Praying with Shameless Audacity

Take it from me, the result of your blessing is directly related to the posture of your heart in prayer.

While there's no "right" or "wrong" way to pray, I believe that the way we approach God in prayer can have a direct result in the outcome of our prayers. I know this from my own experiences as well as examples we can unpack in the scriptures.

Jesus teaches us about prayer in Luke 11 - To our Holy Father with SHAMELESS AUDACITY, humbly, and just straight up.

I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. -Luke 11:8

Let's take a journey through some real life people in the bible who are beautiful examples of shameless, audacious prayer warriors:

1. Joshua

We can also take a lesson from Joshua in the story of his prayer to make the sun stand still. (Joshua 10:13) In an epic battle of 5 Amorite kings conspiring to destroy Gibeon for partnering as allies with Israel, word was sent to Joshua in Gilgal. Joshua and his army traveled all night to sneak up and surprise the opponents. Before receiving victory over the Amorites that day, Joshua boldly prayed the sun stand still which enabled more sunlight for them to clearly see and defeat the enemy in one long, swift day.

For more on this, I encourage you to pick up the book, Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick.

It's an INCREDIBLE resource that will challenge you to enhance your prayer life and will inspire a deeper faith in God's miraculous and limitless power!

Or click here for the SSS Devo available on the Bible App

To watch some SSS throwback messages from Steven Furtick click these links:

2. Hannah

Ever since I read about Hannah's heart cries, I feel like she's become my friend. I especially revisit her story when I'm feeling so overtaken by the deep desires of my heart to become a wife and mama. Most days it's easy to keep the faith and wait patiently...but there are other days where the longing is agonizing. This she knows all too well. You can meet Hannah in 1 Samuel.

After been teased and bullied for years for not being able to have children. One night after dinner, Hannah just had enough! She stood up, marched down to the temple and with her agonizing heart prayed and wept bitterly to the Lord vowing to dedicate her son if God would just miraculously bless her with a baby boy. She prayed so long and so hard she was actually accused of being drunk by Eli the priest! Fast forward 9+ months and God DID answer her prayer! She named her son, Samuel, dedicated him to the Lord as a toddler and Samuel grew up to become a prophet, priest and the last judge over Israel before the people demanded to be ruled by a king.

I admire Hannah for having the guts to look a bit messy and undignified in front of God. That's straight SHAMELESSNESS right there!

3. Elijah

The prophet Elijah is another man that stands out to me when it comes to shameless, audacious prayers. In an all-out Holy hoedown at Mount Carmel, the prophet Elijah goes toe-to-toe with King Ahab along with 450 false prophets of Baal AND the 400 prophets of Asherah. (That's 850 pagan prophets and one evil king against ONE Mighty Man of God!) It's a pretty gruesome scene filled with all kinds of crazy, but ultimately Elijah challenges them to call fire down from heaven after an few year long drought in the land. This is BY FAR one of my most favorite stories in scripture (1 Kings 18:16-39). Check out Elevation Church's creative piece for a recap...it'll amp you to grab your bible and check this out for yourself:

....Oh and stay tuned because there's a special feature coming up on this week's #FridayFaves about this!

So...What can we learn from these stories?

Well, first let's point out that all of these 3 examples are from the Old Testament? Did you catch that. The reason I point that out is because I have a lot of people confess to me their challenge in understanding or enjoying OT stories. These 3 are pretty fantastic, right? So...we serve the same God, right? And you believe Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, right? (Hebrews 13:8) ... Okay, so then rest assured, Dear One, God hears your prayers and is JUST as capable and able to come through miraculously for YOU as He has for our friends!

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. -James 1:6

So let's not stay tangled up in our heads....we gotta keep our head in heaven and feet on the ground! He doesn't want us to be double-minded or like a wave tossed by the wind- NO!

He wants us to be anchored, unwavering, unmoving, decisive, clear-headed, stable, confident to whom we're praying and how capable He is to perform miracles!

When you're struggling and seeking answers, here's my advice:

Get in the Word. It's all written out there! Take Holy Spirit with you on the journey of your reading and seeking. He is our Paraclete (Homework: Look it up).
Pray - Our conversations with God in prayer will reveal His will, if we learn to LISTEN.
Listen - He will send specific people at specific times to speak His truth which will align with His word and His character and affirm what He's been teaching you through scripture reading and prayer.
Watch - Be expectant to receive dreams and visions! We too often overlook this powerful way God communicates with us because we doubt and question if it's just a manipulation of our subconscious mind merely reflecting our fleshly desire. In reality, this is one of His most profound ways of SHOWING our spirit what our eyes can't yet see. Don't dismiss or discredit your dreams and visions if they bring you a deep sense of peace and joy and confidence. That's GOD SHOWING you what's up!