The Believer’s Pray-Be Bold

 Have you ever been so passionate about something that you spoke with the intensity of a great warrior or scholar and had no idea where the words came from? Was there a time when you stood strong for a cause in a way that you would have never believed you could?

Perhaps this is the type of inner passion today’s scripture refers to as speaking the word of God boldly.

Peter and John were seized and taken to jail because of what they were sharing about Jesus.  They were questioned and warned multiple times not to speak of or teach in the name of Jesus. Upon their release, Peter and John were even more intent on their mission.

They prayed; “Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your Holy Servant Jesus.”

Verse 31 goes on to say; After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

We can be bold and assertive without being aggressive or pushy. Being bold for the Lord is a great honor. Meeting people where they are with the confidence of the Holy Spirit within us will draw others to us.

Perhaps you are not a bold person by nature, but you will be amazed at what can come forth from within even the small and meek when the Spirit is near and we are open to it. Be bold for the Lord! He has certainly been bold for us!

Read/Listen to Acts 4:23-31

The Lord Looks Down From Heaven



My dad passed away earlier this year. I think about him from time to time and reflect on my life and how he and my mom raised me. When I got older, our family was spread across the US. My dad enjoyed Thanksgiving, a time when the family got together. He especially liked seeing how everyone enjoyed each other’s presence.

The Eskimo Nebula
Somewhere in the Heavens

 

My family is likewise scattered about, and Thanksgiving is one of the few times we can all get together. This year my family and most of my brother’s family spent the day together. I thought to myself, “Dad would enjoy being here. Perhaps he is watching, and enjoying, what is going on right now.”

 

Today’s reading is Psalm 33:13-22. The Psalmist tells us that, “The Lord looks down from heaven on all of mankind.” Man, no matter his standing in society, can do nothing by himself. God takes care of those “whose hope is in his unfailing love.”

 

Is my dad really looking down from heaven on my family and I? Theologians have debated for years whether or not this is possible. Our capabilities in heaven after our death and before Jesus’ second coming is vague and provides debate fodder for those whose calling is to study such things.

 

It really doesn’t matter. The thought might provide some comfort for me, but I do have someone more important than my dad looking down from heaven, and that is the Lord!

 

What a blessing it is to know that I do not have to “go it alone” in this world. What a blessing to know that God is right there with me along the way. What a blessing to know that he “has my back.”

 

God sees to it that my basic needs are met. I may at times have troubles, but He guides me through the mine fields of life.

 

Most importantly, he provides a cosmic shield around my soul so that my number one enemy, Satan, cannot harm me.

 

Most certainly, God looks down from heaven and “Delivers me from death!”

 

What a blessing indeed!