When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.
Acts 4:31 (CSB)
As a young child, one of my favorite stuffed animals was a rust-colored cowardly lion. As a four-year-old, I hadn’t yet seen The Wizard of Oz, and my stuffed animal looked nothing like the Hollywood version. Even so, the cowardly lion is what we called him, and I somehow identified with this stuffed creature.
The cowardly lion remains a relatable figure for me. He is not a particularly bold character, and I sometimes find that to be true of myself as well. Some situations that others find daunting, I am quite comfortable in. But I can be overwhelmed in situations that would seem rather silly to others. For all of us, I suspect, there are pockets of life where personal boldness seems quite absent.
I think that being able to declare God boldly is of great importance. It is also something that I can find myself struggling to do.
What I find compelling are the circumstances which surround declaring God’s word boldly in today’s verse. Two things are noteworthy:
- One, this bold declaring was preceded by prayer.
- Two, it was led by the Spirit of God.
This gives a sometimes cowardly lion like me great hope.
Mustering up boldness to share about God isn’t something we have to do on our own. The great resources of Heaven are available to us in prayer. The equipping of the Spirit of God is willing and within us if we can just get ourselves out of the way and let Him work.
This feels like very good news to me. May we find God’s strength to live and declare Him boldly!