Speaking The Truth

Speaking the Truth in Love The Lord wants us to speak the truth in love. Sometimes we can find ourselves in situations where people need to hear the truth of God's word, but no one is speaking or reaching out to them. Prayer is important, but it is also important to not keep silence when our words can touch someone, lead them to repentance and the transformation that only a relationship with Jesus Christ can bring.
I have found myself in this situation recently with two different people. I don't want to go into details for the sake of privacy, but it involved my sensing the leading of the Spirit to speak of word of truth into situations of compromise and sin, in love. Both times my words were received with openness and a sense of wanting to grow. I know that I appreciate it when people speak the word of the Lord to me in any given area, even though at the time it may be challenging to hear.
I belive the church, in many ways, has become too soft in dealing with sin, whether the sin is one of commission or ommision. We should not be just like the world in our thoughts, words and actions: No, we should reflect the mind of Christ and the Heart of God in all things and at all times. This applies to our thoughts, which should be pure, holy and life-giving, our words, which should be truthful and building up of others, and our actions, which should reflect a Christian life, especially love and mercy.
When we tolerate sin in our lives we cut ourselves off from the anointing, the joy, the power and the work that God wants to do in and through us. We can become so selfish that we fail to help others in their spiritual lives, and we lose the desire to evangelize. Jesus said, "the truth will set you free." This is true of ourselves and others. We need to hear the truth, not partial truth, but the fullness of the truth. One example is that many Christian men, and women, for that matter, have been led astray by false teaching on sexual issues by even prominent preachers, saying that self-gratification is morally acceptable, when Scripture clearly condemns it as sinful (See www.settingcaptivesfree.com)
Where is the Lord calling you at this time to repent? Where have you compromised with your relationship with Christ? If you find an area, repent with all your heart, turn 180 degrees around, and start walking the way Jesus wants you to. Anything less is a recipe for spiritual disaster. Remember that the Lord wants to speak His truth to others through you, but He wants you to be a pure vessel, untainted by the putrid water of deadly sin.
Pete Mason