Need boldness? 

‘The righteous are as bold as a lion.’ Proverbs 28:1 NIV 

Rosa Parks, a committed Christian and the mother of the American Civil Rights movement, was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. Boycotts and bloodshed followed until the Supreme Court finally ruled racial segregation unconstitutional. In Quiet Strength, Rosa writes: ‘Knowing what must be done does away with fear. When I sat down on the bus that day, I’d no idea history was being made; I was only thinking of getting home. But I had made up my mind. After many years of being a victim of the mistreatment my people suffered, not giving up my seat – and whatever I had to face afterwards – wasn’t important. I didn’t feel any fear...I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. It was time for someone to stand up – or in my case, sit down.’ John Knox’s epitaph reads, ‘Here lies a man who never feared the face of clay.’ At Westminster Abbey in London, a memorial to Lord Lawrence says, ‘He feared man so little, because he feared God so much.’ How would you like to be remembered like that? God’s Word says, ‘The righteous are bold as a lion.’ Even when you don’t feel very brave, always remember, courage isn’t the absence of fear – it’s the mastery of it! David says, ‘Wait on the LORD...and He shall strengthen your heart’ (Psalm 27:14 NKJV). When your cause is righteous and you commit it to God, He’ll give you the boldness you need to act. Count on it. 

Prayer Point:

Lord, You tell me that to fear You is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9;10). Forgive me that sometimes I fear other people and seek their approval more than Yours. Lord, I pray that You would become bigger in my life so that the fear of man decreases. Lord, help me to fear people less but love them more. For Jesus’ sake. Amen. 

Acknowledgements: Parks, Rosa with Reed, Gregory J, Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman who Changed a Nation (Zondervan, 1994).