Up until receiving a communication the other day I was torn between three half written blogs, not sure how to finish any one of them or which one to focus on first. And then I received this message and I knew what I wanted to say.
The saying goes “Children should be seen and not heard”.
Well that’s how the saying went (sort of) when it first came about in the 15th Century. In fact it was aimed at young women but has become a phrase aimed at all young people regardless of gender.
Some people have claimed this phrase is from scripture when clearly it is not.
I have heard it said over me many a time (can’t think why) and I am sure that most people have.
However I think we have lessons to learn from some of our children and for that reason I want to hear their voices speak out. “From the mouths of babes……” another saying/phrase which can be so true
I want to relate 3 stories that should help us (us = those no longer “young” in age) to encourage our young people and yes, even listen to what they have to say. One from scripture, one from my much younger life and one from this past week……………..the idea is to encourage!!
A young man named Samuel heard the voice of God and came to his mentor Eli believing that Eli had called out to him and asked Eli what he wanted. Eli basically told Samuel to go away as he (Eli) had not heard anything and he had not called Samuel. This happened a number of times until Eli realised that it must have been God that was calling out to Samuel and Eli told Samuel the next time you hear your name being called simply say “yes Lord, here I am I’m listening”. The whole story is told in 1 Samuel chapter 3. Verse one says: “The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli”
So firstly we know Samuel was young, he was called a “boy”. We also know he was being taught and mentored by an older and wiser man, Eli, who was able to pass on his understanding of what was happening and guide Samuel in the right direction.
As parents we have a similar role to play as Eli did, to guide and nurture our children and provide them good counsel and advice as they face various problems or challenges or where they need clarity and understanding on a subject. As older more experienced Christians the role is very much like that in that we should be seeking to guide and encourage the young people in our churches, and allow them to grow into a deeper experience of our Daddy God.
And I have said before in a previous blog that we can never truly know where the seed we sow might grow and bare forth fruit in spectacular ways, but we have to just keep sowing. And our young can do that as much as we can.
A young boy of 9 years old was playing with his brother who was then 6 and they often played their favourite game pretending to be in charge of a space ship and flying all over the universe saving people (the space ship was the bay window of their shared bedroom behind curtains which made the window area their cockpit. It was very simple, no electronic gadgets but they had heaps of fun. On this particular day the 6 year old turned to his 9 year old brother and said “How do I become a Christian?” The 9 year old simply said “You ask Jesus to be your saviour, your friend”. “And how do I do that?”. “You say a prayer” said the 9 year old and at that point they both kneeled down by the side of one of the beds and prayed a prayer together just asking Jesus to be the younger brothers friend.
That conversation had been overheard by the parents who were intrigued about what the boys were talking about.
The 6 year old’s name was Chris – my brother (I was the 9 year old) – and some 40 years later Chris is a full time missionary working with an organisation called Living Hope Ministries who not only equip and train church leaders but also have the opportunity to preach the gospel to many hundreds even thousands of people at rallies that he is invited to and through prayer have seen many healing miracles. The work he does for God has taken him to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, India, Poland, Bosnia and will soon be going to South Africa and Mozambique with further plans for Burundi and Malawi in 2013. An amazing Godly man!!!
I share that not to “big” me up but to demonstrate that we can never truly know how those simple things we do can lead to something much bigger.
And our young people can be amazing avenues of revelation for us too. And that is what stimulated this blog this week.
The other day I received a Facebook “in box” (an email or message within the Facebook set up) from a young lady (now 17/18) whom I have observed growing up over a number of years. I have watched her stay faithful to God and observed how she has sought Him to be relevant and leading in her life.
So she sent me this message in which she said she had been considering for a few weeks and weighing up how she was going to share it with me. It was things she felt God had placed on her heart and it was for me personally.
Now I am not naming the girl here because in these blogs I tend only to name my own family members or people from whom I have asked specific permission, but I will say that for a very large number of people who read this you will know her and be aware of her family.
As I read through what she wrote it was evidently clear that this was of God. So much of what she called out in her note to me had been either prayed over me or it supported words and prophecies I had received from people she could not know or were things I was being challenged about or experiencing right now in my life. She has read my blogs, so knew some stuff about me but, she talked into things I had not shared on this blog at all.
Simply put it was a real encouragement and uplift to have received this and I simply wrote back to her and encouraged her to keep seeking after God and explained that it was evident to me that she was truly being used by God.
And that is why I chose to share this. To firstly help us of the slightly more mature age bracket to be willing to listen out for what our younger people have to say. And to be there to support them because they will still need guidance, will still need mentoring but above all else, if they are to continue in the Christian faith, they are to be encouraged by us.
The reason for these blogs to be written in the first place was as a platform to encourage God’s people and stimulate our responses to Him and I just hope that we can all take that role on board, to be encouragers.
And for our younger generation I share this: I Timothy 4 v 12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity”
God Bless
