Cry Loud, Spare Not!

 

I grew up in what was known in my small community as the sanctified church. 

Churches today upgrade their praise and worship songs to keep up with the times. Back then, the same songs were song for generations.

I remember how the old warriors would stand and belt out the lyrics with confidence and knowledge for they knew what they were singing about.

Some time ago, one song in particular traveled up from the recesses of my memory and has been ringing ever since with urgency and longing.

The lyrics of the song were taken from Isaiah 58:1.

                     🎶 Cry loud, spare not! Oh, lift up your voice like a trumpet

                           sound. Show my people their transgression and the house 
                           of Jacob their sins. 🎶

I have a recurring nightmare. In the dream, I'm at a home or a church building and have an urgent need to use the bathroom. When I enter the facility, it's filthy. The filth is at an unimaginable level. Think cesspit.

The bathroom is where we go to get rid of the unclean and to become clean, but in my nightmare, it's contaminated, filthy and unusable.

We turn to the church (body of believers) to help/teach us how to become spiritually clean, but it has become spiritually contaminated and...filthy.

What am I saying? There is so much going on in and has been normalized by the church (body of believers) that should not be.

There's a desperate need for those who say they've been called by God to truly walk in those callings. They need to stop sugar-coating and slicing & dicing the Word to keep the pews and offering plates full. They need to stand boldly and proclaim the unadulterated Word of God. FIRST, they should be the first partakers of the fruit. In other words, they need to live what they preach.

Isaiah 58:1 KJV

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

God help us! 🙏🏾

It’s not About Us

 

We’ve made it about us and what we want, but it’s all about God and what He wants for us—His will.

We’ve been taught to “name it & claim it” and “speak it into existence”. We exhaust ourselves to the point of depression or burnout faithfully doing so, but the desired answer never materializes.  Yes, I know the Bible speaks of the power of our words. Let me ask you this: In all the instances of your naming it & claiming it, have you ever asked/prayed amiss (with wrong motives)?

Sometimes, I think we get arrogant and put on the “God” hat and decide we know best how to achieve desired outcomes and proceed to implement our agendas, relegating God to the “I’m doing this for Him” status.

God doesn’t need us to provide justifications or excuses for Him when we feel our prayers go unanswered. He is God. Rather, we need to truly prioritize Him and seek to know Him more so we can personally recognize when He does answer us, then accept it. Sometimes, His answer is simply “No” for our desires are not in line with His will for us or what He has purposed for a particular season.

If we give Him priority in all things (delight in Him), He will give us the desires of our heart. Am I saying it will be Christmas and our birthday all day every day? No. This doesn’t mean He gives us everything we want, but His desires for us will become the things we also want to have, and we’ll seek after those things that line up with His will for us.

I believe we can rest in Him when our desires become consistent with His will for us.

Psalm 37:4