Sometimes you know God is speaking to you because you start to hear the same message over and over. Lately, it’s been all about being bold in my faith.
Whenever I think of what it means to be bold, I think of Peter and John standing before the council of rulers, elders and scribes in Acts 4. They had just performed a miraculous healing and were brought before the council to be questioned. The council orders them to quit speaking, teaching, and performing miracles in the name of Jesus. Boldly, with seemingly no regard for their own lives, they flatly refused. Not only did they refuse, but they also accused the council of being murderers for taking the life of Jesus, and proclaimed His resurrection to them. But the story doesn’t end there. As soon as they are released, they return to their brethren and pray. Part of this prayer is this, found in verse 29; Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word. Here they had just boldly proclaimed God’s word to the very people who could have had them killed, and among their first thoughts is to pray for boldness. They knew that just because they had spoken boldly once did not mean they were now men of boldness with the ability to speak boldly from then on. For me, there is a great lesson in this. The ability to speak the word of God boldly comes from God. And it is something we need to regularly petition Him for. It’s not meant to be easy, and it almost always has repercussions, but God wants a bold people who are willing to speak His truth.
I feel like God has given me a bold message to speak. And I also feel like I’ve been holding back on speaking it because of the repercussions it may have. My prayer today is the same as Peter’s… grant to Your servant that with all boldness I may speak Your word. I’m not sure what it’ll look like when I do, but I can sense that He is finally beginning to bring it into focus for me.
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February 22, 2009 at 8:23 pm
internet elias
>>>>I feel like God has given me a bold message to speak. And I also feel like I’ve been holding back on speaking it because of the repercussions it may have.
Brad, might be more likely that, like the apostles to whom He said, ‘Follow me,’ He is compelling you to the same walk….not talk. We are in perilous days. The harvest is white and the laborers are few. God rules. No man’s witness will be stopped or cut short. It will end when God decides. People, especially Christians seem to have become immune to talk about God. They’ve quit listening. Sometimes I can picture God with His fingers in His ears…totally tired of our talk,talk,talk,talk,talk,talk,…well…you get the point. But bring the real deal to those in the highways and hedges…they will come. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand…present in this world…inhabited by true believers..the Body of Christ…the real deals. You sound like a ‘real deal.’ In these last days I believe He is calling us to the ‘doing’ of the Word. In one scripture, He said, ‘if you don’t believe my words; believe the works I do.’ The apostles were operating at vessels of the Holy Spirit…empowered for service. Bold….whewwww…can’t you just hear them. But they brought forth those truths in authority, boldness and LOVE.