CONNECTED YOUTH MINISTRY

Read Luke 11:1-13 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.

How do I pray? I don’t know what to pray for. Do I have to pray? 

Here’s the thing, Youth. You have to view prayer as something yours. This act of faith is yours. It’s yours to speak. You have the access.You have the capabilities. You have the time given, the right moments, to do the prayer. You can access this power. It is yours to use. And it is good. 

What we try to teach you, Youth, is that you do not have to wait for someone else to begin a prayer. Praying with you or for you. It’s yours to do it too. And prayer is not limited to when you step into the church once or twice a week. Prayer is for all times and any time. While it is good that we pray with others, this does not mean that Christs presence is more greater in that situation than if you pray by yourself. He is always with us. Even when we are alone. Praying with others is just as important as praying alone. But there is a time and place for why we would want to pray with others and why we would pray alone. 

There is power in prayer. It is the direct connection and communication to the Living God. God is always lending us His ear and listens to the desires of our hearts and knows what we need even before we ask Him. In this time of your life I hope you begin to understand how personal the relationship with God is. He is for everyone and He is yours. You are His. You can come to Him anytime with everything. 

Everyone’s experiences are different. But Christ remains the same. When you pray, first thank God. Thank Him for Who He is. Thank Him for everything. For the good things in your life. For things in the past He’s helped you move forward from. Thank Him for the people in your life. The ones you know and the ones you meet. Thank God for His love. You are giving your gratitude. Secondly, glorify God. Praise Him. Next, talk. Tell God what’s on your mind and what’s in your heart. This is raw. A pouring of your heart. You don’t have to follow a script. And you don’t have to make your prayer sound elaborate or wise. This is you, honest and thoughtful. It’s a moment for you to be vulnerable to God. To lay everything before Him. Talk to Him, you’re having a conversation with the Living God. Next, Ask and declare. Jesus said, anything we ask for in His name it will be granted to us. John 14:13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Now, remember don’t treat God like a genie. That’s not the purpose of our relationship with Him. God should be glorified. We want what He wants. Which is better than what we think the best is for us. So we ask for His will to be done above everything else. Not ours. You will see how good and perfect His timing is. Declare things in your prayer. Jesus gave us authority to use His name. Mark 16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. Victories, strength, faith, hope, healing, prosperity, protection, favor, and for God’s will to be done. We have to trust in God. Lastly, thank God again for His grace and mercy. And finish your prayer with another use of declaration with using Jesus Christ’s name. “In Jesus name”, “In the name of Jesus”, In Jesus Christ name” Amen. Amen means that it is true or it will be true. 

Which translates to ELEVATE TO THE OTHER LEVEL! Woooooop! Youth Convention!

Great question! It’s worth getting into, through research, prayer and seeking in scripture. This question comes from the desire to know and understand the God we serve and how He operates the universe. Well know this, there is a difference between natural calamities and the work of God.

All of creation is working in its cycles the way God designed. Nature, sky, stars and space. It all started with the first sin of man. If you remember the story, once Adam and Eve chose to sin, that opened up and affected the rest of the world. Not just humanity but the earth too. Genesis 3:17 says  

And to Adam he said,“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

Sin entered the world. The descendants of Adam became so violent and corrupt, God allowed the world to be destroyed by a global flood. Hence the story of Noah. The layers of the earth’s crust were formed and nature was turned out of it’s God given course. To this day the natural world is nearing its end as a result of Adam and Eve’s first sin becoming more evident as the world is wearing out. God allows Satan to bring calamities, like He allows sin. Remember the story of Job who lost everything he had, if you read carefully Job 1:1-12, all that lost was not caused by God but by Satan. Satan who brought the evils. Satan was the one who tempted humans first into sin. He convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. 

God’s character is unselfish, He’s always and forever been fair and just. He is love. After the flood in the story of Noah, God made a promise to the world that it would never again be destroyed by a flood. He created the rainbow as a symbol whenever it stopped raining. God will not interfere with man’s free choice. He will allow Satan to demonstrate to the universe what the consequences of sin really are. When we see these disasters, we see what sin is like, and what life is like when Satan has his own way. Remember, God did not create the devil, He created a beautiful angel named Lucifer. But the angel became prideful and challenged God for supremacy. He rebelled. God has the power to kill Lucifer, but if He had He would have been ruling from a standpoint of force rather than love. It would be out of God’s character. Creation would serve God out of fear not love. In order for love to conquer it must operate on the principle of freedom of choice. Without free will we would be like robots. He allowed us to see where sin would lead. He let’s us see the reasons for making the choice to serve Him in love. SIN IS NOT FAIR, GOD IS FAIR. God allows Satan to be  active in nature to bring destruction as a consequence of man’s choice. He does not want it to happen but He allowed it. 

In a perfect world, the world God intended, these disasters would not take place. Sometimes even the innocent suffer from the consequences of living in this world of sin. Jude 7. The destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was an example of the judgments that will come upon the world at the end of time as a result of sin. In His mercy, God allowed His judgment to fall on these cities so that many others might be warned.  This does not necessarily mean when the recent disasters happened He was pouring out His wrath in judgment, we live in a sinful world and disasters can strike at any time. BUT no one should conclude that all those who die in them are eternally lost. Luke 10:12-15

God is not out to get us for misbehaving. He is not vindictive or retaliatory or arbitrary. God is love and He does not want to see the world destroyed that’s why He sent Jesus as the way out. Jesus took on the punishment of all the world so that we can be saved, have eternal life and be right with God. 

Hosea 11:8 says The Lord longs for us, eternally saved and have a relationship with Him. Ezekiel 33:11 says As I live says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his ways and live.

...that seeks to independently do everything our own way. We never feel at home. We are afraid to open our hearts to receive love. God loves to take the most oppressed lives and restore them. Living as a child of God and not boring or stifled existence, He loves us so well that we can’t help but love those around us. Just to be like Him. He gives us our heart’s greatest desires.