NIV 365-Day Devotional Plan (2017)Sample

Am I Scared to Pray Boldly?

Sometimes I’m scared to pray boldly in the way King Hezekiah did when the Assyrian army was knocking on Jerusalem’s gate.

It’s not that I don’t believe God can do anything. I do. I’m a wild-about-Jesus girl. Wild in my obedience. Wild in my adventures with God. After all, I think Jesus would rather rein in a wild stallion than kick a dead mule.

So my hesitation isn’t rooted in doubt about God. Instead, it’s rooted in doubt about my ability to discern the will of God. If his will is no while I am boldly praying for a yes, then I worry my prayers will get me off track.

Because I desperately want to stay in the will of God, I find myself praying at times with timidity: “God please heal my friend, if it’s your will.” I wonder why I don’t just boldly pray, “God, please heal my friend.” Then believe, whatever the outcome, that my prayers were not in vain.

I’m realizing prayer isn’t just about getting an answer from God. It’s also about changing me. It opens my spiritual eyes to see things I can’t see on my own and to see God in a fresh way. Praying boldly boots me out of a stale place of religious habit into authentic connection with God.

So prayer does make a difference—a life-changing and earth-rattling difference. We can kneel confidently and know the tremors of a simple Jesus girl’s prayers extend far and wide. This truth snuffs out the flickers of hesitation in my prayers.

What do you need to pray boldly about today? Go ahead and ask. Not so your prayers cause God to move, but so you can be in a position to see Jesus move in any which way he pleases.

By Lysa TerKeurst

Taken from NIV Real-Life Devotional Bible for Women