Acts 4:29-31 “And now they’re at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus.” While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s Word with fearless confidence.” Today's episode talks about how the apostles didn't ask for God to take away their troubles, they asked for Fearless Confidence to deal with those troubles. They didn't ask God to change their circumstances, they asked God to change them! Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Fearless Confidence
Acts 4:29-31 “And now they’re at it again! Take care of their threats and give your servants fearless confidence in preaching your Message, as you stretch out your hand to us in healings and miracles and wonders done in the name of your holy servant Jesus.” While they were praying, the place where they were meeting trembled and shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s Word with fearless confidence.”
I love how this verse ends, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s Word with fearless confidence. How great would it be to speak God’s work with fearless confidence? How great would it be to just say what you wanted to say without feeling like you had to censor it for the world? How many times have you thought something and then not said it because you weren’t sure what others would think? How many times have you not mentioned God because you didn’t want to be different or because you didn’t want to be ridiculed? I love how the disciples weren’t afraid. The stakes were high for them, and yet they couldn’t be silenced. For them, it wasn’t a case of worrying if someone would be angry. They were threatened and told they could not speak about Jesus to anyone. They were thrown in jail, and they were beaten. One of Jesus’ disciples, Stephen, was stoned to death for his preaching.
I was drawn to this passage for two main reasons. The first is because I love that they prayed for fearless confidence. I pray for a holy boldness a lot, and now I can pray for this too! The second reason is because of something Father Mike pointed out that I didn’t really notice. Does that ever happen to you? Something is right there in front of you, and yet you don’t realize it until someone points it out? Father Mike was talking about how remarkable it was that these disciples asked God for fearless confidence instead of asking God to take away the danger. As I mentioned earlier, at this time in the early church, it was really difficult to preach about God. There were rules and laws against it. People were told that if they talked about Christ Jesus, they would go to jail. They were beaten, they were put in jail, they were stoned to death. They did not have the religious freedoms many of us have today.
They could have prayed for the threat to their safety to be removed. They could have asked God to protect them from all dangers. They could have asked him to change the situation they were in. They could have asked God for anything, and instead, they asked God for fearless confidence in preaching His message. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could all make this our prayer? Wouldn’t it be great if instead of praying that God changes our circumstances, we ask God to change us? We can ask God to give us more strength, more courage, more love, more patience, more whatever it is we need to make it through our current circumstance, instead of asking God to change that circumstance. Tony was talking to his friend once when I was pregnant with one of our boys. We didn’t find out the gender of our baby until they were born. We wanted to be surprised. Tony was telling his friend that he didn’t care if it was a boy or girl, he just prayed our baby was healthy. Tony said he will never forget what his friend replied, “I used to pray for a healthy baby, now I pray for the strength to take care of whatever baby God gives me.”
Tony was moved by this statement. He thought it was great that his friend was bold enough to pray a prayer like that. When we are able to pray something like Tony’s friend prayed, or like the apostles prayed, we are truly trusting in the will of God. We are trusting in the sovereign power of God. We are asking God to equip us for whatever circumstances He has laid out before us. A lot of times, we want to take the easy way out. Sometimes everything in life is so overwhelming that we can’t help but ask God to take it away, and that is ok. It’s not bad to ask God to remove your heavy burdens. Turning your worries and cares over to God should be the first thing we all do. I think asking God to take away your struggles is a good thing. I think praying for God to change you, instead of asking Him to change your circumstances, is a deeper level in your relationship with the Lord. I long for that close of a relationship with my heavenly dad. I long for the type of relationship where I have complete trust in God and His plans. I long for a relationship with Him where my will and His will line up perfectly. How awesome would that be?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing. Please help us desire for you to transform us instead of us asking you to take away our circumstances. Help us to be open to your will, Lord. Please give us the words to say when we pray. We love you, Lord, you are the almighty one and the Lord of all. We are so grateful, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. It is so great to know I am not on this journey by myself! Thank you also to all of you who have purchased my book, Total Trust in God’s Safe Embrace! I truly appreciate it. I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in October 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “When you are overwhelmed by my love, when you feel it flowing through you, asking you to do something, then you will know that you have heard my voice, because my voice is always rooted in love.”