Today’s Bible readings are Judges 2:10-3:31, Luke 22:14-34, Psalm 92:1-93:5, & Proverbs 14:1-2
Judges 2:10
10 After that generation died, another generation grew up
who did not acknowledge the Lord
or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.
We begin to see here the danger that is
involved with a people who do not have a personal relationship with the Lord.
There was a generation that served God faithful. Now, with this generation, we
are getting into a place where they no longer remember what God did to bring
them into the blessing & freedom that they have. This always leads to
decline.
When Joshua was alive the people of
Israel saw the mighty wonders that God did to bring them out of Egypt. They
also saw a generation perish in the wilderness for not trusting God. Then, they
witnessed firsthand the power of God as He led them to victory over all the
surrounding people.
Judges 2:7
7 And the
Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of
Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things
the Lord had done for Israel.
Because of the relationship that they
all had with the Lord, they served Him faithfully. He was real to them. He was
important to them. He was worth honoring to them. It was God who gave them
victory. It was God who protected them. It was God who provided for them. They
had great appreciation for God. That led them to honor Him in their lives.
Now that generation is gone. There is a
generation that is living that doesn’t have that intimate, personal
relationship with God. They have never experienced Him the way the previous
generation did. They were born into the blessing. They didn’t have anything
invested in it so they seemed to appreciate it less. In addition to
appreciating the blessing less, they also had little honor for the One in which
the blessing came from. This led to them living a very different kind of life.
They abandoned the God of their fore fathers & started to serve the images
of Baal.
I can see that this is a pattern for
people. Each generation that doesn’t develop a personal relationship with the
Lord starts to fall further & further away from the Him. This is happening
in our churches all across our nation. There is a generation of people who
never developed a relationship with the Lord for themselves. They have never
seen God move in power. They have heard stories about it from their grandparents,
but never experience it for themselves.
It is very possible to end up with a generation
of people who don’t honor God. People can be church goers & still not be
God honoring. This was the case with Israel. They were still very religious people
but their hearts were far from God. That is why they began to give their hearts
to other things. Remember, God is a jealous God. He refuses to share you with
another.
In order for us to break this pattern
in our generation today, we have to learn from the mistakes of those who have
gone before us. Here are some things that we can do to position our young
people to experience God for themselves.
1. Share with them all the wonderful things that God has done in your life & the difference He has made.
2. Teach them songs that will sing of God’s great love & power.
3. Read the bible to them.
4. Pray with them, especially when they are having struggles in life. Teach them to go to God for His help.
5. Make sure that when they are young that you MAKE them practice the disciplines of the faith—tithing, giving to missions, fasting, & praying.
6. Let them see you living your faith out loud.
7. Take them to place where they can experience the power of God—church, revivals, prayer meetings, etc…
This is not an exhaustive list, but it
is a good place to start. Practicing these things will cause a hunger to grow
in our young people. It is also enough to make them curious. We cannot make
them develop a personal relationship with our Lord, but we can do many things
that will position them so that when the right moment comes they will choose
God & chose to honor Him. It is like the old saying: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t
make him drink. Yet, when he sees the water he is bound to get thirsty.”
The last thing that I want to remind
each reader about is the power of our prayers. We must all begin to pray fervently
that there will be a great outpouring of God’s Spirit in this generation that
will captivate the hearts of young people like what captivated our hearts.
Revivals can change a nation & a people. But I remind you, that revivals
always start with ME first.
So my prayer today is that there a
stirring in each readers heart to be closer to God than ever before. As we
experience personal revival it will lead to a revival of these things that we
have talked about. This generation needs it. Let’s be the ones who give it to
them.
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