YouthFire Blog

I’m normally not one to make New Year’s Resolutions, but there are so many things that I want to change in my life right now that I decided I might as well begin in the new year.

While there are many things I want to change, I’ll share one with the rest of you. In the coming year, I want to spend more time in prayer. It seems like I just don’t spend enough time conversing with God. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to “pray without ceasing.” While I don’t think we’re meant to shut ourselves in a closet to pray for the rest of our lives, I don’t think we should cut the phone line to God either.

Not only should I be conversing more with God, I also just want to talk to Him about so many things! I wrote in an earlier post about how we ought to be more thankful. From the time you wake up to the time you leave for school or work or wherever, you could probably thank God for 100 things as diverse as your warm bed or your running water.

Recently I’ve realized how many people need prayer. I’ve also recently realized how much more powerful prayer can be than anything else we can humanly do. I can’t single-handedly defeat poverty or the AIDS epidemic in Africa or terrorism. But I can pray about it. I can’t force a friend to become a Christian or stop a friend from smoking or prevent a friend from getting drunk. But I can pray about it. So I will pray about it…and continue praying about it.

James 5:13-18 says, “Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.”

I challenge all of you who read this to spend more time in prayer this year than you did last year. I also urge you to write down some of your prayers and prayer requests. Look back in a year and see what God has done!

About a year ago, two important things happened in my life. The first was that Brianna, a girl in my campus ministry, died in a car accident as she was coming back to school after Thanksgiving break. The second was that I saw It’s a Wonderful Life for the first time.

For those who haven’t seen the movie, it’s about a man who has the opportunity to see the world as it would be if he had never been born. By doing so, he realizes how much of an impact he’s had, and how many lives he’s changed. This really got me thinking deeply about life.

I started thinking about Brianna and why she died and not me. She loved God so much, and she had plans to become a missionary nurse. Her life truly reflected the light of Christ in a way that I’ve seen in so few people. What about me though? What had I done? Whose life had I impacted? What great plans did I have for serving God? If I had never been born, would it really have mattered?

That was a year ago. About a week ago, I started thinking about this again, and I’ve been pondering it ever since. I decided my thinking from a year ago was rather flawed. I came to three conclusions. First, I should never compare myself to others. Ever. Second, I may never know what kind of an impact I had on someone. Third, I still have the present and the future to change lives.

Yesterday I picked up Relevant magazine and started reading an article by Cameron Strang. In it, he talks about how to live with an eternal perspective. He says, “I want to live a life with eternal impact–not out of fear of death, but out of a pure desire to serve God and be the person He’s calling me to be. I don’t want to squander the opportunities He’s given me.”

Yesterday I also picked up The Purpose Driven Life because I decided to read it again with a friend. Chapter 2’s Point to Ponder is “I am not an accident.” I was born for a purpose. While I may have regrets or failings from the past, I have the future to change things and impact lives. Philippians 3:12-14 says, “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (NLT).

It’s not by accident that you are here on earth. You have the power to change lives. So do it! Live each day to the fullest, because you never know which one will be your last.

I’ll close with more words from Cameron Strang:
“Your legacy is completely up to you. Is your life one of impact, love and outward living? Or is it one of selfish ambition, laziness and doubt? I for one want to suck the most I can out of this life. I want to know, love and pursue spiritual things. I want to see God for who He is, and I want to have lasting impact. I want to be used to touch others.”