THE GREAT COMMISSION: Boldness Without Pressure

“Now, Lord… enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” Acts 4:29

Evangelism doesn’t require talent. It requires obedience and boldness. Boldness isn’t about pressure but it’s about being willing to speak when the Spirit leads. It can be daunting and overwhelming to say “hi” to a stranger, even more share the grace and truth of God!

But thankfully, it’s not within our own power, but the power of the Holy Spirit within us - which we will talk more about in the next series. We’ve already been given the call and commission by God to share the Good News. We don’t need permission or to wait for God to give us a “golden opportunity” or a prophetic word for someone. He already gave us the authority the day we put our faith and trust in Him. Now let’s walk in that.

When we rely on God, we don’t have to fear rejection. He handles the outcome and we just show up. The fear of man means they play a song and you dance to it, but the fear of God means you get to pick the tune.

For me personally, posting these devotionals is me actively fighting for boldness. I wrote these articles a year ago and sat on it for fear of what people may think. I was so afraid of people not reading them, or liking them, which is kind of silly looking back on it. These thoughts, these talks, these devotions came out of real conversations with God and what He has spoken to me. And because God spoke to me to share it with others, why should I be afraid of what people think? Does it matter? He told me to share it. That’s it. I have no idea who will read these and it’s not my responsibility to know. All I know is it will help someone.

The Gospel is the same way. It was given to us to give away. We have received a gift we could not earn so we can give the gift away to others. Some people may not receive it, some may, we can’t know who will or won’t until we try. We can’t save anyone; we can’t convert anyone. “Winning souls for Jesus” is not a real thing. We simply share confidently and kindly and allow the Holy Spirit to bring the outcome.

If we live for the approval of people, then we will always die from their rejection. If we live from the approval of God, then people’s opinions are not our responsibility. Live boldly, live freely, live for Jesus - not people.

FOUNDATION PROMPTS:

• Do you have boldness or are you letting fear hold you back?

• If you have fear, what are you in fear of?

• What would Spirit-led boldness look like today?