Be Bold and Brave

“When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)
 
People sometimes say, “you are the company that you keep” and to “choose your friends wisely”. The people we spend time with play a vital role in our character development. Some people may be a great influence since they are encouragers and want to see their friends succeed while others might not be a great influence since they are bad apples always getting into trouble.  The bad apples are usually perceived as people who ditched school or did not get good grades while the good kids sat up front in class and got good grades.

Education is for some the American dream to get good grades in school later to further their education to college to be educated and trained in a profession. Boldness does not proceed from education it cannot be learned or taught but, comes from having courage to stand up and say what is right. Peter and John were uneducated and untrained fisherman they did not have fancy educations but, learned from the one that everything comes from Jesus. It showed not only how they spoke but, how they treated other people.  They saw people in need and did not turn them away but, had compassion on them and assisted them the best way they knew how.

​Boldness takes vulnerability and being brave. Courage the Cowardly Dog fears everything but, would step outside of his comfort zone and embrace the challenge that was in front of him. There is no perfect moment to start anything that we want or need to do but, the right time to start is now. Even when we fail at our goals, we can embrace it and shake it off and learn from our mistake. We can find out what are our strengths and abilities and focus on building those up. The Holy Spirit empowers us to be bold and step outside of our comfort zone, to believe in our abilities, and act.
                 
Heavenly Father, thank you for the Holy Spirit that empowers us to be bold and brave sharing the gospel to those who do not know Jesus.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins