Author Archives: revjaf

HERE’S A BAD IDEA!… Isaiah 39: 1-8

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I’ve got lots of good ideas.  But here’s a bad one–focus on yourself.  Center your life on you.  We, as Christians, know that it’s about Him.  And others.  No, we’re not left out. For the Bible says to ‘love our neighbors as we love ourselves'(Leviticus 19:18).  That’s right–love yourself.  But make sure it doesn’t begin and end there.

To love ourselves is to bask in Jesus’ love for us.  To wade in His forgiveness.  To relish joy whenever someone else’s needs are being met.  To give is much better.  A few years back, my wife Sue and I attended a Samaritan’s Purse ‘Operation Christmas Child’ training event.  Giving to needy kids around the world.

It was suggested that we give Life-Savers candies.  Why?  Because the children love to share them with their sisters and brothers.  These kids have never been able to give anything to anyone To share even one piece of candy gave them more joy than we could ever imagine.

King Hezekiah certainly had a lot to learn about being less ‘I’ oriented.  You can find his story in Isaiah 39.  Hezekiah had been healed by the Lord, blessed with an extra 15 years of life.  The royal family, of the world power Babylon, sends envoys to present gifts on the occasion of Hezekiah’s healing.  He’s so happy with the gifts, all the attention and hoopla.  He’s the star of the show!  It’s all about Hezekiah!  And he leads the delegation everywhere, showing off all his gold and silver, spices and precious oils, his weapons and storehouses.  All of it is his.  ‘Me…I…My’–strung as tight as a new tennis racket.  Anything of God bounces off his proverbial strings.

Nothing about the Lord’s healing him.  Nothing about God’s provision.  Nothing about God at all.  Isaiah confronts Hezekiah about his foolish display of the material assets and armaments of Judah.  Hezekiah has left the country vulnerable to a crippling attack.  He told them too much, and bragged about himself.  A very bad idea.

How about a good idea for a change?  Here’s one–start praising the Lord, giving Him all the credit He deserves.  Reaching out to others, thinking more about them and their needs.  When someone opens up to you about the troubles and frustrations of their lives, don’t jump in to tell them about your own.  How much worse things are for poor-old-you.  Listen to them.  Care about them.  Pray for them.  Think about ways you can show how much you care…about them.  I have a feeling that our moods will noticeably lift when we do.  Agreed?  Good idea!

Prayer:  Lord, help us to focus on you and others.   In Jesus’  name.  Amen.

LIKE OUR NEW LAWN SERVICE!… John 21: 15-19

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We have a new lawn service.  No longer want to bother doing it ourselves.  Plants and flowers, yes.  But lawn care, cleaning upper-story windows and gutters are all things in our past.  We hope!

When we first moved in, we hurriedly arranged for lawn service.  This has proven to be a mistake as most hurry-jobs tend to be.  After months and months of malodorous service, we have bid them good-bye.  Then we interviewed a number of new landscapers.  We chose who we thought would do the best job for our lawns.  Will charge more, coming as no surprise to any homeowner!

This morning, after the fertilizer man had left, I was reading the John 21.  Jesus tells Peter to feed and tend His people.  Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him.  Interesting.   The number of times Peter denied even knowing the Lord.  Three times comes the question of love.  Do you, Peter?  Do you?

Peter is being restored after his denials.  Restored as only Jesus can.  Peter responds with an eager ‘yes’.  He does love Jesus more than anything or anyone else.  Two times Jesus tells Peter to feed His flock and once to tend them.  To feed and to tend as a good shepherd.

Find ways to get the Word of God into their hands.  Give out tracts. Support the Gideon’s Bible distribution programs.  Wrap a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child.  Invite a neighbor and friend to your local Bible study group.  Be creative.  Make sure it’s God’s Word that’s being planted in other’s hearts along with meeting real human needs.  Tend their needs. Feed them.  Keep watch over them.  Do we love them enough to feed and tend?

