4 Bold Prayers of the Bible Every Christian Should Pray

By nature, most people are not demanding, not wanting to put others out or ask too much of them.  I think it's safe to say that our go-to tact when we need help with something is NOT to order someone to do our bidding, but instead to consider their circumstances and whether or not our request would be a burden to them.  And that is indeed how we are called to behave as Christians.  But I think we carry that mindset over into our prayer life, not being bold in our requests of God, but almost timid...

Definition of bold: confident, courageous

Indeed, in the Old Testament, you can see accounts where those who encountered God were struck with Holy fear, needing courage to make their requests known to Him.

Enter in the death and resurrection of Jesus which gives us the confidence to approach God just as we are...

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, 

that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16 NKJV

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, 

that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

As we can see in these two versions of the same Bible verse, boldly and confidence are used interchangeably.

Our Heavenly Father has made a way for us to come boldly to Him with our requests.  He will lavish His grace and mercy upon us and help us in our time of need.

God wants us to believe big and pray boldly, for in so doing, we will see our great God in action.

I thought the Message version of the following verse put a "straight talk" spin on what it means to have confidence/boldness not only in prayer, but in God.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

James 1:6-8 MSG

Let's look to the Bible for guidance on what it means to pray bold prayers to the Lord.  You might be surprised by some of these scriptures in the context of praying boldly...

Praying Boldly for God's Blessing

Lord bless me

Genesis 32:26

In our sinful state, indeed this prayer seems VERY bold!  Where do we get off asking God to bless US?  

Yet the more we know God's character, we know that He especially desires to bless His children.

You see this prayer uttered a lot in the Old Testament, prominent men and women of the Bible boldly asking God to bless them, and He did!  So why would we think it's not okay to ask the Lord to bless us today.  Isn't He the same God now that He was then?

Just to clarify, when we ask God to bless us, we shouldn't be looking for riches or fame or recognition. 

So why exactly would a Christian ask the Lord to bless them?

When our hearts are aligned with the will of the Father, our bold prayers for God to bless us are for the purpose of God's Kingdom.

"Lord, bless the work of my hands for your Kingdom"

"Father, bless me with the ability to reach people for Christ"

"Lord, bless the words that I write to bring hope to a dying world"

We can be assured that God answers these bold prayers!

Praying Boldly for Help with Unbelief

Help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:24b

Asking the Lord to help our unbelief may be intimidating to ask.  After all, as Christians, are we supposed to struggle with unbelief?  If we ask for help with unbelief, aren't we admitting to God we don't believe Him?  This bold prayer may take an act of courage on our part to pray, but we need not be afraid to say these words...

In fact, as the account in Mark portrays, we should exclaim this bold prayer to the Lord!  

Of all the prayers we can pray with confidence, when we admit that we are struggling with unbelief, and we will, we can know that God will absolutely answer this prayer!

Instead of staying in our doubt, our anxiety or our worry, we are calling out to God for rescue from our state of unbelief.  We are seeking to shift our focus onto God and away from our doubts and worries.  God will honor that prayer.

I can say with confidence that the Lord will show Himself HUGE when we call out these three, bold words, and oh what powerful words they are!

Praying Boldly for God's Will

Not my will, but yours be done.

Luke 22:42

For those of you who have been around my blog for a while, you know that for me, this takes a lot of boldness on my part to pray.  Real courage...  Maybe I'm not alone in this...

As was even the case with Jesus, God's will is not always rainbows and sunshine, but indeed can be pain and suffering.  

So how do we come to a place of genuinely praying this bold prayer, not my will, but yours be done?  By praying "Help my Unbelief!"  

When we are afraid of God's will, especially where pain, suffering or heartache may be His will, we are not believing that God has also promised to be with us in that pain and suffering.  In the case of Jesus, God did abandon Him for the sins of the world which was worse suffering for Jesus than even the crucifixion, BUT Jesus was aware of the promised joy that was set before Him when He would sit at the right hand of the Father.  Jesus knew this and believed which is why He could say, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. 

We too can know and believe God's promises.   Not only in our earthly circumstances, but we too have a promise to be with Jesus in Paradise one day! 

The entirety of Scripture speaks of God's great faithfulness to us.  We are safe in the will of God because He is in the center of it all, right there in our midst.

God's promises should not only give us the courage to pray this prayer, but should give us confidence that when God answers this bold prayer, we remain safe and secure in Him.

Praying Boldly for God's Help

Lord help me!

Matthew 15:25a

You might be thinking, is asking for God's help really a bold prayer?  You are right that many of us do not hesitate to ask God for help, especially when faced with a scary situation.  In fact, those are probably the times that a majority of people DO pray.  

For today's consideration of this verse, we are looking at praying boldly in the context of praying with confidence that He will answer our cry for help.  And as I stated earlier, I think a majority of people are hopeful that God will hear their cry for help and answer.

I'm sure you have your own faith account of the many times that the Lord has helped you when you asked Him for help.  

Could it be that when we pray with expectation and confidence, we see the answer more readily?

The Lord's help is not just reserved for scary situations.  He is ready to help us every minute of the day.  

When we come to the point on a given day when we are exclaiming "Lord help me!", we have essentially come to the end of our rope.

It could be a pressing deadline that is looming and you are running out of time to complete the task  or you might be exasperated by whiny children and are about to lose it.  

These three little words pack the same punch without exclamation.  How good is it to go about a normal, stress free day, requesting the Lord's  help in whatever task, showing your dependence on Him.   

One thing that is clear throughout the entire Canon of Scripture - God loves to help His people.  And our confidence is sure because we know that He sent the Holy Spirit, the Helper, to reside in us!  

Imagine God's Kingdom on Earth if every Christian prayed boldly!  And imagine the blessings of peace you will experience when you boldly come before the throne room of Grace.

For similar posts, click on the following:

Four Powerful Attitudes in Prayer that Yield Results

5 Ways to Live Out God's Special Promise for the New Year

Dare to Ask

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