Unmute Yourself: The Watch Letter

In the age of the COVID pandemic, everyone is attending events and meetings on virtual conference calls and Zoom meetings all around the world. Often people are sharing on social media how they begin talking on these calls not realizing their microphones were muted (off) and everyone in the meeting says unmute yourself, we can't hear you. I believe God is teaching us in this moment. He is sending out a global call for us to take ourselves off of the spiritual mute button because he cannot hear us. Keep reading.

Does God know your voice?

Now you may say, of course, God does: he made me.

But there is another voice I am writing about today. It's the voice of your willingness.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to have a pastor who will check on you throughout the week. Every time I talk to him, I learn something new.

He said something that I want to ensure I never forget: Willingness has a voice. Willingness speaks.

By definition, the word voice can represent your choice, distinction, and the ability to make known who you are and what you think or believe. It also means utterance, which is to put forth sound into the atmosphere.

Can God distinctly hear your willingness? The willingness from your own heart. The willingness from your own decisions. The willingness from your own choices. The willingness from your own thoughts. Are you putting forth the sound of your desire to serve God into the earth, in your homes, into the church body?

Can God hear you, or are you blending with the crowd of unwillingness? We all know the places where we fade into the background because of the things we simply do not want to do. We often put our pride before our praise. (Praise is supposed to be an outward expression of our admiration of God, including our actions, our givings, and our service.)

I have often heard our Pastor Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn tell people that their singing was tied to their deliverance. Raising their voice to glorify God can help them get free and break shackles off where they have been bound because singing to God is an act of willingness. You are willing to sing no matter what is happening around you or what people think. You are willing to get outside of your comfort zone and give God back the gift of song that he gave you. And this applies to us all. It is not just about talents or abilities but us using every means in our lives to vocalize or express our willingness to God. And the sound of willingness is not just empty words or a testimony that sounds good; it is a heart cry. I am checking for my heart cry. I don't want to go through the motions of willingness when I can actually have genuine willingness.

The Bible says in Luke 6:45: "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."

At church, we often say "Amen" in unison when we hear a song, scripture reading, or message that impacts us. But God is not just looking for a corporate Amen.

Where is your individual Amen?

Amen means to agree with what God is saying at that moment. It is an expression of faith. It can also mean that you rely on and trust in what you just heard. Or that you believe in what was just said or prayed.

We can no longer hide in the crowd of other people's Amens. God is listening for the Amen that is in our hearts.

Lately, God has been showing me through Chief Apostle Gunn, the word, and prayer that faith has to be based on your willingness to do whatever God says no matter what people say, no matter how you feel, no matter the circumstance you are in.

Your Amen has to be the same regardless.

And your Amen can't hide behind other people. Take your Amen off mute.

When you love someone, especially God, you let nothing keep you from speaking about it. How have you expressed your individual commitment to God, the Pastor, or the Saints? What voice have you given to your willingness? If you can't express your willingness, is it really in your heart?

Proverbs 23:7: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

I picked up a notebook from last year, and on the first page of the notebook, from August 14, 2021, were the following notes:

What sound are you producing in Heaven?
Why did you put down your trumpet (trumpet represents a sound, voice)?
What does God hear when he listens out for you? (Is it just noise or static?)
Heaven is not silent (if you intend to go to Heaven, you need to practice using your voice).
Life and death are in the power of the tongue.
God created the whole world with his voice. What will you do with yours?
Release the sound.
The sound of God's voice filled the void that the earth was before it was formed. What void are you filling with your voice?

God responds to our voice, and so does everything around us. Perhaps things feel unanswered and unmoved in our lives because we have not released the voice of our willingness. It's time for our willingness to speak up and come off mute!

Isaiah 58:1: Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet

When we really want God and want to do his will, we will not let anything silence us. When Jesus was passing by, and a man was desperate for healing and salvation, he did not think to himself, "oh, God knows what I want to say and what I want to do." He wanted to make his desire for God known. He wanted to make sure God heard him in the crowd. So he vocalized it. If someone gave out a million dollars and said whoever cries out the loudest will get it, none of us would have a problem vocalizing our willingness to receive that money. We would definitely ensure that our microphones were not on mute.

Luke 18:

35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:

36 And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.

37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.

38 And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

39 And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.

40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,

41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

42 And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.

43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

Although God knitted together Adam and Eve as a couple, they each had an individual commitment to God. Eve was expected to obey the commandments God put forth just like Adam was. Although they tried to blame one another and hide behind one another when it was time to be accountable, God held them each responsible for their actions.

Their actions of unwillingness to obey the commandments spoke loud and clear to God. He searched for them and they went on mute. They hid and went silent. Their response to God when he questioned their whereabouts reminds me of how we respond with our unwillingness's voice. We have an excuse for everything we did not do or have created a false justification for why we did not participate or did not try. I have been guilty of this in the past: altering in your mind what God told you to do or what you know someone else is telling you to do on God's behalf. You try to make your way and feelings make sense, you try to make you feel better, or make it easy so you don't have to give up what you want to keep or what you don't want exposed.

But those excuses have consequences and, worst of all, results in separation from God.

Genesis 3:

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

The choice is yours! Unmute yourself today!

Be sure to listen to today's FORREAL Radio Broadcast with Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn "You Shall Be Free:" https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/listen-in?wix-music-track-id=7452477549616909&wix-music-comp-id=comp-kjfzbgmx