Let them Overtake

As I was praying for our young people this morning, I saw a vision of a group of families walking, following a lightly-worn trail across a wide open glen. There were not many others around (I believe this refers to the remnant church who have left the walled-in buildings of religion to pursue Jesus outside the walls). The adults in the group were confidently walking ahead, enjoying each other’s company and the beautiful weather, but the children were lagging behind, grateful to be free from the buildings but not seeing or understanding where they were going, and having no motivation for the journey. The adults eventually noticed and slowed down – and then stopped – to wait for the children to catch up. As the children caught up they suddenly received fresh energy and started to run ahead, quickly becoming the trail leaders… and then something amazing happened as they ran: they grew wings and lifted into the sky, ditching the trail completely, and heading straight towards the sun.

I believe this is reminding us of words we have already heard: we the Church have not been paying attention to our children and youth for a long time, and have largely neglected them or left them to each other/ for others to motivate, and so many have lagged behind – we have a whole generation of prodigals right now who we thought we were bringing along on the journey but didn’t realise they hadn’t caught the vision for themselves, so they lost interest & fell behind. But as we the Church deliberately slow down and stop – ie remedy our neglect by slowing down & stopping our own pursuit of progress – no longer focusing on ourselves but focusing on praying for them, encouraging them etc, they are going to not only catch up, but quickly overtake us to run ahead (and this is good, because we have the stamina and the mental discipline to bring up the rear). As they begin to lead, they are going to catch a fresh vision of Jesus and a fresh anointing that will lift them on wings like eagles, to leave the worn trail (the one that made us think we knew where we were going), and to head straight for the Risen Son, Jesus.

We the Remnant Church have left religion to strike out for Jesus, and that is good – now we just need to make sure we are bringing the young with us, because they are going to show us how to soar in the Spirit. So let’s be prepared for this generation to show us a better way, and let’s be ready to learn from them!

AMEN Lord!

Don’t let us be like selfish road-hogs who stop others from overtaking because it threatens our need to be ‘in the lead’. May we be found as those cheering on the next generation and delighting in them as they catch their own vision of you, which empowers them (and then us as we follow) to soar on Eagles’ wings into Your perfect purpose.