A prayer for boldness by Emily Rose Massey, read by Leah Martin.

The wicked flee when no one is pursuing but the righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 28.

The last few years it seems there's been a constant, brutal violence and restlessness among people in our nation that's been ever increasing and ever before our eyes and in our social media news feeds.

So much hatred and violence toward fellow man, so much strife and division in our land.

Stone, cold, and bitter hearts toward anyone who may look different than us or think differently than us.

Most definitely, when we see injustice, it should cause us to want to rise up and say something.

Yet our message as believers proclaiming the solution to such hatred and violence

should be vastly different than what the world offers. The imagery in Proverbs

281 reveals such a contrast between the world and God's people.

The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion, Proverbs 281.

As believers we must be bold as lions and not shy away from speaking truth when the world may want to

flee from the truth. The problem is sin, the answer is the gospel.

It all begins and ends in the heart.

Deceit and the growth of sin abounds in our day.

Church, we must take a stand against both for the

sake of the gospel. We must declare that the supreme demonstration of God's provision for sinful

humanity is seen in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We must proclaim that the only way a person can see a change of heart is to become born again.

John 3.

Such internal transformation through the work of the Holy Spirit results in a new life

conforming to Christ's character. Galatians 522 through 23 explains that once a person believes the gospel and

trust in Christ for their righteousness, the spirit is given by God to indwell and empower the Christian to reflect more closely the character of our Savior.

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