they didn’t stop telling people about Jesus, very bad things were going to happen to them. These two guys skipped out of the court room, returned to their church group, and told them everything that had just happened. And what does that group of early Christians immediately do? They pray!

As you read their prayer today, notice what’s missing from it. Two of their biggest leaders had just been threatened with their lives for preaching Jesus, and they never once ask God to protect them. There’s no mention of safety, no asking God to fix it, no one praying for guardian angels to save Peter, John and the rest of the Christians…nothing! I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure that would have been my first (and possibly only) prayer in that situation. 

So, what do they pray for? Well, you’ll see for yourself in a minute, but essentially they pray for God’s mission to continue. More than that, they pray that God will give them boldness to continue that mission! Why? Well, probably because they were scared…I mean, you’d have to be kind of crazy not to experience some level of fear in that situation. But, they’re so much more concerned with everyone having the chance to hear what Jesus had done for them on the cross that they’re more afraid of wimping out than they are for their own safety. And as you’ll see in verse 31, God immediately answers their prayer, and the message of Jesus spreads all over the world so that now – 2,000 years later – billions of people have heard that same message. I shudder to think how things could have gone differently if they huddled together, prayed for safety, and left it at that. 

So, for you…where have you been praying for safety when perhaps God would rather you pray for boldness? Is there a friend who is far from God and you just haven’t had the guts to share your faith with them? Is there some dream God has placed in your heart, but fear of failure has kept you on the sidelines? Whatever it is, pray for boldness to carry on God’s mission today, and just see what kind of opportunities he puts in your path. Yes, this can be a dangerous prayer, but it’s also the quickest way to the kind of amazing, adventurous life God designed us all to live.