“No, I don’t want the blue one; I’d like the pink one instead, please.” “Can I have that burger with mayonnaise instead of mustard?” “Excuse me, but this is mine.” “Mommy, can I have that?”
Every day, humans profess opinions, desires, and wants. We have no problem with speaking boldly when it comes to self-preference or self-preservation. Why is it, then, that we struggle with boldness in prayer? This is something I have been working hard to apply, and teach others, for years; we must be bold when speaking with our Heavenly Father. Our pastor, William L. Sciscoe, taught us that to receive specific answers, our prayers must be specific. Being specific requires one to be bold.
Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (NKJV). I remember when we led a kid’s prayer room in the early 2000s. We taught the children they didn’t have to be shy when praying; they could talk to Jesus about whatever was bothering them. And, we impressed upon them the necessity of believing. Boldness without faith isn’t really boldness, it’s simply loud talk. Those children would line the downstairs hallway (or be laid out in the floor of a room), speaking in tongues and asking the Lord to move in the service that was about to happen. More than once, we would enter the sanctuary and watch as it came alive in the Spirit because of the young ones’ bold prayers.
What are we missing, ladies? What are we failing to understand? So many times, we let our circumstances cover up our minds. The enemy makes us forget that we must daily choose to speak boldly to ourselves, to the enemy, and to our situations. For the past couple of years, my self-talk has sounded something like this: “I am stronger than this.” “I can do all things through You, Jesus.” “Enemy, you will not win with me!” “Satan, you are done here!”
In 2012, our youngest daughter approached me during a house service and began to boldly proclaim a miraculous healing of the bursitis wracking my lower body with pain. I was instantly healed! That prayer was the result of training that prayers for scrapes or sickness happened before band-aids or pain reliever. I confess, I do not always remember that thought process. However, the key is to not let our humanity win, remembering that “in Him we live and move and have our being . . . ‘For we are also His offspring'” (Acts 17:28).
Practice boldness. Embrace it and watch what God will do!
BY GLENDA ALPHIN
Glenda is an ordained minister with the UPCI and works alongside her husband in pioneering missions works in Finland and Iceland. She is first a wife and mother but is also Granna to two beautiful little girls who complete her world.
Reprinted with permission from Ladies Prayer International.
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