Don’t Be Afraid to Speak Up

While reading a book in bed a few nights ago, I found myself rereading the same paragraph over and over again. I tend to do this when I’m falling asleep but really want to keep reading. Anyone else? That’s when I heard the still small voice in my heart calling my name,

“Janelly…Janelly…”

Immediately my eyes widened as I responded with a soft, “yeah?”

“Turn off your kindle and spend some time with me.”

For some reason it made me think of when God called Samuel in the night. (1 Samuel 3)

Samuel kept thinking it was Eli calling him from the other room, but it wasn’t. Three times Samuel got up after hearing his name. After the third time Eli told him to go back to his room, lie down and say “Speak, for your servant is listening,” if the Lord called upon him again. I probably should have said something like that instead of “yeah,” but hey, I was half asleep.

Instead of falling asleep reading that night, I fell asleep praying. It was beautiful and something I want to do more often. For some reason however I felt not to share that experience. Every time I wanted to share that with someone in my family, I felt a voice tell me, “don’t share that, you’ll be just bragging.” So I listened and I kept my lips sealed.

Now I realize this voice wasn’t the Lord’s, it was the enemies. The Lord would want me to share this experience to encourage someone. Not keep it to myself so that He does not get the glory. 

I think sometimes we are like Samuel. We can’t differentiate the voice of our Lord with the voice of other people. I’m not saying Eli is the enemy here. What I’m saying is we need to spend more time with God to learn how to really discern his voice.

I heard a sermon the other day where an evangelist was asked to go somewhere as a guest preacher and teach four times. The evangelist was expected to share a word that would hopefully bring a lot of new people to Christ. On the contrary, the Lord told him to preach something completely different. A teaching that brought no souls to Christ that day. When he got into the car with the Pastor of the church, he for sure thought he’d get in trouble. He didn’t preach what he was asked. Instead, the Pastor started weeping uncontrollably. The Pastor through his tears then shared how those teachings were for him. He was on the verge of taking his life and asked the Lord to speak to him. Although he didn’t save any sheep that day, he saved the life of that shepherd.

Maybe you’ve been feeling like sharing something with someone. Something you know will really encourage them, but instead you have kept quiet. Maybe you keep hearing things like, “don’t share that with them, they’ll take it the wrong way,” or “You might make them upset.” 

I want to challenge you today, if you feel like sharing something, something that will uplift those around you, something you know is from the Lord: Speak Up! You never know how the Lord will use your words to give life to someone who needs it the most.