Prayer for Youth - Living Proof - Be A Witness

I Tim 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

When we allow the Bible to transform our lives, we become living proof of God's grace and power, and it will have a saving influence on those around us.

Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

We are to BE witnesses; not just to DO witnessing. What's the difference? Well, DOing witnessing requires me to clean up my act long enough to go out and present the gospel. BEing a witness requires me to live a transformed life all the time.

The difference in BEing a witness and DOing witnessing is sort of like the difference in KEEPing house and CLEANing house. My Mom was always a houseKEEPer. She KEPT the house clean day by day. When she walked through a room and noticed something untidy, she would tidy it up right then. Anytime we walked into our house, it was pretty tidy. We didn't have to clean up before we invited people over because the house was KEPT clean - always ready for guests.

On the other hand, I had some friends whose Moms were houseCLEANers. They didn't deal with the untidy every time they walked through a room. So the untidy would pile up higher and higher day after day. From time to time, they would have a massive and grueling CLEANing campaign to make the house fit for guests.

I noticed that houseKEEPers are glad when people drop by; houseCLEANers are not - they're mostly embarrassed for people to see their mess. So it is with BEing a witness and DOing witnessing. The BE'ers are glad when people drop into their lives unannounced - they're ready. The DO'ers are not - they're mostly embarrassed for people to see the mess of their lives.

BEing a witness requires me to KEEP my life fit for Christ's use 24/7/365.

Prayer for Youth - Living Proof - Prominence

Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

LIVING PROOF - prominence in our minds and acts...
In other words, the Word of God must have prominence in our minds (as we meditate) and prominence in our actions (as we do according to all that is written therein) at all times (day and night). The idea is to let the Bible control our lives.

Is the Word of God prominent in my mind? What do I think about the most? Sadly, in today's culture - the answer is "me". What's most prominent in my thoughts? "me"...

Is the Word of God prominent in my actions? Often we fool ourselves into thinking that as long as we're avoiding the list of bad deeds, we're living a victorious Christian life. Sort of like weeding a garden - pulling the bad weeds out. But a victorious Christian life is not just the absence of weeds - it's also the presence of FRUIT.

The point in weeding out the sins is to make room for FRUIT. And that requires much more than just pulling a few weeds. That involves planting good seeds, cultivating the soil, feeding, watering, protecting from insects and birds. A successful fruitful garden requires daily care. Likewise, a victorious Christian life takes daily care.

If we were to create a garden that properly visualized your Christian life - would it be full of weeds? Would it be bare of weeds and bare of fruit? Would it be thriving with growth and fruit?

Being living proof requires us to give the Word of God prominence in our minds and actions DAILY.

Conquer yourself, and the whole world is conquered

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” James 1:13-16

Following are significant statements from "A Thirst for Wholeness" by Jay Adams regarding this passage.

“God doesn’t tempt his children, even though He does strengthen and complete them through trials.” (p 27)

“From God’s perspective, the event is an opportunity, designed for your good; a trial that can strengthen. From Satan’s perspective, the event has potential for evil that will weaken you. In every trial, you should remember the double possibility.” (p 27)

“Some Christians construe every event only as a temptation and miss the opportunity for inner growth. Seeing only temptation defeats and discourages, and, in part, accounts for their failure to overcome.” (p 28)

“So-called positive thinkers see only the good side; the possibilities and the potentials in the trial. Because they do, it is possible for them to treat a trial too lightly, unaware of the dangers in it, and thus fall into one of the many traps Satan sets along the way.” (p 28)

“Every time of trouble comes as a wall with two doors; on the one is written God’s way to victory, on the other Satan’s way to defeat. The fact that you opened the wrong door and stepped in is not God’s fault, but yours.” (p 28)

“The force at work within you when you turn trouble into temptation is not some foreign power that invaded you from without; it is your own desire. That is your principal problem.” (p 28)

“The way James puts it is that you entice yourself to sin. By allowing the outside event to stir some inner desire, you create the temptation.” (p 29)

James outlines a four-step process whereby the indulgence in a desire results in the destruction of the life. The four steps are:
1. Intercourse (in the heart) – Your desire stirs in response to an outward event. You allow your imagination to go and assent to the sin in your mind; your mind goes to bed with the desire; you have sinned in your heart.
2. Conception (in the heart) – You begin to contemplate actually carrying out the sin, not merely indulging it in your heart.
3. Birth (of sin; outer transgression) – Outward expression of the sin in word or deed
4. Death – For the believer, the line leading to death has already been severed by Christ. For an unbeliever, the result is the birth of spiritual death. (p 31-32)