Remember that you need feeding, you need tending to.  Make sure you are well-fed on the Bible, tending to your own worship of the Lord.  As a young pastor I did all my personal devotions as preparation for weekly sermons.  Taking a short-cut in my busy schedule.  That was a huge mistake.  But I learned.  In my last church, I hardly ever used the pastor’s study.  Too many distractions.  Back in our home I had a desk in our basement for my devotions with the Lord.  Exclusively for Him and me.  On our third floor, one of the bedrooms was my study for sermons and the adult class I taught.  No short-cuts for me anymore.

I loved to feed and tend others but only after I had done the same for me.  You too?  Don’t kid yourself.  Feed…tend.  Yourself first.  Then others… lots and lots of them!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for calling us to love you by serving you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

I THINK I WANT TO BECOME A MONK!…Psalm 101

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You know there’s a trick up my sleeve with a title like that!   Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to become a monk because of the kind of world we live in.  I’d like to hole up somewhere.  As Wordsworth penned–‘The world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers…’

Psychologists tell us that when confronted with some difficult issue it’s either ‘fight or flight’.  Hit back or flee.  I tend to throw myself into the battle.  And many times I can make a difference.  But with this big, old, messed-up world of ours, flight now seems like the best option.  To the monastery for me!   I’d last two days, especially if no talking was allowed!

Let’s turn to the Scriptures for some guidance.  Psalm 101 is written by King David.  Here’s some marvelous advice from someone who knows. He tells us not to move to a monastery, but to somewhere closer–‘I will ponder the way that is blameless…I will walk with integrity of heart within my house'(Psalm 101:2).

Maybe we can’t change the world, but we can watch how we walk with the Lord.  How we worship and pray, singing His praises within ourselves all day long.  Looking out the window, I see lots of trees, green grass, clouds and sky.   I don’t stop there.  I see the hand of our Creator God.  I praise Him for His creation.  Join me, will you?

Praise the Lord!  Moving forward in Psalm 101, David tells us to ‘not set before my eyes anything that is worthless'(verse 3).  This is an individual matter, and I would be the last one to tell you what’s worthless in your life.  And I would no doubt resent the same from you to me.  Ask the Lord what worthless things you need to get rid of.  Then get rid of them.  But not before you really sense something from God.

David says to be careful who we rub shoulders with–‘I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me'(verse 3).  Be on your guard who you listen to, what advice you take, whose lead you follow .

Every pearl of wisdom of this psalm is something that you and I can act upon.  Be close to the Lord.  Listen to Him in His Word.  Keep your distance from the hornet’s nests of ungodly people, their ways and teachings.  Fellowship with His people when you can.  Tell others about your best friend, whose love is out-of-this-world.

All these things we can do even though the world seeks to suffocate us.  Don’t let it.  We don’t need to hole up somewhere, like in a cave or monastery, as tempting as that may be.  Close to Jesus is where we want to be.

Prayer:  Lord, help us to be in this world and yet not of it.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

I’M HAVING MY BIRTH CERTIFICATE CHECKED FOR FRAUD!…James 4: 13-15

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That’s right. I’m having my birth certificate checked for fraud!  Something is seriously amiss.  Possible malfeasance!  I have a certified copy of my New Jersey birth certificate.  Along with the original hospital certificate that actually has my footprint on it.  It’s that date of my birth that’s way off…by 10 or hopefully, 20 years.  Who would do such a thing to one so small and helpless?  What kind of demented mind would strap one so young to an early old age scenario?

The word of my spurious birth year has gotten out, and all my classmates think that our 50th class reunion is coming up this year.  Isn’t that something?  All those ‘kids’ who thought they were so smart, deluded into wanting to get together for our 50th when that can’t be right?  Class of ’65.  Born 1947.

