Speaking Life

 I was listening to a podcast this evening and one line that stuck out to me is a phrase that the guest on said.  In reality it was part of a phrase, but she mentioned speaking life into someone.  I believe that this is a critical part of Christian growth.  I have seen it grow myself and my wife when life was spoken into us and I have seen the fire grown dim when life was no longer being spoken into our lives.  I will be the first to admit that I have not been the best at speaking life into others and it is something that I am working on and will be working on for the rest of my life. 


What is speaking life into someone and why is it so important?  Speaking life, true life, is telling someone or sharing with someone the truths of God’s word that are positive.  Often we focus on the negative truths that are in God’s word especially when we see them in others.  We can easily point out even the minutest of sins and be critical of each other.  We can often see where others fail, either by God’s standards or by our own interpretation of God’s standards.  Disagreements can cause the speaking of life into each other to cease and the effects can be devastating.  I think that if we look back at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 that this was a huge issue in churches all across America and the world.  We ceased to get together and life ceased to be spoken into lives.  I personally experienced this as did my wife. 

Speaking life into someone is reminding them that God loves them, regardless of their life circumstances.  God cares for you, even if you have not as of yet accepted Him into your heart as your Savior from sin.  As a child of God we are secure in Him.  As believers Holy Spirit is living and active in our lives.  We need to be reminded that all things work together for good, to those who love God and are called to be Children.  We have a home in heaven prepared for us! As we look forward to Resurrection Sunday we are reminded that Jesus overcame the grave.  HE LIVES!  HE IS ALIVE! Death could not hold Him. My God is an AWESOME GOD! 

This is speaking life into someone.  Speaking life is reminding someone of the goodness of God.  Speaking life into someone can sometimes feel unrewarding because the person that we are speaking life into isn’t responding the way we are to those truths.  It is at times like these that we need to remember that it is not our life that we are speaking into them, but the life of Holy Spirit.  It is He who draws all men to repentance. It is Holy Spirit who gives new life.  It is Holy Spirit who gives us the power to live every day in Grace. 

Often we don’t understand the power of what we say.  Just as we can speak life into someone we can also speak death into someone by being overly critical when we should keep our mouth shut or voicing our opinion of what we think that a person should do in a certain circumstance.  It is not my place to tell people that they need to do something different.  Holy Spirit can and will draw those he has chosen to Himself and as indwells believers He, and He alone will grow them to be more like Jesus. 

Don’t try to fix people.  Let God do the fixing.  Lets speak life into each other and watch Holy Spirit do the work in each of us that He has promised to do.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Women Pastors and the SBC

Image
Recently the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) has made a stand that they believe is based on Biblical standards about women pastors.  There are many complicated aspects to this issue, some biblical and some non biblical.  First of all let’s see what the Bible says.  In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 Paul instructs his protégés on the qualifications for pastors.  The word Pastor can be interchanged with other terms but I will use the word Pastor because it is what we in the American church use to reference the leader of the church.  The first qualification is that the leader must be the husband of one wife.  This implies that this person is an adult male who is married.  I believe that both aspects of this are important for the leader of a church who is composed of families.  God had created men to be the leaders in the home and in society.  It is a natural position for men and it is designed by God that way on purpose.  Today people focus on the person being a male but I believe that him bei
Read more

Why I'm Still Baptist Part 1

Image
  Over the last five years I have analyzed and re analyzed my beliefs and have compared them to what the Bible says.  For a couple years I shunned the Baptist name although I knew that many of my beliefs were still held by Baptists .  Last year I read, or rather listened, to a book on the history of Baptists in America.  After listening to this book I came to the conclusion that I am still Baptist theologically even though I reject many of the practices and applications that Baptists have held to and practiced for the last couple generations.   First let me go over the Baptist distinctives and what defines the modern Baptist.  As Baptists so often do they either alliterate or do acrostics.  This time they have done an acrostic.   B iblical authority A utonomy of the local church P riesthood of all believers  T wo Ordinances (believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper) I ndividual soul liberty S aved and baptized church membership T wo offices of the church (elder and deacon)
Read more

The Gospel and what it means to me.

Image
One of the podcasts that I listen to and one that has meant a lot to me is the Recovering Fundamentalist Podcast.  Brian, Nate, and JC are always focused on the Gospel and one of the things that they do on their podcast is they ask their guests to explain the Gospel.  Everyone has a different perspective on the Gospel based on how Holy Spirit has worked in their life.  So this is my perspective on the Gospel. This last Sunday pastor Adam preached on I Corinthians 11:17-34, which is the passage on the Lord's Supper.  One of the purposes of observing the Lord’s Supper is for us as Christians is to remember what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross and rising from the tomb.  This is the Gospel.  The Good News that the debt of my sins is paid.  For me the Gospel starts with understanding the God to whom I had a sin debt.  The passage that best shows is Isaiah 6:1-5. “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe
Read more