Every year our church allows the middle school ministry to run “Big Church” (the main Sunday services). I try to get a group of current 8th-graders together to pray, plan, and present the message for that Sunday. This year as we were brain storming together one of my kids started to talk about impossible things that God can do and I thought about that word. I said to her, “You know if you take the ‘Im’ off of impossible you get possible.” From there we talked through the idea that if we take “I’m” out of the equation of life and allow God to run it anything is possible. This made me think of some of the things I say so often: “I’m so tired.” “I’m overloaded.” “I’m so far behind that I’ll never catch up.” “I’m sick of all of this.” It went from me coming up with what the message was going to be about to something that we came up with together. And what a result we had!
- Instead of, “I’m deciding what we need to do as a ministry,” it’s now, “What is the Holy Spirit leading us to do together?”
- Instead of, “I’m understanding what these verses say,” it’s, “How is the Holy Spirit teaching us about his word?”
- Instead of, “I’m wasted and need to take a break,” it’s now, “How do I place myself fully in the LORD’s hands so that he decides when I rest and when I work?”
I wonder how many times as youth workers we get our “I’m” in the way and make something that is totally possible for God Impossible for us to do. The next time you start saying a lot of sentences with the words “I” or “I’m” in them step back, pray, and see if God is in it—that just might help you along in your ministry more than any planning meeting, next-best curriculum, or great game book ever could.