Is It Time To Be Bold?

“The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.” – Proverbs 28:1.

It was Catherine Booth, the co-founder of The Salvation Army, who said, “If we are to better the future we must disturb the present.” When’s the last time you took a few days to figure out what you’re doing, where you’re going, even who you are—a few days to dream about the future and make decisions about how to make a difference today and a difference tomorrow. 

Making a difference today often requires boldness. Most of us wish we could be more more bold in displaying the love of Christ. But so often when we come face-to-face with God-given opportunities to be bold, we find ourselves trembling. We don’t feel bold and we justify not acting on opportunities because of these feelings. 

Because of this, we will miss out on opportunities to display the light and life of Christ to those who are far from the heart of God. In Acts 4, followers of Jesus are gathered together praying after Peter and John returned from speaking to the Pharisees. They had been threatened not to speak about Jesus anymore, and in verse 29, they prayed, “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.” They knew they could not do it on their own. They needed continual grace to be able to speak the truth with boldness.

Many people view boldness as a feeling, but is it? Boldness is doing something out of confidence and belief that it is true no matter how we feel. We can be bold even when our knees are shaking if we focus on Christ.  God has given each one of His children the Holy Spirit, and it is through Him that we have the ability to speak boldly when we don’t feel like we can.

Boldness goes hand-in-hand with faith. The more faith we have, the more confidence we have. And the more confidence we have, the more boldly we will be. But this, like a muscle, has to be exercised and built until it becomes strong. This will only come through obedience, not by just sitting back passively and waiting for it to happen. The more we obey, the more we will see God’s faithfulness to grant us everything we need to do His will!

“ For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” ( 2 Timothy 1:7) 

Discussion Questions:

1. What does being bold mean to you?
2. What can we do this week to prepare ourselves for opportunities to share our story?