a little louder now!

It started with a text of a meme someone saw on the Facebook that reminded them of me. To sum it up, I'm that "crazy Jesus friend" who isn't afraid to tell people about Jesus. 25 years ago that may have mortified me; but today? I'm diggin' it! Fast forward a few days to school pick up. We're halfway home and my daughter, who had her first experience with cheer, started cheering Jesus' name. LITERALLY! She was saying her school cheer she learned, but just yelling "Jesus!! Jesus!! Jesus!!". It was amazing. 

One of the cheers they were practicing chanted the school name followed with "a little louder now!" to get the crowd more engaged! When she started cheering "Jesus! Jesus! A little louder now!", my mama heart was about to explode. There are very things I do perfectly; let alone right. But if my excitement to share Jesus is pouring down to my kids, then that's good enough for me! 

And of course, that got me thinking. Why don't any of us who claim to be a follow of Jesus cheer out loud for Him more? Why don't we bring Him up in conversation more? Why don't we share our stories, experiences- memes- more? 

We all have our reasons, and I don't want to dismiss anyone's fears, or past experiences that may be holding them back. BUT.

But look at what Philippians 3:13-14 tells us:

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Wherever we are now, (I'm talking to the followers of Jesus here. If you haven't given your life to Him yet, this CAN BE YOU! Just email us!!) is because God has brought us here. He has brought us to this point- good or bad- and will continue to bring us forward in fulfillment of His good, and faithful will. We have to forget about what lies behind us, and press on- an action on our part- toward being called up with God! 

Life is good, even when it's not, because God gives us SO MUCH MORE than we deserve, and holds back what we really deserve- the not so great stuff. Now, that sounds like something we should be cheering about!

I love me a good meme or reel on social media! And if I like it, I'll share it! But that can't be the only way we "cheer" for Jesus. I love hats and clothing that have catchy little sayings on them, but again- JUST WEARING THEM can't be where it ends. The memes are to stay relevant to the algorithm. The clothes are to support business that align with my values, and also to avoid an indecent exposure charge!😅 But what conversations are you having? Are you skipping over sharing the best part of your morning because it may make someone uncomfortable to know you really enjoyed your devotional? Are  you seeing/hearing someone struggle finding: peace, joy, hope, trust, a reason to press on, but you keep quiet about Jesus because you're afraid of what they'll say to you or your friends?

I'm doing a study in Galatians, and one of my takeaways today was that when we need help or guidance, we should go straight to God. It isn't a bad thing to call a friend, but we should go to God first. I agree that even though sometimes we have to call or text a friend, we can go to the Lord for a moment. We have plenty of those, after all. 

But what if we spent more time encouraging and building up other believers? Like we spend so much time in the Word, the Spirit is just giving us Words for us, as well as others, so we can be encouraged to walk or run our races. What if we sent scripture to people when they crossed our minds? If we are wearing the full armor of God, and lifting up each other's hands when we can't hold them up ourselves, we all may feel a little more confident in our walk, and the message we are called to share. 

Personally, I'm a conundrum. I don't know if that's really the best word, but it's a fun one to say, right? 

But on one hand, I have a hard time accepting help, encouragement, or praise, because I am weak and let my flesh take over and seem to enjoy that awful darkness, while on the other hand I want people to ever-so-fiercely cheer me on. Simply put, cheer SO LOUD FOR ME I can't hear the enemy anymore. Then I stumbled on this video, and it brought me to tears! It's exactly what my heart wants, and don't want, but what I need- all at the same time. Maybe you could take a minute to watch?

I couldn't get it to upload, but click here to watch the video I'm talking about!!

Friend, if you're reading this, I'd like you to make a commitment along with me; to loving our neighbors- especially fellow believers- like the crowd loved on that little girl when she slipped up. (Imagine how that would radiate into the world?!?!) Love all the time, but really showing up for each other when things aren't "super duper" and we want to quit. 

In order to cheer each other up like this, it implies we are willing to put ourselves in a place where we aren't only seen, but have the potential to fail to grow. We can't share the Gospel behind closed doors forever. We aren't called to be silent. Our audiences don't have to be millions, thousands, or even hundreds, but whatever the size of the audience God entrusts us with, we should be obedient to that call; even if we feel silly at first.

  I want to shower you in scripture so it can spread like wildfire. I want to break the chain of not accepting love, encouragement, and praise, so when you bless me, I can accept it and pass that along to someone else! Oh the blessings we can be!!

YOU are the 1 He left the 99 for. Say it with me! JESUS! JESUS! A little louder now!