Don't be afraid

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. –  Philippians 1.28-30

It’s a scary time to be a Christian – well maybe not here in the west, but is sure is in many parts of the world and sure has been in many times in history.

But even for us we can say it is a bit of a scary thing. Our views are becoming less and less popular than and accepted and even tolerated. Even the relatively minor opposition we get can make it scary to tell other about Jesus. No one likes to be laughed at or mocked or even to get slagged for what we believe.

After 43 years of salvation and 35 years of full time ministry and 25 years of church planting and pastoring I still get anxious about telling people about Jesus. I know is because Satan doesn’t want me to do it, because the world won’t like being told they need and Saviour, and my flesh fears rejection – but it is still hard. My message is one that bothers them, but to me it is the message of salvation.

When I think what other Christians have gone through in history and what many are going through today I am ashamed at how little it takes to put me off taking a stand for him. That fear does mot come from God – most of the time it comes because I al too worried about what people might think of me.

O Lord, give me that holy boldness to not be afraid!