Can’t Stop Talking
“We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” The Apostles Peter and John, Acts 4:20 (NLT)
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| My husband, talking to others about Jesus. |
There will be times when people just want you to stop talking about Jesus. Sometimes you yourself will want to stop. But you can’t. You can’t stop talking about Him. You can’t stop telling people what He’s done for you. You can’t stop talking about the things He has done, especially for you. I know I can’t.
The world is no different than it was in Peter and John’s time. There are leaders who want us as Christians to shut up. Don’t talk about Jesus. Don’t tell things that lead up to Him. Sometimes even other Christians don’t want us to speak up. Peter and John were just reprimanded and told never talk about Him again. Their reply was truthful and bold; “We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”
They had seen and heard some pretty miraculous, exciting, life-changing things. Have you? Have you seen the miracles of Jesus? Have you experienced something exciting? Have you been part of something life-changing? If you know Jesus, you have! If you’re saved, then youare something miraculous, exciting, and life-changing! If you have seen me, then you have seen all three of these things, too.
Listen up dear lovelies all people who have experienced salvation have experienced something life-changing, something miraculous, something exciting. You can’t deny it. So why are you living quietly on the sidelines, wishing you could be part of a move of God when you already are? Why are you keeping that bottled up inside you when you could be shouting it from the rooftops, encouraging someone else?
I don’t want people to think I’m weird.
Really? If you belong to Jesus you’re already peculiar, so what does it matter if people think you’re weird?
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; ~1 Peter 2:9, KJV (emphasis mine)
You are a walking miracle. I am a walking miracle. We were placed on the earth at this moment in time, for such a time as this, to tell our story and bring hope, life, and encouragement to someone who is walking in darkness.
Your story matters. You may think it doesn’t have sparkle and zazz but to be quite honest, if Jesus is in the middle of it, it’s full of sparkle and full of zazz! And no one can tell you that it isn’t because they didn’t experience what you experienced. The only way someone is going to know what the Lord did for you is if you tell them. So get out there and tell them.
What if I just keep quiet?
I’ll let Jesus answer that question:
He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” Jesus, replying to the Pharisees who wanted Him to rebuke His followers and keep them quiet. Luke 19:40 (NLT)
So you see? Even when Jesus walked the earth, there were people who didn’t want His followers to speak things about Him or about the things He had done in their lives. Yet, they defied even the religious leaders of their time and were obedient to the Lord, telling of the great things He had done not only in their lives, but of the things they had seen Him do for others.It’s our duty to do the same. We can’t keep quiet. We can’t back down. Let me encourage you today to take a stand. Stand up for what God has done in your life. Where would you be today had He not saved you? So your salvation wasn’t explosive. That’s okay! But you’ve been saved.
Although my salvation experience wasn’t explosive, my healing was. Why? Because it happened thirty years after my salvation. It happened after nearly a lifetime of suffering and pain. It happened at a time when I was finally tired of going around and around in the black hole of depression and anxiety. It happened at a time when I was tired of being intimidated by other people when I could be standing tall and living the life God intended for me to live. What if it helps one person find healing from depression? What if it helps one person to be encouraged to take a stand? That’s why I talk so much about my healing.
Think about this: How can someone else’s life be encouraged or changed by hearing your story?
