Waxing Bold in Prayer

Nephi speaks of "waxing bold in mighty prayer" (2 Nephi 4:24). What a great image. When a candle goes through the dipping process, the wick is dipped in melted wax over and over again. Each time it is removed it becomes a little larger and thus able to burn for a little longer. The same process was at play in Nephi's personal prayer. Each time he prayed, his faith grew a little stronger, setting him up to be able to show forth his light (Matt 5:14-16) brighter and longer. As he did so he became more "bold," meaning that each time he prayed his faith had grown a little stronger. This allowed him to ask for greater and greater things in his prayers. In the next verse it speaks of how he was carried away on mountains and saw great things (2 Nephi 4:25). These grand and miraculous occurances did not come immediately. I would venture to say that Nephi asked to be able to see these things. Because of his consistency in prayer his prayers were answered more often. Each time a prayer was answered his faith grew and he became more bold in his petitions to the Lord.

Nephi has experience to backup his claim that "[he knows] that God will give liberally to him that asketh...[our] God will give [us], if [we] ask not amiss" (2 Nephi 2:35). I would like to add my testimony to that of Nephi. I too know that if we exhibit our faith to the Lord by consistently pouring out our hearts to him in prayer, then he will not only grant our righteous desires, but our faith will grow, allowing us to receive even more answers to our prayers.