BOLDNESS:
THE KEY FOR ANSWERED PRAYERS
...come boldly to the throne...(Hebrews 4:16)
Even though God demands humility in prayer, you don't have to be jelly-like. You need boldness to lay hold on what belongs to you. Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Boldness is our access to the throne of grace, so if you don't have it, don't bother to come. Prayer is not a begging exercise, it is a negotiating exercise, and in any negotiation, boldness is a major requirement. God said, "...Let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified" (Isaiah 43:26). That requires boldness of heart. And boldness is a product of knowledge and wisdom (Isaiah 41:21, Ecclesiastes. 8:1).
If you are not bold in prayer you will miss your reward. Elijah was very bold when he prayed down fire on Mount Carmel. He said, "Hear me now Oh LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God..." (1 Kings 18:37). And then the fire fell. Any man who will pray fire down, does not pray beggarly prayers. You don't beg fire to come down, you command fire to come down.
If you look at Abraham's prayer when the Lord wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he said, "Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?" (Genesis 18:24). And God said, "I will spare the city." Abraham kept up the negotiation, from fifty to thirty, to twenty and then ten. And God still said, "I will spare the city if ten righteous are found there." That is boldness!
Has God said it? Then we can ask Him according to what He said. God is committed to answering your prayers when you ask according to His will, so be bold.
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