“Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.” – Ephesians 6:19
Pastor Shane preached the second part of our Praying into the Mission series which was entitled, “A Prayer for Boldness.”
Humility should be our posture in prayer. In Ephesians 6:19 Paul humbles himself to the prayers of others. Paul is writing this letter to the Ephesians in chains, and he does not ask them to pray for his freedom, but he asks them to pray that the message of God would be given to him when he opens his mouth to the guards! It’s not that Paul did not know what to say, rather he knew the power of his message was found in God alone. God needed to provide the very message and words that were to be spoken.
What an example this is for us! Paul was not only asking for the words to be spoken but for the boldness to speak them. But often this is not our posture or prayer. We quickly shy away from the opportunities to step out in faith and embrace our boldness in Christ. So, what hinders your boldness when sharing the gospel?
The fear of man can be ensnaring. As Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of mankind is a snare, but the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.” At the root of this fear is pride. It is ultimately the elevation of oneself. Therefore, boldness, when sharing the gospel, requires humility. It requires that we lay down our lives, not preserve them. It requires that we prayerfully and humbly ask God to provide us with the words to speak, and protect us from being silent due to the fear of rejection.
This means that we must know God’s word not for the purpose of muttering facts; not for the purpose of gaining tons of knowledge; but so our minds will slowly but surely be renewed into the mind of Christ (Rom.12:2). Read the word together. Paul is writing to the Ephesians (plural). There is something to be said about the boldness present in the gathering of the local church. Where every Sunday the truth of the gospel is boldly proclaimed, where together we boldly sing, boldly pray, boldly listen to the word of God, and boldly approach the throne room of grace when we participate in communion. Don’t take this lightly. Your desire to be bold for the kingdom begins with praying in the Spirit, but it is also spurred on by the prayers of others as demonstrated by Paul’s example.
The most humble act in all of history was when the Son of God, Jesus Christ, humbled himself by becoming man to fulfill the mission of God and redeem sinners. The church is where, by Gods grace, we can be consistently reminded of this truth and changed by it.
