Live Boldly!

Most of us would love to possess more confidence and live with greater boldness. It would feel great to finally overcome the timidity and the fear that too frequently hold us back.

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul urges him to conquer any timidity he might have. More importantly, he shows Timothy how to do this and live with boldness and confidence.

Timothy does not have to manufacture this confidence, Paul says. He doesn’t have to dig deep within himself to find the boldness. Nor does he have to “fake it till he makes it.”

Because, as Paul reminds him, Timothy has been given the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, he has real power, love and self-discipline to give us. When we realize that we have God’s power, love and self-discipline as our own, this generates all the boldness and confidence we need.

So, would you like to be a more confident person? Would you like to enjoy living life more boldly? This is not as difficult as it might appear.

It begins with doing the things that allow us to tap into the presence of the Holy Spirit. Through these activities we can access the power, love and self-discipline that the Holy Spirit wants to give us:

• Have a daily time for meditation on the Bible and prayer
• Attend church regularly — weekly, if possible
• Join a growth group or Bible study so that you can hear from God in a group setting
• Make a regular practice of attending Holy Communion

As you do these things, ask yourself, “Where do I see God’s power and love here? How am I encouraged to respond with thanksgiving and love for God by exercising more self-discipline?”

And most of all, remember who you are. You are a dearly loved child of God, bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. You are a disciple of the Savior who boldly and confidently went to the cross on your behalf — to win eternal victory for you. So you have every reason in the world to live with boldness and confidence.

By faith in Christ, you have the Spirit dwelling within you. Check out these gifts that the Spirit wants you to have! And live boldly, my friend!

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV).

Lord, take my timidity away. Give me your Spirit so that I may have the Spirit’s power, love and self-discipline in my life.

Our Bible reading for Thursday, October 22, is Jeremiah 48:1 – 49:6, 2 Timothy 1:1-18 and Psalm 119:81-88.

Header image based on "43: Daily Inspirational Bible Verse" by Tito and Eva Marie Balangue, CC By 2.0