There was a man who wanted to see Jesus, but he was short and needed to climb up a tree in order to catch a glimpse of Jesus. He thought to himself: “I just need to see who this great leader is and my life will be completely changed.”

Not only did this great leader look up at him in that tree, Jesus also saw the condition of the man’s heart – he was lost and longed to be saved.

Jesus said to him: “Come down immediately. I must stay at your house today!” That day, the life of that man was completely transformed. Zacchaeus saw Jesus and Jesus’ acknowledgement changed his entire life.

Seen and acknowledged

Acknowledgement has the power to change someone’s life because there is love, trust and acceptance. There is no condemnation.

Every single one of us needs someone to believe in us. Their acknowledgement allows us to have confidence to discover our true potential and worth.

Many of our youths are finding their identities through acknowledgement from the Internet, social media, grades, academic achievements, games and even their friends. They are afraid of being cancelled, so receiving acknowledgement from the world can prove the value of their existence.

Even then, all these cannot give them the true acknowledgement they need within their hearts.

Fifty-one years ago, we saw a revival in 1972 by the move of the Holy Spirit. This changed the spiritual atmosphere of Singapore. God used the zeal of the youths to shape His Kingdom and the destiny of Singapore.

That movement quickly advanced the Gospel and many youths encountered Jesus in their schools. Their lives were changed because of that encounter!

All these were the works of the Holy Spirit, and the acknowledgement given to the youths by the Church. The Church allowed them to fulfil their dreams from God and partnered them to realise that dream!

We must look at today’s youth from the lens of God. They are future leaders of society and will also become our country’s spiritual leaders. If we don’t cherish them in our churches today, the world will win them over!

So what are the next steps to take? We can pray together, build together and go together!

Pray together

We can pray for our youths to experience God’s revival. We can pray for this revival to not just end at the moment of the experience, but for it to spur our youths to live for Jesus and the Gospel!

Build together

Let the Church be a safety net for our youths. Let’s become a Church that will acknowledge their potential and abilities. Let us believe in them and guide them in chasing after the Kingdom of God.

Go together

Help them to realise and enter into their God-given dreams. Allow them to use their unique ways to build God’s Kingdom and spread the Gospel. Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, we are willing to join You on this journey of winning our youths. May You show us Your love and Your ways that we may know Your heart for the youths and win them into the Kingdom.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect

Pray

1. God has a plan and purpose for every young person (Jeremiah 29:11). Pray for the youth you know to have a deep desire to seek God’s purpose for them and live accordingly. Pray over their friendships, that they choose their company wisely. And that they guard their eyes and hearts against carnal influences.

2. Pray for the anointing power of the Lord to fall on the youths in our churches, that their zeal to live and witness for Christ supersedes any other passion they have. Pray that they will step up to lead their peers to rise above the chaos of today’s world to look upwards to God’s holiness and hope.

3. Pray to have a desire to respect, cheer on and partner youth in God’s Kingdom plan, so that both generations thrive in each other’s company and through each other’s prayerful love and support.