Its amazing how God works, no matter what your age! We just had a speaker who was telling about his teaching a 3 day conference on church growth even though he was 23! Because God has no age limits, whether young or old, everybody gets to be in the party!
God has really been showing me and a few others the power of being child-like. You see, children have everything else that we need to be complete Christians. Because Christian means "little Christ," we need to have the faith and boldness that Jesus represented all day long. Many Christians have the knowledge and wisdom part down, and I feel like God really wants to remind many of us, no matter how old or experienced we are, that need to be like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Children have dreams that are amazing! Have you ever met a kid who didn't believe in his heart that he could be an astronaut, brain surgeon, professional sports player or world peace hero? I mean kids have such faith and vision for the future that it just gets you pumped! When I was 5 years old, I believed in my heart that anything was possible! I thought I could win the lottery, no matter how crazy the odds were! If we can unleash a spirit to dream like children, we could really see the whole world revolutionized by the power of Christ.
Another thing that children really have that everyone needs is acceptance. A child will get to know someone, and they have had no time to develop preconceived notions that will be used for their judgments. I think you get the point, that children are just awesome! So innocent, honest, accepting, faith-filled and bold. Could you imagine if every christian was child-like, and filled with the holy spirit and wisdom? I pray to God that this will be restored!
And how much more amazing will the body of Christ be if everyone has the exuberance, adventurous spirit and gung-ho attitude that every 18 year old has? If we could take a generation that has been walking away from church doing the peak of their high school years and show them that they can go travel the world and make a huge difference right out of high school, how much greater will the body of Christ be? And where does it say in the bible that you have to go to seminary or get a degree first to make a difference? By the way, I love education and hope to spend the rest of eternity getting one. But seriously, why go to college to get a degree that you won't do anything when you can just go to the mission field where you'll do some serious learning? Now, its totally different if God calls you to get an education, which is awesome! But don't let the world tell you that you have to meet their requirements to be effective for Christ. All that God cares about is your heart to know him and make him known.
What if we could grab every young person that is walking away from the church during their late teens, which is reaching 90% these days, and tell them that they can make the change? What if we could tell them that their anger towards the church is a good thing if it motivates them to BE the change? Could you imagine! I declare over this generation that their passion will be used for the good of the kingdom of God. We need a restoration of the early new testament church, and I declare that it will be through all generations partnering together and getting a fire under our buts that will do it!
A whole world tasting the goodness of God through child-like faith, 18 year zeal and elderly wisdom... sounds pretty good doesn't it? I just really pray that we as a body can harness the power of youth.
