Pray Boldly
Read: Matthew 7:7-11
Like many other Christians around the world, you may have chosen to add in a new prayer practice to your spiritual life this Lent. Lent is a perfect opportunity to pray the hours by observing the daily office (praying at set hours or times of the day). Others use Lent to embrace contemplative prayer practices such as breath prayers or the Ignatian Examen. But have you ever considered how you pray and not just what you pray?
Sometimes, our prayers to God come across as timid and hesitant: “Lord, will you help with this? But only if it’s in your will, and only if you see fit, and well, only if you have time. Amen.” But Jesus encourages us to pray boldly, without fear or hesitation: “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you” (Matthew 7:7, NRSV).
Prayer is more than the words we say, it is the attitude in which we come before the Lord. We are encouraged to come before God boldly, as a young child knowing that she is loved by her parents. She has no need to feel timid or shy or ashamed. God our Heavenly Father longs to hear our bold prayers, and is delighted to be able to answer them. God will not be surprised or hurt or confused by your bold prayers, and your prayers will never be turned away, as brazen as they may be.