Sometimes people tell me, “I wish I could be bolder in sharing about Jesus!” Heck, I know I have felt that in my own life!
Now when it comes to witnessing, there is an element of courage. When you are new at it, you sometimes just have to “get over that first hump” and do it before it starts to get easier. So there is a part of it where you just need to work at it and it will get easier.
But there is another side to evangelism as well. This is the “behind the scenes” piece.
In my Bible reading plan, I was recently reading Acts 4. In this chapter, I saw a phrase keep coming up, followed by an action. The phrase is, “Filled with the Holy Spirit” and the proceeding action is boldness in witnessing.
In chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4, Peter and his pals heal someone and then are teaching the people about Jesus. The religious leaders don’t like it, so they arrest them and bring them in for a chat. Then they ask Peter, “By what power are you doing this?” Peter, sensing a big opportunity, boldly starts sharing Jesus with the religious leaders. But before he starts, it says, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…” (Acts 4:8).
Later on, after they are released, they all met together and prayed for MORE boldness in sharing about Jesus. After that, “and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”
Notice the correlation: Each time they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were bolder in sharing about Jesus.
So do you want more boldness in sharing about Jesus? Then one of the things you can do – other than praying for boldness – is to ask that the Holy Spirit would fill you more fully today.
I won’t go into the whole theology of the Holy Spirit. But when you become a Christian, you are sealed and filled with the Holy Spirit. But in Acts, we see that there is some sort of additional filling (or fullness) that we receive from the Holy Spirit. It is usually given for the purpose of being a witness for Jesus to the world.
So do you want more boldness? Pray and ask God to fill you more fully with the Holy Spirit today!