A Guide for the One Longing to Pray with Boldness

It’s an honor to have my friend Alison on the blog today sharing about a topic I’m passionate about: bold, confident prayers.

One thing I’ve heard quite a few times in the past months is a longing in women to pray big, bold, confident prayers.

Prayers on behalf of their husbands.

Prayers for the brokenness around them.

Prayers for a new house, a bigger back account, a new job.

Prayers for their health, or weight, or insecurities.

All in all, women have a longing to pray for something to change.

Can I let you in on a little secret that I’ve recently embraced?

Dear soul, you must first begin praying for the transformation of your own heart.

Are you longing for more in your prayer life? Here are 3 ways to intentionally pray with boldness.

 

Your energy must be spent doing battle on your knees for your own soul, spirit, mind, and body. The root of your prayers needs to be your own growth.

Only here’s the thing. I’ve also heard over and over again that women don’t know how to pray. They feel stuck, alone – like their prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. They feel silly, unheard. They don’t know what to say.

So they don’t pray.

Let me just tell you, friend, that something needs to change about that. It’s time to boldly approach the throne with confidence. It’s time to pray big and confident.

Let’s do this – together.

Because not long ago, I was in the same place. I was desperately wanting to pray big and bold prayers. I was longing to feel the presence of God during my prayers. I wanted to trust that God was listening and responding. But I often felt a little like I was standing in a room full of my own echo. No response.

Can I journey with you? Would you give me that honor?

When we’re intentional about fighting for a deeper prayer life, God will answer our pleas for His presence. He will show up.

Here’s what we’re going to do, okay? Grab your Bible and pull up a chair…

1. We’re going to hide truth in our heart.

One of my absolute favorite things to do is pray Scripture. It provides a solid starting ground.

For example, I will read a verse (such as the ones listed below). Then, I will search that verse for specific truths about who God is, as well as truths about who the verse says I am in Christ.

Then, I will pray those truths right back to God – in thanks, in praise, in frustration for my sinfulness, in sadness, in hope.

And I will believe that He hears.

Scriptures to pray: Ephesians 5:22-24, Ephesians 2:19-20, 1 Peter 2:9-10, Galatians 4:6-7, 1 Corinthians 15:57-58, Hebrews 9:14

2. We’re going to begin praying for our transformation.

This is important. This is the part where you take those truths that you’ve hidden in your heart and you pray for them to change you.

This is the part where you eagerly wait for the Lord to work in your heart – to soften, equip, encourage, and challenge.

It’s exciting, friend! Hard and oftentimes painful, but exciting.

Why? Because we are called to live like Jesus. And in order to become more and more like Jesus everyday, we must call on the Father to equip and guide us, to change and challenge us.

This is a bold prayer – one I cannot wait for you to pray!

3. We’re going to approach the Lord with confidence.

First, I believe that approaching the Lord with confidence can be a physical position you place yourself in. For many years I prayed on my couch with a cup of coffee in hand.

Recently, I have taken the posture of kneeling before the Lord – no coffee, no distractions – just kneeling. I’d encourage you to try it. Place your body in a physical position of confidence.

Second, this is confidence with your words and mind as well. We can approach the Lord with confidence because He is faithful, powerful, loving, grace-filled, almighty, everlasting… I could go on and on.

Do you believe those things? Remind yourself at the beginning of the prayer while you praise God. You can approach with confidence because the Lord is present with you.

If you’re in that beautiful place of longing to pray bold, big, trusting prayers, join me on this journey. It doesn’t have to be perfect. The Lord doesn’t require perfect.

The Lord simply requires a willing heart, a heart that trusts in Him and loves to communicate with Him.

Begin today by praying for your own transformation. That’s where it all begins, friend.

In your own heart – reliant on the Lord constantly.

 

Alison @ Life of Scoop“Alison is a wife, blogger, and Jesus-follower growing in grace and truth daily. She loves coffee in the morning, experimenting in the kitchen, camping with her husband, and reading in a hammock just about anywhere. Her blog – Life of Scoop – exists to encourage authentic community grounded in biblical truth. Basically, it’s some good soul talk in the midst of the mundane. Follow Life of Scoop on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.”

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7 Comments

  1. Beautiful, Alison. God has been speaking to my heart lately about prayer too. And your point is so true. Revival and change starts with our hearts. One of the things I’m praying most for lately is faith (Good bye, Unbelief!) Pinning this now, will share on Facebook tomorrow.

    1. Thank you, Betsy, for sharing & commenting! I always feel the need to pray “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.” There’s something about welcoming the Lord into our weakness that makes our relationship with Him so beautiful! Have a blessed weekend. :)

  2. Hello,

    I love your website and am a subscriber, I would encourage you to seek The Messiahs true name his name is not jesus, jesus is Romes false messiah,John 5:43
    I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.

    The term god is a title, and not the Creators name our Creator has a name! lord renders to BAAL.

    Shalom!

      1. Hi Jackie! I’m not the author of this article, so I’m sure she could explain what she means better than I could, but I think this is a guide to help women who are feeling like their prayers don’t have any power, like praying isn’t going to change anything. This is a guide to give us ways to feel confident that our prayers have a voice, meaning, power, and strength; because it is so easy to just feel like we’re talking to an empty room! But God promises that when we pray, He listens, and that if our faith is even as small as a mustard seed (super tiny seed!) we could ask a mountain to move and it would. What would our lives look like if we lived with that kind of faith!! How would our lives be different! We would be less anxious? Would we love more fully? Would we love without fear? We would live out the desires we are afraid to want–the dreams that seem scary? The little bits of us that God made so intentionally?
        That probably didn’t answer your question at all, and I’m sorry, but I hope that we both can pray with more confidence!

  3. Thanks for sharing & commenting.
    You are right, Allie. My goal with this post is to encourage powerful, bold prayer because we’re told in Scripture that we can approach the throne with confidence. In Hebrews 4:16 we’re told, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
    Bold prayer comes from bold faith, in my opinion. So, when we hide Truth in our hearts, pray for our own transformation, and approach the throne with confidence, our bold faith becomes a life of action. We cannot sit back and passively live the Christian life. Rather, we’re called to live confident of our faith – to respond to the Lord with diligent faith – and that is why I wrote this post about praying powerfully.

    I don’t know if this answers your question, Jackie. However, I would love to chat more with you about this if you’d like. My email address is [email protected]. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

  4. Awesomely written!

    I have a board that I named, ” is that You Lord.” It was a board that I created when I was passionately seeking our Saviour. And I would pray, then open my Pinterest app and allow the Holy Spirit to guide me to the word (post) that the Lord wanted me to read.

    I still use this method now that I have found Jesus and strive to live in Him.

    I am experiencing a season of molding and shaping in my prayer life. And as you mentioned, it is quite painful. And in my spirit I have been longing to pray with a boldness and passion like I have not experienced before.

    This post not only showed me how to get to that point of fearless prayer but it also shed light on what I was not doing.

    So this post is going up on my “is that You Lord” board and I am also going to create a new board “I am a Prayer Warrior” to follow your steps and read the scriptures that you have provided. Hopefully daily, until I see and feel the transformation in my prayer life.

    Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience. You have greatly enriched my life and advanced the kingdom of our Lord.

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