Pray Boldly

Recently I was helping a younger staff member work on a project. I’ll call him Henry - because that’s his name and he gave me permission to share this story. Henry was writing a message series for the first time and I was giving him some feedback on his material.

He began the meeting with a prayer. He ended the prayer in this way, “And God I pray that this message just touches one person’s heart and one person’s life.” Immediately after he finished praying, I said, “That’s one of the worst prayers I ever heard. That was a terrible prayer.” (By the way I feel he can handle that type of blunt feedback from me.)

He looked at me a little surprised. So I explained: “Pray a bold prayer. Pray that your work changes and transforms everyone who hears it. Don’t pray such small prayers.”

Then I mentioned a passage from Second Kings that takes place towards the end of the prophet Elisha’s life. Here’s what happens:

“Now when Eli'sha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Jo'ash king of Israel went down to him, and wept before him, crying, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" And Eli'sha said to him, "Take a bow and arrows"; so he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, "Draw the bow"; and he drew it. And Eli'sha laid his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, "Open the window eastward"; and he opened it. Then Eli'sha said, "Shoot"; and he shot. And he said, "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in A'phek until you have made an end of them."  2 Kings 13:14-7

The prophet Elisha is about to die. Before he dies he wants to bless King Jo’ash and give him the blessing of God’s victory over his enemies. But Elisha has him participate in this prophetic act by shooting an arrow. But he doesn’t end there.

The passage continues:

And he said, "Take the arrows"; and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground with them"; and he struck three times, and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times."  2 Kings 13:14-19

Since the king only weakly participated in this prophetic act, since he half-heartedly pounded the ground only three times, his victory over Syria would not be totally complete. Weak prayer leads to weak results.

We must learn to pray bold prayers and prayers of depth because our prayers really do make a difference. Our prayers matter. Let’s admit in some ways we wish that wasn’t the case. When we admit that the depth and boldness of our prayers matter, it means we have to engage in it more seriously.

In some ways, we would rather that our prayers didn’t matter all that much. If prayer is a nice, safe, good thing then it doesn’t really matter if I pray or not. We are kind of off the hook of taking prayer seriously. We don’t have to grow up in our prayer and maturity. And it would be kind of nice if everything just worked out in the end and God just took care of everything.

But that’s not reality. That’s not how God works. God takes us seriously. God wants to grow us up in our prayers. In the same way that parents teach their kids to handle money or clean their room or do their homework so that they learn the importance of responsibility, God wants us to grow up in our prayers. He wants us to see the power and impact we can have through the power of prayer. He wants us to see prayer as a powerful way in which we partner with him to bring his grace and his power into this broken world.

St. Augustine said it this way: “Without God, we cannot. Without us, he will not.”

Take this week to monitor your prayers. Are you praying for safe prayers or bold prayers? Are you praying prayers that will help people to see the power and glory of God? Are you praying prayers that help you to know of God’s great love for you? If you are praying too safely, pray a bold prayer so that God can use you in a big and powerful way.

Rooting for you,
Tom