Righteous Stand

Prov.28:¹ “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” (NIV, emphasis added)

Over the next few days, we are going to be taking bold steps in life. “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion” does not mean there are no bold wicked people, and it does not mean there are no timid righteous people. Some people are wicked and are bold about it. Some people are righteous and timid about it. However, what God is saying in today’s anchor scripture is that wickedness has a way of making people afraid for nothing and it has a way of sapping life out of people. But righteousness has a way of infusing courage into people. We are afraid of things that we ought not to be afraid of. When you find yourself overly fearful, you need to check if you are drawing your source of righteousness from God or otherwise.

Some time ago, I was in my compound, outside my house at past midnight praying. I cannot remember if I was standing or sitting. As I was praying, I did not even know when I closed my eyes, and I cannot tell how long my eyes were closed. When I opened my eyes, about ten steps away from me, an owl was standing, and it was staring straight at me. And you know how big owl’s eyes are, at one o’clock in the morning. I looked at it and thought to myself, this is God’s beautiful creation. I continued to pray and when it was tired, it flew away. A lot of people would have seen that owl at that time of the morning and began to plead the Blood of Jesus. We have applied the Blood of Jesus to things that we have no business applying the Blood of Jesus to. Some people will start to rebuke and bind the owl in the Name of Jesus.

Some people will raise their voice and call their house fellowship leader insisting that the ‘village people’ have come. “…but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” So why do people do that?  It is because they are afraid. The owl is just a bird. If while you are praying, you open your eyes and see a fly would you be afraid? But the owl can be from the village and it can be strong, right? I am not discounting that, but what I am saying is that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Even if the owl was sent from ‘the village’, if it comes close to you while you are praying, what will happen to the owl? It will die and there is no confusion about that.

Do you know that some people are afraid of their spouses? So, they are afraid to sleep because in a dream they saw the spouse trying to strangle them. But this same spouse has not strangled you for the past five years. What if God is just revealing their heart to you? A lot of the time, it is just fear, and it is the devil. It has nothing to do with the Lord. The righteous are as bold as a lion; the place of righteousness is huge, and it is important. When you are able to kneel before God, as they say, you should be able to stand before any man.

Prayer: Father, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I banish fear from my life, and I take bold steps in my life, in Jesus Name. Amen!