Assertiveness is not Popular (But So Worth It) Part I

Populist movements punching out all over the country are demanding change. They call themselves the 99% screwed over by the 1%.

They are loud, uncowed, and make a mean crowd. Yet they do not represent the assertive spirit that we need to see in this country.

Assertiveness is claiming your rights without impinging on others'. Assertiveness is speaking up for what is right, without lying about it or expecting other people to lie down for it.

Assertiveness is walking and talking in concert with your beliefs and revealed natural law. I do not get to do and say anything merely because I believe it, nor am I entitled to force someone to agree with me. There is a Higher Authority from who all rights and authorities flow, which everyone of us must respect.

Why do people refuse to speak up?

1. They do not think that they have a right to. We all know that that is not true, at least in our minds.

2. We are afraid, and understandably so. We try convincing your heart beating or your flesh trembling. It may seem like your very body is telling you, "Don't! Don't!" Yet fight or flight deserves no place in deciding what we say or do.

2. We simply do not know how to.

All of these concerns are taken out in one fell swoop with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

"Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:16-17)

This Comforter supplies us with everything, including boldness of speech:

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26)

And

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

"And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." (John 15:26-27)

The Holy Spirit gives us the power to bear witness of the Truth, and that includes holding people accountable, voicing our proper needs and wants without being disrespectful toward others.

Jesus gave an explicit promise of the Holy Spirit's Holy supply of wisdom:

"And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:

"For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. " (Luke 12:11-12)

Assertiveness is more than a script, a set of tricks, even a way of life. It is life itself manifested in every believer who is willing to trust in the supply graced to us by God the Father.