My favourite TV show is the US political drama The West Wing, which is so for many reasons, including its writing and the subject of US politics as well as the characters that make up the show. The character I most identify with is President Josiah Bartlet, played brilliantly by screen legend, Martin Sheen. I identify with this character in a number of ways but mostly by one particular challenge he experiences throughout the first few seasons. That is, he doesn’t use his real “voice”.

What do I mean by real voice? The notion is that sometimes we hide who we are and what we think because we are afraid to speak. The President, during the first few seasons of the show, was afraid of upsetting people and not being able to get re-elected.

I understand what he was experiencing. For as long as I can remember, I have had my voice told to quieten down and not to speak. When I did say something, I tended to upset people, and because I care for people, this would make me feel bad.

The issue is that when we don’t speak the message that God has placed on our heart, we don’t reach the people that He wants us to. This means that they don’t experience the presence of God like He desires them to and they potentially miss out on a salvation experience.

God has given everyone a mission to fulfil and a message to speak. But sometimes we are too afraid to speak the message for fear of offending people or putting people offside.

This is not a new phenomenon. There are plenty of people throughout the Bible who experienced a fear of speaking out – Moses, Jeremiah, the Disciples to name a few. Yet ultimately they did find their voice and spoke the message in a way that showed people who God was in them.

Our voices are important because they carry a portion of the presence of God. They also carry the WORD OF GOD which helps break chains, heal the sick and set people on a path to experiencing the whole salvation of God.

I wish I could say that I am successful in being able to share my voice more, but to be honest I struggle with holding back. Why is this the case? It is because I still battle daily with thinking that my voice is important as it is rather than what I think people want it to be. This comes down to understanding who I am in Christ verses what people paint me as. This is how Moses and Jeremiah overcome their lack of confidence. They did so through trusting God and stepping out. Moses had Aaron to help him and Jeremiah used the word from the Lord. . They rested in the knowledge that God had appointed and anointed them, that He was with them and that He would give them favour with whom they would speak. For Jeremiah, he also gained a assurance that God would be with him, no matter what happened to him. And him using his voice caused him to end up in a dungeon!

Our voices and messages are unique to us. No one else can share what we have to share or bring wisdom to those who need it in a way that we do. As Christians, we are here to speak life to those who need it.

In the episode “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet”, the President was challenged because he was too preoccupied with watering down on his opinions in order to not upset people rather than pursue the things that he wants to, thus not expressing his true self. The admonishment in this episode is that the President needed to be unrestricted by his fear, stand up and speak the message on his heart.

Check out this clip to see what I mean —-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpMFnV8Mj9g

For me, writing these series of blogposts is a big step. It is my way of sharing what is on my heart. It is how I can speak and share thought, and as I write, hopefully it will help someone somewhere. We all need to find a way to speak the message that God has placed us to share – it doesn’t matter what that looks like, as long as we step out of the boat and do it.

We need to consider this: Who are we letting down by NOT speaking versus who are we letting down by speaking? It is a powerful thought to consider. I don’t know who needs to hear how I overcame some of the issues in my life. I don’t know who has a question about God that I can answer. I don’t know who will get inspired by something I feel that God has shown me. The only thing I do know is that if I don’t speak then no one gets anything that God is requiring me to say.