2017 Word of Purpose: Boldness

Of course its the end of January Week Two and I haven't posted about our 52 Week Prayer Project! [For anyone reading this, Lize and I have decided to intentionally pray for a new topic each week to center ourselves and to focus on Jesus, despite life's craziness.]

January Week One was an opportunity to pray for a word to guide our 2017 walk with the Lord. I hope God teaches me more than my one word but, it's a good place to start. I started praying two weeks ago for God to bring to mind an area to grow in. Over and over again, the word that came to mind was: Boldness. I went back and forth about it because, let's get real, being bold is a scary and complex concept. But as I started to research boldness in Scripture, I realized.. that it's just as complex and scary as I thought it was - just in a challenging and fascinating way. Boldness or confidence in the stories of the Bible is so different than the way often displayed in the world. In Acts 4, after Peter and John healed the lame beggar, they were approached by the Sadduccees who were angry that they were preaching the Gospel. So, of course, they went on to preach the Gospel eloquently and passionately, even in the face of opposition. And, this is what is said of the reaction to the men:

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13).

Luke (the author of Acts) is quick to explain that Peter and John were uneducated and common. Their eloquence and confidence to speak in defense of their miracles and preaching of the Gospel could only be attributed to the time they spent with Jesus. They would've had no other reason to be confident in the public eye, according to the worldly standards of boldness. Boldness, real true confidence, can only be found in relationship with Jesus and knowledge of the truth.

This kind of boldness escapes me more often than not. I've had confident moments, where I felt God speaking in and through me in a certain conversation or context. But, overall, my relationship with Him is not deep enough and my knowledge shallow enough that doubt and self-consciousness creep in and steal my confidence away.

So, it's a big ask, to pray for boldness in 2017. Especially in 2017. There's so much doubt, uncertainty, fear, and anxiety in the US and across the world today. No one is sure what to expect from the next four years, let alone the next four weeks, as our government changes hands, volatile conversations hang in the tension in the air, and we find ourselves on a tipping point between love and division, waiting for someone to decide which way it's going to go. So, maybe God's leading some people to be the deciding factor, and maybe, in my small corner of the world, one of those people is me.

But the first step is to spend time with Jesus. No use in trying to be bold without Him. Any efforts done without listening to Jesus and resting in a relationship with him would be fleeting and useless. Using our 52 Week Prayer Project, both of us (and whoever wants to join) will be starting by just listening to and talking with Jesus - specifically about some subjects we've already decided on and in general. The hope is to develop a practice of prayer to build our relationship with God through humble reliance on Him and to bond us as sisters in Christ as we commit to prayer together.

I'll post another post with the weekly schedule of prayer topics in case anyone is interested in joining with us on this journey in 2017!

With love,

Bethany