Thursday: Not for Safety but for Boldness
WEEK 42
THURSDAY
NOT FOR SAFETY BUT FOR BOLDNESS
Philippians 1:12-14
We have seen that prayer in the Acts began at the right place, not for things but for the Holy Spirit. As time goes on, I find myself praying less and less for things and more and more for God. For if I have God, I have everything—yes, everything—I need and more.
When we note the next instance of specific praying in the Acts, this too is significant: “And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness” (4:29 RSV; CEB has “complete confidence”). Here again, prayer was not for their needs but for the needs of others; they prayed for boldness to witness to others. God was first, others were second, and they were third. Prayer breaks the tyranny of self-preoccupation, absorbs you with God, and makes you interested in others. It is freeing. And it is inherent.
In finding the Holy Spirit, self-surrender was the first condition: no surrender, no Spirit. So self-surrender being inherent, the first thing that happened was shifting the basis of life from self to God. You become God-centered instead of self-centered. And the moment you are God-centered you are other-centered; for God is love, and love is interested in others. You follow God’s interest, and God’s interest is in others. So the prayer is for boldness to witness to others. This is all following a pattern, root and fruit.
Had their prayer been initially for their own needs and for self-development, they would have prayed for their safety in view of the threats. But they were afraid of safety. They were in an adventure with God, an adventure of love. God had loved them into loving, and their own safety was unimportant. They wanted not safety but souls. So the doors of prayer turned out, not in. It produced a healthy mindedness. They were not morbid would-be saints, concerned with their own mental and spiritual states. They were bearers of good news, and the only thing that mattered was to bear it. A Hindu said at the close of one of my addresses, “If what the speaker has said isn’t true, it doesn’t matter. But if it is true, then nothing else matters.” Nothing else mattered to them, for they knew it was true, so true it was Truth.
O Christ, we have looked into your face in prayer, and now we cannot rest until we share the blessed vision of what we have seen. We pause to see more in order to share more. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shall pray not for safety but for boldness in witnessing to my Lord.