Many of you grew up in the church. You know who Jesus is, and most of you probably stood up in church at some point declaring Him as your personal Savior (if you’re in my family, this took place in the form of a confirmation speech at the Lutheran church in 8th grade).
Here’s something else I know. Many of you go to church on Sundays, leaving right after the service and showing up again the next Sunday, church forgotten the rest of the week. Many of you have read about the Great Commission in Matthew, probably multiple times, but you can’t say you’ve ever actually shared the gospel with a non-Christian. Whether partaking in it or not, many of you have fallen into believing the lies fed to you by our culture: It’s normal to get drunk and hook up. No one really saves sex until marriage. College and my 20s are all about having fun. Many of you have forgotten, or have yet to realize, that God has an incredible, amazing plan for your life.
I write these things, not to shame or convict anyone. I write this blog, because, throughout my teens and early 20s, these descriptions above were my outlook on faith and Christianity (and life in general). I don’t regret my past, because God has given me an amazing story of redemption which I now get to share with people all around the world. However, I know back in America, many Christians in my generation have fallen into this same trap- this false mindset that satan would love to use to confuse us and keep us from truly knowing all that the Lord has in store for us here on earth.
So, here is my prayer, for Christians of my generation in America today:
I pray that you would seek out a Christian community and especially mentors who will be there to build you up, pray with you, give you guidance, and show you what big faith and a relationship with the Father really looks like.
I pray that you would build a personal, intimate relationship with the Father and that you would know that to be enough; that you would stop chasing after attention or approval from others but fully seek the Lord’s will for your life.
I pray that you would discover and embrace the amazing, unique person who God made you to be, without all the shields and walls we naturally place up in our lives in order to fit in or hide the things we don’t think society would like about us.
I pray that you would stand strong in your beliefs, in all that we know about the Lord and what He wants for us, even when it seems like the rest of the world says something different.
I pray that you would know redemption, and that you would share the story of our loving Father with others who so badly need to experience this as well (and you don’t have to leave America to do this).
I pray that you would begin to understand that God has an incredible, amazing plan for your life which He will reveal to you in exactly the right timing, and that you don’t need to worry about this at all.
Lastly, I pray that you would trust the Father with everything and that you would grow closer with Him each and every day.
