A Young Man in God's Plan - Chapter 4

Lately, there seems to be a lot of emphasis on the need to have a vision.

"What you are going to do for the Lord must be according to what you have seen of the Lord. Because you have seen something of the Lord, you have to do something for the Lord according to what you have seen."

I feel like I have a new found desire within my heart to see something new of the Lord every time I come to him. I have to admit that many times I am very satisfied with just learning something new, and I become complacent with my knowledge, despite my lack of experience. Sometimes I look at the fact that I was raised as a church kid, so I never had the opportunity to have a startling revelation from the Lord. Coming to know the Lord wasn't necessarily something new to me; it was just the next step in a living that had already been planned out for me. But I really pray that the Lord would grant me a personal visit and a personal vision. No doubt I have seen something of the Lord, but I still pray that the Lord that made my parents drop everything when they were my age would be the same Lord that works in me today.

"Because you have experienced the Lord and seen Him, you have something within you energizing and operating to impel you to serve the Lord in ministering Him to others...If we go to the Lord and spend some time with Him to receive the heavenly vision, we will have a living contact with Christ and be a living, functioning member of His living Body."

That's encouraging. We have the inner life; that's for our daily life; and that will fill the meeting life and our Christian life with Christ. I feel like I'm starting to become more burdened for unbelievers, or even for other nominal Christians to come to know the Lord in a deeper way. In one sense, my only job is to spend time to fellowship with the Lord.

Lord, show me a vision every time I come to your Word. I pray there would be more unveiling. Have mercy on my complacency. I don't want to be satisfied with just knowledge anymore. I want a clear, controlling vision. Lord, make me a diligent believer that regularly fellowships with you. I pray you'd fill my personal Christian life with much Christ so that I can flow out to others. Honor my willingness, Lord. May you gain me fully this semester.

A Young Man in God's Plan - Chapter 3

"A person can only be regenerated once. But in my experience I can testify that I have had a number of conversions. Regeneration is once for all, but conversion, to have some change in your life, is not just once for all."

That's sweet. Our regeneration is once and for all, but we need to have many conversions between us and the Lord. It's similar to our consecration. Every day, we need to have a fresh opening to the Lord. I believe my experience is altogether consistent with the above statement. On the one hand, we will never lose our salvation, but on the other hand, there is a different portion to be gained in each stage of our Christian life. The Lord always has something new about Himself that we must experience. That is wonderful. The Lord seeks to gain every inch of our being, yet His arrangement is altogether perfect. I'm encouraged that our relationship with the Lord should never grow stagnant.

"To be zealous for Christianity is really better than being worldly, and to be spiritual is really better than being carnal. Yet you have to realize that even being spiritual could be a barrier between you and Christ and could be a substitute of Christ to you."

This passage speaks so personally to me. The Lord really dealt with me the last 2 semesters. I've always been your quintessential "good church kid." Toward the end of last spring semester, suddenly the things of the church life became so dead and infuriating. I was so frustrated with all the meetings and all the saints. Nothing seemed real and I wanted to leave the church life. Eventually, as a result of a lot of outward circumstances, I came to the Lord desperately. It was then that I was exposed that I wanted to be spiritual and wanted to go to the meetings more than I wanted the Lord. And it came to the point where even that natural affection had already dried up. I was so convicted....and so, I took a step back this semester and surveyed the situation. I didn't go to as many events, but I was diligent to guard my personal time with the Lord, and to touch the Lord in whatever I did. It was there when the Lord really became so sweet to me, and restored to me the joy of my salvation.

The statement "Even good things, religious things, and even things concerning Christ can hinder us from seeking and being occupied with Christ Himself" couldn't be more true. These days, I have a constant prayer that the Lord would be new and living to me. Living...not religious. Lord, save me from seeking so many other things; save me from wanting to be spiritual. Lord, I pray I'd only care for you. And I pray that I would learn to take care of my spirit above every other matter. Nothing else matters if I don't touch Christ.

A Young Man in God's Plan - Chapter 2

"The center of the universe is Christ in you and you in Christ. The real meaning of human life is Christ as your life with a view that you will be conformed to His image."

"I had Christianity, but I did not have Christ. I had the religious forms, but I did not have Christ. I had the doctrines, the teachings, but I did not have Christ."

I feel extremely thankful that God's purpose today is simply that Christ would be put into us so that we would be put into Christ. Nothing else. All the forms, practices, and doctrines are not even the center of God's plan. I have to testify that my experience was much the same as Brother Lee's early on in my Christian life. I feel like I argued for the sake of Christianity when I was in high school, but many times I did not have the reality of Christ Himself. As a church kid, I realize it's so easy for us just to have the meetings, the saints, and the outward practices, while the inward reality of Christ as our life is desperately lacking.

