Praying for Boldness
Being a witness for the Lord can be an intimidating experience. Often that fear prevents people from being faithful to the Lord in witnessing to the lost. However, when we look in the bible, particularly the book of Acts, we see Christians who were very bold in their witness for Christ. We see the boldness of Stephen who stood overwhelmingly faithful even while facing death. We also see Paul’s boldness in the midst of angry mobs who wanted to kill him and his boldness before governors and kings who held his life in their hand.
This certainly doesn’t mean that these early Christians were never in fear for their life. Prior to Paul’s conversion he was a persecutor of the church. His objective was to wipe the name of Jesus off of the map at any cost. Apparently he was very well known among the believers. After his conversion many of the believers out of fear didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Acts 9:26 says, “When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.”
Whereas fear is a natural process, paralyzing fear is a lack of faith. If the fear prevents us from fulfilling the very task God has required of us we stand in direct disobedience. We must by faith overcome the fear and fulfill the task of serving the Lord with our witness. We must ask ourselves the question, “Who is more powerful, God or man?” Since the answer is clearly God, we should never live in the fear of man. Rather, we shall live in awe of God. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
After the ascension of Jesus the disciples went to the upper room to wait for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. When the power of the Holy Spirit fell on them they went out into the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the gospel message. Fifty days after the crucifixion of Jesus Peter proclaimed, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” (Acts 2:22-24). All men are spiritually responsible for the death of Christ. However, these men were physically responsible for His death. Despite this truth, Peter proclaimed the truth with utter boldness. As a result, three thousand souls were saved that day.
Just after this Peter and John went to the temple to pray. While going into the temple God used them to heal a lame beggar. After this man was healed many people gathered around praising God for this miracle. Peter then used this as an opportunity to preach about the resurrection of Jesus resulting in the temple guards arresting them and bringing them before the Jewish leaders. While standing before these leaders their boldness in their witness for Christ was recognized. (Acts 4:13). They were then beaten and threatened not to proclaim the name of Christ anymore.
The church knew if they were to continue being a witness to Christ they would suffer persecution. Peter and John then assembled the church for the purpose of prayer. In Acts 4:29 they prayed, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, (boldness).” Acts 4:31 gives us God’s response to their prayer, “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.”
Just as the church of Jerusalem faced fierce persecution so did Paul. For this reason he requested the church of Ephesus to, “pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.” (Ephesians 6:19). This leads us to our final conclusion. If we are going to overcome our fears and be the bold witnesses Christ has called us to be we must be people of prayer. We must daily seek God for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit which gives us the boldness we need. At the same time we need to continually pray for our brothers and sisters that they will likewise stand as bold witnesses for Christ. The church must also pray for this boldness. Through the united prayer offered to God He will shake our foundation stirring us to boldness thus sending us out into this hostile world wining it over for His glory. Rusty Kuhn
This certainly doesn’t mean that these early Christians were never in fear for their life. Prior to Paul’s conversion he was a persecutor of the church. His objective was to wipe the name of Jesus off of the map at any cost. Apparently he was very well known among the believers. After his conversion many of the believers out of fear didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Acts 9:26 says, “When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.”
Whereas fear is a natural process, paralyzing fear is a lack of faith. If the fear prevents us from fulfilling the very task God has required of us we stand in direct disobedience. We must by faith overcome the fear and fulfill the task of serving the Lord with our witness. We must ask ourselves the question, “Who is more powerful, God or man?” Since the answer is clearly God, we should never live in the fear of man. Rather, we shall live in awe of God. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
After the ascension of Jesus the disciples went to the upper room to wait for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. When the power of the Holy Spirit fell on them they went out into the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the gospel message. Fifty days after the crucifixion of Jesus Peter proclaimed, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” (Acts 2:22-24). All men are spiritually responsible for the death of Christ. However, these men were physically responsible for His death. Despite this truth, Peter proclaimed the truth with utter boldness. As a result, three thousand souls were saved that day.
Just after this Peter and John went to the temple to pray. While going into the temple God used them to heal a lame beggar. After this man was healed many people gathered around praising God for this miracle. Peter then used this as an opportunity to preach about the resurrection of Jesus resulting in the temple guards arresting them and bringing them before the Jewish leaders. While standing before these leaders their boldness in their witness for Christ was recognized. (Acts 4:13). They were then beaten and threatened not to proclaim the name of Christ anymore.
The church knew if they were to continue being a witness to Christ they would suffer persecution. Peter and John then assembled the church for the purpose of prayer. In Acts 4:29 they prayed, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, (boldness).” Acts 4:31 gives us God’s response to their prayer, “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.”
Just as the church of Jerusalem faced fierce persecution so did Paul. For this reason he requested the church of Ephesus to, “pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.” (Ephesians 6:19). This leads us to our final conclusion. If we are going to overcome our fears and be the bold witnesses Christ has called us to be we must be people of prayer. We must daily seek God for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit which gives us the boldness we need. At the same time we need to continually pray for our brothers and sisters that they will likewise stand as bold witnesses for Christ. The church must also pray for this boldness. Through the united prayer offered to God He will shake our foundation stirring us to boldness thus sending us out into this hostile world wining it over for His glory. Rusty Kuhn
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