Christian Boldness

Today’s Bottom Line: Based on reading 2 Timothy 1:6-7, 2nd Timothy 2:4, and Romans 5:3-5 the following is concluded about the nature of boldness. Boldness is continuing to live a life of obedience to God even when it is intimidating in the circumstances.

The Rest of It

Boldness is one of those things that seems to be lacking in the mainstream Christian community. I am not saying that bold Christians do not exist. What I am saying is that as the wider world moves further away from God it seems to get harder to find any form of uncompromising Christian influencers. With the appropriately named Cancel Culture being a prevalent thing on the internet it is easy to understand why those who have a big platform online and use it as a vast source of their income are fearful about going against the narrative that the tech companies are supporting. College campuses do get a bad reputation due to unsavory individuals being there and highly active for their comparatively small size as an organization. But it is enough to cause regular people to feel afraid. That’s why we are covering this subject that will remain ever-relevant in a world that is where the spiritual battle manifests itself physically. 

As with just about any subject it’s easier to analyze by asking a question and finding the answer to that question. While I know this is a side note it is also important to ask the right questions. We can get the correct answer to the question but if it is the wrong question it doesn’t exactly help us with the situation. Due to this, I am focusing on asking the question of why. Why are we intimidated? Not so much the question of what intimidates us but rather what is the reason for wanting us to be intimidated?

Well as a tactic it is used to suppress a person or group of person’s actions in a way of winning a fight before you actually have to fight it. For many animals in nature, while I know that humans are not classified as animals biblically they are still classified in the same way by biologists, their primary defense is to scare off the threat and make themselves look bigger than they are. A classic example is when a bear stands up on their hind legs and roars at you. Even if you could win a fight it is a better use of resources to simply not have to fight to begin with.

2nd Timothy chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 provide a bit of insight into this situation from the spiritual angle. A quick word about this letter. This is the last one that Paul ever writes before his execution and in it, he is giving instructions to Timothy who has been with Paul for a long time as his student. Writing this Paul knows that he is going to be executed at any moment now which I believe is why he made sure to include these verses in the letter.

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

(2nd Timothy 1:6-7 NIV)

Well now, we see just what benefit Satan can get by intimidating us. In addition to keeping us from being active members of the harvest our supernatural gifts from God get hindered. Or at the very least it is like a muscle that never gets used and atrophies over time. To the point where we have been so unwilling to use it that God simply removes it from us if we don’t come to Him asking to be restored and strengthened again for service to Him. You might say I’m wrong in declaring that God will remove the gifting from somebody but I look at the parable of the talents. The master in that parable took away the one talent from the servant who didn’t use it and gave it away to the one who had best stewarded what he had already been given. In Acts chapter 2 the Holy Spirit manifested itself as fire and reading our text from Timothy we see that Paul is working on that imagery of a strong fire that needs to be maintained. A fact that they would understand intrinsically since that was their primary heat source. One thing that I know from camping is that fires can die out if not properly maintained.

So then, how does a Christian maintain the gifting? The answer is by ensuring it is actively used. In my Valentine’s Day special I believe I mentioned that writing was what I started in 2019 after prompting from the Lord. Writing is one of the gifts that he has given me and then chose to activate but it had begun manifesting itself in my late high school years, roughly 2016-2018. I just never knew what exactly it was for since I had begun writing short things that could be comparable to letters to an unknown recipient. Writing this I’m thinking now might be a good time to admit that I am drawing some of this from John Bevere’s book “X: Multiply Your God-Given Potential.” Specifically this section on the importance of not letting our gifts be wasted by disuse like the servant in the parable of the talents. 

When God provides Christians with gifts He does so to empower them for good works in life that grow the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This includes both gifts that we originally had and those we didn’t have but God gives us. In the book, John Bevere explains how he has only met one other person with a reading and writing score lower than his on the SAT. For my non-American audience, the SAT is a big test that kids do in High School and it is used to determine a person’s aptitude for different skills like math, science, reading, and writing. The higher your score is in a certain category the more expectation there is for you to enter into a related field. Based on just his SAT score John Bevere should not be writing all of these books but God decided that He was going to use John to write these books. John Bevere was chosen for one purpose only and that is because he would recognize and give God the glory for the books that would be written and are being written. It is one of these reasons that when we are working within our gifts in accordance with the work God has provided in advance for us we are also granted the authority to overcome the forces of the enemy that come against us. Each obstacle we overcome is meant to be a place to give God the glory that he deserves.

One thing that is important to mention is that we are not immune to our own mistakes when we make them. Those will be stumbling blocks that teach us painful and or expensive lessons that we won’t easily forget.

When Satan sends his forces against us we have the authority to rebuke them and stand strong so long as we remain with God. He is our only source and that authority only comes by following the orders he has given and not doing something else. Paul continues on in his letter to Timothy putting it this way;

“No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.”

(2nd Timothy 2:4 NIV)

Now that we have the reasons for intimidation established I want to go over some tactics for intimidation in real life.

A common tactic is to make you doubt yourself and your calling. It makes you hesitate to speak with power and authority as you ought to when God calls you to speak. In those times we should not be afraid or let those doubts have power over us for we are to take every thought captive. Having self-control over both our actions and thoughts to determine who has the final say in our thinking is one of the ways we counter doubt. 

This is something that we cannot do in our own strength. 

That is another trap of the enemy since it removes us from the ability to carry on seemingly indefinitely. Jesus made it clear to us in no uncertain terms that without Him we can do nothing as he declared to His disciples in Gethsemane(John 15). Because of this, it is important that we learn to make an effort to live in constant contact with our creator and power source. If we ate only once or twice a week we would be unable to do much if anything at all for a long time. I know that there are individuals who have lasted for a while without food but they were not exactly trying to fight in a war or complete a construction project. 

Christians are spiritually meant to be active in our world which is a spiritual war on a daily basis. Some of us are building entrenchments and others are busy running into the line of fire to get the civilians out of danger. While others are doing triage work. Don’t get caught up in the analogies but focus on the main message. 

Boldness comes by knowing whom we walk with. Look at the heroes of faith; Daniel and his friends, Peter, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the martyrs of our faith. They endured like Paul who had gone through much more than anyone else alive at his time and he had these things to say about suffering.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

(Romans 5:3-5 NIV)

I bring up the subject of suffering because many of us are afraid of going through hardship as a result of obedience to God. In our western world, we don’t have to worry about much when compared to other places. A bit of disagreement and being looked at as divisive is a small price to pay for sowing the seed God has given us to sow. 

Learn to see the suffering as a test of your endurance like Paul speaks of it as being for us. And here is the thing about people who are fearless. They are an encouragement to the people around them and even a bit intimidating to their enemies. Satan knows that he can not win and that is why he seeks to make us afraid of acting in accordance with the commands of God and standing up for what is true.

My prayer is that God will deliver each and every one of you who read or listen to this from fear. To be set free from what makes you afraid to speak the truth when pressure exists for you to keep quiet or to go along with the crowd. That is my prayer for all of you. In Jesus’, name amen.