Title: A Prayer for Boldness to Share the Gospel
By: Emily Rose Massey
“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion” – Proverbs 28:1.
A few years ago, I was met with a strong desire to begin to use my social media accounts to share my faith in Christ with others. I didn’t want to use my words to manipulate people’s emotions to gain likes or followers, but to point them to truth found in God’s Word alone.
As a writer, I see social media as a place of ministry. I never want to compromise God’s truth so that others may feel more comfortable embracing my message. I don’t want to twist or misinterpret scripture so that the entire meaning is changed, or confusion is created because it may contradict what we find in the Bible. I discovered very quickly that exposing darkness and error wouldn’t win me any popularity contests online.
As someone who has spent many years healing from the wounds of rejection, denying myself of the desire to be a people-pleaser has to take precedence when it comes to sharing God’s truth, even when it tends to offend. Standing up for God’s Word in a culture where truth is relative, and not absolute as it should be, comes with a lot of pushback (even among professing Christians).
But as true Christ-followers, we are to live to please God and not men. As believers, we shouldn’t compromise truth to be popular, but we also shouldn’t be quarrelsome. We need to stand firm upon truth no matter what others may say about us or about our God.
Proverbs 28:1 reminds us that believers don’t back down or run away at the first sign of adversity:
“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1, NASB).
We need the Holy Spirit’s help any time we stand up for Jesus; it is His strength that we must lean on. We need His boldness and courage to be light in a dark world if we are to be a mouthpiece for Him. Just as we cannot muster up our own righteousness, we cannot muster up boldness and strength as a witness for Jesus.
We have to solely rely on the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and in our hearts. God desires that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), so that should be the heartbeat behind why we share truth with others. It’s not about us being right so that they would follow us, but that they would come to the knowledge of truth so that they might follow Jesus alone.
May the Lord give us the boldness to share His Word with others so that they may come to know Him and love Him more.
Father,
I thank You for calling me to Yourself and making me Your child through what Jesus did for me on the cross. In Him, I am now able to be called righteous, not for anything I have done, but because of His sacrifice.
You have called us as believers to go into the world and make disciples of every nation. I ask that You give me a courage and boldness to share Your truth and Your Gospel with those around me, whether that is online or with another person face to face.
I pray that those you place in my path would see Your great love for them in the truth that I share.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
