“ … all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: ‘O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them … And now, O Lord, hear [the religious leaders’] threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.’ … After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.”
-Acts 4:24b, 29, 31
“[The religious leaders] called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: ‘Jesus is the Messiah.’”
-Acts 5:40b-42
Chapters 4 and 5 of the book of Acts include stories of how the religious leaders persecuted the apostles. The apostles would not stop proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead and that “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The religious leaders twice arrest, jail, and threaten the apostles, telling them never to speak about Jesus again.
Good luck with that! As the disciples said, “We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). Instead of stopping, the early church prayed to their sovereign, creator God for boldness to continue talking about Jesus.
Evangelism is no small, unimportant task. So we need great strength, wisdom, and courage to tell others about Jesus. And God gives us all we need to share the Gospel. Because, after all, He did create everything! No job is too small for Him, especially the job of giving us the boldness we need to tell others about Jesus.
After their second arrest, the boldness doesn’t stop! Immediately after being beaten and told not to mention the name of Jesus, these guys immediately go out and teach and preach about Jesus everywhere.
No hesitation. Total boldness. And they rejoiced that they were beaten for the sake of the Gospel! Wow!
We in the United States don’t face anywhere near this kind of persecution today for telling others about Jesus. Yet we often feel fear about telling others that “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
May the Creator God of the Universe grant us the boldness to take the Gospel to each woman, where she is, as she is.
Lorraine Potter Kalal
President and CEO
Inspirational