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Daily Devotions with Dr. Josh Taylor

A Teenager With a Candle

Published 4 days ago • 2 min read

​A Teenager With a Candle​

Josh Taylor

Published on September 16, 2026

Acts 4:8 (CSB)
“Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders:'”

Weeks earlier, in the courtyard of the high priest’s house, a servant girl looked at Peter and said he had been with Jesus. He cursed and swore he did not know the man (Matthew 26:69-70). He could not face a teenager with a candle.

Now read verse 8. Same city. Same council. The same Annas and the same Caiaphas who had signed Jesus over to Pilate a few weeks before, in the same robes, in the same room. They demand to know by what power and in what name. Peter, who folded in front of a girl, does not fold in front of them.

Why would God use a man after a failure that public? That is exactly the point. The man who denied Christ before a servant girl now confesses Him before the high priest himself, so that nobody watching could say Peter managed it on his own nerve. Luke tells you why in the same breath: “Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

You may say you are not the bold type. Neither was Peter. Boldness in Acts is not a temperament. Some people are simply born unable to stop talking, and that is not what this word means. Spiritual boldness is opening your mouth in the presence of fear because Christ is worth the trembling. Peter was very likely terrified in that room.

I will say plainly that I have talked myself out of it more than once, convinced in the moment that He was not worth the trembling. You may assume a man who has studied this long has no fear left in him. I have fear. And every time I have opened my mouth anyway, He has been sufficient.

He does not call you because you are fearless. He calls you because He is worthy and His Spirit is enough. So pray, and then open your mouth when He gives you the opening.

Reflect

You have probably decided somewhere along the way that boldness belongs to other people. Test that. Ask whether what you call temperament is really a conclusion you reached about what Christ is worth. Pray for one specific conversation this week and go into it afraid.

Pray

Heavenly Father, I confess I have called my silence a personality and not a fear. Forgive me for deciding in advance what I am capable of and calling it humility. Fill me with Your Spirit and loosen my tongue in the room where it matters. In the name of Jesus Christ, who is worth the trembling, I pray. Amen.

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The post A Teenager With a Candle first appeared on Preach Well.

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Josh Taylor is an ordained minister and pastors Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Demorest, Georgia. He holds degrees in pastoral ministry from Toccoa Falls College and in Christian apologetics from Biola University, and a DMin in biblical preaching from Anderson University in South Carolina. He is married to Mandy, and they have two kids: Scottlynn and Haddon.

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Daily Devotions with Dr. Josh Taylor

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Josh Taylor is the Senior Pastor of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Demorest, GA, and an author with degrees from Toccoa Falls College (B.A. in Pastoral Ministry), Biola University (M.A. in Christian Apologetics), and Anderson University (D.Min. in Biblical Preaching). He has published A Preach Well Church: How Churches Can Stop Burning Out Pastors (Wipf & Stock) and Mercy Mild. At PreachWell.com, Josh writes on Scripture, Christian living, and church health.

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