Our youth pastor urged us in a sermon last week to pray boldly with faith.
His point was that, too often, we pray as if God can only deal with easy-to-solve problems. I know he's right.
But Jesus told us in Matthew 19:26 that all things are possible with God - ALL things.
If we pray boldly, we have to be prepared to be discouraged, but not to give up.
I must say I was discouraged a couple of years ago when I prayed for a large number of people to come to a healing prayer service and only a few came. I felt I was praying for something that God would want - he wants to heal his hurting people.
But the Bible and experience teach us that we need to keep on praying boldly because God acts on his schedule, not ours. His timing is always the best timing.
A Biblical example is the heartfelt cries of Israelite slaves in Egypt at the time of Moses. The enslaved people appealed to God for many years before they were delivered in a spectacular way by God under Moses' leadership.
The Israelite prayers were bold - deliverance from an all-powerful oppressor - and they were persistent. If we are praying for what God wants, we can be sure he will answer positively - at the right time.
A modern example of praying persistently and boldly is the outbreak of revival on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1949. Five people prayed for revival in Lewis for many years before the Holy Spirit descended upon the people powerfully, creating amazing scenes of people giving their lives to Christ.
Along with praying boldly, we may also pray broadly. By that I mean we can pray for people and issues that seem impossibly big or far away.
Rees Howells, a prayer warrior who was at the heart of the Welsh revival in the early 1900s, led a group of young students and teachers at a British Bible college in intense and persistent prayer against the Nazi forces in the Second World War.
One of the results of the prayers of Howells, his students and many others was the miracle of Dunkirk when British forces were evacuated successfully from France when they were hemmed in and all seemed lost.
Bryan Chapell, author of Praying Backwards, writes:
"We have the right to speak with the voice of the Son in compelling the armies of the Lord to defeat his enemies, protect his servants, and change hearts in this generation and in the future. When we do not exercise these rights, we indicate we are too willing to depend on human resources or are unable to see that the greatest battles of this world are spiritual.
"The power we need will be ours only through prayer."
To that I say: "Amen."
His point was that, too often, we pray as if God can only deal with easy-to-solve problems. I know he's right.
But Jesus told us in Matthew 19:26 that all things are possible with God - ALL things.
If we pray boldly, we have to be prepared to be discouraged, but not to give up.
I must say I was discouraged a couple of years ago when I prayed for a large number of people to come to a healing prayer service and only a few came. I felt I was praying for something that God would want - he wants to heal his hurting people.
But the Bible and experience teach us that we need to keep on praying boldly because God acts on his schedule, not ours. His timing is always the best timing.
A Biblical example is the heartfelt cries of Israelite slaves in Egypt at the time of Moses. The enslaved people appealed to God for many years before they were delivered in a spectacular way by God under Moses' leadership.
The Israelite prayers were bold - deliverance from an all-powerful oppressor - and they were persistent. If we are praying for what God wants, we can be sure he will answer positively - at the right time.
A modern example of praying persistently and boldly is the outbreak of revival on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1949. Five people prayed for revival in Lewis for many years before the Holy Spirit descended upon the people powerfully, creating amazing scenes of people giving their lives to Christ.
Along with praying boldly, we may also pray broadly. By that I mean we can pray for people and issues that seem impossibly big or far away.
Rees Howells, a prayer warrior who was at the heart of the Welsh revival in the early 1900s, led a group of young students and teachers at a British Bible college in intense and persistent prayer against the Nazi forces in the Second World War.
One of the results of the prayers of Howells, his students and many others was the miracle of Dunkirk when British forces were evacuated successfully from France when they were hemmed in and all seemed lost.
Bryan Chapell, author of Praying Backwards, writes:
"We have the right to speak with the voice of the Son in compelling the armies of the Lord to defeat his enemies, protect his servants, and change hearts in this generation and in the future. When we do not exercise these rights, we indicate we are too willing to depend on human resources or are unable to see that the greatest battles of this world are spiritual.
"The power we need will be ours only through prayer."
To that I say: "Amen."
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