Speak LifeSample

Connection

When I was stepping down from the platform that Sunday morning, and that man laid into me before so much as saying hello, my first inclination was to power up over him, telling him he had no right to speak to me that way. My second was to patronize him, refreshing his understanding of the counseling services our church offers people—like him—with anger issues.

What I rarely feel like being in the face of someone’s rage is a person of peace, a person connected to God and therefore hitched to nonaggression and steadiness and joy. And yet that’s exactly what God drew out of me that day when I turned to him instead of giving in to my own inclinations.

Then I remember the thief turned toward Jesus with humility and placed his life in the Savior’s hands. “[And] Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise’” (Luke 23:43).

Over and over again we have to do this if we plan to walk humbly with God.

Over and over again we need to tell God, “I’m the sheep, and you’re the shepherd. I’m listening for your input. I’ll do what you say.”

When you and I choose to stay intimately connected to Christ—determined to hear from him, ready to serve his purposes whenever he calls—we get handed opportunities to convey truth to the people God loves. Yes, there are times when God shows up directly and communicates firsthand to his followers—in various places in the Bible his words came in a whisper, in a shout, in a burning bush, in a storm—but more often than not, God looks to ordinary people (and even an occasional donkey, as in Numbers 22:28) to deliver extraordinary truth.

He looks to you and to me, even as he overlooks our inadequacies, and says, You be the one to speak on my behalf. You go say what I’m asking you to say.

This is the whole enchilada right here. What I’m about to tell you will change your life. When you press into the presence of your heavenly Father, you’ll speak with pertinence, passion, and power. What you say will matter. What you say will stick. And what you say will call upon others to live well.

When we walk through our days with a Speak, Lord on our lips, leaning in to hear the whispers of heaven, longing to fulfill the wishes of God, God looks at us and says, You’ll never go hungry from this moment forward. You’ll always be satisfied in me.