And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

— Acts 4:31

There are times when we need a good shaking! As Paul told Timothy, “Stir up what is inside of you!”

“Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

II Timothy 1:6-7 NKJV

The Holy Spirit is not weak, fragile, and fearful. Instead, He is bold and courageous, causing us to be the same when we are filled and surrounded by Him. Calling upon God for strength, wisdom, and courage is what is expected of us. He gave us His Comforter, His power, to carry out our responsibilities of being His witnesses and ambassadors in the earth.

Prayer must go before us and be a vital part of our ministry to have great success in God. Without prayer, there is no sight. Without engaging in earnest prayer, there can be no vision and no understanding of His will for our lives. We have to seek out and earnestly pray to God and then do whatever is required of us by the Holy Spirit. He will empower us to do so.

E.M Bounds says, “To make prayer secondary is to make God secondary.”

Jesus Himself would often retreat to a solitary place to pray.

“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

— Luke 5:16

Without intimacy with the Father, it’s hard to understand His divine plan. Engaging in a relationship through prayer is when we are filled with the knowledge of His work and wisdom. It’s when things shake loose in our lives that try to hinder us in our daily walk with Him. How can we see and participate with the Father without a life of prayer?

Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”

— John 5:19

Prayer is the artillery that makes preparation for the foot soldier. Without it, there is no real power, only human effort. To engage in this battle (and we are in a battle. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 6:12 NKJV), we have to hear from our Commander-in-Chief.

Let’s clothe ourselves in godly wisdom, insight, and divine guidance, just as Jesus did when He often withdrew for prayer. Jesus needed vision for His ministry. Paul needed courage for his. We also need every spiritual blessing provided by God through the Holy Spirit.