Thoughts from the Weekend

The Spirit uses many things and many situations to speak illumination and information into our hearts.  I am doing my best to become more sensitive to the revelation of the Spirit and also more responsive to those truths and reminders that He is placing in my life.  I spoke with a young man this weekend who had been sensing the unction from the Spirit to draw closer to God.  In some ways He wanted to respond to this call yet in other ways he was intimidated by this calling because of the fear that people might think that he had committed sin.  This reminded me that all of us face the challenge to either respond or reject the call from the Spirit based on our assumption of the feelings of other people.  Regardless of our age all of us are concerned about the perceptions of our peers and even the perception of our family and friends.  We must allow the Spirit to help us look beyond this intimidation and realize the reward of obedience.

The service on Sunday night at New River Worship Center spoke powerfully in my heart.  The children and youth of this outreach effort took the lead in the service and provided the ministry to the people who attended the Sunday night celebration.  I was blessed by the preparation and presentation of the Gospel message by these "children" of God.  The service reminded me of the blessing of watching people allow God to use their talents and gifts to share the message of the Gospel in their unique manner ( I use the word "unique" in a very POSITIVE manner).  The previous statement is true of people on any generation but especially true of this younger generation.  The older we become the more likely we are to think inside the box of learned actions but when you are young you look at ways to say the same thing but in a different way.  I rejoice over the fact that God is raising up children and youth who are willing to think outside of the box and use different measures and means to share the love of God.  These methods may be new to many of us yet they call for a decision from a generation that is being challenged to accept many philosophies and religions of man as the Truth of God.  I desire to be a believer and leader that encourages the release of these gifts and let these young Christians know that there is room for them in the family of God and that we welcome their gifts and abilities.  I am preparing my heart to learn from them and allow them to enrich my life with their passion for Christ.