Fearless

Acts 2, Ezekiel 3, Matthew 10

Dear God,

Grant me the fearless boldness that characterized your disciples on the day of Pentecost.  Grant me the Spirit-filled boldness that You used to turn the world upside down through the power of Your Gospel.  

William Barclay speaks of a "double fearlessness" which God's spokes persons must possess. I should not fear exposing sin, because it will all be exposed some day anyway; and I must not fear to speak boldly of the power of Christ to transform a life.  Barclay writes that the function of the preacher is to listen and to speak. Your spokes person must listen to You and speak Your Words. "He must speak even if his speaking is to gain him the hatred of men, and even if, by speaking, he takes his life in his hands" (William Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1, p. 397).

Bearing Christ's message will often mean suffering. Jesus' life and ministry warns me "that, as Christ had to carry a cross, so also the individual Christian must have to carry a cross... To suffer for Christ is to share the work of Christ; to have to sacrifice for the faith is to share the sacrifice of Christ... When Christianity costs something we are closer than ever we were to the fellowship of Jesus Christ; and if we know the fellowship of His sufferings, we shall also know the power of His resurrection." (p. 394-395).

Ezekiel provides a vivid example of Your demands for me as Your spokes person "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul" (Ezekiel 3:17-19).

So, today I need boldness.  I need courage.  I need strength. 

I am weakness, full of weakness,

At Thy sacred feet I bow;

Blest, divine, eternal Spirit,

Fill with power and fill me now.

(Elwood Stokes, 1879)

Make me fearless in You.

Amen.