Who doesn't love sitting around a campfire on a starry night? My family does. Through the years we've enjoyed many nights telling jokes and swapping stories sitting around a fire on the shores of Conneaut Lake, PA. On one occasion my dad and I ventured out to the beach the next morning to find smoke rising from the ashes. I wasn't alarmed by this, after all the fire was out. No flames were visible, just a little smoke. Harmless I thought. My dad didn't think so. He went on to lecture me about how important it is to completely extinguish a fire before coming inside for the night. When I told him that the lack of any visible flame was reason to believe the fire was extinguished, he fired back with, "Sean, where there's smoke, there's fire."
I'm still wrestling with the validity of that statement, but one thing I do know for certain is this: Where There's Prayer, There's Power. I've seen it in my life, and I see it in scripture. Acts 4:31 describes one instance when the early church experienced this power saying, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." (Read Acts 4:23-31 for context)
Could you use some power, energy, courage, conviction, to boldly follow Jesus today? Spend time with God. Acknowledge him as the Sovereign Lord. Tell him what your day has in store and ask him to empower you to represent him boldly today.