Good evening! Or good morning – if that’s when you arrive here. I’m Josh Silver, the new lead for youth and young adults and I have been mightily touched by the warm welcome I have received so far. The QP family have opened their loving arms ever so graciously toward my wife Torianne, our little one Noah and myself. We are super excited to see how God moves among the youth and young adults!
Upon opening BBC news I noticed two articles – side-by-side – with very different outcomes. The first – a BBC radio 2 host of 31 years moving station… the latter – Madonna announcing a career-spanning tour. Surrendering something you know so well is a hard decision. I was a primary teacher for 3 and a half years, completing a five-year degree at Uni. Amidst uncertainty and lack of permanency in education, my wife and I were deep in prayer. Following heeding God’s voice (in prayer and through prophetic input from others) and listening to my heart – we are here by God’s grace!
New starts can be challenging and yet they are so full of potential in many, many ways. A good question to ask when entering something new, is why? Why do we do what we do? You see, I believe God will always lead us, call us and guide us into a place, an occupation or a situation that in all honesty, we cannot tackle ourselves. The call of God requires the power of God – the very power that Jesus enabled us to access through his death on the Cross. In fact – it almost seems like our life can be a series of blessings and breakings which lead us to experience more and more of what Christ himself experienced as a man. Therefore, the why often becomes, how can God use what we’ve come through to bring others closer to Him? The very ‘make or break’ point in Christ’s life, was His death. It is the only point in Scripture (that I’ve noticed so far) where He questions what the Father asked Him to do:
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
Had Christ not followed through on the Cross, His whole ministry and subsequently the very faith that we stand in disappears as quickly as it was established.
So how do we yield? I believe God wants our hearts – surrendered. An open spirit that says, just like Isaiah – ‘Here I am, send me…’. When Christ died on that dark afternoon, the temple curtain was torn in two. It was not torn from bottom to top in the hands of humans, but from top to bottom – by the hand of God. In our willingness to be clay in the potter’s hand – are you willing to let God split the temple curtain of your heart?
I believe God wants to open our eyes to see that our experiences are not a hindrance but the very thing that God can use to accomplish his purposes! God is “revealing” this to us. Where the enemy and the world have lied to us and attempted to veil us in, God wants to reveal His purposes by “reveiling” us – removing the veil! The good news is, Christ has already removed the veil! Posture yourself to hear His voice. Surrendering something you know so well is a hard decision – allow Christ to empower your identity and your next step.
Colossians 3:3 – ‘For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.’
God bless, Josh 😊