BOLD ENOUGH

Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should. (Eph 6:20)

Perhaps our greatest shame as followers of Christ is our timidity about the gospel. For some reason, when we are around the people who need it the most, we tend to shrink back, close our mouths, and go dark.

It makes no sense, unless you factor in our incessant pride. We long to be liked … by everybody … always. The fiery dart that crosses our path and stops us dead in our tracks is the devil’s whispers that we will be ridiculed or minimized. That our status in the eyes of others will diminish (the very thing our pride abhors).

And so, we go silent before the very people who need the good news most desperately. In so doing, they lose their most urgent message, and we fail in our greatest purpose in this life.

PAUL’S PLEA

When Paul asks others to pray for him, he doesn’t ask for comfort or provision or reputation. Quite the opposite. Notice his full prayer.

Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should. (Eph 6:19–20)

He asked for the boldness that would cause him to simply open his mouth. And that, when he did, the Lord would fill his mouth with the message, that it would be “given to (him)” and he would boldly proclaim it to all who needed to hear.

He did not ask for more than was needed. Just that he would be “bold enough” to proclaim it as he should.

Would you pray that for yourself today? Would you pray it for me? Would you ask God to open the mouths of the believers in your city and give them utterance to speak the gospel with boldness?