The Power in an Initiative

God’s looking for our prayers, but He’s also looking for initiatives. Initiatives that he can bless and use.

It sounds completely off, even suggesting that God would NEED anything from us. I mean; hello – HE IS GOD!…almighty, powerful, and in need of nothing and no-one! But in fact, the truth is that He, of His own free will, has made Himself

partly dependent on people here on earth that are prepared to cooperate with His will to make it happen. Sometimes we seem to think that everything will just happen according to God's will automatically. But that’s not quite the way it works. One example is when the Bible says that God “wants all men to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4). The fact that some people AREN'T saved doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want them to be, it just means that it takes collaboration with His will. A personal “yes” that only can come from us as humans.

I believe that it works in exactly the same way when it comes to your school. God has a plan and a purpose, something particular that He wants to do in your school. But for that to become a reality God needs us to co-operate with Him.

If you read the Bible with this in mind, you’ll see that this theme appears almost on every other page!

Moses is the leader of a people that are standing between Pharoah’s army – who want to chop them to pieces – and the Red Sea – that’s threatening to drown them (Genesis 14). The fact that God wants to save them is obvious –  I mean, hello! It was God that called Moses to lead the people out of in the first place! But God still asks Moses for an initiative. To lift His staff. To do something with what he has, even if it doesn’t seem to have any direct connection with the problem he’s in! But Moses obeys. He lifts his staff over the sea and then – then, and not before then – God splits the sea in the middle leading to one of the most awesome miracles in the whole Bible! An entire nation can walk straight across the sea on dry land and be saved from eternal extinction. Could Moses take the credit for what happened? Should the staff be put in a museum with a sign saying “Sea-dividing staff – the only one in world history”? Hardly! There’s no doubt that it was God that performed the miracle! And yet it was a result of man co-operating with God. The consequence of one man’s initiative, or action, that God was able to bless and use.

The same thing happened with Gideon (Judges 6). God calls a scared teenager to save the whole of from the hands of the occupying Midianites. God says two things to him: “Go in the strength you have” and “I will be with you”. Once again it’s about God co-operating with a man who has first provided Him with an initiative. Gideon obeys, probably after a lot of panicking and knee-trembling, and it results in an entire nation gaining freedom! We could go on and talk about David, Samuel, Jeremiah, Mary, the disciples, …and actually pretty much every major figure mentioned in the Bible. They all had the same story. A human provides the initiative and takes step of faith and God provides the power!

But how about you? How about your school? It still works in the same way. God’s still looking for prayers, and He’s also still looking for initiatives, and one of the best initiatives you can give Him is to actually start a group at your school! When you start a group and start to reach out to your school through evangelism and prayer, it’s so much more in His eyes than a Christian version of the Chess Club or the Radical Feminists. He sees a staff that is being lifted! So start a group today! At New Generation we’re here to help make that easier for you. Already have a group or a CU? Then lift your staff even higher! Because the truth still stands; when you ”go in the strength you have”, and do your best with what you've got here and now, He will be with you!

For more information on how to start a Christian school group or get resources and support for your CU or lunch-club, go to www.newgeneration.co.uk