Boldness Part 1

BOLDNESS
Vineyard Church NW - Jody Burgin

BOLDNESS vs. Fearfulness
Courageously saying or doing what is true, right, and just

Boldness is the fearless and daring courage to carry out the work God calls us to do. When Joshua was commanded to “be of good courage,” he was being told to have boldness – boldness to face death in battle, to speak truth to his own heart and to the nation, and to do great exploits for God.

John Knox was an audacious and dauntless sixteenth-century reformer. He fearlessly spoke the truth to his large congregation in Scotland but was arrested for it and chained to the oars of a galley ship. During long months of pulling on oars, he built not only his physical strength but also the strength that comes from intimacy with the Almighty. His cry was, “O God! Give me Scotland or I die!’ That was truly the beginning of the transformation of that land. And, in a very real sense, before John Knox died, God had given him Scotland. His life and work for God became so powerful that the Queen of Scotland is quoted as saying, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.”

“I will…”

not be afraid to speak the truth.
support others when they are right.
be willing to stand alone.
fear God not man.
Matthew 11:12 (Jesus speaking) “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”

Almost without exception doing God’s will requires risk, adjustments and changes. We don’t like any of those things. We love the familiar and comfortable. We love something we can control and get our arms around. Yet the closer we walk with the Lord the less control we have over our own life and His unexpected action. To audaciously give Him our will and to align our will to His requires the abandonment of what we may prefer, what we may want or may choose.

Much of what happens in our lives we simply take by faith, boldly and humbly following him. Answers may not be forthcoming. That is how God planned it. He is the potter – we are the clay. He is the shepherd – we are the sheep. He is the master – we are the servants. Why God does what He does, when and how He does it will always be a mystery to us. Nothing is worse than resisting and resenting the One who is at work in us. The Lord has the right to do what he wishes around us, to us and in us. He is the potter. As puzzling as the process may be to us, He stays with his plan. We don’t need to know all the reasons. He certainly doesn’t need to explain himself. He doesn’t plan to. Potters work with the clay. They don’t fret over it or ask permission to remake that lump of clay into whatever they wish.

Doing God’s will boils down to going where He wants us to go and being what He wants us to be. This means releasing our own plans and pride and will as we flesh out his plan and purpose. It requires faith and action, which in turn calls for risk and release. I suggest we spend less time trying to analyze and figure out God and more time unflinchingly obeying Him. When we follow his will and find ourselves in a situation that we cannot explain, don’t even try. Practice using words like “I don’t know.” “I don’t understand.” “This is beyond me.” “It doesn’t make sense to me … but that’s okay. God knows.” Quit trying to make it humanly logical. Expect the unexpected from God. God is full of surprises.

The same God who created the world is able to carry us through and to work out every situation of our lives, no matter how impossible it may seem. These words of Solomon in Proverbs 21:1 cause me to gasp in awe, “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” God is able to move hearts like his finger would reach down and retrace the course of a river. He moves as he wills in the lives of kings and of folks like us. A fearful, doubting person has a hard time with that. A bold, trusting person does not shrink from risk.

O God of surprises, I release my own plans, pride and will and acquiesce to your plan. I surrender my whole life and my future to you and will boldly follow your will and ways.