Do you want to be bold for Jesus?
I mean audaciously bold for Him- where you have no fear of telling others about Him or even just bringing Him up in a conversation.
Yeah, me too. :)
Ever since my mission trip to England, I’ve been reading through the book of Acts. One of my favorite stories in Acts is when Peter and John healed the lame beggar (Acts 3).
The beggar had been sitting by the temple gate and asked Peter and John for alms while they were entering the temple. Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” and the man did so (Acts 3:6 ESV).
The man entered the temple, jumping and leaping and praising God!
You’d think the religious leaders would be happy at that. However, they were very ticked off.
You see, Peter and John made it very clear that they healed that man through the power of Jesus… who the religious leaders had recently crucified (so they thought). And those religious leaders didn’t want Jesus’ followers to be teaching people about Him.
So they arrested Peter and John, and made them appear before their counsel.
They asked them by who’s power they healed that man.
And they said “Jesus.”
Well, Peter’s exact words were, “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead- by him this man is standing before you well” (Acts 4:10 ESV).
Oh snap.
And then here comes my favorite part:
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” -Acts 4:13 ESV
They saw Peter and John’s boldness, and recognized they had been with Jesus.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve found the more time I spend with Jesus, the bolder I am about my faith.
Funny how that works.
So how can we be bold? By spending time with Jesus.
And how can we spend time with Jesus? By prayer, bible study, worship and fasting.
Prayer:
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” -Colossians 4:2 NIV
Prayer is communication with God. We talk to Him, and then we listen to hear what He has to say.
Presently, I’m trying to be better at listening to God. I have a bad habit of being the only one who talks in the conversation.
When we pray, we should praise Him for who He is and what He has done for us. We should adore Him and thank Him for His attributes. A good place to learn how to do this is by reading the Psalms in the Bible.
We should also thank Him for all He has done in our lives. Thank Him for our many blessings and for sending Jesus to die for us.
We should pray for the unbelievers in our lives, that Jesus would draw them to Himself.
We should pray for our friends and family.
We should pray for ourselves, that we would come to love Jesus more than we already do.
We should confess our sins and repent from them.
And remember, all of this should be done in conversation mode- both us and God talking equally.
When you and I are in constant communication with our King, then it simply follows that we would be bold for Him.
Related post: The Secret to Deep Prayer
Bible Study:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” -Psalm 119:105 ESV
There’s really no right or wrong way to get into God’s Word and see what He has to say. As Jen Weaver said, “You can’t break the Bible.”
I want to encourage you to find what works for you and God. To be present with Him. To sit down with Him as often as you can and be open to what He would have you learn about Him.
I love what Tiffany Young said about spending time with the Lord: “I am not on a quest to “read the Bible in a year,” or “get 20 minutes a day” in, I am on a quest to intimately know my King.”
When you read the Bible, read with that goal in mind: To intimately know your King.
And as we learn more and more about God and know Him more deeply, we will begin to be more bold for him.
Worship:
“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.” -Psalm 29:2 NIV
I think in today’s society, worshiping God has come to be synonymous with our time in song on Sunday mornings. But worshiping God should be so much more than that.
Dictionary.com defines worship as: “adoring reverence or regard.”
We tend to be bold for the things and people we adore. My mind flashes to (most) Texans who are quick to defend their personal adored football team. If someone says something negative about that team, they are quick to stand up for it.
This brings us to the question: Do we adore God? Because if we did, we would be increasingly more bold for Him.
Music written to help us worship is a great way to adore Him. I love listening to my Pandora “Praise and Worship Radio” station as I go about my day.
But our worship time is not limited to singing or listening to music.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” -Romans 12:1 ESV
Our entire lives should be lived out with a worshipful attitude. We are to be living sacrifices to God- surrendering our live to Him.
And as we live out each day, constantly adoring the One who created the universe, it’s only natural that out of our worshipful heart we would become bold for Him.
Fasting:
Haha, Ohhh Fasting.
Quite honestly, as I was thinking about what to include in this post, I was just going to write about prayer, Bible study and worship. But then I prayed about it, and I got the overwhelming sense that God wanted me to include fasting on this list.
I wanted to refuse. I rarely fast. I don’t feel qualified to write about fasting. However, I didn’t feel at peace with leaving it out, so here it is!
Fasting is scattered throughout the Bible. People fasted when they wanted to be deep in prayer. When they were sorrowful about an event or when they wanted to petition God for something.
Example: After David’s sin with Bathsheba, the child Bathsheba gave birth to became sick. “David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.” -2 Samuel 12:16 ESV
Example: Before Esther approached the king in order to save the entire Jewish nation, she told her uncle Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf.” -Esther 4:16a ESV
Okay great, but how can we fast?
Simply put, fasting is giving up something and then spending that time to be with God. So we can fast by giving up food, technology, books, anything that has a potential for distracting us from God. Then we spend the time we would be doing that activity with God.
And keep in mind that when we fast, we need to make sure we keep it between us and God. So don’t go posing about it on social media or telling everyone and their dog what you’re doing.
“But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.” -Matthew 6:17-18a ESV
As we fast and spend extra time with the Lord, we will grow to be more bold for Him.
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” -Acts 4:13 ESV
That’s what I pray for you and me. I pray God would fill us with such a great boldness and audacity in our faith that when people see us they would know that we have been with Jesus.
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