And Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, whatever the LORD says to me,
that I will speak” (1 Kings 22:14, NKJV).

Because so much of what I write has to do with tough social issues—the persecuted Church, illegal immigration, families with incarcerated loved ones, human trafficking, homelessness—I am often asked, “Why do you write about such dark subjects?” My answer? “I don’t write about dark subjects. I write about the Light that shines in darkness.”
I also do a lot of traveling and speaking/teaching. Though I dearly love the speaking and teaching times, I’m not so crazy about the traveling part. (Have you spent much time at an airport or tried to make a tight connection lately?) Right now I’m in the midst of ten days of traveling/speaking that requires four of those days to be days of getting up in the dark, going through screenings and then take-offs and landings, and racing from one gate to another just to be at the speaking venues according to schedule.
Not fun. So why do I do it? Because I believe God has called me to “communicate the vision” (see Habakkuk 2:2) and has opened the doors for me to be able to do so. But saying “yes” to writing and speaking at His direction also requires that we, like Micaiah, write and speak “whatever the LORD says” to us. Sometimes that can be tough, particularly when He speaks to us about confronting sin or speaking absolute, uncompromising truth that we know might not be well received. In a world that, for the most part, rejects absolutes and worships an anything-goes tolerance, it’s not surprising when we find ourselves in difficult positions because we have obeyed God and communicated the words/vision He has given us.
And yet, may we ever be faithful to continue to do so, even if we come to the place that so many other Christians down through the centuries (and even today) have found themselves in: where speaking God’s words and communicating His vision may cost us our very lives. Remember, God has called us to speak Light into the darkness. If we don’t do it, who will?