Righteous Boldness

"The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." Prov 28:1.

"Since we have such a hope, we are very bold..." 2 Cor. 3:12

"Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God's presence." Eph. 3:12

"Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;" 1 John 3:21

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:16

There are many more examples in scripture of boldness before the Lord, boldness in witnessing and boldness in speaking the gospel. A holy boldness is given to God's children who speak his truth. We can see this following Pentecost where the apostles and leaders spoke "boldly in the Lord." Acts 14:3.

Where does this boldness come from?

The Presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian. The apostles, "filled with the Holy Ghost," were filled with confidence and boldness as they spoke to the religious and political leaders, and to the early Christians, so much so that they were constantly persecuted right up to their deaths. Acts 4:13 says that the leaders "took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus." They were living witnesses to the power of Christ. When Christians speak with God's authority they speak boldly, with confidence.

God's Word. We can never be so confident in our boldness to speak, as when we are speaking directly from the Word of God. We are then enabled to speak "the word of God with boldness." Acts 4:31. When Paul was debating and persuading the philosophers and religious leaders of the day, he spoke boldly to "make known the mystery of the gospel." His confidence came from that very gospel, because he knew it was truth.

A Righteous Life. When a Christian is living in obedience to the Lord he has assurance that he has a powerful witness and the message of the gospel, and that he is compelled to spread that truth. "...in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body..." Philippians 1:20. He is living 'in' Christ and can therefore speak with the authority of a mature believer.

Our confidence and boldness doesn't come from our own abilities or goodness, neither of which would stand up for a moment. Our boldness comes from the inner witness of the Holy Spirit in the life of an obedient believer who loves to study God's Word, and whose life is a reflection of a changed life.

It's an amazing privilege to be heirs of salvation, boldly approaching the throne of grace in prayerful request for personal guidance and petitions. I never cease to be in complete awe of the grace and mercy that God has afforded us, in that he calls us his friends ... his brethren ... his children ... members of the family of the Creator himself. And he invites us to boldly approach him, as...

A Royal Heir

Confidence or Faith?

I was listening to a sermon about David and Goliath last Sunday, and of course some new thoughts occurred to me about David.

Here was a young shepherd who had done nothing in life that we know of except to herd sheep. It hardly seems to qualify him for taking on the giant warrior, Goliath. It's no wonder that Goliath laughed at him and didn't really take him seriously. Who would?

Not only that, but the 'weapon' he planned to use against Goliath was a slingshot!

Now, David wasn't even on the battlefield. His father had sent him up with some food to take to his brothers and the other soldiers. These soldiers were scared to death of Goliath, and it was the talk of the camp what they should do about him. Along comes David and asks them who this "uncircumcised Philistine" is, that he would defy the God of Israel. He was outraged.

David's eldest brother was disgusted with this kind of talk, and he asked him (my own paraphrase), "What are you doing down here, anyway? And who is taking care of the sheep you're supposed to be watching? You just came down here out of pride, to act like you're a part of the battle," to which David responded, "What have I done now? Isn't there a good reason to ask why Goliath can just defy God like that?" So, David got into a disagreement with others along the same line.

When King Saul heard all the hubbub, he ordered David down so Saul could see what was going on. David said the same things to Saul and offered to fight the giant. Saul pointed out that the giant was a man of war and David was just a youth. David was determined, and he told Saul that during the course of watching the sheep he had also killed a lion and a bear, and that Goliath was no better than those two animals, especially after defying God. He said that God would deliver him out of Goliath's hand just as God had delivered him from the beasts.

It would be interesting to know exactly what Saul was thinking when he gave David some armor, a helmet and a sword, and agreed to it. My guess is that he was having 'a bit of fun' with David, thinking that all the gear would deter him. David had never handled such tools of war, and he took them off and said he couldn't do anything with that stuff. Instead, he picked out five smooth stones and his slingshot, and off he went.

When Goliath saw David, he ridiculed him, which we can certainly understand. No doubt this entire spectacle was a brief relief of tension for the soldiers on both sides. They were probably watching it as they would a sports event, happy for the moment of respite from the battle.

There was more. David told Goliath that he had come in the name of the God of the armies of Israel, whom "thou hast defied," that the Lord would deliver Goliath into his hands, that David would take off his head and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds..."that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands."

I doubt if Goliath was laughing after this direct reproach from David. No doubt this aroused his anger at this silly upstart. Running toward the Philistines, David pulled out one stone, sunk it into Goliath's forehead and he was dead. David wasn't finished. He ran over to the body, took Goliath's own sword and chopped off the giant's head. Seeing this, the Philistine army fled.

Have you ever in your life heard of such confidence?

Most people would call it chutzpah, which the dictionary defines as: unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall, audacity; nerve. Hardly anyone would disagree with that.

But that, indeed, was the very thing it was not. It was not even simple self-confidence. I'll tell you what it was. It was God-confidence. It was unmitigated FAITH. The kind of faith that qualified David to be mentioned in Hebrews 11 - the faith chapter of the Bible. We can be certain that David was an intimate acquaintance of God. They knew each other well.

Jesus, when speaking of self-confidence, said, "...when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

David's kind of faith in God is the very same kind of faith God is seeking in people who desire to greet Jesus Christ at his second coming. It's the faith needed in 2010. We will never reach the goal without it.

Are you an intimate of God?

Royal Heir