The Righteous Are Bold As A Lion

“The wicked flee when no man pursues them, but the [uncompromisingly] righteous are bold as a lion.” Proverbs 28:1 (AMP)

The word bold here in the Hebrew, Old Testament, means: to be bold (confident, secure, sure), put confidence, (make to) hope, (put, make to) trust (Strong's).

Boldness is literally putting your trust in the Lord God and in His mighty Word. Boldness is one of the most powerful attributes bestowed upon a believer. Those who put their trust in their God and in what He says about them will overcome great obstacles in life. It’s not what we were born into, or what we became before having the Lord in our lives, it’s what God has done for us and what He has given us in Christ.

My wife and I joined our church’s street outreach team soon after we had accepted Christ. This Spirit-filled, enthusiastic, on-fire team of people were seeing signs, wonders and miracles as in the Book of Acts. Not long after we joined, I was asked to preach. I had been sharing the Gospel and handing out tracts and gospel booklets to people but I had never preached or spoken publicly before.

I spent the week in prayer and preparation and when it was my turn to preach, although nervous, I stepped forward to begin - and was speechless! The crowd stared at me and I stared back.  I had a fifteen-point message in the back of my bible on the brutality Jesus endured during the crucifixion. Suddenly these words rose up out of my innermost being, “The same God who anointed Jesus of Nazareth to preach the gospel anointed Peter Rahme.”  I was taken aback as it was my voice but not my words.  The anointing was so strong - I preached for about ten to fifteen minutes and gave a call for people to receive Christ. About seventy people gave their lives to our wonderful Lord and Savior that day.  It was the beginning of fourteen years of ministering in the streets and in city-wide crusades which brought in a harvest of over 100,000 souls. All Glory to God.

I will never forget that Saturday, July 18th, 1981. I received a revelation of this boldness – but if I had not stepped out and obeyed the call of God on my life, many would have missed heaven and eternal life. Be encouraged, you can do the same – God is not a respecter ofpersons. We received this boldness with our salvation; it came at the highest price, that is the blood and life of the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Amplified Bible, Hebrews 9:22 says, “[In fact] under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.” The righteousness that we receive from this sacrifice makes us bold as a lion.

“He (Jesus) who did not know sin in an experiential way, on behalf of us and instead of us, was made [the representative of] sin, in order that, as for us, we might become a righteousness of God in Him.” (Wuest) 2 Corinthians 5:21

Our text reads the righteous are bold as a lion. That’s us! By means of Christ being born of a virgin, never committing a sin and shedding His precious blood, Righteousness Himself washed away our sins and placed His righteousness, His goodness, His love and eternal life in us. Hallelujah, what a mighty God we serve!

Don’t let anyone deceive you. Find out who you are in Christ for yourself through the Word of God. It is this truth that sets people free. If you are not being renewed in the spirit of your mind by the Word of God, you are living a life based on feelings. If you go on how you feel when you wake up, how your day goes, etc., it’s living like a nonbeliever, up one day, down the next. I call this yo-yo Christianity.

The key to staying bold and courageous is staying close to the Lord Jesus - keeping the passion for the lost alive. Never lose sight of the value of a soul – see people through the eyes of Jesus

The religious leaders of the day did everything in their power to stop the gospel from being proclaimed; they had Jesus brought before the high priests, Pilot the governor of Rome, King Herod, and the Sanhedrin. After the crucifixion of Christ, the authorities were still furious, because they knew they had put Him to death, but the miracles signs and wonders were still being performed by His disciples. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Acts 4:18-20

The disciples were threatened and beaten on several occasions. This only made them bolder in the things that they saw and did for the risen Savior. They didn’t complain about the government, the kings, and the evil men who were haters of God. No, they took their problems to the Lord God of heaven and earth and said, “Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4: 29-31

Nothing has really changed today. People and organizations are still trying to stop the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ from being proclaimed. We too should act on the promises we have received and speak the Word of God with boldness.

 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

Boldness in the New Testament (Young’s) means free utterance of speech, to speak with confidence, and/or assurance. This is obeying the gospel of the Lord Jesus who lived and died to bring it to us, who in turn commanded us to preach and proclaim it to all the world, setting the captives free. It doesn’t matter whether governments, kings, presidents or whoever want to accept it or not, it must be proclaimed with boldness and full assurance. Hallelujah!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Bro. Peter Rahme

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