Blog
Empowered with Boldness
Angelo JeanPierre • May 4, 2020
Acts 4:31 says, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” Boldness is a byproduct of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The dictionary defines bold as, “showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous.” The same disciples that scattered in fear when Jesus was arrested were filled with boldness to become witnesses when the Holy Spirit came upon them.
Boldness is not necessarily the absence of fear.
I’ve heard it said that courage is being afraid of something and doing it anyways. A great acronym for fear is “False Evidence Appearing Real.” If we become aware of the greater reality of the kingdom at work in our lives, we will be emboldened to push past the fear that tries to hold us back. When the enemy tries to paralyze us with fear, it’s likely because the breakthrough is close. One of my favorite evangelists, Chris Overstreet, says that on the other side of the test is the testimony. This is why it is so important that we never stop pressing in. We don’t want to stop just short of the breakthrough that the Lord has for us!
A friend of mine named Ben was evangelizing on the streets, and he felt a strong impression to share with a very intimidating man completely covered in tattoos that God loved him and had a plan for his life. The man wanted nothing to do with it. He actually cursed at Ben and told him to get out of his face. Usually when someone reacted that way, Ben would bless the person and walk away, but this time he felt like he should continue to declare over him, “God loves you and has a plan for your life.” But the man’s response did not change, and he angrily walked away. According to the world's standards, and perhaps even most religious systems, Ben’s efforts to reach this man for Christ looked like a failure. But I would like to propose that in Heaven’s eyes, this was a success.
In the kingdom, success is not always defined by the outcome.
Scripture says that love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). Just the decision to take a risk when it is motivated by compassion is a success itself, no matter the outcome.
Six months after Ben’s encounter, a man ran up to him and asked if he remembered him. The man said, “You would not stop telling me that God loves me and has a plan for my life.” He told Ben that shortly after their encounter, he was put in jail and could not get Ben’s words out of his head. Then after he got out of jail, a group of people approached him and said that they were on a treasure hunt. Without ever having met him, they knew his name by a word of knowledge, which opened his heart to receive their ministry. That day he gave his life to Christ. Although the outcome of the encounter with the group of treasure hunters looked drastically different from Ben’s, both are a success in the kingdom. Without Ben’s boldness, the man’s heart would not have been prepared to encounter God the way he did that day with the treasurer hunters.
God boldly displayed His love for all of humanity by sending His Son to the cross on our behalf, and now He has sent us His Spirit so that we can boldly display that love by fulfilling the great commission to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us and wants to come out through our acts of boldness!