Oh no!  No, it’s true.  All of it.  Never was good at math.  They’re right!  50 years later with some of my classmates, the ‘kids’, sadly already past tense, pushing up daisies.  I know how old they all will look– except for me, of course!  How fragile and silly they’ll be– except for me, of course.  How heavy and out-of-shape, except….I better stop right there before I get into real trouble with our invitation to the big reunion gala being revoked!  We’re going anyway.  The dinner money has been paid.  My bio has been sent in for our 50th class reunion yearbook.  Air fares paid for.   Car rental reserved.   Lovely condo in the city where I was born,  with its view overlooking downtown Manhattan, rented and paid for.  Ready or not…

James, the brother of our Lord, says much the same but with more maturity–”Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’–yet  you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that'”(James 4: 13-15).   Told you!  Basically, be humble as we plan.  Be tentative always allowing for the Lord to change our plans.  Life is short.

I don’t hear voices or see ‘signs’ as others seem to.  I make plans knowing that His plans will rule out.  Proverbs 16: 9–‘In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps’.  Also Proverbs 19: 21–‘Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’  Make your plans.  After all, life is but a mist, a puff of smoke driven away by the swirling winds of time.  He’ll take care of us.  He’ll give us ‘the desires of our heart'(Psalm 37:4).  Fulfilling those He Himself has put within our hearts.  Won’t that be wonderful?  Go for it!  Amen!

Prayer:  Lord, help to us to make the most of what we’ve been given by you.  In His name.  Amen.

13 IS A GOOD NUMBER FOR MHS!… Psalm 107:43

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Many people don’t like the number 13.  Think it’s unlucky!  My mother always warned us never to open an umbrella in the house.  Why would we do that?  Except that the upstairs shower did leak through the kitchen ceiling!  Superstition is plain stupid…if you believe in it.  I like the number 13!  I was reading in Newsweek Magazine that Millburn High School, where I graduated from,  is the 13th highest rated high school in the United States that year!  100% graduation rate with 99.5% college bound.

I’m always grateful for the education I received in my hometown.   College prep classes, the norm.  Talk of college and university, common chat from earliest grades onward.  Didn’t matter if you were the son or daughter of a New York City corporate CEO or the son of a housepainter.  That one would be me!   I got the same education that the CEO progeny received.  All that was needed was to apply myself.  That was equality in my hometown.

Now I know that there’s something much better than a top-notch education.  You guessed it.  It’s knowing the Lord.  Regardless of your background, the Lord is there for each one.  We support a girl named Irene in one of the poorest countries in the world today, Burkina Faso.  The population of her country is 13 million people.  Half of able-bodied adults are unemployed, while those who have a job only make about $44 per month.  Our monthly support, a drop in our bucket, allows her to learn about Jesus and the Bible, get an education, be properly fed, and have fun playing with other children in a safe Christian child-development center.  She now knows Jesus.  A little girl in a poor country, the daughter of poor parents struggling to make ends meet like none of us reading this today know anything about.

God’s big on equality when it comes to belonging to His family.  As a matter of fact, it’s harder for the rich man…well, you know the story(Matthew 19: 16-24).  Let me recommend that instead of tooting your horn about your old high school(!), how about getting wisdom from the Lord.  That’s what I read about in Psalm 107: 43–‘Who is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.’  His door, wide open to all.  His wisdom, far greater than any education found here on earth.

No matter if you’re old or young, rich or poor, black or white, or whatever beautiful color God has made you,  His truth is there for the taking…from His Word, the Bible.  And, for believers in Jesus, the graduation rate to heaven is 100%!  Can’t get any better than that!

Prayer:  Lord, we pray that people fallen on hard times would come to know your wonderful love and help.   In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

ONLY A SHADOW AFTER ALL… Psalm 23

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One of the saddest jobs a pastor performs is a funeral.  I officiated at hundreds of them.  Some of the saddest were for children and young people.  Can still remember the funeral for a one-year old girl.  The  mother was screaming at the top of her lungs in grief with a heart broken into millions of pieces.  I stood by the little white coffin of this child, who looked so peaceful.