“You like Jesus, have one way of resisting temptation: by countering it with the appropriate Scripture which you must choose to obey rather than the desire.” (p 34)

“Once you have committed inner sin, there is still the possibility of repenting of it and cutting off the process at this point. To go further and sin outwardly as well as inwardly only doubles the sin before God and man and complicates matters.” (p 35)

“When repenting of a sin of the heart (for example, revengeful thoughts) you must seek God’s forgiveness. When you commit outward transgressions (actually do something revengeful toward another), you must seek the forgiveness both from God and from the one against whom you transgressed.” (p 35)

“True repentance involved taking action to block further sin by radical amputation of all aids to sin and effort to plan ahead to do what is fine in the eyes of everyone (Rom 12:17).” (p 35)

“Pray that God may make you conqueror of yourself…not of your enemy without, but of your own soul within…Let no enemy from without be feared: conquer yourself, and the whole world is conquered.” (p 38)

Prayer for Youth - Living Proof - Living Out Doctrine

I Tim 4:16
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

The idea here is to be living proof... to be a witness.... and that idea of living proof is somehow tied up with the ideas of "doctrine" and "doing".

The first idea - being a witness (or even BETTER an icon, idol, role model, etc) are VERY popular in Christian circles today. Christians today are definitely very interested in being noticed, admired, sought after, recognized, etc. But the other two ideas - "doctrine" and "doing" - now those are VERY unpopular words and concepts in Christian circles today...

LIVING PROOF - living out doctrine... Paul is saying to apply the teachings of the Bible to ourselves. Do we really read Scripture with a mind to LIVE IT? Or do we approach it more like a little benign reading assignment..."ho hum - boring historical junk - totally outdated and not useful to me at all"

Worse yet, do we approach the Scripture with the intention of retro-fitting it to our lifestyle? "Let's see - here's the way I want to live; hmmmm. What can I find in the Bible that defends my decision?"

Are we applying the Bible to our lives so that it will transform us?
or are we "transforming" it?
Is our motive to conform to the Bible?
or to make the Bible to conform to us?

Other books were given for information, but the Bible was given for our transformation. This transformation will only begin when we make application of the Scriptures. It's not enough to receive the Word of God; we must also live it out.

Want to be living proof? Then don't just "know about" doctrine - live it.

Prayer for Youth - Giving Yourself to God's Word

I Tim 4:15
Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

Paul has just encouraged Timothy to feed himself on the Word of God through reading, exhortation (preaching), and doctrine (teaching). Now he goes a couple of steps further.

First, Paul encourages Timothy to meditate, or ponder, upon the Word of God. Likewise, we should be encouraging young people to ponder the Word of God. Don't just read a passage, shut the Bible, and forget about it! Don't just listen to a sermon and forget about it! Don't just hear the Sunday School lesson and forget about it! Ponder these things - continue to think about them. Turn your thoughts to them again and again.

One of the ways we can ponder the Word of God is to journal (like this blog). Another way is to memorize Scripture. The process of memorization requires thinking about a passage over and over until it is committed to memory. This is a form of pondering.

Second, Paul goes beyond "meditating" as he challenges Timothy to "give thyself wholly to them". In other words, surrender completely to the Word of God. This suggests allowing the Word of God to have control over our lives. To let the Word of God determine our actions, decisions, words, etc.

The idea here is for Timothy to own the Word of God and allow the Word of God to own him. The concept can be summed up like this:
Get into the Bible
Get the Bible into you
Get the Bible over you

"that thy profiting may appear to all"
This last little phrase is often overlooked, but very important. When we get into the Bible, get the Bible into us, and get the Bible over us, our profiting will appear to all. In other words, when the Word of God has its rightful place in our lives, it will profit us. And others will see that profiting and know that the Word of God has power. We will have become an "example of the believer" - not by conforming to a man-made list of do's and don'ts; but by giving ourselves to God's Word.

Prayer for Youth - Receiving God's Word

Paul encouraged Timothy to feed himself on God's Word through reading, exhortation, and doctrine.

