Boldness
When you hear the word “bold,” what person in the New Testament most comes to mind? Next to Jesus Christ, it would have to be Paul the Apostle. He appeared fearless in his ministry. He said he was “unashamed of the gospel” (Rom. 1:16), and his “earnest expectation and hope” would be that he would “not be put to shame in anything, but with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body” (Phil. 1:20). He proclaimed the gospel to hostile religious leaders, kings, governors, and antagonistic Jews, among others.
YET shockingly, he asked the Ephesian church to pray that he would have boldness: “And pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness, the mystery of the gospel…that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:19).
I reread a story about a bold prayer that Pastor Joe Wright prayed January 23, 1996, in the Kansas House of Representatives. More than a few were outraged, some walked out and Representative Delbert Gross called it “divisive, sanctimonious, self-serving, and overbearing” and Representative David Haley called it “blasphemous and ignorant.” Pastor Wright said he didn’t mean for it to be offensive to individuals, but he didn’t think he needed to apologize for the stating the truth. He was talking to God, not them, and the point was to say that we all have sins that we need to repent of, and concluded he wasn’t supposed to get that specific.
Well, the prayer went viral the old-fashioned way before there were any social media platforms of any kind. Here is what he prayed:
“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly what we’ve done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state. Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.”
I love the way Nehemiah boldly prayed to God when he heard about the distressful devastation in the city of Jerusalem and how the wall was broken down (Neh. 1:5–11). Here is how he ended his prayer: “O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”
Let’s ask God for boldness and His success in sharing and living out our gospel-driven faith in the public arena.
Pastor Jeff
“Reputation means nothing to Christ if it masks spiritual lethargy. True life is marked by repentance, perseverance, and holiness before the face of God.”