Words of comfort were hard to come by.  When I went over to say good-bye myself, after all the visitors and families had passed by,  what I saw shocked me.   Her beautiful face was covered with the tears of those who had such a hard time saying good-bye to a tiny infant girl who had filled them with such hopes and love.  Tore terribly at my own heart.  I still remember it years later.

Death is hard to take.  So final.  Irreversible.  Yet the Bible casts a different light.  In Psalm 23 we read –‘yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death'(verse 4).  Somewhere I read that there is such a place in the Holy Land.  It’s a narrow ravine where sheep have to pass through single-file as large rocks create a tiny opening to go through.  Sheep don’t like this.  They are herd animals.  Going together is more to their liking.  Alone they get spooked.  We saw this in England with the sheep in the fields at the manor house we had rented.  Together!   Back at that ‘valley of the shadow’, the shepherd has to prod and poke to get them through that narrow passage.

He knows where the good grazing land is.  He knows what’s best for them.  The shepherd knows!  Jesus, our Good Shepherd,  knows where the best place is for us…in heaven with Him.  But each of us, at whatever age, must go through that narrow ravine, one-by-one, single-file.  He’ll be there to guide us through.  He promised He would.  Some of us need to be poked and prodded.  It can be frightening.  But when we get to that good-grazing land on the other side, we’ll know that death was nothing more than a shadow.

Shadows have no substance at all on their own.  Shadows can never hurt us.  They can scare us.  Let a big semi-trailer truck roar by you on the highway, and its shadow alone makes the adrenalin run fast-and-furious for both driver and passengers.  When it passes, we know it was only a shadow.  We’re okay.  Death is but a shadow.  The reality for those in Jesus?  All we could ever say about heaven would be but an understatement!

Prayer:  Lord, thank you for being our Good Shepherd.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

LET’S GET REAL FOR A CHANGE… Psalm 119: 1-8

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I’m upset about something today.  I’ve noticed that the more I’m around Christians,  the less I see of Jesus in them… and me.  The outside looks fine, but don’t dig below the surface.   What lurks?   Pettiness.  Gossip.  Selfishness.  Greed.  Would hardly know we’re committed followers of Jesus by looking in the mirror.

I’m starting to read the longest psalm of all.  A most amazing one, indeed.  An acrostic psalm with each subsequent 8 verse divisions using the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which has a total of 22 letters.  Each of those 8 verses in a section begins with that same Hebrew letter.  In English it would be those first 8 verses all beginning with the letter ‘a’.  The next section of 8 would all begin with the letter ‘b’.  And so on until the last section with each letter beginning with ‘z’.  Covers everything from ‘A to Z’!

As I read the first 8 verses of Psalm 119, I immediately felt the  ‘conviction of the Holy Spirit’.  Yes, this can still happen when we stop talking at God and start listening to Him!  Shove moth balls in our mouths, opening up our ears to the Master.  I can rarely get past a couple of praises to the Lord without asking Him for something, even when I determine to spend my entire prayer time in praise.  I fail miserably.   Not a pretty sight.

It’s the old story of whether there would be enough evidence to convict us, if we were arrested for being a Christian.  For many of us the case would be dismissed outright for lack of evidence.

Want to get real for Jesus?  Read those 1st 8 verses of Psalm 119.  I can’t get past verse 2.  It rivets my heart.  ‘Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.’   Blessings come when we actually follow God’s Word.  Presumes that we’re spending time in the Bible,  where we find out about the Lord.

It’s not how much biblical content we know , but how genuinely we follow Him.  Trust me, we know the difference.  Not rocket science to experience a painful conscience.  For verse 2 concludes by saying ‘who seek Him with their whole heart…’  This completes the picture.  Getting real with God is knowing His Word and following through.   Pleasing Him with our lives.  Praising Him.  To know the Bible and act as if I’m paying attention to Him.  No, not an act.  Let’s get real for a change…for Him!  Want to join me?

