“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
Do you understand that we have the privilege and right to pray and to believe and expect God to do what he wants and is willing to do in the life of His children? When you pray, do you approach God with boldness and authority? Boldness relates to confidence or assurance, while authority suggests the right, privilege, accessibility, and freedom to pray to God.
We should approach God boldly and fearlessly and leave our prayers with Him, expecting God to hear and answer our prayers. We’ll never be able to accomplish what God wants us to achieve as a body (your church or our fellowship) or as individuals until we learn to come before God in dependence on Him and come with the authority delegated to us.
If we do not enter prayer believing we have authority with God, Satan will attack us. He will challenge our authority with God. If that is true, when and where do you think Satan will make his most vicious assault, not when we do our jobs or sit around enjoying life but when we are in prayer? Ephesians 6 reminds us that our battle is against unseen forces to keep us off our knees and challenge our authority before God. Satan doesn’t come after us weakly, but he attacks boldly. But if you are a believer, the supernatural power of God possesses you, and you can overcome these attacks and bind Satan to prevent him from interfering with your prayers.
Too often, we pray weakly and fearfully instead of coming to God based on what He said He could do. Too often, we grope along in life weakly. The church is weak. The church is weak because its praying is weak. Our country is weak because the church is weak.
When you pray, do you feel that you enter God’s presence, tiptoeing around His throne room, unsure what to say for fear of what God will do? Do you second guess your prayers or doubt them because you aren’t sure how God will respond? This mindset is contrary to what God expects of believers. He wants us to bring our prayers to Him. If we come before God in humiliation and desperation, everything in heaven will move in response to prayer.
Prayer is the most powerful tool in the hands of believers. Coming to God with confidence and authority and coming to Him egotistical and proudly are different. Our authority is linked to our humility and absolute and total dependence on God. Prayer is a privilege we should exercise often. We should do so with boldness and authority.
