Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs
TIME TO BE BOLD
Proverbs 28:1: "The righteous are as bold as a lion."
God Himself is bold. He despises fear and cowardice. The nation desperately needs bold men and women who will raise bold children for our present and future battles against all that is godless and unrighteous. We must be bold enough to defy all our enemies right to their proud haughty faces.
1 Chronicles 12:8: "And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains." These Gadites, whose faces had a lion-like look about them must have indeed been bold men. These mighty men came to help King David, but King Jesus, who is the heavenly David, is surely worth fighting for.
Acts 4:13: "Now when they saw the BOLDNESS of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." In the face of persecution, Peter and John did not act like timid lambs or nervous mice. Their boldness caused their persecutors to marvel. They realized that the source of this boldness did not come from education, for they were "unlearned" men. They also understood that this boldness did not come from knowledge, for they were "ignorant" men. But, they "took knowledge of them that they had BEEN WITH JESUS." This was the real source of their boldness.
The more time we spend with Jesus, the bolder we will be. Their persecutors did not know that Jesus had just baptized His disciples with power from on high which turned the denying Peter into the bold confessor.
Great boldness to testify for Jesus in the face of hot persecution is the greatest evidence of our claim to be filled with the Spirit of God. Those who spend time with Jesus are the most likely ones to experience great boldness.
God is calling for bold men! Will you be one?
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
