Why We Are Called to be Bold in Prayer

When we are bold in prayer, we’re fulfilling exactly what we’re called to…Running headfirst into a love language that complements both our sorrow & joy.

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. -prv 28:1

Does your day ever find you trapped in the corner of a lion’s lair?

Breath racing, heart pounding, our feet pummel pavement as we make a getaway. Our own terrified notions or haggard fears easily bring about the impulse to bolt in weakness.

Rather than the boldness of a lion pervading our countenance, it feels the lion is pursuing us.

Yet we’re brought face to face with a myriad of examples and exhortations to boldness in His Word. We peer into the mirror that reflects our own heart and status and stand convicted that we, indeed, are called to boldness in Him…

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. – Heb 4:16

….Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. – eph 3:11-12

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. – 1 jn 1:14

Stop and gaze into that mirror once again…

We can have boldness in Christ

We can draw near with confidence as we present our requests to Him

We can be confident He hears our prayers

Why are we called to be bold? Especially in prayer?

We are called to be bold in prayer because Jesus, being our intercessor and advocate, is able to bridge the gap between us and God and commands us to boldness.

Being fully God and fully man, He understands our weaknesses and has purchased the way for us to approach God. He desires for us to know Him more as we boldly call Him to be faithful to His promises.

And what situation better apt to beckon us to boldness, but our impassioned prayers in lament.

We are Called to be Bold in Lament

Our journey in discovering the beauty of lament is well on it’s way. We’ve already talked about the first two steps, the initial being the importance of always turning to God in our trials.

Our last post addressed the ready-to-burst teapot, our own hearts filled with it’s heavy burdens, needing to pour out complaint to a listening,  caring God – point number two. Following the footsteps of lament, the next necessary indentation of heel and toe is to Ask Boldly.

First 3 Steps of Lament*:

1. Keep Turning to God in Prayer
2. Bring Our Complaints
3. Ask Boldly

It’s crucial that we not stop at the second step of complaint. Doing so leaves us hanging on a thread…dangling in midair above a sorrowful pit, with nowhere to go.

But there is somewhere to go. 

Yes, our lamenting is a place to express our deepest complaints, issue our heartfelt agony and woes to God above…but we don’t stop there. We move, past posing our complaints and onto boldly asking God to act.

How to Ask Boldly*

It may be difficult to know what to ask for. Scripture is a perfect starting point for seeing what kinds of requests we can and should make. 

Here are 9 items we can ask of God*:

1. Intervention – Asking Him to rise up and intervene in our situation {ps 3:7}
2. Help – Relying upon His resources when we entreat Him to help us {ps 60:11-12}
3. Remembrance of His Covenant – Asking Him to be true to the promises He’s made in scripture {ps 25:6}
4. Justice – When we’ve been wronged, asking for justice to be done {ps 83:16-18}
5. Forgetting of our Sins – If our sin has caused the lament, asking for His mercy and grace to cover our sin {ps 51:1}
6. Restoration – Asking Him to restore our soul, a broken relationship – whatever the need may be {ps 80:3}
7. His Voice, Rather than His Silence – When it feels like He’s been so quiet in our suffering, asking that we would clearly hear His voice, instead {ps 86:6}
8. Teaching – Asking Him to grow us in the midst of our trial and not waste one moment of the pain {ps 86:11}
9. Vindication – Relinquishing the desire to defend yourself and placing that upon Him to handle, instead {ps 35:23-24}

As we learn to segue from complaint to confidence, we can bridge the chasm between those two with that beautiful Yet that so often graces the pages of scripture. Glimpsing David’s lament prayer in Psalm 22 [emphasis mine]:

    My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

        Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 

    O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

        and by night, but I find no rest.                   

    Yet you are holy,

        enthroned on the praises of Israel.

    In you our fathers trusted;

        they trusted, and you delivered them. 

    To you they cried and were rescued;

        in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

David’s lament, so striking in it’s poetic beauty, encompasses the agony that he feels – words that even Christ used in his last hours on the cross of Calvary.

Yet – In these few short verses, we can easily view David’s expeditious move from complaint to confident reminder of the goodness of God as shown in past times.

Yet is the bridge meandering beneath swiftly rushing, magnificently pounding waterfall, cascading it’s sheets to reveal the rainbow through the storm. It gets us from the pouring of our agony to the drinking up of trust.

What Happens When We’re Bold in Prayer

Oh, our aching hearts in lament…it’s far too easy to focus on our pain, bleary-eyed in trial, questioning when the suffering will ever end.

We ask and we wonder, Why?

Why is this happening?

Why me?

Why now?

But as our hearts move forward to present bold requests to the Lord, trusting Him to act, our focus can shift.

Instead of the lens of our hearts being fixed on the problem, we can adjust and gaze upon the problem fixer.

The Great Comforter.

The One Who Loves, who Hears, who Moves on our behalf, in His perfect timing.

Instead of ”Why is this happening?” we’re asking “Who is God?”

We discover His character. His great love for us, His mighty power and omnipotence, and His ultimate wisdom that includes perfect timing in the minute details of our lives, even when we can’t understand…

When we can travel past the Why Cries of our heart and open the door to discover the greatness of the One behind our every moment, then we can see more clearly the God who calls us to boldness, calls us to trust.

Not wasting a moment of our suffering, but utilizing it all, every drop of tear stain soaking in the sheep’s wool of a God who shepherds, who teaches, and who is most interested in our innermost selves becoming more like Him.

Yes, friend- we can rely on that One to cradle our hearts as we obey and boldly ask of Him in our heart complaints. You see, the why is important…but The Who is crucial…it comes to overshadow the why as we gaze upon the all-encompassing Who…

And we can know more of this great God who holds all the answers, who cups all the tears.

Where Does Our Boldness Lead Us

We’re almost to our fourth and final step of lament. Just as we were not meant to stay in the reservoir of complaint, we’re also to move on from our bold requisition.

To trust.

Trust is right around the corner. It’s where He’s been leading you this whole time, dear friend – to an intimate, deeply felt trust in Him.

Stay tuned – we’ll be discussing that next.

Until then, be bold as a lion as you turn your heart in confident plea to Him.

*These thoughts are not my own! They are largely taken from Mark Vroegop’s insightful and incredibly helpful book on lament. For more on the beauty and practice of lament, check out this amazing find, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, available at Amazon:

Looking for a resource (other than the Bible) to perfectly picture the tremendous heart of Christ? Check out Dane Ortland’s Gentle and Lowly. It’s a life-changing read and one of my top ten literary picks. My kids and I are going through it together right now!

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