The Most Powerful Prayer Nobody Prays [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. If we say, Lord, give me boldness to speak the name of Jesus. Give me boldness to do all that you tell me to do and to speak what you tell me to speak. Lord, give me courage to face this adversity. When you pray for boldness, you could be assured of this.

You are right in the middle of the will of God, and God loves that prayer. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Unlimited as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'm going to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Now more on this later in the program, but right now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright.

Boldness demands response when you love people that much, when you care that much about the well-being of others and the salvation of the world. I hope that you were able to see a couple of weeks ago a conversation. I was able to sit here with my good friend Bishop J.C. Hash, African-American pastor who's been serving at St. Peter's World Outreach Center for 33 years as the lead pastor. And we've been friends for 23 years.

And my wife and I, we just love J.C. and Joy. They're very special people. But in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, I just asked him if he would sit down and talk, maybe openly to help me learn and maybe bring a healing conversation. And it was a beautiful conversation.

I appreciated it. And I appreciated it when at one point J.C. said to me, Alan, he said, receive this in the right way, he said, but to really understand what this feels like, you would have to imagine if it were your son. J.C. said, I know how much you love your son, Bennett.

My son who's 25. He said, imagine if it was your son that was lying there on the street with the officer, his knee on his neck while he slowly died. And what he was doing was he was connecting me to love. That boldness is aroused when there's great love. So the love that I know for my son would make me exceedingly bold to do something to stop injustice against him.

And so the conversation of the healing of injustice in the world and the ultimate healing of racism is going to come where we have an infusion of love for people of all ethnicities and color of skin. Love moves you into boldness. The firefighter Matt Mosley didn't go rescue Ivar Sims that day because Mosley wanted to be a hero. He did it because there was a man who was trapped up on top of a crane who needed to be rescued. Boldness comes because something happens within the hero that makes him or her care more about someone else or something else than their own simple comfort. So you never become more bold by just trying harder to be brave. You become more bold by becoming more loving and less focused on self. Peter and John and the disciples had simply been seized by a great affection for Christ because they knew what Christ had done for them and they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. And when they had the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus himself, they began feeling God's love for people.

And it felt unbearable for the disciples to know that there are people trapped in deception and lost and sick who needed salvation and healing and deliverance and to just leave them in silence when they knew the answer was Jesus. And so that's why they spoke and that's why they had such boldness. It was the love for the people. We need to end racism, but it's not hate that's going to end racism. It's love that will. Being filled with the Holy Spirit will never stop any form of hatred by more hatred and fleshly anger is not the biblical notion of boldness.

Love is the fuel for true boldness. Now let's talk about why was it so important? Why did the disciples think this is what they needed to pray about? Why is this important?

And so let me just say this. In one view, the Bible, the whole big story of the Bible is a story of a people who are given promises and we're the reader left with the question, will the people have the boldness to take what's been promised? In fact, the pivotal story of the Old Testament, the narrative that becomes such the framework of the Old Testament thinking is the story we call the Exodus. If you're not familiar with the story, it is simply this, that the Hebrew people were enslaved for many, many years under the cruel tyranny of an evil Pharaoh in Egypt. They cried out to God and God sent a deliverer, a mediator named Moses, who was raised in Pharaoh's court, but was actually a Hebrew. And through Moses, there were a series of signs and plagues that completed with a horrible plague against the firstborn in the Egyptian empire. And when a destroyer came through and all of the Egyptian firstborn are slain, Pharaoh finally said to the Hebrew people to Moses, go, leave us. And through this Passover where the Hebrews were spared, they made their way out of Egypt and they soon found themselves traversing through wilderness on their way to the promised land. But they were very quick to grumble and very quick to make idols and very quick to worry. Because though God had said, I'm giving you a promised land, they had a hard time having the boldness to go take it.

The courage to keep moving forward. We pick up the story in Numbers chapter 13 at verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. Notice this language, which I am giving to the people. The promised land was not earned. The promised land wasn't even deserved.

It wasn't because of the skill of the people or the resources of the people. It was because God said, I am giving it to them. So Moses at verse 20, he sent them on out and he said, be of good courage and bring back some fruit of the land.

