Do you hear the Sound of Crying? by James May

Do You Hear the Sound of Crying?

Everywhere we turn there are voices shouting in our ears and each one has its own message to deliver. Satan loves to Shout in your ear! He is the accuser of the brethren, constantly standing before God to point a finger at the wrongs that we do. Every time we make even the slightest mistake, there he is, sitting on our shoulder, shouting in our ear with the same voice of the serpent that deceived Adam and Eve in the garden. His cry makes the heart tremble unless we are close to God enough for faith to answer Satan’s taunts. You are nothing but a hypocrite and a sinner! You’ll never measure up or be good enough. You are lost and serving God is impossible. Satan’s greatest weapons are deception and fear. By deceiving us into thinking that he is right, he creates the fear that paralyzes us so that we are unable to obey God.

We also Hear the Cries of the World!

There is so much pain and suffering in this world where we live. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t hear of some great tragedy or suffering somewhere. The world cries out because of its pain and suffering, its heartache, the absence of real love, loneliness, hopelessness, and poverty. Men’s hearts are failing them for fear of an uncertain future. They cry out for help, for someone to show them the right answer, and for someone to care, but, no one seems to answer the grand call of humanity as they speed toward the precipice of hell.

We hear the Cry of the Lost Souls!

Where can I find the answer for my sin? Who can deliver mankind from destroying himself? Who will help us to find the right path to walk? I am convinced that even if 20% of the world were really Christians that would leave about 5 billion people on earth right now who will spend eternity in hell. If we look around our own community of approximately 67,500 people I don’t think that 2 of every 10 people you meet are saved. You would be hard pressed to find more than 2 or 3 out of 100 people who are truly born again.

We hear the Cry of the Heart of Man!

The heart of people is breaking or already broken. Men cry in the streets for more comfort and less pain. The cry around the world is for peace, but there is no peace to be found without Christ. People cry out for recognition as if to say, look at me, I count for something while the world ignores them and time marches on into eternity. The heart of man is crying out for someone to stop, to care and to help them.

We hear the Cry of the Family!

Our families are in grave danger of annihilation. Same-sex marriages and gay and lesbian families are still in the minority, but they are gaining ground every day. God help the children that are raised in such degenerate surroundings. How can the children ever have a normal life when they are raised in filth and immorality to think that this is normal.

Our families are crying out for time for one another. We live in a world that requires so much of Mom and Dad that they seldom really have time for the kids who have to fend for themselves, live on the streets and face life alone while the devil is doing his best to destroy them even as children.

The normal setting of a home where there is one mother, one father and two sets of grandparents are almost nonexistent in our society. Divorce, remarriage and unfaithfulness are the hallmarks of marriage in our day.

We hear the Cry of our Children!

First of all, there are those children who cry from their mother’s womb because they are never given the chance to experience life. The safest place in the world for a baby used to be inside of its mother but no more.

Why Are Children Aborted?

The Alan Guttmacher Institute (the research arm of Planned Parenthood) states: * 1% are victims of incest or rape * 1% had fetal abnormalities * 4% had a doctor who said their health would worsen if they continued the pregnancy * 50% said they didn’t want to be a single parent or they had problems in current relationships * 66% stated they could not afford a child *75% said the child would interfere with their lives.

While I am diametrically opposed to the murder of unborn children through abortion, I sometimes think that these babies are really the lucky ones.

Too many of our kids are what used to be called, “Latchkey Kids”. Their parents both work or are never home with them and these kids are left to their own devices for survival. They are left to roam the “hood” and fight for survival of the fittest like some wild animal.

These kids are crying out for someone to notice their condition and to really care about them. Our so called, Child Protection Agency often does more damage to destroy a child than to help. I am glad for the few they help but so much more is needed. Man’s pitiful efforts in solving the problems of sin in the family are futile at best.

Our kids are crying for safe places to play, to go to a safe school, and a safe place to grow up without fear of being hurt, kidnaped or killed.

There Are Even Cries Within The Church!

With so much deception and false teaching, the cry of the church is for Truth and not fantasy. The church should be crying more than we are, for we have the only answer but we aren’t concerned enough most of the time, to cry out to God on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our cry is for the real fire of the Holy Ghost and not just voices that come from the lips of burning embers who have very little anointing and power left in them.

