Speak Life

Jeremy watched over the years as God continued to amaze him in the many ways that prayers were answered and in the plans were prospered in ways that his heart could not ever have imagined. It caused a joy to bubble up within Jeremy that made him want to climb up on the tallest structure he could find and shout how awesome, how mighty, how faithful, how loving, how forgiving, how healing, how transforming and how praiseworthy is the Lord our God.

Have you ever felt this excited about the Lord? Have you been so filled with the wonder of Him that you HAD to share with others what He has done or IS doing in your life? That comes as a direct result of your spending time with Him. What Jeremy learned and what I am learning is this: the fruit of the Spirit only comes from spending time with the Lord. He is the one who causes us to bear fruit. He does what is necessary to produce that fruit. I love what Jeremy said, "As much as we try, we can't go out and manufacture peace. We can't conjure up joy or whip up faithfulness in the microwave. Those things only come to us as we receive God's love, focus on bringing Him glory, stick close to Him and live out the greatest commandment: loving God with everything we have and loving others in His name." In a world where everything is pulling at you it is good to know you can be peaceful in the midst of the madness.

Part of this madness is found in the amazing technology that we have. While we are able to communicate in ways we never could before, as Jeremy pointed out  "as connected as we are what has happened to the heart connections between us and God, between us and each other? Have we become unintentionally superficial in our friendships? Could it be that we're actually more disconnected than we think?" There is hardly a person you pass anymore who doesn't have their cell phone out, or their headphones in. It is a wonderful way to stay connected to your loved ones but terrible for connecting with those in the room with you. When I am in a check out line if I get a call I will hang up and engage the cashier. At dinner with friends I will challenge them to put their cell phones in the middle of the table, first one to grab for it has to pay the tab. Granted their are times you may be at a special group event and you are excited and snapping and sharing pictures of your event (my daughters recent graduation from college is an example) when we all had our phones out recording and snapping pictures and then posting them to various social media sites, but this should be the exception, not the norm.

Engage those around you, look them in the eye, find out about their lives, whats going on and really listen. You don't have to nervously look for a spot to cram "the Jesus" talk in, God will open the door for you to reveal the hope that is within you. If you are looking for a spot to cram in YOUR agenda you won't be LISTENING. You won't find out about her husband who left her, his sister who is gay, or her child who was abused. They won't tell you.

Jeremy had an amazing point and its one I harp on quite a bit, "Do we need to be able to relate to our culture?" Of course we do, Jesus ate with tax collectors and hung out with sinners. But He didn't compromise in the process. Our challenge is to be in the world but not become corrupted by it."

Dave Mathis over at Desiring God wrote AN EXCELLENT piece about that phrase "in the world but not of it"  We must go IN to the world, while remaining unstained from the corruption that is in the world. We HAVE to be knowledgeable and able to speak to the things that the culture is into. It's what I believe Paul meant when in I Corinthians 9: 19-23 he said he became all things to all men that by all means some might be saved. Reach out to those who are hurting and lost, share with them the good news, speak life.


XOXO