Also pray for me—that when I speak, God will give me words so that I can tell the secret truth about the Good News without fear. I have the work of speaking for that Good News, and that is what I am doing now, here in prison. Pray that when I tell people the Good News, I will speak without fear as I should.

Paul had some work to do. His work was speaking for the Good News. His work was to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ to Jews and Gentiles. It didn’t matter that he was in prison at the time for doing the work. The work was something he still had to do. It was also something that he was still able to do, however limited and difficult, even in prison.

Like Paul, we have some work to do. Our work is also speaking for the Good News. Our work is also to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ. We may not be an apostle and evangelist like Paul, we may not have the same level of authority and responsibility, but we have our own individual roles to play. Even if we are in prison like Paul, we must still do the work.

Like Paul, therefore, there is something that we need. There is something that we need if we are to fulfill our roles effectively. Even in the best of circumstances, it is not always easy to represent the gospel. We need, therefore, plenty of prayer for the work.

We need prayer that the right words may be given to us. We need the words that will be powerful and effective in the hearts of those who hear them. We need words born of the Holy Spirit. Those kinds of words don’t just happen. They come as a result of prayer, our own prayers and the prayers of our fellow representatives.

We also need prayer to be able to speak the words without fear. We need the faith born of the Holy Spirit to overcome fear. We need faith to not care what people say to us or do to us—even if it is putting us in prison.

Today, then, pray for words without fear for yourself and your fellow representatives, especially those in difficult circumstances.

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International