Joel 2:28
And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people,
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
I guess it is official. I have moved from the "Young men" part of Joel, over to the "Old men" side of the equation. Kind of funny how God makes this thing called life all work out in the end.
I spent the better part of my younger days running around all full of vim and vigor wanting to do for Jesus. DO this! Do that! Go here! Go there! As I've gotten older, I find that energy and zeal have been replaced with some wisdom. At least I hope I have developed some wisdom. Hate to know I wasted those years and have arrived here in my '60's deceived and deluded. My current belief is work smarter.....not harder.
I remember a young man who came to my office one day all excited and jumping around. He had recently been saved so he basically still had the wrapper on. "I know what I want to do, Bro. Mike!" he kept exclaiming. "I know what I want to do!" After I calmed him down a bit, I enquired...."What is it you want to do?" The young man looked me straight in the eye and said, "I want to die for Jesus." "Excuse me?" I replied. "You want to do what?" The young man, as serious as he could be said, "I want to die for Jesus." I put my arm around him and suggested he should try "living for Jesus" before he moved into a martyr roll. I told him that dying for Jesus was no problem. Didn't take anything to die.....but that living for Jesus......now that was where the pay off came in. I told him to hang on to the idea of dying but let Jesus determine the place, the time and the way....
Ahhh! The zeal of youth. I can't complain. To be honest with you, I don't believe that young people have really changed over the years. They still want to stretch their wings and fly. They want an identity that is their own. They are searching for a voice that speaks to their generation. We did the same thing when we were young. I love it because I truly believe that God birth's within each generation the desire to be the one who turns the world around. I don't ever want to quench or damage the things God places in a young man or woman's heart. I want them to discover for themselves how wonderful this God truly is. I want them to experience God's hand of removing from them those things which were more flesh than spirit. I want them to grow and mature beyond anything I was ever able to accomplish.
I have several young men who, if I had to, would be classified as "disciples." I have watched them one by one go off and do things for the kingdom that went way beyond anything I ever laid my hand to. Isn't that the way it's suppose to be? I think so.
I pray over the men who come through here at Rapha. I pray that they all would become disciples of Jesus. I pray that their hearts and minds would be open to the truth of the Gospel and that they would allow it to work down into their hearts.
One of the things that God has blessed me with is our Bible study on Tuesday nights. We are having as many as 40 attend these meetings and God is giving me some good basic teaching about the commitment to follow Jesus. The one thing that keeps moving through my message is "Put some legs to your faith and walk it out. It's not enough to simply sit and think, ruminate, ponder and contemplate. You've got to get up and begin to follow what it is you hear God telling you to do.
I feel that out of this Bible study will come those who will abandon themselves into the hands of God, for Him to do and send as He wills. I guess if you could sum up my life at this point in time, it would be that I desire to make disciples. I'm not really interested in collecting a bunch of people who want to sit and listen to me speak and teach. I want those who take what is being taught and allow the Holy Spirit to percolate what they have heard. That the truth of God become the fuel that sends them out, back to their homes to be a voice and heart for God to reach others.
I know that I'm not over the hill or ready to be put out to pasture. At the same time, I'm not a spring chicken (why do they always refer to spring chickens?) I do have some years and mileage. I just want the rest of my days to be lived with some wisdom and understanding of what God is doing and what he expects of me. Still got a lot of teaching to do. There is a heap of praying that needs to be done also, so I think I'll be about my Father's business.
How about you?
God on you....
mb
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