Thursday, April 30, 2009

...and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

This morning I was doing some cleanup in our Youth Center after last night's services, and had to stop for a minute to look at our Prayer Walls.

It has only been a few weeks since we cleaned them off and already they are full again. And I'm not so overwhelmed with the amount of things going on in young people's lives as I am by the breadth of the requests.

There is everything from asking for help on tests at school to dealing with cancer and drug addiction. And as I read these honest, heart-felt prayers on these walls, I find encouragement.

Encouragement that somewhere, the young people who come to our Wednesday night services have grasped the idea that God hears their prayers and wants to change things.

So I ask that you join me today and continue to join me everyday in thanking God that we can come to Him with our requests and have confidence that He will answer....

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." -Hebrews 4:16 ESV

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Passage 1 Peter 4 :19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in welldoing, as unto a faithful Creator.


Having faith:
Trusting the Lord will hear you

Being Faithful:
Doing what the Lord wants because you have faith.

The youth of today seem to be taught;
have faith the Lord will heal/fix your problem(s)

But they are seldom guided that; being Faithful the Lord will show them understanding in what He wants in the matter.

It's like a child wanting the parent to give them retribution (answer to a prayer)for something another child did (the sickness, a test, healing, etc.).

Yet the parent probably allowed the situation to take place so the child will gain/share a life lesson.

The child needs to have faith that no matter the outcome the parent will help guide them in life any way that is best for the child.

And the child needs to seek that understanding through Faithfully seeking the Lord.

180 Youth Ministry said...

Thank you for your thoughts. (whoever you are)

Very good points on the distinction between "having faith" and "being faithful". In a world/society filled with relative truths and experiential religion, we have to be very careful not to create a "scratch my back & I'll scratch yours" type of mentality towards God.

Young people (and really ALL people) today have a real problem I think with Lordship. We want to be in control and we don't like it when things don't go our way.

But that is where my encouragement comes in. A little later in 1 Peter it says: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7)

What I am seeing is a group of young people - many who have little to no religious background, many who come from struggling family situations, many who are facing very difficult circumstances - who are realizing that God is willing to carry their burdens - realizing He cares for them. The fact that they are seeking Him is amazing to me.

I too want to be careful not to tell them that "everything is going to be alright" but rather that God is in control.

So, again, I ask you to join me in prayer - prayer that these young people will continue to humble themselves, to cast their anxieties on God and to submit control to Him.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I just worry everyone is not teaching both. I see it too often.

I will join you in prayer.

Anonymous said...

[B]NZBsRus.com[/B]
Dont Bother With Sluggish Downloads Using NZB Files You Can Quickly Find Movies, Games, MP3 Albums, Software and Download Them @ Blazing Rates

[URL=http://www.nzbsrus.com][B]Newsgroup[/B][/URL]

Anonymous said...

Making money on the internet is easy in the underground world of [URL=http://www.www.blackhatmoneymaker.com]blackhat[/URL], It's not a big surprise if you have no clue about blackhat marketing. Blackhat marketing uses not-so-popular or misunderstood ways to generate an income online.

Anonymous said...

I love oneeightycc.blogspot.com! Here I always find a lot of helpful information for myself. Thanks you for your work.
Webmaster of http://loveepicentre.com and http://movieszone.eu
Best regards

Anonymous said...

top [url=http://www.c-online-casino.co.uk/]uk casinos online[/url] coincide the latest [url=http://www.realcazinoz.com/]online casino[/url] manumitted no consign hand-out at the best [url=http://www.baywatchcasino.com/]laid-back bonus casino
[/url].