Gutsy and Good Prayers
Dan Lovaglia, Camp Pastor, Camp Paradise | July 8, 2025

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Acts 12:5
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
James 5:16
Making requests of a fanciful god is the stuff of fairytales. But praying to the one true God of the Bible is gutsy and good. What’s the difference? Your Heavenly Father is real and really wants to hear from you. He wants to know what’s weighing on your heart. And He doesn’t just want to intervene; He promises that He will.
In Acts 12, the early church was very concerned about their leader Peter’s wellbeing. He was wrongfully imprisoned for following Christ and telling people the truth about Him. Not knowing what else to do, the community of believers turned to God in prayer. They pleaded with their Heavenly Father to care for and come to Peter’s aide. They implored God on Peter’s behalf with deep conviction, from their guts and for a good purpose. As he sat in jail, Peter didn’t know that the church was praying so fervently or that he would soon be miraculously released. It’s a powerful and effective example of gutsy and good prayer in action.
It doesn’t matter if you’re literally or metaphorically locked up—our very real God really wants you and the community around you to pray. Maybe you’re feeling boxed in by an impossible issue at work or at home. Maybe you’re saddled with a sickness that never seems to let up. Or maybe you keep returning to a pattern or lifestyle that’s destructive to you and others. No matter what’s going on around or inside of you, James 5:16 teaches us to pray with the same boldness as the early church did for Peter. When we go to God together with pure hearts and a courageous ask, He says healing will follow. How He responds may or may not be exactly what we request, but that doesn’t make gutsy and good prayers of the faithful any less powerful or effective.
Next Steps
What situation are you facing today that you desperately want God to change? Instead of giving up or giving into what seems impossible, tell Him and someone you trust about it today. Write out a gutsy and good prayer, and ask your Heavenly Father to step in. Then watch for how God shows up in the middle of the mess.