Prayer:  Dear Lord,  I want to know you and your Word better and better every day of my life.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

WHAT A MOTLEY CREW!… Revelation 7

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How many of you love the Book of Revelation?  Can be studied from many different angles.  Filled with controversies galore!  I remember as a student at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, my pastor had a very definite opinion on every tiny detail in this book.  He had it all figured out, possibly the only one in all of church history!  When he discovered that I had deviated from some ‘itsy-bitsy’ interpretation, he wrote to the president of the school, reporting me as an up-and-coming, dangerous heretic!  Bless his heart, Dr. William Culbertson, distinguished president, never said ‘boo’ to me about this issue or anything else!   My home pastor-friend never spoke to me again.

I can surely say(and don’t call me Shirley!) that people get a bit hot-under-the-collar about the book of Revelation.  I’m looking today at Revelation 7.  Here’s the first of two references to the 144,ooo.  Let the debate begin!  No, let it end!  I’m not going to be drawn into all the theories about who are these 144,000.  You decide for yourself.  No help here.  Well, maybe a little!

This number is a multiple of important round numbers in the Bible.  12 times 12 times 1000=144,000!  12 tribes of Israel(Old Testament saints).  12 Apostles of Jesus(New Testament saints).  1000(all the rest of us) as in millenium.  An all-inclusive gathering of God’s people.

Quite the motley crew!  Africans, Arab believers(though so few), Hispanics, Northern Europeans(though so few), Australians, Asians…and you and me!  See that list of tribes in Revelation 7?  Tribes of Israel?  Sort of.  Not the list of Jacob’s sons, for Dan is left out completely and Manasseh included(he was Joseph’s son).  Nor the list of those who inherited Canaan’s land, again Dan is left out.   Levi is included but they were to be landless priests.  Joseph is listed instead of his son Ephraim.  Reuben, the first-born, is ousted by Judah for first place.  Then the sons of  Jacob’s concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah, are listed before the sons of his wives, Rachel and Leah.

What’s going on here?  Well, why was Dan excluded?  Don’t know for sure, but Dan was where Jeroboam set up a golden calf for idolatrous worship( 1 Kings 12: 29).  Could be why he’s not listed.   Whatever the reason, one’s genealogical heritage is no guarantee of heaven.  Those of the two concubines are no longer considered 2nd class citizens from the ‘other side of the tracks’.  No more Greek, no more Jew.  No male, no female.  Slave nor free.  Old barriers have collapsed.  Walls come ‘a tumbling down!

When we welcome Jesus into our lives, we become one in Him.  May not look or act alike, but the blood of Jesus covers all…equally!  Forget the theories and hobby-horses in Revelation.  Enjoy the delicate variety of God’s people!  The marvelous Church of Jesus Christ!

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for the varied folk in heaven.  So many, all born-again through your Son on the cross. In His name.  Amen.

I CAN STILL FEEL THAT HORRIBLE THIRST!…Revelation 7: 16

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A few years back I experienced a thirst like I had never had before.  We were on a  104-day cruise.  Having successfully escaped pirates off the coast of Somalia, we were now travelling through the Suez Canal in Egypt.  A lovely, leisurely sail up the Red Sea into the Canal.  We were to travel by bus to the Valley of the Kings, of King Tut fame.  Once the ship had docked, we boarded our buses, each one led  by a truck, escorting us and carrying armed guard.  We could see their rifles.  Felt safe.  We needed safety for this was the week before the Egyptian election that ultimately led to riots, death and chaos.  But we were safe with those armed escorts… who all gunned their motors and peeled off to go home within a couple of feet of the barbed-wire gates of the port!  Never to be seen again!  Like us… maybe?  Here today…gone today!  On our own.

