Boldness

We are studying the book of Acts in my Bible study, and this week we were on Chapter 4. Peter had just healed the lame man in the name of Jesus and was using the opportunity to preach the good news of the gospel. Along came the priests and Saducees, "greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead." Peter and John were arrested even as the number of believers continued to grow.

While on trial the next day, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and boldly stood before those who opposed him, proclaiming Jesus as the only way to find salvation, amazing the men who recognized that these uneducated men must have been with Jesus. They couldn't charge them with any crime, but ordered them not to speak anymore in Jesus' name. They answered that they must do what God told them, not men.

The next section is interesting. They were released and went back to their friends and told their story. Their friends prayed for them, not for relief or protection, but for more boldness to speak! God's response was to shake the place where they were gathered, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit "and continued to speak the word of God with boldness."

Our leader challenged us with this. Do we as Christians in America today have anywhere near this amount of boldness? If we did, would things be happening as they are today? Would our rights be taken away from us, one after the other, as they have been in recent years?

Atheists are speaking out boldly. Prayer has been taken out of schools. There is talk of having "under God" taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" taken off of our currency. Even Christian radio is being threatened.

Should we just sit back and take it all? Or should we stand up boldly and proclaim God's truth? I think if enough Christians did this, we would make an impact on all that is going on. Thankfully, we haven't reached a point where we will be thrown into prison or killed for speaking our faith, so we have a lot less to lose in this country than Christians in the past or in other parts of the world do.

I challenge you to join me in praying for boldness to proclaim my faith and to stand up for the name of Jesus!