The voice of 2014? I have to admit I am

The voice of 2014?

I have to admit I am excited about 2014 because U2 should have a new album out maybe even in March! You may not be blessed with the gift of music to appreciate that information so let me also tell you that Coldplay, Take That and Adele are all lining up new albums! Still not thrilled? How about Kylie?!!

In 2014 the voices that truly matter may not be those from the large stages of our world but from people like a young boy named Elliott Prior. As we look back on 2013 we remember the brutal murders from Al-Shabab gunmen in a Nairobi shopping centre. After seeing his mother shot in the thigh, young Elliott Prior is said to have confronted the gunman shouting ‘you’re a bad man. Let us leave.’ Incredibly, the gunman is understood to have taken pity on Elliott and his six-year-old sister, giving the pair a Mars bar each, and allowing them to leave in the middle of the terror attack. Sometimes, even the wicked recognize the power of conviction.

This year we need the Church to be the voice of 2014.

Isaiah 52

The voice of Proclamation: How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news … v7
The voice of Prayer: Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices … v8
The voice of Praise: Burst into songs of joy together … v9
The voice of Power: The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations … v10
The voice of Purity: Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing … v11

The winner of the UKs ‘The Voice’ for 2013 was Andrea Begley who began losing her sight at the age of 6 and has only 10% vision now. In 2014 there may be things that try impair you. But find a way so that your voice is heard not on a stage but in the important places like shopping centres, on days when evil strikes you, when the world needs the voice of courage.