Have you ever been in a smoked filled room? Even if you don’t like the smell of the smoke, which I don’t; when you leave, the smell follows you. It is embedded in your clothing and also in your hair. On the flip side, being in the presence of God regularly is quite telling—it follows you. After an encounter with God you’re able to act, think, and interface with people based on the influence of the lingering presence of God.
We learn in Acts chapter four that the ordinary and unschooled men, Peter and John, demonstrated a unique courage and fearlessness simply as a result of hanging around Jesus. During this journey learn to spend special times lingering in the presence of God through prayer and worship. These times of soaking will literally heal you of fear and doubt. You will reclaim the interior areas of your life by having the medicine of courage applied to parts of your life wherein fear had taken up residency.
Notice, the prayer of the saints: “Now, Lord, consider their threats [the godless people] and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts 4:29). Their outlook towards God was that they wanted to grow in courage, boldness, and fearlessness. Their prayers conveyed a faith that such a request was in keeping with His will and their need. As you read the postings of our fellow bloggers, it is evident that people are pressing into God for healing in their interior—their feelings, moods, and personality. Ask God today for His grace so that you can reclaim courage and boldness in your life where fear, doubt, and timidity may have ruled.
We learn in Acts chapter four that the ordinary and unschooled men, Peter and John, demonstrated a unique courage and fearlessness simply as a result of hanging around Jesus. During this journey learn to spend special times lingering in the presence of God through prayer and worship. These times of soaking will literally heal you of fear and doubt. You will reclaim the interior areas of your life by having the medicine of courage applied to parts of your life wherein fear had taken up residency.
Notice, the prayer of the saints: “Now, Lord, consider their threats [the godless people] and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (Acts 4:29). Their outlook towards God was that they wanted to grow in courage, boldness, and fearlessness. Their prayers conveyed a faith that such a request was in keeping with His will and their need. As you read the postings of our fellow bloggers, it is evident that people are pressing into God for healing in their interior—their feelings, moods, and personality. Ask God today for His grace so that you can reclaim courage and boldness in your life where fear, doubt, and timidity may have ruled.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI will say that today’s post by Dr. Ireland is spot on – there is something powerful that happens when one spends a very good amount of time in God’s presence. There should not be any confusion between being in his presence for prayer or for friendship. God is one who loves relationship and this is one thing I have learned and experienced in spending time with God, there are times - depending on the situation - when I plan on opening my mouth to voice my concerns, words just won’t come out – until later in my quietness I realized that this is exactly what God wants, just to be silent in His holy presence which I believe is where confidence, maturity, courage and strength are gained in order to do His will.
I also will add that the disciples were no different than us believers today; the only difference is that we have the freedom to tell others about Jesus while they didn’t have that privilege for as we see they were arrested at time; however the courage that is given to us through the Holy Spirit must be utilized.
I guess along the journey with the Holy Spirit’s leading and teaching, one will gain more than just courage because boldness is not arrogance but rather it’s confidence in who Christ is and the assurance that He is not going to leave us hanging in the midst of chaos and not help us sort things through.
* Hope everyone have a great day today, be blessed!
Wilene
I am very excited about this 40 day journey. I share the views of my fellow bloggers that this discussion forum is a great idea and will definitely keep us connected. Both my husband and I look forward to the daily blogs, which we discuss along with the assigned readings.
ReplyDeleteThe reading for today spoke to my heart and I prayed for God to empower me to be bold for Him. I feel that there is a certain level of modesty that I maintain when talking about God in a corporate or non-religious setting or when relating to unbelievers. However, I have realized that I am timid and do not speak up when it is called for........
A few months ago, I was confronted by a co-worker on what my church believed about a very controversial topic. I found myself shrinking back and not answering boldly in order to avert an uncomfortable discussion. As I replayed the events of that day, I realized that I should have been more courageous. After that incident, I cried out to God asking Him to empower me to be bolder in my actions for Him in the future.
Prayer & Spiritual Warfare by E.M. Bounds, talks about faith and prayer being two “chief virtues that are critical to creating conditions for spiritual success.” He reminded us that when faith fills our hearts (after spending time with the Lord, and/or studying the word) it will infuse our prayers, and there will be little room for fear, doubt or unbelief. Faith in action is bold, courageous and causes noticeable transformation!
One of the areas that I will reclaim during this 40 day journey is boldness and courage for God in the areas where I have allowed the enemy to drown out the truth of God’s words!
LaToya
I am also excited about this 40 day journey. I want to thank Pastor David for opening up this avenue for us to read his blogs and be able to connect, being such a large church.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite something, how being in the presence of the Lord does linger on. I found it interesting how in the 4th chapter of Acts the number of men had grown to about 5,000! A very familiar number to us at Christ Church. May we continue to grow in our relationship's with God and one another, in order to encourage one another and add to the kingdom of God!