"Day by day you have Him within you, yet you need more and more vision and revelation concerning Him. You have to pursue Him. You have to know Him more and more and let Him have more ground within you...What you need is the inward knowledge of Christ, the inner experience of Christ."

This is really my prayer. It's not good enough to just go to meetings and read our Bible if we never come to know Christ. Last night, we prayread John 4:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness." Anything without the exercise of our spirit becomes a form. I just pray that the Lord would continue to be real and living to me this coming year, and that I would come to know Him even more.

Grant me subjective experience, Lord! I don't want to be satisfied with just going to meetings just to fulfill my Christian duty. I pray I'd draw closer to You and I'd come to know You as a person. Save me from any deadness or rituals. I want to care supremely for Christ. May you have the preeminence in all my heart.

A Young Man in God's Plan - Chapter 1

I remember many of the young people's conferences were on the "young heroes" (ie. Samuel and Daniel) when I first entered high school. The statement "God always uses young people when He wants to make His move" became all too familiar. And so I read this book for the first time early in high school. It's always fun to go back on a book you read many years ago and see what new light the Lord sheds on you now that you've had an additional six years of life experience under your belt.

The word seemed so applicable at the time. I was a fourteen year old boy with a high pitched voice, and I had yet to break five feet, so the definition of young seemed to fit perfectly. I can still recall all the serving brothers telling us that our teenage years were the golden years for the Lord. Upon reading chapter 1, I examined my own age and chuckled. Suddenly the big two zero wasn't so great anymore.

"To be old means to be set, settled, and occupied. Sometimes some of the saints would refer to me as an old brother. It seems that this is a respect to me, but actually I do not like to hear this. I do not look upon myself as an old brother. I am not set, settled, and occupied. We always need to exercise to be young, to be new, to be renewed, to be fresh, and to be living all day long."

In the grand scheme of things, there is absolutely no doubt that I'm still a young man in God's plan. And I will continue to be one as long as I remain open to the Lord. I realize I have so many concepts on what is going to happen in my life, or even how the Lord is going to work through my environment in the coming years. But I'm glad to see that we need to be released from all of this. My prayer is that I would have no concepts about my future, and no preconceived notions on how the Lord is going to work through my environment. Rather, I pray that the Lord would clearly reveal His way to me, and give me the grace to follow Him.

"We need to give the Lord the way to go on in His progressive move through us. I hope that you will be a living, fresh, and new channel for the Lord to go on in His own way. This will require you to offer yourself to Him, to cooperate with Him."

Make me an open channel, Lord! Be living, fresh and new to me everyday; never grow old. Break through my nature and make me a clear channel for You. Lord, make me so willing to cooperate with Your heart's desire.

its a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord

ive been good. really. those words havent left my mouth in months. the Lord has been so good to me this semester. he came into parts of my being that i never would have expected. i feel like the lord answered all of my prayers, and he honored my prayerful and diligent spirit. the Lord loves us, and he is sovereign over all things, even when we feel otherwise. all i can say is praise the lord.

i was reading 2 samuel the other day and i came across the story of bath-sheba. the footnote noted that david committed that sin in the midst of all the victories that jehovah had given him. this shows that it is easy to fall into sin and temptation when our outward situation is working in our favor.

i feel like the lord shined on my own situation. things seem to be going well right now. and i just prayed that the Lord would guard me from any stumbling. guard me Lord, for this i pray.

i've found a friend in Jesus

i had an phenomenal experience yesterday. something was really bothering me and weighing me down. my usual reaction is to vent and to try and excavate myself out of the situation.

but today, i just stopped. something inside of me told me to stop. and i had an amazing sense of peace as my inner being said that it'd be ok. all i needed to do was to take it to the Lord in prayer the next morning. and somehow there was this amazing faith inside of me that knew everything would be ok as long as i did just that.

and so i did. ive come to realize that the Lord is the only one that can change us. sometimes i try to change myself, only to find myself glancing back with each opportunity.

when the Lord releases us, there is no looking back.

clear every avenue

the Lord needs to be the primary factor in our living. i realize i set my hope on so many other things in this world. this world is fraught with distractions.

often i find myself saying that id be happier if i had this.
but the lord convicted me tonight that he needs to be the primary factor in my life. break through my nature, mighty heavenly Love.

we often think we are virtuous before our virtue is actually tested. i mightve thought i was a patient person before i started living with the brothers. a lot of times i feel like i backslide when my own capacity runs dry. but i was touched that these failures are nothing new. its merely an open manifestation of our fallen condition. it's actually a blessing from the Lord; He's finally exposing me. and once the exposure is there, the Lord has a way to come in. The God who said "Out of darkness light shall shine" is the One that shines in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.