Ranting... Maybe raving...

Sometimes it just makes me laugh in my little head how we or maybe just I operate. I think my generation really believes that the world would just shut us up if it had the chance. Our voices, our opinions, or thoughts and ideas could just go away and never be heard of again.. I think sometimes we feel this way so strongly that we fight and kick and scream when it really wasn't the right moment, further contributing to the older generations wanting to take our voices away in the first place. The true problem behind it all is that in those rare moments when we are tested and given a chance to speak we clam up, the idea of speaking has become something so large that we fear it. I have not yet decided what I believe is the reason but I think I have narrowed it down to two different options. One is that we simply have nothing to say. We bark and scream about the things that we have to say, how our thoughts and opinions are so important yet we really don't have anything worth listening to and when we get the chance to share this brilliance we quickly realize after trying to form the first moronic sentence in our heads that we really have nothing to say. Or two, and I hesitate to even have this thought because it really just blames the groups for not letting us speak on so many levels. But just maybe we end up buying into the lie that we really have nothing to say. That our voice is to immature to really bring anything worth while to the table. It is silly to think there is a magic age that your thoughts and opinions mature and really start to matter. That there will be this amazing moment in our lives that we will wake up and society will have decided that we have lived enough and seen enough to merit having something to speak about. So when that sought after day comes and someone cues up the mic ready for our thoughts and we freeze up maybe, just maybe we finally started to believe what we had been avoiding for so long. Maybe we finally started to believe without evening knowing that we were junk and all we knew was stupid and not worth anyone's time.

Take 8 Minutes

Sit back and relax... Take 8 minutes to listen to something beautiful. Hear the music and relax - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbafIbcO7m8

Deposit?

I wonder if I were to look at my friends and ask the simply if I deposit good into their lives just what they would say. I wonder if they could look at me and say you listened when I needed to speak or you were busy and had a lot going on. I wonder if they would say you were there for me to lean on when I was falling or if they would say you watched me fall. I wonder if they could simply say you gave me a smile when the room was ever so dark.

I can only hope... that my life has been a deposit and that deposit be as simple as a smile.

Testing 1,2,3

Could this work??? Will this work??? well if it does we are in good spirits...

No one needs us to speak passively. We tend to hold back on things that we believe we are not experts on. With the fear of harming or detouring someone from the right choice. We tend to fear to be wrong simply either affecting us or affecting them. But if we speak with steadfast courage, if we speak with purpose we may be able to change something for someone.

Christians, we stand toe to toe with the world trying to keep our head above water. We have this longing, this desire to stand up and preach to the masses to explain and tell God's truth as we see it but we hold back, sometimes more so than others. We stand still worrying that the secular listeners may not agree with even our very basic beliefs. 

If we look back to the bible it is very encouraging to see how Peter and John responded to the rulers in Acts (4: 13-20 msg). The rules tell them to get out and to never speak again in the name of Jesus. Then in the last verses They respond to the rulers by saying, "Whether it's right in God's eyes to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. As for us, there's no question - we can't keep quiet about what we've seen and heard".

One of the greatest obstacles to our speaking out in public about the truth as we have seen it in our walk is that we believe that we must win. Or that we have to some how play by the rules with our secular world and its leaders. But Peter shows us that this is not at all what we have to do. Our duty is not to win or to play by the worlds rules. Our duty is to stand firm and tell our hearts through what we know of God. 

Peter says very simply "We can't keep quite about what we've seen and heard" or in another version "We must speak what we have seen and heard". He is a witness. The simple point is that all Christians should stand up and tell it like they know it. Don't worry if the world doesn't agree with even your very basic believes. Remember, your job is not to win, Your job is to say what God wants said. 

The bible says in Romans 1 & 2 that the law of God is written on the hearts of every person, and in Genesis it says that everyone is created in God's image. That's enough to believe that your witness to the truth about whatever subject may lay in front of you could trigger something deep inside people. It will have a truth ring to it deep in their hearts that could be being suppressed for whatever reason that God is waiting to shake loose. Waiting for his truth to be spoken boldly and clearly by his army. 

The recurring thought the last few weeks has been to have a stronger voice with those in my life and those not in my life. I fantasize just a bit about being a bigger help. To be able to speak more intelligently on life and life's problems. Whether that is spreading my faith or simply spreading joy. I actually get quite disappointed when I go over the seemingly empty eps that is my impact on life around me. I think that is one of the easy lies that the enemy whispers into our hearts. I believe that God creates many moments in our day that becomes so very influential to others even when we do not see it. All we can do is simply spread our heart to those around us. To speak truth and to speak good towards all that we see. And trust that God will use those moments as he sees fit.