Day Fifty-Six: Daily Need
18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” (Ephesians 6:18-20, NIV)
Being bold requires a person to recognize their insufficiency for the task at hand. Andy Stanley quipped, “Past boldness is no assurance of future boldness. Boldness demands continual reliance on God’s Spirit.” Far too often, we dismiss the priority of prayer and isolated fellowship with God needed to fulfill the “call” over our lives successfully. And, yet Paul, in his letter to the church in Ephesus, vulnerably requests prayers for his mission. Although he has witnessed incredible waves of revival and missional growth, he recognizes that the boldness of yesterday is not enough for today unless that boldness is from the Holy Spirit.
Day-to-day, we find ourselves confronted with challenges that only have one objective – steal faith and boldness. We can never forget that boldly sharing The Gospel requires an unwavering belief that the news of salvation is essential to all humanity. We can never fall into the trap of reducing the evangelistic call to mere organizational growth with a focus on training in leadership that requires more awareness of flow charts, production equipment, event meetings, etc., than the love of God and people.
For Paul to combat this potential threat, he urges his readers to pray for him to have boldness. Additionally, I believe he was asking for the focus to eliminate the distractions and tasks that would keep him from God’s “Great Commission” Mandate of reaching the lost. So, today may we pray for the same. May we ask God for boldness to be sensitive to the “call” of Jesus on us all to reach the lost with the Good News of His salvation. Why not stop right now and ask God for the same boldness as Paul?
Blessings,
Andy Smith