This title came to me one morning when I was reading my devotional. No, it is not something that happens everyday, but I am working towards that. I’m reading from “Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge” by Mark Batterson. Day 6 is titled, “Shameless Audacity,” and it’s taken from Luke 11:8 (NIV), which reads, “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[a] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”
It’s taken me a minute to publish this blog post because I’ve really pondered this. Audacity. Boldness. Persistence. We don’t have because we give up in our asking. Sure God hears us the first time we ask, but how are you asking? Are you asking without faith? Are you praying without believing? Sometimes we need to be bold in our prayers. Prayer is the activation of our faith. If we never ask, we will never know. When you ask, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. In asking, I’m not in a worse position than I was before. I may be in the same position, but at least I have lost nothing materially, but my faith has been activated, and I’m just crazy enough to believe God for the impossible. As a child of God, I can call Him on His authority. Yep…I said it! What I want you to understand is that this is what God wants us to do. He wants us to ask Him because it’s His reputation on the line. When I pray God’s word, what else can He do but prove Himself? I just asking what He’s already promised. By not asking God, we limit our faith. God is not to be contained. He is so infinite and so powerful that you can’t put that in a box and expect it not to explode. He’s bursting at the seams with blessings for us, but we do not ask.
Do you think you will offend God in asking Him for anything? You offend Him when you don’t. When I think about my personality, I can tell you I’m a smart-(bleeeeeep), quick-witted, sassy little thing! I speak what is on my mind, but have gotten better because God had tempered the delivery somewhat. I take no pleasure in hurting people with words, but I know that I can if I choose to do so. That is part of my personality. So, the same way my friends and acquaintances catch it, God does too. What I mean is that because I have a relationship with Him, I can ask in my personality, in my voice…not in Sally’s, Betty’s or Billy’s voice or personality. God made us all uniquely individual. Your wants are not like mine; your needs are not like mine; your questions to God will not be like mine. I’m authoritative and bossy. I have to dial that back when I’m talking to God. Because He and I talk so much, I sometimes forget, and it just comes out. God is not so easily offended by that. I figure, “I already thought it and He knows it, so I may as well just say it.” And I do. Even in that boldness of asking, I still honor and reverence God. Sometimes I ask him for something so impossible (not material things but moves of God) that I know that when He answers, my only response will be, “Nobody BUT God!”
In your asking be specific. God can read your mind and He already knows your thoughts. Duh! Really? By asking you are activating your faith. God tells us to ask because we will receive; to seek because we will find; and to knock because the door will be opened for you. I dare you to have the audacity to ask!
Redbone and Rice 
Love the title and the notion of talking to God “just as we are.” I have a tendency to tell Him what I want, not ask, and as I sit here and reflect, I realize it is the asks that get the answer, not the mention. I must have audacity when I approach Him. Yes, make my requests known, but also ask. Thanks for this enlightenment. I need to go ahead and crack open that book we were gifted.
P.S. Today’s word of the day is termagant. Since you said you can be bossy, I will now call you a termagant. =)
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