Christians cry out for Truth in relationships with other Christians and not for just some superficial, uncaring program that purports to reach out to them. The church should be crying out for workers who will enter into the harvest fields to reach souls in these last days but we are crying out for personal wealth, personal gain, and have little concern for the lost souls. Yes, there are many cries that can be heard in the earth, but what cries should we be listening for? We must cry out to God for all of our problems and not to other people who cannot even help themselves.

Psalms 18:3-6, "I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears."

The church should be calling out to God for boldness and for a new vision of lost souls that we can deliver the message of the gospel of salvation to a lost and dying world. Man needs to hear the message from Romans 10:13-15, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

But this same passage also says, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"

God is like the Marines, He is looking for a few good people who stand up and be counted and answer the cry of the world by shouting forth the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What can we say to a lost and dying world that is hurting and suffering that will bring the answer to all their troubles?

2 Chronicles 7:14, "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."

In the days when Satan in screaming into the ear of even the most faithful of the people of God that they will never make it, this is what David wrote in when he faced the same finger of the devil as it pointed into his face:

Psalms 61:1-3, Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy."

The cries of the world, of families, of children, of the lost and of the church are very real. God hears those cries but unless all of us decide to obey His Word, there is little that God can do to deliver.

But, if we will only cry out to God in repentance; if we will only obey His Word; if we will only run to Him as our High Tower and our refuge, then God can answer our cry and give us the life more abundantly that His Word speaks about.

Silent No More!

In Isaiah 58:1 it states that we are to "Cry aloud and spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet." It continues to say "And shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." When I think about this as it pertains to the hurting and abused, it is clear to me that we as the body of Christ have not done all that we can to help those that are hurting.

What happens to: If one hurts we all hurt. Isn't that what Paul was talking about in Romans 12? When he say in verse 15, "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." Yet we allow our brothers and sisters to suffer day in and day out. We challenge them to speak about what has occurred to them and if they do we label them as problems. We rebuke them for voicing what occurred and how it made them feel. 

I remember all to well speaking about being molested and watching my Pastor roll his eyes and become extremely uncomfortable. This reaction cause me to shut up and suffer in silence. Not only did I shut out my voice for seeking for help with my emotional wounds, i shut off God's healing virtue in these areas because I felt it was something I had to suffer with. It happened to me because somehow, as a six year old child I had asked for it. I mean, that how I was made to feel. Now don't get me wrong, no one actually said it to me but actions DO speak louder than words.

In their attempts to hurry up and get me healed (whole) they told me to just get over it. It happened so many years ago and now you are an adult. Stop living in the past. I laugh now. But let me say this... telling someone that is hurt to just get over it is causing that person to assume guilt and blame themselves. the first question that is asked is: Why cant I just get over it? followed by I must have done something to deserve this behavior? and finally...this is my burden to bear alone.

Dear hearts, we are the body of Christ. NO one should have to suffer in silence. NO one should cry themselves to sleep, or have suicidal thoughts, or try to ease the pain with anything other than God's love. Let me say this, the first way for an abused person to feel God's love is through those who call themselves saints. 

The church is a hospital. A hospital is a place where the sick, abused, tattered and torn can come and be mended. No one should come to a place of worship and leave the same way they came. 

I don't know about you but I am tired of Church being a fashion show, a routine, a social club and anything but a hospital. No one says, Hey let's have girls night at the ER tonight, I'll bring the popcorn. I understand that we have events and evangelism to get the unchurched to come. I agree with this wholeheartedly, but I say this if you are going to get them in the doors have something there to offer to them when they come with REAL issues. Deliverance is available, if we the body of Christ would get our flesh out of the way and serve the Lord as he intended. Just look at Jesus, he was our example. he did ministry in a real hands on way. No one that met Jesus ever stayed the same. That same Jesus is now on the inside of us. No one should ever leave a service with their needs not being met.

Healing is available. Let's stop playing church and be the church. The body of Christ needs to be healed and delivered and that can only happen when we are real with ourselves and take responsibility for and to each other.

Man down on the field...will you help them get up?

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman