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How to pray with more confidence

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How can we learn to pray with more confidence?  Sometimes, we don’t know if we’re praying according to God’s will, so our prayers are tentative. And sometimes that’s fine.

But God also calls us to pray boldly. Azariah in the furnace shows us how.

Remember, Azariah was one of the three young men who Nebukadnezar sentenced to death in a fiery furnace because they wouldn’t bow to his gods.

Azariah tells Nebukadnezar, “God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace … but if not … we will not serve your gods or bow to them.”  So he knows that God is able to deliver them.  But even if God chooses otherwise, Azariah declares that God will get the glory.

Then we have Azariah’s bold prayer while he’s in the furnace. Let’s look at what he says and then we can apply the same principles to our lives: 

For thy name’s sake do not give us up utterly, and do not break thy covenant, and do not withdraw thy mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham thy beloved and for the sake of Isaac thy servant and Israel thy holy one, to whom thou didst promise to make their descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the shore of the sea. And now with all our heart we follow thee, we fear thee and seek thy face. Do not put us to shame, but deal with us in thy forbearance and in thy abundant mercy. Deliver us in accordance with thy marvelous works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord! Let all who do harm to thy servants be put to shame; 

The pattern of the prayer
 
This is his pattern for confident prayer.  
  • Admit that you’re needy.
  • Invoke God’s mercy.
  • Commit to God’s glory.
Azariah admits that God’s people have sinned, and they are at the end of their line. He confesses that they’re fully dependent on God.  
 
Then, Azariah quotes God’s promise of mercy back to him. (“For the sake of Abraham … to whom thou didst promise …”)  We can do the same in Christ, and as we do so, we’re reminded of God’s character, which is always to have mercy when we sincerely ask for it.
 
And finally, Azariah invokes God’s glory, which God will surely get in answer to his prayer.  Azariah was already committed to God’s glory before the prayer, but he makes this part of his petition going forward.     
 
The pattern for us
We can adopt this pattern in all areas of life.  You get into God’s will by acknowledging your complete dependency on God, invoking his mercy, and committing to his glory.  For example, do you have a project on which you’ve hit a dead end?  If you’ve recommitted your way to God and acknowledged your dependence on him, then you have every reason to boldly ask God to give you a way forward.

And, if you’ve committed yourself completely to God’s purposes, then know that your prayer can be all about his glory and your good–there’s no dichotomy between the two. Why wouldn’t he give away forward in a situation like that? He is more than able.

The next time you’re in a furnace, you can include these two verses from Azariah’s prayer, which is like a shorthand for the dynamic:

Do not put us to shame, but deal with us in thy forbearance and in thy abundant mercy. Deliver us in accordance with thy marvelous works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord! 

Now go and desire bold things for God and pray boldly that he bless you!