I have often wished I felt more bold to speak the Gospel “out there” but so often I find myself trembling. I don’t feel bold… one - single - bit. And I’ve justified not speaking or acting because of these feelings. “When the feelings of boldness come,” I reason, “then I’ll obey.”  Because of this, I have missed out on opportunities to display the light and life of Christ to others.  As I look at Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:18-20 He doesn’t say, “Go and make disciples if you feel bold enough to do so.” He simply says, “Go…” In Acts 4, followers of Jesus are gathered together praying after Peter and John returned from speaking to the Pharisees. They had been threatened not to speak about Jesus anymore, and in verse 29, they prayed, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.”  They knew they didn’t have what it takes in and of themselves.  The common assumption is that boldness is a feeling, but it’s not. It’s doing something out of confidence and belief that it’s true no matter how we feel. We can do something boldly and confidently with shaky knees and racing heart, and we will do it if we care more about obeying Christ than anything else. God has given each one of us the Holy Spirit, and it is through Him that we have the ability to speak boldly when we don’t feel like we can. If I’m depending on the Spirit, I have that boldness whether I feel like it or not. Boldness goes hand-in-hand with faith. The more faith we have, the more confidence we have in the truth of the Gospel. And the more confidence we have, the more boldly we will speak. The first few times we share our faith it might be nerve-wracking. But the more we do it, the more our feelings will come into alignment with what we are saying and doing, and nervousness will turn into calmness and confidence. This will only come through obedience. The more we obey, the more we will see God’s faithfulness to give us everything we need to do His will!