We’ve talked a great deal lately in our congregation about being bold. Specifically being bold when we go before the throne of God. Not just being bold when we are asking for our common everyday needs but petitioning Him for BIG things. For BOLD things!

Things such as……

  • Being bold to speak the name of Christ on a daily basis.

  • Being bold to wear the name of Christ unashamedly.

  • Being bold to reach out to the lost and introduce Him to the One they need to know.

  • Being bold enough to let Him provide a way of escape when we are tempted.

  • Being bold enough to serve others that clearly lets His life shine through us.

But even more so…

  • Being bold to ask Him to show Himself to others and to work in our lives and others in BIG BOLD WAYS!!

I look back at my youth and I wasn’t bold. I was raised in His church but yet I was afraid of God and His judgements. I didn’t understand He wanted me as His own and that He loved me. I saw His commandments as burdensome and something I could never perfect. I didn’t understand to boldly accept His love, His grace and His mercy and just walk with Him and let Him be my guide. Truth be told, I didn’t know God. I knew OF God. I wanted to please Him, I wanted to go to Heaven, but I knew nothing of courage.

I wish I had known God more like I have come to know Him as I’ve grown older. I wish I had known boldness like I’m learning to embrace now. He wants to know me and He wants me to know Him. He wants a relationship with me.

This is exactly what our younger generation in the church needs.

They need to know God, not just know of Him, and they need to understand that He wants a relationship with them.

With all of us. He isn’t just there to dictate rules and regulations and if we stray just one bit we are cast into hell. NO! He’s our Father and He gave us those rules and regulations to make our life easier. To make the path smoother. Relationships only grow when people get to know one another. When we take time to know our Creator, we discover what a loving, giving, compassionate, patient FATHER we have who only wants to save us from this world. It’s a story of love. His love story to us. A beautiful story of redemption.

We, as older and wiser Christians are His instruments to lead the youth into a relationship with Him and to train them to be bold. We don’t need to just introduce Him to the young and then leave them to get to know Him on their own. We need to engage them in our relationship with Him and teach them HOW to have their own relationship with Him.

The world we live in promotes boldness but in ways that speak against God. There are agendas being pushed in today’s world that clearly are sinful but the boldness of those pushing these agendas has society rethinking their views on these topics and find themselves conforming to these worldly views. If our youth fall prey to these lies that are being told, the boldness of those spreading such lies will have our youth cowering down and not have the courage to speak the truth. Sin will invade their lives ,as well, if they don’t have the boldness to stand for the truth.

When sin invades it begins to confuse the truth. Their heart will become hardened and become blind to the consequences of sin. Then desensitization occurs – sin loses it’s meaning. They fall further and further into corruption, immersing themselves in the sensualities of this world. The final result…. spiritual destruction. We cannot let this happen to our youth!!

It is very important to help them understand that boldness doesn’t mean….

  • There is no fear

  • There are no consequences

  • Things always work out the way we expect.

It’s also very important to help them understand that we aren’t asked to do the work ourselves. He just want us to be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9).

Psalm 37:5 says…

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.”

What we see here is us giving it over to God, fully believing He is in charge…. and then what happens? “and He will act.” HE will do the work. Yes, it’s through you but He will work.

We can NOT let the younger generation speak the words I spoke earlier…

  • ”I was not bold.”

  • “I didn’t know God.”

We have a beautiful task laid before us to teach and guide the younger women. Boldness is a characteristic that they need to see in us and that we need to instill in them.

2 Corinthians 3:12

“Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech”

Melissa Thompson
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Melissa has been married for almost 35 years to her husband, Jeff, and has a close-knit family that loves the Lord. Jamie and her husband, Steve, live in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, with their three children - Oaklyn, Isla, and Luca. Kaylee and James live in Washington, Oklahoma, with their three children - Adelynn, Brynlee, and Caden. Justin and Sarah also live in Washington, Oklahoma, with their daughter - Mia. Those seven grandchildren are truly some of God's greatest blessings for Melissa and Jeff. Melissa has worked for a local school day photography company for over 25 years as a business manager and owns her own yearbook sales company. Melissa is passionate about the younger generation, knowing that it is the future of the Lord’s church. Because of that passion, she has spent many years counseling and teaching at different church camps. She also started the Oklahoma E.W.E.S. Camp for young Christian women, which she directed for ten years, and has recently passed the reins over to another director. Over the past 5 years, Melissa has worked with her husband alongside the college minister of Sooner Servants at Westside Church of Christ in Norman to encourage, teach, and help grow the faith of the college students passing through during their years in Norman.