Daily Inspiration

Hope for the future

I was driving to my own church this morning, when I felt that I was being led to another church. I'm glad I listened to what had to be God's Holy Spirit.

The church I attended is one that my sister and her family and my mother attended when they lived here. Today, about 18 young people, probably ranging in age between 11 and 14, completed the confirmation process and became full members of that church.

The service was beautiful. The young confirmands conducted the entire service. They prayed, read Scripture, sang as a choir. As part of their classes, they had rewritten the Apostle's Creed in words more relevant to today's world. They did a great job!

Some had never been baptized, so they had their batism before joining the church. That they all loved God was evident. And I felt the overwhelming presence of God's Holy Spirit.

The speaker was the teacher whose ministry it is to get the young people in the church ready to make a commitment to the church and to serve God.

As a lay speaker myself, I found it fascinating how this man creates messages to be shared. He freely admitted that he allows God's Holy Spirit to show the way. And he admitted that ever since the Internet became such a huge part of people's lives, he's used jokes and e-mail forwards as the basis of his talks, backed, of course, by Scripture.

The verses he used this morning were from Philippians chapter 1 - verses 3-11. That begins, "I thank my God every time I remember you." What a great way to greet fellow Christians!

This passage ends with a prayer: "....that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."

As the young people sang together at the end of the worship service, I smiled knowing that another generation of believers was being developed.

Hope filled my heart.

And as I drove away, I was reminded that Paul always showed his love by praying for people. And between the church and my apartment, I lifted up the names of persons I know need a special touch from God.