Boldness through Him

Ephesians 3:12

In whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

I had four people tell me they weren’t interested in Jesus Christ yesterday. It’s funny how the Lord works. In certain areas I am a man of great fear. I fear rejection more than any other form of social criticism. It’s amazing to me that I ever got married. Not because I find it so difficult to think that Kristie would love me, but more because I had to ask her if she wanted to take a walk with me at some point in time… that’s another story though.

Because of this fear, I am not one who usually witnesses to people I don’t know. Yesterday, though, God placed such a conviction on my heart that I couldn’t ignore His command any longer. It had actually come to the point where I felt I would be sinning if I didn’t get up and go talk to someone about Jesus Christ. To make a long story short, I spent the next hour sharing my faith with five different individuals. Four of them wanted nothing to do with the good news of Jesus, while one of them let me talk for a while, but knew just enough to withstand the Spirit’s calling on her life. Did I lead anyone to Christ? No… but looking back at the situation I have realized that “success” was never the point, only my obedience. God took the fear in my life, and showed me how insignificant it was in comparison to His greatness.

What is the biggest fear in your life? The Lord promises us that we have boldness and confident access to the Father through Jesus Christ. This means we can approach Him for strength in every situation we encounter. 2 Tim. 1:7 reminds us that, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline.” God the Father continually instructs His people to “Fear no evil.” This is witnessed not only in the New Testament but throughout the Old Testament as well. When you became a Christian, sanctification began is long process of work in your life. You could live for a hundred years after accepting Christ and never be so disciplined that you are able to stop sinning. On the other hand, the day you accepted Christ as your Savior you received His Spirit, His power, His boldness and His confidence. Living within you is the same Holy Spirit that came down on the early church in “tongues of fire.” This boldness and confidence was made available only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I challenge you to ask the Lord to reveal to you this boldness.

When I approached those four individuals that turned me down, I wasn’t approaching them with confidence in my ability to speak or to lead someone to Christ. The only reason I even decided to approach them was because I could lean on the boldness and confidence of Jesus Christ in my life. It’s unfathomable to me the number of possibilities that exist if I would only trust in the Lord more consistently. I pray that you would begin to understand this same truth as it plays out within your own life.