Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for boldness and confidence is a beautiful and biblical request, and God delights to answer it.
Scripture says that in Christ we have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Him. This is not because you have made yourself worthy, but because you have been accepted in the Beloved. Under the old covenant even the people of God did not have this kind of access, but now through Jesus there is one mediator between God and man, and His blood gives us boldness to enter into the very presence of God. The writer of Hebrews says to come boldly to the throne of grace. You do not need to be timid or to feel you must go through another person to reach God. You can come directly, with confidence, because of what Jesus has done.
That boldness is also what God gives for living and speaking for Him in this world. When the early believers faced threats and imprisonment for proclaiming the gospel, they did not pray for the opposition to be removed. They prayed that God would grant them boldness to continue to speak His word. God answered, the place where they were praying was shaken, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they went out and spoke with boldness. Paul, even while he was a prisoner for the gospel, asked the church to pray that he would be given boldness to speak as he ought to speak, and not be silenced by intimidation. God wants to give you that same courage, not just to feel brave inside, but to speak and live faithfully even when there is pressure to be quiet.
There is another kind of confidence that belongs to you as well. Scripture says that as He is, so are we in this world, and that when His love is made perfect in us we can have boldness even in the day of judgment. There is no fear in love, because perfect love casts out fear. Fear brings torment, but when you know that God loves you supremely, that He is wiser than you, and that you are secure in Christ who bore your sin and its judgment, fear loses its hold. That confidence is not only for the future, but for each day as you face uncertainty or opposition, knowing your life is in His hands.
The Lord often says to His people, be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. The cure for fear and anxiety is the awareness of His presence. He does not call you to do what He will not enable you to do. What He has begun in your life He will finish. He will perfect that which concerns you and complete the work of His Spirit in you. You can turn your difficulty over to Him and then declare with confidence that He is your helper and the one who upholds your soul. Prayer often moves from petition to confidence to praise, even before you see the victory.
I pray for you now that God will fill you with that confidence. May He remind you that you have open access to His throne through Jesus, that you are fully accepted and loved, and that His presence goes with you. May the Holy Spirit grant you boldness to speak and to live for Christ without shame or fear, whether by life or by death Christ may be magnified in you. May perfect love cast out all fear, and may you rest in the assurance that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. In Jesus name, Amen.
Scripture says that in Christ we have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Him. This is not because you have made yourself worthy, but because you have been accepted in the Beloved. Under the old covenant even the people of God did not have this kind of access, but now through Jesus there is one mediator between God and man, and His blood gives us boldness to enter into the very presence of God. The writer of Hebrews says to come boldly to the throne of grace. You do not need to be timid or to feel you must go through another person to reach God. You can come directly, with confidence, because of what Jesus has done.
That boldness is also what God gives for living and speaking for Him in this world. When the early believers faced threats and imprisonment for proclaiming the gospel, they did not pray for the opposition to be removed. They prayed that God would grant them boldness to continue to speak His word. God answered, the place where they were praying was shaken, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they went out and spoke with boldness. Paul, even while he was a prisoner for the gospel, asked the church to pray that he would be given boldness to speak as he ought to speak, and not be silenced by intimidation. God wants to give you that same courage, not just to feel brave inside, but to speak and live faithfully even when there is pressure to be quiet.
There is another kind of confidence that belongs to you as well. Scripture says that as He is, so are we in this world, and that when His love is made perfect in us we can have boldness even in the day of judgment. There is no fear in love, because perfect love casts out fear. Fear brings torment, but when you know that God loves you supremely, that He is wiser than you, and that you are secure in Christ who bore your sin and its judgment, fear loses its hold. That confidence is not only for the future, but for each day as you face uncertainty or opposition, knowing your life is in His hands.
The Lord often says to His people, be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. The cure for fear and anxiety is the awareness of His presence. He does not call you to do what He will not enable you to do. What He has begun in your life He will finish. He will perfect that which concerns you and complete the work of His Spirit in you. You can turn your difficulty over to Him and then declare with confidence that He is your helper and the one who upholds your soul. Prayer often moves from petition to confidence to praise, even before you see the victory.
I pray for you now that God will fill you with that confidence. May He remind you that you have open access to His throne through Jesus, that you are fully accepted and loved, and that His presence goes with you. May the Holy Spirit grant you boldness to speak and to live for Christ without shame or fear, whether by life or by death Christ may be magnified in you. May perfect love cast out all fear, and may you rest in the assurance that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. In Jesus name, Amen.
