Pray for Boldness
“If you hear someday that I’m in prison, please pray for me.” The comment was made offhandedly, half-jokingly by Pastor Alexey Shipovski in his sermon to us last Sunday. But the reality out of which his comment arises is no laughing matter. The government of Russia has recently increased restrictions on Christians and penalties on Christian evangelism. But Pastor Alexey and his church have decided to continue holding public events where the gospel of Jesus is boldly proclaimed.
Boldness. That was the theme of Pastor Alexey’s message to us from Acts 4 about how the very first Christians prayed for boldness in the face of opposition and imprisonment. It occurs to me that boldness for our brothers and sisters in Russia—and for those first Christians—is a very different thing than the boldness we need because the risks are very different.
Boldness for Russian believers means publicly telling the truth about who Jesus is and what He’s done even though fines, imprisonment, church closure, or all of the above are real possibilities. Boldness for us, on the other hand, means a willingness to endure a bit of social awkwardness with a few people. Not a very big risk. Yet many of us are unwilling to take even that small risk…because we lack boldness.
Is it possible that greater risk produces greater boldness? It may be that we will face greater risks for evangelism in the years ahead just like many Christians around the world face now. In the meantime, when you pray for yourself and when you pray for our church, like those first Christians, pray for boldness.