I Timothy 4:13
Till I come, give attendance
to reading - know and own God's Word
to exhortation - receive the preaching of God's Word
to doctrine - receive the teaching of God's Word

Likewise, we should be encouraging our young people to put a priority on feeding upon God's Word through reading, preaching and teaching. Their daily diet consists of so much that is contrary to God's Word through the media and our culture. The world is waging a very successful campaign at feeding them. How much greater should our effort be to encourage and compel them to feed themselves on the Word of God. But we will not encourage others in these areas if we are not faithful ourselves.

Preaching and teaching are not the same. One author compares them like this:

Both preaching and teaching are necessary if we are to touch both the mind and heart of young people.

These are the basic building blocks for growth - a diet that is rich on the Word of God. May we ever encourage ourselves and our young people to feed upon the Word of God daily.

Prayer for Youth - Be Thou An Example of the Believers

As God sends young people into our lives, sometimes he clearly establishes a discipling relationship. But it's often hard to know where to begin - what to cover - what order to cover it. There are so many important issues, so much literature, so many variations of models for working with youth. It's overwhelming to consider how much they need and how little time we have with them.

It's helped to read Paul's instruction to young Timothy. This specific passage shows me where Paul placed the emphasis with Timothy, and reminds me of where I need to place the emplasis when working with young people in a discipling relationship.

I Timothy 4:12
"Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers
in word - in all that you say
in conversation - in your manner of life (not just your church persona)
in spirit - in how you relate to God
in faith - in trusting God
in purity - in guarding your heart (keep thy heart with all diligence)

We often associate the teen years with rebellion - we think that rebellion just comes with the territory - that they'll grow out of it. This is the world's perspective of youth. Paul's perspective is completely different, though. He's actually challenging Timothy to be an example of the believers, not an example of the rebellious world. Likewise, we should be challenging our youth to be an example of the believers

Paul challenges Timothy in five distinct areas. The first two areas (word, conversation) deal with outward actions. We should be challenging our youth to be examples of the believers in these two outward areas; their words and manner of life should identify them as a follower of Christ, not a follower of the world.

The last three areas (spirit, faith, purity) deal with the inner condition. Paul challenges Timothy to be an example of the believers with his inner life. How can we even see someone's inner life, though? We can only see the outward, right? After all, I can't see someone else's relationship with God, or their trust, or the purity of their heart. But I will eventually see the fruit of that inner condition as it works its way out into their words and manner of life.

I can see the fruit of a relationship with God as they become more and more like Christ. I can see the fruit of their faith in God as they trust God in their decisions and course in life. I can see the fruit of their purity of heart as it works its way out into their lives, making them more and more "pilgrims and strangers" in this world.

So where to start when discipling young believers? Start with challenging them to be an example of the believers. And while we're at it, let's challenge ourselves...

Trials - Count It All Joy???

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:1-4

Following are significant statements from "A Thirst for Wholeness" by Jay Adams. What more needs to be said about this passage?

James calls the mature Christian—who is in the process of resisting and overthrowing sin, whose faith is strong and unwavering, whose prayers are effective, and who knows how to endure trial—a “complete” (teleios) person. (p 11)

Biblically speaking, a perfect person, therefore, is one who on all fronts (without exception) is progressing in his Christian life—not one who no longer sins. In every area of his life, the process of maturation is properly at work. (p 12)

Apart from the good effects of endurance under trial, a Christian is incomplete. Endurance under trial has an inner “work” to do. That is why James encourages you to avoid shortcuts. He wants trials to produce endurance, which is part of God’s “perfect work”. (p 13)

James doesn’t say “feel joyful,” about the trial, but “consider it all joy.” Now, there’s something you can do whether you feel like it or not. Indeed, this is not just good advice, but something you must learn to do; James lays it down as a command. (p 17)

God holds you responsible to endure. If you give up, saying, “It’s too much” or “It’s too tough” when God’s Word says differently (I Cor 10:13), you will remain spiritually immature. Instead of strengthening your faith by learning to handle trials God’s way, you weaken your faith by repeated failures. (p 23)

No one wins the great contest who has not won many seemingly insignificant ones first. (p 23)

You will be tempted to cut short the process of building endurance…. But if in some unbiblical way you cut the process short, you will lack the spiritual endurance the trial was designed to produce. At the moment you need that spiritual strength, you will find yourself incomplete. (p 24)