It was a typical Thursday night for our team. We arrived at 8:30 p.m., unloaded our food, and set up in front of the DJ booth. We’d prepared a crowd favorite that night: fried chicken and mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, and mac and cheese—enough to feed everyone who works at the strip club, thirty dancers and ten bouncers.

Yes, you read that right. For years, I’ve led groups of Christian women who minister to the men and women who work in the adult entertainment industry. When I train volunteers to prepare meals and take them into clubs, one of the first things I teach them is that this kind of ministry is hard, laborious, and requires courage. But how does an average Christian find the courage to do something outrageous? Let me tell you a story.

Liquid Courage

Sometimes ministry in the clubs is heartbreaking. This night was no exception. About twenty minutes after we arrived, I noticed a woman walk in the door. She was clearly new, and she looked utterly lost. This woman wore jeans and a blue sweater draped off her shoulder. She carried a large bag with clothes spilling out of it. I didn’t know if she worked there or was a patron, but as soon as I saw her, I felt the Spirit prompt me to walk over to her. As I approached, the woman staggered and bumped into a barstool. She was drunk. So drunk she could barely stay on her feet and hold on to her bag.

The alcohol not only affected this woman’s balance, it also gave her the courage to talk. I invited her to get something to eat, and she asked me how much the meal cost. As soon as I told her the meal was free, she made her way over to our table, and with hesitation in her eyes, she began to tell me her story.

“You know,” she said, “I’ve never worked here before, but I have five children who haven’t eaten in a week, and I’m desperate. My friend told me I could make fast money at the club, so I walked here to apply.”

“What does it take to try out?” I asked.

With desperate eyes, she told me the manager had explained that she’d have to dance in front of him and the rest of the staff completely nude. She then told the manager, “I don’t think I can do that sober.” The manager suggested she go to the bar for a few drinks, to find some “liquid courage.” That’s exactly what she’d done.

What Is Courage? Where Do You Find It?

Courage is the mental or moral strength to venture forward, persevere, and withstand danger or difficulty. Courageous faith rarely feels safe. It’s what Ed McCully, a classmate of Jim Elliot, described as living “a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it.” Truly, it’s a risk. In a sense, the woman I met that night at the club was courageous, but her courage was born out of desperation rather than faith. I want to encourage you instead to have the courage that’s born out of a Spirit-filled life.

What does courage that’s guided by faith involve? I’ll tell you that when you head into the clubs, you must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Yes, I need the Spirit every second of every day. But in the clubs, I am constantly praying, Jesus, give me words to speak to this dancer. Give me the wisdom to interact with this club manager. Help the awkwardness our team feels to not show on our faces. Help us to show your love instead.

Listen to the Spirit

Sometimes our volunteers bring up a very practical question about the Holy Spirit. They’ll ask, “How do you know what the Spirit is saying?” You may have wondered the same thing. Here are four big truths from my book Outrageous Obedience: Answering God’s Call to Shine in the Darkest Places (Bethany House, 2022) that will helpus answer that question.

1. The Spirit is consistent with his messaging. The Holy Spirit’s voice never says anything contrary to God’s revealed Word. In fact, the Bible teaches us that one of the Spirit’s jobs is to remind us of the things we’ve learned from God’s Word (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit is never going to tell you to hurt or gossip about someone. No, he’s going to prompt you to confess your sins, obey him, show love to someone who is difficult, or stop talking and listen to a friend who’s in pain. What he tells you will always agree with what God has already told you in the Bible.

2. The Spirit often speaks most clearly in the dark. We want to experience intimacy with God and clearly hear his voice, and I’ve found that we typically feel closest to him and hear him the loudest when we are in the darkest of places, in times of desperation. In those moments when I’m ministering in a dingy dressing room, I am intensely aware of how desperate I am for God’s help. The Spirit gives us words when we need them to bear witness (Mark 13:11). He is the Helper and Comforter who goes with us when it seems like everything is against us.

3. We must walk with the Spirit to know his voice.To hear the voice and promptings of the Spirit, you’ve got to know him. You won’t hear his voice if you don’t recognize it from spending time with his Word. For me, this involves learning to quiet my soul; I can’t hear the Spirit if my life is too loud. The amazing thing is God wants to have a vibrant relationship with you, and the more you read God’s Word, the more he’ll speak to you. Yes, he speaks through the Bible, but having heard his voice in the Word will help you identify the Holy Spirit’s quiet promptings in your heart as well.

4. The Spirit moves us to action. The Holy Spirit brings you to a place where you need to express your faith. The Spirit leads you to active obedience to God’s commission, which requires making real adjustments in your life (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 13:2, 15:28; 2 Corinthians 3:17–18). The adjustment may be small—like choosing to call a hurting friend—or it may be big—like moving your family across an ocean. But Spirit-empowered obedience almost always involves a courageous adjustment.

Take the Risk

“I’m so thankful I met you,” I told the woman as I helped her to the serving line. “I don’t think it’s an accident that we’re both here tonight.”

She smiled, and I began to make her a plate. But as I began to serve her, I saw that she’d leaned over the mac and cheese pan and begun scooping it directly into her mouth. My heart sank; she was poor, drunk, and hopelessly hungry.

I took the pan of mac and cheese and set it aside for her to take home. As I did, she turned her head away from the food and threw up all down my front. Without even acknowledging what had just happened, she looked up at me with tears in her eyes and asked, “Will you pray for me?” Though this woman had run to the bar to find courage, she knew what she really needed was prayer. Real courage—true faith—comes only by the Spirit.

We were covered with vomit, but God was at work. This woman’s plea for me to pray for her was a sign that the Spirit of Christ was doing something in her. God used our encounter in the strip club that night to begin a work of salvation in this woman’s life and make her a daughter of the King.

Our Savior loves the desperate and exploited. He loves the sin-sick and addicted. He offers the kind of balm that heals trauma and generational sin. He loves us with every ounce of his blood. He risked everything to save us. So, as we depend on his Spirit, how can we not love others with the same sort of risk-taking, courageous faith?

Rachelle Starr is the author of the new book Outrageous Obedience (Bethany House). She is the founder and president of Scarlet Hope, a national nonprofit ministry that shares the hope and love of Jesus with women in the adult entertainment industry. She lives in Louisville, KY, with her husband and two sons. You can find out more at www.scarlethope.org and https://rachellestarr.co.