Bold As A Lion

Have you ever prayed for boldness?  In the world we live in we will have to make a stand for what we believe in.  As time goes on it will be harder and harder to live a faithful life and not deny Christ.  I think we live in a time of labor pains that will take place before Christ’s return and we need to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead.  

This is not a time to retreat, hiding our faith, keeping it to ourselves and not sharing it with those around us for fear of what they might say.  Christian principles and values are being eroded each day and our freedoms are being assaulted by people that have been blinded and can’t comprehend truth.  Satan has come to wage war on the saints and he is relentless in his endeavors.  He will never give up until the Lord comes and defeats him permanently.  

In the meantime we have a battle to fight and we are going to have to be bold as a lion, gentle as a dove and wise as a serpent if we expect to be overcomers in this war that we are engaged in.  This is the time for the church to awake from its slumber and get prepared for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  If you don’t know what it is like to be persecuted for your faith there is no time like the present to be preparing yourselves.  What we read about that is taking place in our government and our country is nothing new, it has been done before and failed, but it continues to go on. In time there will be no tolerance for the true church and its values. Churches may be tolerated for a time as long as they don’t teach anything that the government doesn’t approve of.  I think it will be a time of desertion and a great falling away of the church, which is already taking place today.  In our day, at least in many places, it is easy to be a church-goer with all the entertainment and watered down sermons we hear, it seems all we have to do is laugh our way to heaven.

In Noah’s day they were doing business as usual, laughing and partying, until the rain started falling, but then it was too late, the windows and doors in the ark were closed and the partying was over.  Should Christians be joyful?  Certainly, the Word says that the joy of the Lord is our strength, but not to the detriment of our growth through teaching, preaching, learning and transforming our lives.  If people need to be entertained there are many places they can go to fulfill that need, do we need to be entertained in our sermons or the time we are being taught the Word of God, I for one don’t think so.  

I really miss Pastor Piedmonte, he was a man of God that preached the Word and wasn’t ashamed of the gospel, calling sin a sin and Hell a place to be avoided at all cost as well as standing for truth and righteousness.  He was a true man of God and I would love to hear him preach once again.  He loved his Lord, he loved God’s Word and he loved God’s people, the church.  He was not only a great man of God but he was a great servant of God also.  He taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and how important it was for every believer.  He preached about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and water baptism along with many other fundamental truths, but he didn’t entertain while doing it.  I don’t read anywhere where Jesus or His disciples entertained while teaching or preaching, they told the truth and it cost most of them their lives, along with Jesus.

There may be a time when truth will be outlawed, that will be a sad day.  In the book of Acts the 4^th chapter Peter and John were held and threatened for telling the truth and for healing a man.  In verses 18-21 it says this, “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.’  So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done.”  After they had let them go they prayed for boldness that they might speak the Word.  It is in 4:29, “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word.”

If they needed boldness to speak, so do we in our day so don’t hesitate to pray and ask the Lord for it.   God bless you and have a great day!!