“Do you have any idea what time it is?” This might be the first question you ask after you answer the phone only to discover a friend has just woken you up from a deep sleep at night.  

But what if that same friend came knocking at your door in the middle of the night? That sense of urgency would certainly raise alarm. After all, it must be an emergency for a friend to be out and about that late – not to mention interrupting your night’s sleep.

“You want to borrow what?”  

However, that might be your reaction when you discover the only “emergency” your friend is facing is the need to borrow a loaf of bread and some cold cuts to make sandwiches for guests who have just arrived. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” would likely be your response as you stomp to the kitchen, or worse, slam the door in their face for waking you up with such a ridiculous request.

And yet the purpose for Jesus telling this story is to provide clear instruction, a bold invitation for you to be that shameless in your approach to God. Here Jesus gives you a big lesson in being audacious, brazen, unabashedly bold in coming to Him with your prayers.

You see, Jesus doesn’t just give you an invitation to pray. It’s not a mere suggestion that you gently come to Him as you have need. No, quite the contrary. It’s an invitation to be as bold and forthright as a friend knocking on your door in the middle of the night for you to help him feed some unexpected guests.

Bold. Bold prayers.

So boldly pray for the people who will be blessed and touched as a result of what your ministry is doing which prompted a capital campaign and an expansion of ministry.  

Boldly pray about the lives that will be changed and faith that will grow through this effort.

Boldly pray about the gift you will be giving to this campaign.  

As you boldly pray about all of that (and more), be assured that God will not be grumbling and mumbling because you are waking Him up in the middle of the night (since God never sleeps). Instead, be assured that God will be pleased, yes pleased, that you asked! And while you are asking, He just may respond with immeasurably more than you ask.