Luke 6:45 “for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
I recently attended a Missions Conference at the college where I teach. I was especially struck by a phrase used by one of the speakers. He exhorted us to “turn up the volume” and live our faith out loud, challenging us to bring God into our conversations.
Scripture says our words reflect our hearts. If we hope to turn up the volume and live our faith out loud, it begins with examining the contents of our heart.
Hearts that don’t dwell on the goodness of God have mouths with little to say. We speak with as much resonance as a “resounding gong or clanging symbol” (1 Corinthians 13:1). So the first step in turning up the volume lies in increasing our intimacy with the Lord.
Recently the ladies in my small group conducted an experiment. For one week we decided to “turn up the volume” on gratitude. We decided to be more intentional in giving thanks to God. Not just in our prayer times or before meals, but we would say thank you to him before everything we did as much as we could. It made a difference in each of us. I found it’s hard to focus on the things that don’t go right while preoccupied with thanking God for the things that go well. Turning up the volume of gratitude not only deepened our intimacy with him, but filled us up. We wanted to talk about him in the overflow.
It also takes courage….
If we’ve been reluctant to turn up the volume in the past, we’re not alone The Apostle Paul asked the Ephesian church to pray he would speak fearlessly about the gospel…as he should (Ephesians 6:20). Although his heart overflowed with God, he still asked for courage to turn up the volume. He knew he should be bold, but he also knew he needed God’s help. If Paul asked for prayer to speak more courageously, maybe it’s time for us to do so, too.
So that’s what I’ve been attempting since the Missions Conference. I’ve been filling my heart with thoughts of God’s goodness. And I’ve been asking him to give me courage to talk about it. Then I’ve been intentional.
How about you? Ready to turn up the volume?