Bold In Prayer

In the movie Finding Forrester, Sean Connery's character mentions a superstition and the kid he's mentoring asks if he really believes that. He replies, "no, but it's like praying. What do you risk?" This is exactly the wrong attitude when we pray. Prayer is not supposed to be like throwing a message in a bottle into the ocean or buying a lottery ticket. If we don't really believe that someone is really listening to our prayers then why even do it? We may as well just be talking into the void which is what a lot of people more than half believe when they do pray. "And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him" (2 Nephi 4:24). What does it mean to wax bold in prayer? To wax bold in prayer is to wade into the Red Sea with no idea how the Lord can save your people from the armies of Pharaoh but trusting that He will nonetheless. To wax bold in prayer is to step onto the water with a belief that you can walk as Jesus walked even if your whole life has taught you that walking on water is impossible. To wax bold in prayer is to stand upon a wall and cry repentance to an angry mob trusting in the Lord's promise of protection even as the arrows and stones start to fly right at you. Prayer is not just speaking into the void. It's not some inscrutable superstition that we have no control over but we engage in to comfort ourselves in a world of uncertainty. True prayers extend beyond our thoughts and words into action. As we go forth with faith we are praying boldly, and that is when the real miracles happen.