The spies are supposed to bring back some of these juicy grapes and show everybody how beautiful the land was flowing with milk and honey. But instead, after 40 days of spying the land, they came back with a fearful report at Numbers 13, 31. We read the men who'd gone up with him said, we're not able to go up against the people for they're stronger than we are.

So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out saying the land through which we have gone to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people that we saw are of great height. They didn't move forward because they were afraid. They lacked the courage to move forward into the land that the Lord had said, I have given to you. They didn't need more skill. They didn't need more soldiers. They didn't need more resources.

They didn't need more gifting. They didn't need more prophetic ability. What did they need to take the promised land?

They needed more courage. The lack of courage kept the people from the promised land. So the generation died off in the wilderness and Moses died as well. And so the Lord has come to Joshua, who is one of the two spies, only two that came back with a positive faith-filled report. And here's what God said to Joshua. Joshua chapter one, verse two, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all the people into the land that I'm giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon has been given to you just as I promised to Moses. Notice this language again. He says, I'm giving to them.

I have given. It's the same language he had given them in the first place. So what is it that Joshua will need in order to succeed in taking the promised land? Well, continue to look at these verses starting at verse six, you'll see it very plainly. Be strong and courageous, the Lord says, for you'll cause this people to inherit the land. Verse seven, only be strong and very courageous.

There it is again. And if you continue on, you'll see a third time the Lord comes to him. He says, do not turn right or left, that you may have good success, the book of the law.

And he continues on. We'll go to the next verse and you realize he says it one more time. Verse nine, be strong and courageous. In other words, Joshua, you have all you need because I'm with you. And this land, just like I'd promised to Moses is a land that I'm giving to you and to the people.

It is your inheritance. It is the promised land. In other words, this is my promise and what you need. And the only thing that you need at this point is you need courage.

You need boldness every step of the way. So in other words, to inherit the promises of God, it may be the thing we need the most is boldness to believe and appropriate them, which takes me back to the importance of the disciples prayer. Back to Acts chapter four, here's the prayer again. Now, Lord, look upon their threats, talking about the threats of the religious leaders and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. They saw a deep connection between their boldness and the move of God. And let me say this, God loved that prayer.

He poured out his Holy Spirit upon them. You could be sure of this, that we don't very often pray it. If we say, Lord, give me boldness to speak the name of Jesus, give me boldness to do all that you tell me to do and to speak what you tell me to speak. Lord, give me courage to face this at first. When you pray for boldness, you could be assured of this. You are right in the middle of the will of God and God loves that prayer. So he poured out the Holy Spirit upon them. The promises of God are sure. The exaltation of Christ has happened. You don't need more resources.

You don't need more skills. You don't need better circumstances, nearly so much as you need this wonderful gift, the boldness of Jesus. So the bottom line is that we are allured by comfort, but we thrive by courage. We crave security, but we're fulfilled by significance. And we prioritize God's protection, but we win by God's power.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages, like people, aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, Pastor Alan and his wife, Anne, lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple grace-filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to be a better person. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful, transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Well, how do we get it?

How do we get more boldness? The first thing that happened for these disciples, and we can look at this quickly again, the scripture that they quoted in their prayer in Acts 4-24, it identifies that they're reading the scriptures in a whole new way. When they heard it, they lifted their voices together, God, and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. They are exalting God as the creator who's sovereign over everything. Who through the mouth of our father David, and this is now quoting words of David the Psalmist, your servant said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.

For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And what they're saying here in their prayer is that we now understand the scripture in a whole new light. What David was speaking of was Jesus.

What the whole of the Bible is about is Jesus. This goes far to explain why the writer of Hebrews says look to Jesus who is the author and the finisher of your faith. To get boldness is not to simply say read your Bible more, it's to say to understand that the Bible is good news on every page because it's all pointing to Jesus and it's pointing to the finished work of Jesus and what he's done for each and every one of us. A greater revelation of the reliability of God's word, but a greater revelation of the whole point of God's word had broken through to these disciples after Pentecost and they realize that it's all about Christ. And this brings boldness because what happens is if you read the Bible moralistically and you think it's all about me just trying to conform to a set of rules, you won't have boldness because you'll be trusting in your own flesh's ability or your own willpower. But when you see on every page of scripture the scriptures are pointing to Jesus and you're seeing that Jesus has paid it all and that Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness on your behalf. Now you're reading the Bible in a powerful way and it causes boldness. He's the author and finisher of your faith.

