“The word of the Lord came to me:
‘I chose you before I formed you in the womb;
I set you apart before you were born.
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
But I protested. ‘Oh no, Lord God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a youth.’
The the Lord said to me:
‘Do not say, I am only a youth,
for you will go to everyone I send you to
and speak whatever I tell you.’”
Jeremiah 1:4-7
Growing up the the church I have listened to hundreds of different sermons from dozens of pastors, scholars, and teachers. I am so thankful for the opportunities I had to hear from so many amazing men and women of faith, however I have realized recently that I have idolized these speakers and walked in a lot of blind trust to everything they said. I never once questioned anything a pastor has said or even considered that something they said wasn’t from the Lord.
The first time I had a pastor empower me to take what he was teaching to the Lord was in July at the World Race training camp. We had a truly amazing speaker all week, Deon Vanstaden, and from the first night I was completely blown away by how clearly he let the Spirit lead him in every thing he said. But what really shocked me was what he opened with. He told us that it is up to us to take what he preaches on to the Lord and to ask if it was from Him, and to dive into the Word to ensure it was Biblical. At first I was very confused, shouldn’t all pastors automatically be preaching from the Lord? Yes they should, but that isn’t always the case. Deon made it very clear that our relationship with the Lord is so personal, and it can be dangerous to just trust what any pastor says without taking it to the Lord. I had never heard that before, and it really confused me at first. I was so used to trusting every speaker at my church just because they were older, more experienced than I, and all seemed to be closer to the Lord than I was. Because of all these things, I would never dare to question them because they were ‘better Christians’ than me, and so I should just listen to them. Hearing this completely changed how I treated church each week. Sundays aren’t free days to constantly have smarter people pour their knowledge into me. Instead, Sundays are days for me to hear from people who are very close with the Lord, and then take what they taught me to the Lord and work through it all with Him in my own personal relationship.
Throughout my race I have continually struggled with believing that what the Lord is teaching me isn’t worth anything because I am so young. I have never been a people pleaser, but I have realized that I am very easily influenced by my elders. This is by no means just a bad thing, I have had amazing parents, leaders, and mentors in my life who have taught me so much and continually helped me in my faith walk. However, what the Lord is speaking into me and showing me is just as valid as what He is showing them. In the past it has been very hard for me to share with others what the Lord is teaching me because there is always someone older or wiser that I think should share over me. Even within my squad it is easy for me to never speak up because we have amazing leadership with us on and off the field. But through feedback from my team, I have begun to realize that others do want to hear what the Lord is showing me, even if I am one of the youngest on our squad. It has been so amazing to be empowered by those older than me to speak up and to stand strong in what the Lord has taught me.
As I have been struggling through this with the Lord this past month He has put Jeremiah 1:4-7 on my heart. The Lord is constantly using me to reach His people around the world, and it doesn’t matter at all that I am younger than other missionaries. What I am learning and how the Lord is using me is just as important. He had a plan for my life before I was even born, and I don’t need to wait 10 years to begin to live out that plan. No matter what age we are, He can use us just as much as people who have been walking in faith for much longer. It has been so sweet to be able to still learn and listen to those older than me and also validate what I am learning, because when you ask Him, Jesus will teach you some pretty great things!!
I will be posting a blog next week with more info on what my team and I are doing this month in Thailand, but this week I just wanted to share a little of what the Lord has been teaching me!!
See ya next week,
Michelle
