Prayer for young men

Dear Father, 

thank You for this evening. May You raise up young men with a heart for You. May they never be content until they find their godly ambition in You. May they see that all their thirsts lead to the fountain in You. Bring them through channels and pathways that only Your Mighty Spirit could create. Remove all the obstacles that hinder them from coming to full trust and maturity in Christ. Take away childish ambition, love of easy ways, the path of least resistance, idols of love, sex, money, power, take away fear and anxiety, and the lies and deceit of the world. Call them graciously for their good and for the good of the church to serve You with all their money, gifts, talents, time and relationships. May they become godly men, each one, and mighty for Your kingdom.

In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Prayer for young adults at church

Father,

as I come before you today, I am freshly reminded of my need for Your grace. Thank You for reminding me through Ramesh Richards yesterday that each day’s grace needs to be renewed for another day. Your sustaining grace comes to me, Your new mercies each morning. I need that grace for today, Lord Jesus, I cannot leave the house without it. Wipe away the gloom and tiredness in my body, and cast out the lethargy and restlessness of my mind. You have made this world a good place, a glorious place, and I ask Lord, that You give me the vision to see the beautiful world that You have made.

Lord, it is my own sin that spoils my vision, and I know that is the case for every human being in whose heart dwells that wretched poison. I pray especially for the young adults in church- because they too, struggle with this virus in their souls. They need Your grace, O Lord - Your intervening, disruptive grace.

So many are bound up like captured hostages in the hold of the Enemy, who couches in their ear and lies to them about the world’s fleeting fancies and temporary joys. Some are running after things that will not satisfy, digging out cisterns that will not hold water. They are like the shallow, infertile ground in which seed has been sown, but they are not bearing fruit to Your glory, O Lord. Their lives are caught up solely in the things of this world, and they have no time for spiritual matters. The Enemy has them chasing after mirages in the desert of their souls, and they try to serve both You and something else. But they have forgotten that no man can serve two masters. They too, have been blinded by sin, and this morning, they awake in need of Your rescuing grace.

Still others have not even come to know You! Although these have godly parents who serve You and love You and intercede for them, they themselves are far from You, Lord. Their hearts are hard towards You, and underneath the outward show of piety, they are sons of disobedience and children of wrath, with their hearts unregenerate and their minds darkened towards the truth of Your gospel. 

Then there are those who know You, who love You, who serve You, but are also trapped in despair and frustration. They see no fruit, no glory, no success, no hope, and have begun to despair in ministry. They are tired of doing good, and struggle with self-righteousness before You, although they know they should not be this way. Some nurse open wounds of the heart from disappointment and heartache, and bitterness is festering like a crippling sore. When they open Your Word to read, there is a sweet relief, but the world and its dark reality seem more real than Your precious Word. 

Come, Lord Jesus, we are in deep need of You! Send the Holy Spirit and awaken His power in our hearts to set the captives free from sin and idolatry. Break the chains that hold our brothers and sisters in the lies of the world. Please help them to see the truth that You alone are God and You alone can satisfy. Draw them to community and to Your Word- speak for Yourself, O Lord! Do not leave Yourself without witness.

Come also, and save the lost souls. Show them who they truly are, that they may come to know You in the saving knowledge of Your Son. Open their eyes to the gospel of Jesus Christ and show them their own sin and their deep need of Him. Add to the church, and make Her pure with those who truly bear fruit for Your glory. Grant us wisdom in evangelism, both in and out of the church, and help us to speak winsomely, persuasively, but always charitably for Your name’s sake.

Come Lord Jesus, and strengthen weary hands and knees. Pick us up when we cannot pick ourselves up. Lift us out of the pit, and show us the light of Your face, O Lord. Even if You would have us serve You in disappointment and fruitlessness, as did many of Your people- Jeremiah and Isaiah, help us, like they, carry on laboring in faith, longing for that kingly stump, that righteous branch, the promised lamb, that suffering servant of the Lord that they saw. Grant us a fresh vision of Jesus, and help us to be free of self-righteous service as we run the race with perseverance, casting off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles. 

You are a glorious God, and You ransomed men from every tribe and tongue and nation for Your praise and worship- to show Yourself glorious. Do it again, O we ask of it, that the young people would rise up and be Timothys in this wicked generation. Raise up young women of faith and courage like Mary, Hannah, Esther and Ruth- who would use their status, and their gifts for Your praise. Raise up Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Paul and Barnabas in our time, that men might be men for Your fame. It was for the church that Jesus Christ, the Pure One gave Himself - for our sins that He died, and so we pray, Lord God, raise up young men and women in Her, for His sake. We ask it, in Jesus’ most precious name, Amen. 