The heat in the Valley of the Kings was 120 degrees.  Blistering and blazing heat.  When we got off the bus to get on tiny trams, I thought the only smart ones were the ones buried in those much cooler tombs!  Felt claustrophobic in that inferno.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was thirst that hit me.  A parched cardboard feeling in my mouth and throat.  I could hardly swallow.  So dry.  Had to endure it.  The water we brought from the ship was now itself almost hot.  Didn’t satisfy at all.  Not in the least.  Drank and drank and drank some more, but felt as if nothing had gone down our throats.  Strange… but that’s how it felt.

Revelation 7 pictures God’s people.  All have endured terrible trials and tribulations.  Pictured wearing white robes that become ultra-white by washing them in the ‘blood of the Lamb'(Revelation 7: 15).  Sounds like a mixed metaphor to me–made white by washing in blood?  We become clean, not by our own efforts.  The blood of Jesus, shed on the cross–it’s that which covers our sins and cleanses our lives.  Only He can do that.

Guess what will not be in heaven?  Yes, no hunger.  AND no thirst!  Hallelujah!  The scorching sun will be shaded by God Himself.  As a matter of fact, it says elsewhere in Revelation that with God present, no sun will be needed ( Revelation 22: 5).  His light will be everywhere.  Not merely for an hour on Sunday morning, but forever.  When we get there, we’ll wonder why we wanted to hang around this crazy world.  Why did we have that surgery?  Why take all those pills?  I could have gotten there sooner if I hadn’t given up smoking 30 years ago!  Only kidding!

In the meantime, we have lots to do for the Lord!  Let’s get busy.  Agreed?

Prayer:  Thank you, Lord, for the water of life you give us freely in Jesus.  In His name.   Amen.

CAN YOU GUESS WHO GETS THE LAST LAUGH?…. 2 Chronicles 30

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Yes, of course!  God always gets the last laugh.  But remember, His laughter is never sadistic, relishing and enjoying the unrepentant getting their due.  However,, for those who willingly turn-their-backs on the Lord,  want nothing to do with Him, there is a last ‘laugh’ that only the Lord will have.  As it says in Psalm 2: 4–‘He who sits in the heavens laughs;  the Lord holds them in derision…’  And in Psalm 37: 12, 13–‘The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.’

This ‘laugh’ is for those who refuse anything of the Lord.   If there’s a smidgen of an urge to seek Him, a nudge toward Him, they’ll find Him merciful and forgiving.  As Peter writes–‘He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance'(2 Peter 3:9).  He wants all to be with Him.

But the unrepentant unbeliever will not have the last laugh.  In 2 Chronicles 30 we have the godly King Hezekiah reestablishing worship in Israel.  The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread will be the centerpiece of godly worship.  The King sends out couriers inviting both north and south to a great celebration at the Jerusalem Temple.  Passover will unite a divided people.

His offer to the remnant in the north is based on what he knows of God’s character–‘For if you return to the Lord…(you)will find compassion…for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him'(2 Chronicles 30:9).  Hezekiah’s God(and ours) has open hands, with a great-big heart of forgiveness and love.  The people’s reaction to this invitation?   2 Chronicles 30:10–‘So the couriers went from city to city… but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.’

Laughed out of town.  Much of Western society today laughs in the face of God, expecting that there’s no one home in the heavens.  ‘You’re such fools to believe in God’, they say.  So ‘anti-science’… ‘bigoted and hateful’.  They laugh and scorn.  Should we wither in our witness for Jesus?   2 Chronicles 30: 11–‘However some…humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.’  Some… will respond, not with scoffing ridicule, but with a change of heart.

I don’t like being laughed at.  Made to feel foolish.  But I want to obey the Lord.  Since not knowing Jesus is a dead-end street, I better find ways to share Him with others.  I think this applies to you, too!  I’m still packing Gospel tracts in my back pocket.  If only they would ALL bear good fruit.  But that’s up to someone else.  I’m doing what I can… and that’s up to me.  And the Lord will take care of the rest.  Of that,  I am sure!

Prayer: For boldness to share the Lord Jesus, we pray.  For His sake, amen.