Good day everyone,
The other day, as I was retiring for the night, I finally got sick of the fact that I hadn’t studied my bible in a while, so I decided to open, the bible – anywhere and just read something. My hand (or God knows what) led me to Isaiah 58. I think that chapter is rich and my prayer is that God will allow me to share my thoughts with you as I continue in my meditation of the messages in this chapter. I’ll start from the beginning…
Isaiah 58:1 – “Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back-a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!”
I was a bit surprised by this verse because I am the kind of Christian that loves to “whisper” everything. In this chapter, God is telling Isaiah to shout! And not just shout, he’s asking him to shout out to the people what their sins are.
I have found that as Christians of today, we tend to be somewhat “negotiating” with sin or unsaved individuals or even our fellow Christians who are stepping away from their path in God. We’ll say things like “Oh well, you know God may not be happy with what you’re doing” or we can say things like “If your conscience is fine with it…” Or “it would be a good thing for God if you stopped doing…”. What we see in the above verse though is that God is asking us to be a bit more authoritative. He’s saying “SHOUT”. Don’t accommodate or tolerate. Scream it out of your lungs, when you see something is not right!
I know some of us, including myself, are thinking “But I have also found myself commit sin, every now & then, how can I shout at someone else’s sin?” and you could even support it with the bible verse of “Judge not, that ye not be judged”. I have come to find that neither of those arguments or anything else hold when it comes to this matter. If your mouth is stuck because you’re counting your own sins, start praying that God will send someone to “SHOUT” you out of those sins. In the mean time, when you’re convicted that someone is on the path that leads to destruction, as determined by God, you need to keep shouting. We should all start shouting at each other so that sin & death can leave. Its not an act of hatred. Its an act of love. Because the purpose is to get us to remain in right standing with God, the benefits of which are beyond our human imagination (1 Corinthians 2:9).
I was speaking to someone the other day & was explaining to them how its no use having friends that are too scared or diplomatic to tell you that there’s a “BUT” in your life, that there’s something not right. If we don’t do this, who’s supposed to do it? We’re the best candidates for that duty. Our associations are not by accident & we need to make our contact in each persons life count for good, part of which includes pruning one another in love.
We also need to pray that God should help us identify wrong doings by His Spirit, even when its not in “Black & White” in the bible – even when there’s no scripture verse to quote. So that we can shout out every form of deception that is living amongst us because of the mere fact that its not written in the bible… God’s spirit has so much more to educate us on the things of His Kingdom.
But we can not do this shouting thing from a place of malice or a place of judgement (God is the ultimate judge who determines our final fate). We need to do this from a place of love, a desperate plea to save someone/people you love or perhaps even strangers… So before you start shouting, check yourself! Check that your intentions are not tainted. The purpose is not to bring anybody down but to lift them up. So please apply some wisdom in your shouting. Please do not declare a person’s sins in front of the whole congregation, lol! That will only scare them from the house of God completely. Again, please pray that God gives you His Wisdom in stating His case.
Let’s help one another make it to heaven. Let’s scare each other out of damnation! And if you see me erring, please feel free to shout at me – just don’t disgrace me, lol! Pull me aside &
shout!
Please feel free to share you thoughts on our link. Have a lovely week.
Love y’all,
Ufuoma
Ufuoma Akpoduado
this is me here, i always try to consider how the other person feels, or some times i say it is their life especially when they are christians,the is this “do not judge” attitude that comes to play in my head. i am in situations when people i call my friends who do not tell each other things so as to look holy when it is obvious that they are going down, even when you bring it up the is a ready answer for you. the truth is that God will give us wisdom to handle such matters if not we will be a castaway. this is really thought provoking. thanks.
Yeah, I know its always an issue but its something we need to help ourselves with. Its not a convenient act especially when you have to correct someone you love. But its all part of the process of becoming a disciplined child of God.
If we claim we love God, we should know that it will involve some pruning here and there to get us to be the people He has called us to be. And we should do our best to embrace whatever correction He brings “straighten” us, regardless of how annoying, irritating, convicting etc that makes us feel. His plans for us are the best. And so if this “shouting” will lead us there, so be it! Its all part of the gift of His love.
A response from our friend Esther…
Very wonderful words Ufuoma. In this way the enemy will be defeated completely as we won’t give him chance with our actions. And yes you’re right is very significant we don’t judge but shout with love.
Have a blessed Day…..with much love
Esther