In the mid 1980’s we were going to a church in Arlington, Texas. Linda and I ministered to Young Adult Singles (YAS). It was a time of spiritual growth for us and we had a ball, watching God build a wonderful YAS class. These were such a diverse group of singles; every one of them was looking for something. Something that they could hang onto. Many were looking for their future husband or wife. Others were looking for a place to serve the Lord as they attended college a long way from home. Still others were just looking for a place where they could belong and feel safe. Some of you reading this enewsletter were members of that class and I have such great memories of each of you.
I also worked with the children’s church for a while during this time. I would act silly and teach the children wonderful stories out of the Bible as well as songs that contained a message and a catchy tune so it would be easy for the kids to remember. “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.” And, “God said to Noah, go build me an arky, arky.” Those were such good times and I enjoyed teaching stories and songs for these kids to take out into the world with them.
However, one of the most important things we did was to teach Bible memorization to the children. Every week we would teach them a different verse that would help them in their lives as they were dropped off the church buses to their homes. For some of these kids, the church time was the only way they would ever hear the wonderful words of Jesus.
One of the verses that brings a smile to my face is 1 Peter 5:8. We taught them the verse, but it was not just the words as much as it was the actions that went along with the verse. Imagine if you will how you would act out this verse.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant (hand over the eyes like you are looking for something shading your eyes because of the sun); because your adversary the devil,(make an angry, snarling face and taking your index fingers of both hands forming horns) here as a roaring lion, (growl as loud as you can) walketh (walk around the room at this point) about, seeking whom he may devour:(yell the word devour and act like a lion pouncing on it’s prey),
When I think of this verse, I remember my daughter Michelle. She would get so animated and so angry at the devil. She would snarl her mouth and show great disdain. At that point in her life she would view any temptation or trial in exactly the same way. She would just tell others that she would not do that, or that it is not right.
What happens to us a Christians when the world, Satan or his imps try to get us to disobey the Word of God? Do we just laugh at the joke, join into the wrong conversations, or get into situations that will drive us further from our close walk with GOD? Are we sober and vigilant knowing that Satan wants to devour us at every turn? Don’t we just need to get back to our time of innocence when we would simply stomp our foot and just shout NO, “Get thee behind me Satan?”