Fearless Confidence

For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. – 1 Peter 3:17-21
 
Yesterday, we began talking about what it looks like to live fearlessly. If you missed yesterday’s devotion, I would strongly encourage you to go back and read it. But today, we’re going to discuss three more aspects of living fearlessly for Christ.

The third aspect of living fearless is having a fearless resolve. You may not suffer for doing right, and you might not pay a price with your life for standing on the Word of God. However, you may. The heat in our culture is getting hotter and hotter. I really believe the pushback in our culture is drawing the battle lines as never before.

As believers, we need to realize we are in the battle whether we like it or not. This is not a political war; this is a moral war taking place in our culture. God is choosing people who will abide by His agenda, not the evil one's agenda. And to abide by His agenda, we need to have a fearless resolve.

The fourth aspect of living fearlessly is having a fearless proclamation. The fearless proclamation that is discussed in today’s key passage is regarding baptism. Many people need to get their baptism in order. Why is that? Because it is a fearless proclamation to tell everyone, “I am a follower of Jesus, and I want you to know that I identify with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. I identify with you who know Christ.” When you choose to be baptized, you are fearlessly going public and proclaiming your decision to follow Jesus. That’s the kind of fearless proclamation we’re called to make when we surrender our lives to Christ.

Finally, the fifth aspect of living fearlessly is having a fearless confidence. The Bible says, “Jesus is Lord.” We need to always identify with Christ in every way, shape, and form. We are to pray in His name. We are to live in His name. We are to share the Gospel in His name, for His Kingdom. And we can do all of these things with confidence because of who Jesus is and because we have His Holy Spirit living within us!

If you struggle with living fearlessly, I hope you’ll take these things to heart, and with the strength of the Holy Spirit, I pray you’ll begin to live with a fearless heart, a fearless voice, a fearless resolve, a fearless proclamation, and a fearless confidence.