But there's another thing obviously that happens. We see it at verse 31. They prayed the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they continued to speak the word of God with boldness so they prayed for boldness. God loved the prayer and then he poured out the Holy Spirit. Well I thought they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Yes they did. But they also received the Spirit again and the infilling of the Holy Spirit when Peter spoke boldly before the council and now they pray again. What does this mean? It means that there are continual infillings of the Holy Spirit even though you receive the Holy Spirit when you become saved, when you become a Christian, you have the abiding presence but the Holy Spirit comes upon us over and over all throughout our Christian life. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and when they were they were filled with boldness.

So here's what happens. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit you get a deeper assurance of the reality of God's love for you, his presence with you and the more certainty that you have the more bold you become. The Holy Spirit, Jesus referred to as the parakletos in John 14.

And this Greek word can be interpreted the helper or the comforter but maybe the best translation is the encourager. In other words the Holy Spirit is the one who puts courage in. That's what encouragement is, getting courage in. The Holy Spirit wants to give you courage. The Holy Spirit wants to give you boldness. Best-selling author Gordon Dalby wrote a book called Healing the Masculine Soul and Gordon is a friend for many years and there's a powerful story near the beginning of that book about a man that Pastor Dalby was counseling with because the man had a recurring nightmare. It was a nightmare in which he saw a lion chasing him and he would run from the lion and night after night he had the nightmare and they prayed about it and they discussed it until finally one day Dalby pointed out to his counsel Lee that a lion in dreams can be a symbol of courage and that day it dawned on the man maybe the lion's not a foe that is chasing me but is a symbol of the courage that wants to catch up to me and they prayed about him no longer running from a courageous life and the dreams ended. Maybe what we need is to let the lion of boldness catch up to us. Matt Moseley said that when he finally attached himself to the crane made his way over to the concrete weights where Ivar Sims was seated and was trying to calm down Sims as he attached the harness to him the firefighter said hey your boss sent me up here to say you could knock off early today.

Having set him at ease he strapped him in and the helicopter lifted them high now 300 400 feet over a blazing inferno and the hero turned to Sims and say look you've caused a traffic jam on I-75. He wanted to put him at ease because real boldness is not self-service. He wanted to real boldness is not self-serving. Real boldness is love motivated spirit induced courage to do what God wants you to do and say what God wants you to say.

Look to Jesus he's the author and finisher of our faith and ask God for boldness. It's a prayer he loves he'll surely give it to you and that's the gospel. Alan Wright today's good news message the most powerful prayer nobody prays. It's from the series unlimited and Pastor Alan is back with us in the studio in just a moment sharing his parting good news thought for the day.

Stick with us. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement get Alan Wright's daily blessing. It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. Would you love a better marriage?

You don't need more good advice you need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions Pastor Alan and his wife Ann lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple grace-filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow when you order the video series we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health you'll find powerful transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries.

Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website PastorAlan.org. Back here in the studio to share Pastor Alan's parting good news sought for the day. It reminds me a little bit of usually the prayer that I hear preachers talk about. It says, Lord give me patience and give it to me now. But this is a little bit different of a prayer and one that I'm with you.

I don't know that I've heard many people pray this prayer. R.A. Torrey preacher and theologian asserted in his book The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit that if you were to narrow it down to what is the one evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit that you see all the time when somebody has a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. He said it's not so much an ecstatic thing like tongues or prophecy.

It's not so much that all of a sudden you know all those things are wonderful I think. But he said it's boldness for witness of the Gospel. And it is true I think you know and I think any of our listeners who've ever you know experienced the grace of God in any measure know that the closer you get with God and the more the Holy Spirit fills you the more you feel confident and the more you feel bold about the things that you believe. And it's a prayer. I want to urge our listeners pray ask God ask him for for boldness ask him for the Holy Spirit to give you the kind of confidence and faith that we're not talking about makes you insensitive to others not that kind of boldness but the kind of boldness where you know that you know you know that Jesus reigns and that he's the answer and current circumstances don't ever detract from that or take take your eyes off of that ask him for boldness. That's what the Holy Spirit loves to give. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.