Finding Your Voice

Everyone has something burning inside of them.  What is your passion?  God's given each of us a dream and a voice.  As a youth pastor I see a lot of Juniors and Seniors start to wonder "What am I going to do with my life"?  Here's five easy steps that we can do to find that thing that God wants you to do.


 How to find your voice:

• What is it that God wants you to do?  Eric Liddell in the movie "Chariots of Fire" was asked the question, "Why do you run?"  He answered, "I believe God made me for a purpose but he also made me fast.  And when I run I feel God's pleasure."  What is it that gives you that sense that when you do it you feel God's pleasure?
• You need to be talented at it.  We've all seen American Idol and people that thought they could sing.  Are others affirming that you are good at it?
• Start to find out everything about it.  When you are passionate about something it drives you to be the student of that thing and learn as much as you can about it. 
• It probably scares you a little bit.  If you think it's in you, go for it!  Why can't we as Christians be the best at it, fulfilling our purpose for this generation?
• You need to find people that believe in you.  At 16 God spoke to me about my purpose to work with Youth.  After that encounter with God I spent a lot of time with my youth pastor asking questions and wanting to know as much as possible about how to be an effective leader.

Let's not wait until tomorrow but identify that place that God wants me to be right now.  That is the place where I can start to hone the skills of what my call is going to be.

Dreams

Have you ever had a dream that is so big that it makes you shudder whenever you think about it?  Maybe it even makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up whenever you think about it?

In Genesis, Joseph is a guy that I admire. Early on in his life he was given a dream.  A dream that took years to see fulfilled.   He had to go through so much before He really understood the big picture, but he never gave up and believed, and ultimately, "Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” Joseph had to endure years of setbacks but all the while he trusted God, and eventually he saw the dream come to pass.

I have never been more confident that God is ordering our steps as we follow His lead.  Sometimes it's easy to question whether God is in something or not.  I believe that the best is yet to come!  If you are a child of God you can have every confidence that He is going to lead you and care for you and love you into that next big thing that He wants you to do.  So dream big!  Don't shy away from it!  Embrace God's will for you life today!

All Of God's Promises Are True

I'm reading through Bible in a year and I read Joshua 23:14 this morning.  http://read.ly/Josh23.14.NLT   14 "Soon I will die, going the way of everything on earth. Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the Lord your God has come true. Not a single one has failed!"  God is faithful.  Period.  Not a single promise he makes has failed.  


Today, as I am waiting on Him, I hear Joshua's words echoing in my ears this afternoon.  Every promise that He has for me will come to pass.  It's been passed on from Moses to Joshua to the next generation. 


As we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ this Sunday, remember that He is a faithful God. He died and then rose from the dead just for you!  All of His promises won't let go of you!