Boldness in Claiming God’s Promises
by Neil Hoffman
There was a girl who went to our church named Chelsea. She and her husband had made a pact to balance their budget and stick to their money plans each week. So, she was surprised as she was walking out of Target one day and passing by Panera that she felt the Holy Spirit tell her to go inside. She thought, “God, I can’t go in there. Are you trying to make me break my promise to my husband about the budget? I can’t spend any money on this.” Nevertheless, the impression was insistent, so in she went.
Once inside, with no idea why she was there, she felt the Lord pointing out a young girl sitting in a booth by herself. Chelsea felt the Lord tell her, “Go talk to her.”
She didn’t want to. Like most of us, she felt uncomfortable approaching a stranger, so she told the Lord, “I don’t know. I’m already in here. This is awkward, so I’m going to buy a cookie first so I at least have a reason to be in here.” As she waited in line, arguing with God in her heart, she finally decided that once she pays for her cookie she’ll go and talk to the girl. When she turned around, the young girl wasn’t alone anymore. Someone who looks like a boyfriend was now sitting by her, so Chelsea thought, “Ok, never mind. I’m not talking to her now.” But as she was leaving, she heard the Lord say, “Where is your boldness?” and she stopped immediately. Chelsea loves the Lord, and so her boldness came to her. She was willing to be strong and courageous despite the uncertainty.
Chelsea walked up to the girl and told her, “Excuse me. I want you to know that the Lord says that He loves you and that He sees you even when you feel like you’re unseen.” The girl started crying and said, “Thank you.” Chelsea left, having no idea what all of that was about.
The next week, Chelsea was sitting in the same Panera, doing some work at a table, when the same young girl came in.
“Hey, you’re that girl who gave me that word from Jesus.”
“Yeah, that was me.”
“Can I sit down?”
The girl proceeded to sit down with Chelsea and explain what had happened the previous week.
“That was my boyfriend I was sitting with. We just found out that I’m pregnant, and we were talking about getting an abortion. That’s when you came up and told me that God sees me and knows me. That He sees me. So I’m no longer getting an abortion.”
Isn’t this amazing? It’s a true story, and it has a lot to teach us about living as Jesus’ disciples and claiming the promises of God.
How it Works
This story has a happy ending because Chelsea decided to get bold and stand up with strength and courage in her love for God. God’s omniscience, His knowledge, His goodness – these things were never in flux, never in doubt. I like how my dad puts it: “Without God, we cannot, but without us, God will not.”
Too often we read God’s promises in the Bible, and we think that we just need to take a nap and wait it out until things miraculously get better. But my friends, that isn’t what faith means! Being faithful is being loyal, doing what you set out to do, what you were charged with. God makes a promise, so we can be bold to live the way He tells us to, expecting things to work the way God says that they will.
Here’s the truth, friends. Oftentimes God’s promises are conditional. They are “if, then” statements that leave room for our action or inaction.
Joshua
In the Book of Joshua, Moses has passed the torch to Joshua to lead Israel and claim the Promised Land. It was a dicey situation for Joshua, however. The Israelites could be stubborn and hard to manage. The last generation had been so afraid of the mighty warriors in the Promised Land that they had failed to receive God’s gift to their nation. This is when God comes to Joshua and tells him three times to be strong and very courageous. Then, when Joshua goes and declares his intentions to Israel, they say the same thing to him (probably not a coincidence).
Read the whole story for yourself, particularly Joshua 1, to see how Joshua responds in boldness to God’s promises. There were hard times ahead of him, but on the other side of those challenges was a huge blessing. How many of you know that life is usually like this? On the other side of a hard time, an awkward situation, or a difficult circumstance is a blessing if we do things God’s way.
So What Now?
How many times have we gone forward for prayer and asked God, “Help me with this thing” with no plan of doing anything ourselves? How much better would the world be if we asked spent more time praying this way: “God, I need help here, and I believe that You’re going to do what You said in Your Word. I’m going to stand in the strength and courage of knowing that I’ll have Your help if I follow You in this. So I’m going to leave here now and go change this circumstance.”
We need to be strong and courageous. If you need the strength and courage to talk to your neighbor about Jesus, stop praying, “God, make that neighbor come out here so I can see him in the front yard,” and knock on his door instead.
It works like this. God chooses to work through us, and He is looking for people that are willing to be strong and courageous, committed to His Word.
Let’s start working in boldness.
