Holy Boldness

After being told, "speak no more in the name of Jesus" (Acts 5:40), the apostles went on their way and they "kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ" (5:42). Last night as Pastor Stepec and I were out praying for folks in our town and we came to a crossroads where we could have headed for home or gone back in a direction we had already been where there were actually people outside. On this very warm summer evening there were very few people out and we had not really had any very good conversations. That was sort of safe in the sense that we didn't have the awkwardness of introducing ourselves and the fear of starting a conversation is gone when nobody is there. I found myself internally pulled to "make for home" and then nudged by the Holy Spirit changed directions and we approached a man working outside. We struck up a conversation and asked the man if there was anything we could be praying for him about. Without hesitating he listed off three things. We visited and then prayed with him right there. I was so glad we stuck with it, but the pull to "bail" was real. I think of the apostles in Acts 5 told not to preach any more in Jesus' name and how they responded in courage. In these days in our country it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand up for our faith. Hostility and aggression towards Christians is increasing. We are going to have to decide if we will join the apostles and "obey God rather than men". Lord, give us the courage to "not be ashamed of the gospel" and to speak the truth even when it is not popular.