What Might Change In Our Life If We Prayed BOLD Prayers?

Albert Einsteen quoted, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.”

Yet, how often do we live year after year, stuck in a rut, living the same way…never seeing God move or experiencing anything different?

The one-year-old we picked up from the hospital had just gotten her new hearing aide, as we bundled her and her two biological sisters to take the windy ferry ride from Seattle.

My heart ached as I knew this evaluation was one of the last thing before the case could shift and the three sister we had cared for might leave our home…like so many had in the past.

Like Space Mountain, the ride as foster parents was often dark and windy, unpredictable and painstaking…Not because we hated twists and turns, but because…

Not seeing where you are going is often worse than the deepest drop or windy turn that shifts our lives in sideways direction.

A physical ache penetrated through my body before remembering our Bible Study the previous Saturday.

The speaker challenged us to pray bold prayers.

They used the example of Paul and John who stood with “confidence and boldness” in front of the Sanhedrin, after just getting released from prison for preaching the gospel.

However, just after their release, Paul and John didn’t hide and scatter, fear the dark space behind bars or a possible dead-end life in prison. Not shrinking, cowering or hiding in submission to a government system oppressing the radical spread of Christianity…

Paul, John and God’s people instead prayed, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.” (Acts 4:29,31)

I sat on that ferry, arms wrapped around the baby we had been waking up multiple times a night with. I spotted her oldest sister, running and laughing, the one we had been on a near five year journey with…

I knew I had no answers, no power and no hope apart from Jesus. I needed confirmation to go on, a promise from heaven to remind me that God was still omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient.

So, I prayed something radical and unpresidented, something bold like I had been instructed at the Bible Study a few nights early…

“God, if these three girls are going to be ours forever, please, let me see wales.”

It’s as if the words slipped out, uncontrollable from my mind. As soon as I heard them, I almost gasped and started questioning the audacity and presumable arrogance of my statement.

After all, I had lived in the Northwest for all of my life. Yet, I never saw a whale in the wide out open. Family and friends, many I had known had seen them…but it was almost strange…every time there was a whale, I was the one who somehow missed them.

Seeing whales swim in the freedom of the ocean was a secret desire of my heart that no one knew about, except God.

Bold prayers were not uncommon in Scripture. Here are just a few examples:

• The church prayed earnestly for Peter to be released from prison. God answered. (Acts 12:5)
• Infertile Hannah asked for God to give her a son….not just a child, but more specifically…a son. Samuel, one of the greatest prophets in Scripture was born. (1 Sam. 1:11)
• Elisha asked God to open the eyes of his servant so He could see what was happening in the spirit. The servant saw hills and chariots and fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6)
• Moses asked God to see Him…not just eventually…but time specific. “Now show me your glory”. The Lord passed in front of Moses. (Exodus 33:18)
• A man with an incurable disease, leprosy, asked Jesus to make him completely clean. Jesus healed him, not just in part, but completely. (Matt 8)

A short time later, that same day on the ferry ride back to Seattle, the ship captain suddenly scratched an announcement over the loudspeaker. “If you look on the right side of the ferry, you will see a pod of orcas.”

I raced to the side of the boat as if no one and nothing else existed.

There, I saw God’s promise, a pod of orcha whales leaping through the water.

If God can influence large, 3,000 to 12,000 ton masses to leap through the water at His command, God can do anything.

God hears our prayers as we pray boldly.

Last Novemeber, about a year after this incident, we were finally able to adopt all three of those precious little girls.

What bold, specific prayers have we been keeping from God?

May this be the year we ask, ask, seek and knock. Let’s not be afraid, to pray bold prayers?

A Few Verses to Encourage You in Boldness

 “In Christ Jesus our Lord….We have boldness and confident access through faith in Him [that is, our faith gives us sufficient courage to freely and openly approach God through Christ.” (Ephesians 3:11-12 Amplified)

“Let us come boldly to the throneroom of grace, that we may obstain mercy and find grace to help  in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16 NKJV)

“Now Lord, consider our threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” (Acts 4:29)

“Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.” (2 Corinthians 3:12)