Bold Prayer

One of the great questions to ask someone (if you really mean it and will do it) is:  How can I pray for you?  What needs specifically can I pray for you about?  I have made it a habit and 90% of the time it is health related.  We are plagued by focusing on physical needs when it comes to prayer, instead of focusing on the greater spiritual needs and including the physical.  Of course, if you have a physical need, it becomes much more glaring sometimes than the quieter yet more sever spiritual needs. 
As we read Ephesians today (www.lifejournal.cc) our setting is a letter of encouragement that Paul is writing to the Ephesian church.  He writes from prison for standing up for Christ. How do you pray for one that is imprisoned falsely just for his bold bond with the Word of God and the message of Christ? Notice what he says in Ephesians 6:18-20-  To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, ¹⁹and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. 
Have you ever thought that maybe one reason you may not speak as quickly as you should for the things of the Lord is because you have not prayed for God to give you the words?  To give you boldness? 
Have you ever thought that the witness of the Christian Church may not be as strong as it should because we have not seriously prayed for boldness?  The pulpit can be clearly bold, but if it does not translate into the pew and out into the streets of our lives, does it carry out the appropriate fulfillment that allows us to flavor and light our world?  It does not. 
I am not saying do not pray for their health of others, the release from a difficult circumstance, or the relief of the balm of the Spirit of God, but I am saying we need to include and underline the needs of our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith to live bold for Christ. 
I pray that for you today.  Please pray that for me as well.  And have a great one.