For two weeks, I was not found in Sunday morning services at Expedition. I know, bad but I just had to take some cute little daughter to some prom date in Glendale and the following weekend I had this family wedding in New York that I had to attend. I must confess, I do not regret either activity as you probably know, the wedding was just maybe my social event of the year. But as I digress, I did go to church today and of course I was glad I did. I missed out on the $100 make a difference challenge from the previous week in being bold with our generosity. Today was being Bold in our prayer life.

We should all know that prayer is our God given resource to where we can communicate directly with God. Donovan pointed out that too many times we are not very good or as he put it our prayer life stinks. I can relate to that one. He went through several very humorous examples of how we may find ourselves in prayer. My favorite example he used was how we pray to bless our food to the nourishment of our body as we feed ourselves with some of the most non nourishing items know to man. I think he used the chimichanga example.

Anyhow from Acts 4:23-31 we learn of Peter and John’s sharing of prayer with those in need. They start out in recognition that God is a sovereign God and is in control of all things. Donovan pointed out that the way we pray is an indicator of who we believe God is and what we believe God can do. Oftentimes we can pray all or nothing prayers and yet maybe we should consider that it is not all or nothing but could be all and something? With all that being said, I think my favorite verse in the lesson is verse 31, where it states “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” That is some powerful prayer when you consider how it closed where everybody was filled and spoke Boldly.

In our group fellowship time this evening at Michael and Mary Stoll’s place, we discussed boldly about prayer. It was a most interesting time of sharing our thoughts on the message and of course prayer. Yes, prayer. You know I had a troubling week and have a troubling week ahead of me. With that in mind, I had two gentlemen pray an intercessory prayer for me and I can tell you that I am most grateful for those who pray for you. Uplifted? yes. God is good and I sure am glad that Carolyn and I went not only to share but to take and maybe I was a big taker this evening.

Great time of fellowship and course the Stoll’s food was fabulous. By the way, there is many statistics and evidence that those who believe and participate in prayer are healthier and that recovery from health related issues is much faster. Now one can blow that stuff off but for this guy I think I will go with the group that is praying bold prayers. You just might want to give it try. For a quick glance of some stats on prayer check out this site: http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/150915-us-statistics-on-prayer.html

Pastor Donovan left us with the following:

“Sovereign God, you are all-powerful and in control of all things. Grant to your servants the ability to speak your word with all boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal, as signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. Amen.”