31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:31

God answered the prayers of these saints immediately but not before they experienced an earthquake. I’ve personally been through four earthquakes in different parts of the world. I wouldn’t say you get bolder, but you do realize you are not in control. What these people experienced, though, right after they prayed, was a clear sign that God would be with them and on their side.

Fortunately for us, though, we don’t need an earthquake to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to speak the word of God boldly.

We ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When He fills us, we step out in faith and say and do bold things. Absolutely it’s easier said than done, but the only limitations to this is our faith.

How so? If we don’t believe that God will honor our stepping out in faith, we probably won’t step out in faith.

Let me give you an extreme example. When I was living in Chicago, we would pass by many invalid or “lame” beggars. After reading the first few chapters of Acts, I remember thinking, “What would happen if after prayer, I did the same thing as Peter and John? What would happen if I said something like ‘silver and gold I have none, but in the name of Jesus, rise and walk?’” I never said or did anything, but why not? What if God didn’t heal him, then what? I would look foolish. And that’s the bottom line.

I say that was an extreme example but there are many more doable actions we can take that require just a bit of faith on our part. Here’s an example of what I mean. The other morning I woke thinking about a co-worker I hadn’t seen in years. I had dreamed that something unpleasant had happened with his two boys. That morning I struggled about what I should do. I didn’t even know if he would respond to me because we weren’t that close. I wrote him a short email asking how things were going (not at all mentioning the odd dream). Later that afternoon he returned my email. Nothing out of the ordinary. We exchanged pleasantries and that was that.

Sometimes you just have to go with the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I still don’t know why I had the dream and felt compelled to write that man. I may never know.