Boldness is a mark of those who know who they are in Jesus. It has nothing to do with our intelligence, abilities, knowledge, skills and everything to do with our relationship with Jesus. When we realize and live the reality of his promises we step out each day in the confidence that we go in his strength and presence.
We've been lied to about not knowing the will of God, of not knowing the direction to take or the decisions to make. Jesus made it all clear and the only reasons we would not move forward is due to a lack of will on our part, laziness, or lack of a relationship. Moses is a great example to demonstrate this fact.
I have no doubt that Moses would have known about the Hebrew God growing up, as all the Hebrews did, but there was no revelation. None of them had a revelation. Yahweh had only revealed himself to a choice few and none of them were in Egypt at that time, or alive. It was Moses' heart to see his people freed but without knowing Yahweh he did what he thought was best and it got him in trouble.
Forty years later, Moses had a personal revelation of Yahweh through his burning bush experience. In fact, Moses went further than anyone else, being told what God's name was; "I AM who I AM", translated as Yahweh, Jehovah, and written as LORD in our Bibles. Even in this experience Moses was hesitant, offering up three excuses of why he couldn't accept Yahweh's call. He did not yet know Yahweh intimately. Moses at the end of Deuteronomy is not this same Moses. He had been transformed by an incredibly intimate relationship with "I AM who I AM". Moses' confidence was not in himself but in everything he had witnessed his God do:
"By this you will know that the Lord sent me to do these deeds and that it wasn't my own desire." (Numbers 6:28)
Skip ahead. Peter is another person who was completely transformed by a growing relationship with Jesus. Peter of the Gospels is not the same Peter of Acts. The receiving of the Spirit had much to do with this (the same Spirit we have received) but experiencing three years of intimacy with Jesus also helped, so that Peter did what he had seen Jesus do. Who could doubt the boldness of spirit that possessed Peter.
Paul was another of the great servants who operated in boldness. But Paul said that he considered anything he was and had before Jesus to be a lose. In other words, he was not reliant on his privileges, contacts, education, finances and instead placed himself in complete dependence on the Lord. Paul wrote many times in a similar fashion of Moses, that he did nothing in his own strength but in the strength of Jesus.
For our own convenience we have let go of this boldness today. We do what we have the resources to do. We do what we know how to do. We do what we want to do. We are bold in ourselves which means we are not very bold. Where is there faith in our lives? Where is the God column in our budgets? Where is the impossibilities of our projects? Where is God's glory in our lives? No where because most of us do not live intimacy with Jesus and so do not live by his strength.
I was challenged by the Spirit this week with a very simple thought that came in while I was talking a few things over with the Lord: "You are not living large enough for my glory". The same thing I just said to you was presented to me: He asked me, "Where is faith in your day?" "Where are you letting me show myself?" "For what am I getting the glory?"
It comes down to: Do we believe or don't we? If we believe then we are called to live big, in boldness, trust and faith, giving all the glory for what is produced to our Father, because that is the Son's desire. And if that is his desire, isn't it enough for those who say they love him? Are we living according to our ability or his?
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