…So we ate and sat in the company of about 20 of you tonight.
And what can we say? —Thank you— It was a wonderful time, a memorable fellowship, an amazing connection…and to think that we had flown out so that we can be with you tonight?, that is amazing.
And really,—you are at a very important junction of your lives, this window of life as young adults, this 20s something passage of time, this whole business about making BIG decisions like study and career and relationships – things that have a profound impact on your future – things that can either make you or break you, decisions that can either propel you or halt you…
So when you asked us to share a word, we prayed earnestly and sought God about what we could say regarding some life lessons we’ve learned in our 20s and early 30s. Because honestly—we have sat in your seats and wrestled with your struggles, grappled with the issues of what tomorrow might hold, trying to figure life out as God figures us out –
You see, the fact that I was born again years ago in your Church, loved and nurtured in your Home, feels like we are coming back home, like we are going in one big circle of life-giving-life and imparting this little bit of us out of the much we have been imparted with, it truly feels like this message is burning strong in our hearts.
…So, if we could live our young adulthood again, and live it in such a way that we know we are making marks along the way, here’s what we’d do:
- Live knowing that the light of God within us cannot be snuffed out and the hope of God inside us cannot be put out.
“In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
And today when the world rumbles with yet another terror strike, the whole tremor of a world going down STILL cannot take us down — because the way to overcome darkness is to allow the Light of God to shine all the brighter.But to live our days with the confidence that His glory will not diminish over us?, that would leave a legacy – no doubt!
2. Live with the Word of God as the anchor of our souls, the lifeline of our hope.
In an age of technology and social media connectedness, and us paying this price of efficiency with the loss of privacy in our lives, we need to all the more anchor our souls and give attention – not to Facebook, but to have our Face in the Book.
Because being socially connected doesn’t make us spiritually corrected, and what is viral can make us really sick.
Society and culture will push us to work and dress a certain person, but only the Word can reveal the greatest freedom of actually living and being.
And in this season of your life – before greater responsibilities with marriage, kids and mortgages roll in, you need to seek the face of God way before you post the faces of your life on Facebook.
3. Live Life with Sabbath Built In.
Periodically, regularly and constantly – going into the desert, away from much commotions, being quiet and away from the many demands to do and to be .
Get into a place of privacy where you can bare your soul before God and hear His voice for your own life because the work of the Spirit in your life cannot be fabricated, nor can His ways be duplicated or its workings replicated.
So go find that place. Find the corner to be silent in a world full of deafening noises, keep a quiet spirit, get away from busyness and live your fast paced life slow, so that you can keep pace with God.
Get away from the need to be seen, or heard, or received, or approved so that you can truly delight in the things small and unseen and see the beauty in the ordinary.
Meet God in your craze so He can make space in your mess, and go and breathe that air of freedom.
Because at the end of the day, attending to the things of God is a matter of focus – a matter of allowing first things to become FIRST.
4. Live Life Real and Simpler.
Dig your heels deeper into the depths of God, get your hands gritty with the work of God, do away with Christian cosmetology, be done with faith superficiality – live real life REAL.
Give the best of your life to the things of the Holy, let the knowledge of the Divine be a kingdom unshakeable – even when things outside are rattling away and breaking apart.
Grow your walk with God, and make it your aim to know God full stop. Not know about people who know about God, not worry about what people may say about God, not be confused with what society has reduced God to be, but simply walk with God – and grow in that space.
Let Him light the fire within you – this Fire that Never Sleeps.
5. Know that God’s plan for you can never be undone.
No matter what dreams might have come crashing down, or how deep a well of hopelessness you have been plunged into – know that in God’s economy of time and space, your loss can be turned into gains, and your wounds into the voice of victory.
Live large – believing that nothing that happens today is outside of His will for you or away from His plan for you, because God is able to work all things for the good of those who love Him, and He is able to use what has injured you to heal you.
And whatever has happened will not unravel you, whatever has stormed you can never break you – because it is in those desolate places where you meet the face of God.
So don’t disdain the small beginnings. The days that feel like nothing’s stirring. The jobs that feel like nothing’s cooking. Because every mighty tree starts with a singular seed and everything significant tomorrow begins with anything minute today. So be all here today. Be all present and pregnant with God’s possibilities for you.
Walk Light.Smile Wide. Sing Loud. Wake up out of your wallows and shake your spirit out of your shallows. Know that the work of God within you can. NEVER. be undone.
xx