When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:31 MEV
I’ve had the privilege to take several people on mission trips. Jerrell went with me to hand out Bibles and do street evangelism in Colombia many years ago. It was his first time out of the US.
He and I teamed up with a translator that was as bold as anyone. She didn’t wait for us, but started handing out Bibles and talking with lots of people. We were intimidated partly because of the language barrier. Jerrell was watching me for the example to follow.
We had a pretty simple method. Walk up to a person and give them a Bible. Tell them it was free, gratis. Then if we had a translator present the gospel message. If no translator, then we would pray for healing for their body and overall well being.
Jerrell watched me a few times. We saw a gentleman standing by himself. I started toward him and the Jerrell grabbed my arm to pull me back. “No. This one is mine!” Jerrell said. He went over to the man and gave him a Bible and prayed for him. When he finished he turned to walk back to me with the largest Jerrell smile.
“Let’s pray for some more sick people” he said. We saw a line of people leaning against a wall. Our translator smiled at us. She got the small crowd of 20 or so people and spoke to them for a moment. Then they started moving toward us. She smiled at us and said. “This is the line for the infirmary. All of these people are sick. I told them that God has brought two people from America to pray for them to be healed. Now its your turn.”
From the start of the early church, the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit was active in helping people become followers of Jesus. Jesus instructed His disciples to wait until they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they would understand how to be witnesses of the good news of His life.
In Acts 4:31 we see the pattern to follow.
- Pray. All forms of prayer would be included. However, this implies that they offered their lives to Jesus to fill them fresh and anew with the presence of the Holy Spirit.
- Filling of the Holy Spirit. They recognized by faith and understanding that the Holy Spirit had indeed filled the lives of all of those present. Scripture does not reveal what manifestation could be seen. But something happened that they attributed a change to a knowledge of being filled with the Holy Spirit
- The spoke with boldness. The empowering of the Holy Spirit creates the ability to act in a way that overcomes fear. The most significant attribute is boldness. He will help you approach people, speak directly to someone’s life about the issues they are facing, and pray in faith for them to overcome their struggles at that moment.
The Holy Spirit comes to our lives when we ask Him to fill us. In brokenness and humility we receive His presence by faith. Part of the fruit of that prayer will be an increased boldness to tell others the good news of Jesus. You don’t have to “find it” or “work it up”. Boldness is the by-product of the overflowing presence of the Holy Spirit.
Lacking a little boldness or is fear keeping you quiet? Invite the Holy Spirit to come into your life. You just might bump into 20 people standing against a wall.
Blessings Love y’all.