"How do you reach a generation that hears with its eyes and thinks with its feelings?"

"And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how."

From Passion 2011: Words that brought clarity and conviction out of confusion

Tonight as I sat in the carpark after hearing this sermon, I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving, reminded of how gracious and good God is to a sinner like me. These 7 truths showed me afresh the truth that God makes much of me BY freeing me to make much of God. In other words, by being God-centered in how He loves me, God is loving me most. Loving God is the highest joy there is, and God loves me most when He guards His own glory and the source of my joy. While this may sound complicated and philosophical, it was a fresh blessing to my soul to taste this truth from Scripture again. 

In addition God also makes much of me in Christ. Piper preached magnificently on this topic too, showing that the truth that God makes much of Himself and that He makes much of me are two compatible and complementary, if not, mutual-affirming truths, when one understands that the second is fulfilled IN the first. These 7 truths blew my mind, and brought me to tears as I was so amazed by how much God has in store for me.

Helpfully, Piper referenced John Newton’s analogy of the man going to receive a million dollar inheritance but suffered a punctured tyre in his chariot. Muttering the whole way, “I have a puncture in my tyre. I have a puncture in my tyre,” the man acts like a fool failing to anticipate his joy and great inheritance. That’s how we live our lives, most of the time! Look forward to the great inheritance, the great reward that is in Christ Jesus. These are the 7 things that God used to soothe my soul and demonstrate His love for me in Christ:

 1.) God makes much of us by being pleased with us and commending our lives.

2.) God makes much of us by making fellow heirs with His son who owns everything.

3.) God makes much of us by having us sit at the table when Jesus returns and he serves us as if He was the slave and we were the masters.

4.) God makes much of us by appointing us to carry out the judgement of angels.

5.) God makes much of by ascribing value to us and rejoicing over us as his treasured possession.

6.) God makes much of us by giving us a glorious body like Jesus’ resurrection body.

7.) God makes much of you by granting you to sit with Christ on His throne.

Source: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/getting-to-the-bottom-of-your-joy

Ecclesiastes 11:9 (Phil Ryken)

“Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books. Its a book about a character who wants to find out why he’s alive, why he was created. He tries knowledge. He tries wealth. He tries experience. He tries everything. You hurry to the end of the book to find out why, and it says, ‘Remember your Creator’. In a way, it’s such a letdown. Yet it isn’t.”

- Bono

The call to rejoice is not just for the elderly but also for youngsters. While old people are to praise God for the length of their days, young people are to praise God for the strength of their youth. Hence the Preacher’s second call: “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes.” (Ecclesiastes 11:9)

Young people enjoy many blessings in life. They have fewer of the cares that come with having adult responsibilities. Their bodies are strong and getting stronger. Their hearts are full of good cheer and easy laughter. The future is full of possibilities. There is freedom to take risks and time to go a new direction in life. Young people still dare to dream that they can make a difference in the world. These are all reasons for the young to rejoice.

And yet once again the Preacher sounds a cautionary note. What he says about following one’s heart might lead some people to think they can do whatever they please, which frankly is the way many young people operate. They think mainly of themselves. They expect everyone else to operate on their schedule. Living for the moment, they do not stop to think about the consequences of their actions. They buy on impulse. Rather than cleaning up after themselves, they leave a mess behind. They take the immediate pleasure of sex without making the long-term love commitment to marriage. To make it clear then, that young people are called to holiness, the Preacher says, “Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment” (Ecclesiastes 11:9)

The preacher knows that young people face many temptations. He also believes that God is a righteous judge who will hold every one of us accountable for what we do. Therefore, he reminds us that every time we follow our hearts and do what looks good to us, we have to answer to God for what we have done. Young people, especially, should beware of “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16 KJV) The Preacher does not say this to suck all the joy out of life or to give us the impression that God is out to get us, but to remind us that we live before God and are called to rejoice in him.

The word “judgment” at the end of verse 9 is literally, “the judgment,” and thus it may refer to the last of all judgments- the great day when “God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Rom 2:16). That day may seem like it is a long way off- to far to make any difference in our daily decision-making. But the Judge is always near. He sees everything that we do. God “looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens” (Job 28:24). This means that everything we do and everything we decide matters for eternity. How do we spend our money, what we do with our bodies, the way we use our time, what we decide about our future, how we handle our relationships- what we touch, taste, hear and see- all of this matters to our Judge and therefore ought to matter to us as well.

Rejoice responsibly. Enjoy life’s pleasures, but not in sinful ways. Celebrate the gift of youth, but at the same time follow God’s command to “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Tim 2:22).

Philip Ryken, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, p 265-266