You may have read or heard this before ...but it's worth repeating here :
I was searching in a greek dictionary for the development of the word : COURAGE and came across the greek word for boldness ( parrhesia) which means the freedom to say all.
In the same definition I found this sentence in the discussion of the boldness that the disciples had in the book of Acts.
Here it is: " This boldness which provokes astonishment, division, and persecution is not something that man has under his control. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit ( Acts 4:31) that has to be sought again and again ( 4:29). " Later on this sentence appears: " Such courage is not a human quality; it comes from God and Christ ( see I Thessalonians 2:2 and Philemon 8).
I am struck by the phrase: " sought again and again."
So I looked up I Thessalonians 2:2 " For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. 3 For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts."
Footnotes: Colin Brown Dictionary of New Testament Theology
So, this raises a question in my mind : " Why do we hesitate to share the gospel with all boldness ? " It could be because we haven't been willing to seek that courage "again and again." We had it at one point in our lives because we were excited about something, but the inevitable fade happened and we went back to the rut of just work, eat, sleep, tv, internet,etc. What keeps that fire burning to see the truth spread out in the city you live in ? Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.
