No Money, No Problem

So many people are stuck with the idea that you have to have money or external resources to get things done, to make an impact. That is true in the area of youth ministry too. We hear so many excuses or lamentations about how little they have and how that impacts what they are able to do. While there is some logic in that, I don’t think that’s representative of God’s economy.

Now I am not going to throw cliche phrases like “God owns the cattle on a thousand hills” at you. I want to challenge you to do something that we teach in our training at YouthHOPE. It’s called asset mapping. And I want to focus on a very specific set of assets. I want to talk about “power.” I was reading from Acts 3 this morning and reread (and yes the children’s song was going through my head) the story of Peter and John healing the lame man. What caught my attention was the phrase “I’ll give you what I have.” Now Peter did not specifically say, “What I have is power” but he did demonstrate that.

So how does that translate to you as a youth worker? A volunteer who wants to invest in young people? A parent? A pastor? Well to quote the obscure German 80’s rock back, Snap, “I’ve got the power!” I believe that all of us do and that God has clearly communicated that to us. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Ephesians 3:20 and it says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

We have no excuses or limitations. Power is greater than any resources that we may think we need. So look around you and see the opportunities where you can exercise that power that God has given you to be a blessing to youth. And what I believe you will see is the same thing Peter and John saw. You will experience young people “jumping, leaping and praising God!”