Monday, December 17, 2007

Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace


....He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Isaiah 53:7

My Memory Verse for Today

… I have been giving this some thought the past few days and is in response to a post by Edge of Design. When you get a minute take the time to go and read.

… The 53rd and 54th chapters of Isaiah are two of my favorite chapters in the entire word of God. It is rich with promises from the Father. In the above verse we see where the Christ, who could have called legions of angels to free Himself from the hands of man, we see a Messiah that at the age of 12 was teaching in the temple. YET He opened not his mouth and spoke not a word. He opened not His mouth in order that we could. We have the God given right to open our mouth. We have the God given right to speak of the goodness of God and the God given right to speak those things from the public square. He kept silent so that we would raise our voices.
… It is easy to see that in the day and age that we live in that the Christian faith is the only faith that is being discriminated against. We are the ones that THEY (whoever they are) want to silence. Now, we can take great comfort in that. The word tells us that they hated Him before they hated us.
….Born-again believers in Christ will be hated, rejoice and know that your name is written in the Lambs Book of Life. There is a scripture in
Revelations 12:11 that says: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
.....The second part of that scripture talks about the word of their testimony. We testify that He is the Lord and He is the only way unto eternal life.
…. Do I care about the rights of others to speak what they believe? I do. Freedom of speech is what this great nation was built upon, however it is foolish of the Christians today to think that our freedom exists today. Our voices are being muffled on a daily basis and to whom do I lay blame? I lay blame on myself. I have in many times past read something in the local paper or heard something on the news or even heard about something that caused the hair on my neck to stand straight up. The righteous indignation rose up in me and I went looking for my soap box. .....However, given enough time, the hair on my neck laid down and my soap box was in a closet with dirty socks. What I mean to say is, I do not always listen to the voice of the Lord in my heart. I am not always faithful to do those things that my spirit man jumps at. BUT…. There are times that I am faithful and I do speak up.

… I think in the day and age that we live there needs to be more times that we do speak up as not. I, personally need to listen more closely and speak more often. After all He stood silent and spoke not a word. He did that so that we would be free to speak.

…. It is no wonder that the world hates us.. It is no wonder that at His name demons tremble…

….For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

…..There it is, the word is alive and it sees the heart and knows what lies beneath. Have you ever wondered why the world will use the word God but you will not hear the name of Jesus spoke? Because at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.
....In the arrogance of men’s hearts they see themselves as whole and complete not needing anyone or anything. Self sufficient. They do not see the need of a savior. So I always try and use the name of Jesus when speaking about the goodness of God. It is at that name that demons tremble, it is that name that will pierce the heart of the unbeliever. It is at that name that a seed will be planted…

…… I once heard a pastor friend of mine say… when speaking about Jesus you always want a reaction. Good or bad, but a reaction. We sometimes recoil at a bad reaction when we speak of the goodness of Christ, but it is the word that is piercing that heart and it is the word that will plant a seed that someone somewhere sometime will come along and water.
…. So I guess I said that to say this; it is our responsibility to stand and be heard regardless of the reaction. It is our God given right regardless of who says otherwise to speak the name of Christ..
…… Maybe that is a good way to start this new year… by asking the Father to help us open our mouth and speak.
Thanks Edge for the great post…………..

3 comments:

Sharon Brumfield said...

I read the post over at Edge of Design-it was so on tract.
I have become aware lately of the name of Jesus being pushed out. Especially on T.V.
I was actually surprised the other day when I heard them say something about remembering the reason for the season.
You are right--if we don't speak up and praise His name the rocks will have to.

Mary said...

Denise,

This is an awesome post. Yes, the name of Jesus gets pushed further and further back. Like when the school chastised Brandon for saying Jesus at school. He was in kindergarten and when I picked him up he told me. I told him that he could say the name of Jesus anytime he wanted and I approached the principal. Her excuse was that they thought Brandon was swearing. She did agree that he had a right to free speech and freedom of religion. However, as the boys grow older, I notice that they use HIS name less and less.

Brandon asked me about Jesus' birthday on Saturday and asked why they weren't supposed to talk about it. Seven years later, I still told him that he has the right to say the name of Jesus if he feels the need to. I've taught him that Jesus is with him wherever he goes and that he is his Savior and protector. There are many times when Brandon needs to have that comfort. I'm not sure if our stand is popular, but I do believe he has that right.

Thanks for such a powerful post.

Love and blessings,
Mary

Anonymous said...

Hebrews 4:12 is one scripture that makes my heart skip a beat. I absolutely love it! It tells it like it is and it is what it is!