A World Changer's Devotion

Challenge 2: Stability

Challenge 2: World Changer Commit Their Mind to God

What is Stability

1 Timothy 4:12

      Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

     There are too many young people whom are on a Christian roller coaster. If they are at a summer camp with other wild teenagers for the Lord, then they will be excited. But if they are the only ones at school who are Christians, they get depressed. It's just a hype-oriented Christianity.

     I am going to tell you right now that God is not into up and down Christianity. He is into stability. He is into men and women who are going to put their feet on the solid rock of Jesus and keep growing. It doesn't matter how young you are. He wants you to have that kind of stability in your life.

     In 1 Timothy, Paul talks about being stable. He says don't let anyone look down on your youth. You know why? Because many adults look down on teenage Christians because they are so driven by hype and emotions. They are up one week and down the next. They go to camp, and they are on fire. Two weeks later they're living in sin. Back and forth, up and down. These adults mock teenagers' Christianity because they think it's just one roller coaster ride after another.

     You need to start blowing them away with your stability. Paul says not to dare let anyone mock you. In fact, be an example to others in all these different areas: Speech, life, love, faith and purity. Most of the time we look to adults as examples, but Paul admonished Timothy, a young guy, to be an example. Paul told him to show them what it's like to really love and have a godly, pure life.

      When people look at you, a young person, they should be blown away and say, "Wow! I've never seen anybody with such a pure heart, such a pure life, such pure motives. I've never seen anybody who is stable and regular - always loving God and having quiet times." You need to show the adults  in your life, including your parents and pastors, an example of stability. As you prove to have a stable life and show an example of stability, you will shut the mouth of every mocker. How can people mock somebody who is living such a stable life? How can they mock you when you do what you said you would do?

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Sticking With It

Proverbs 20:6

     Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is really faithful

     Stability in your walk with God is directly linked to Challenge 2: World Changer Commit Their Mind to God. The mind is the battlefield for the devil. If you can win the battle in your mind, then you win it in life. And when the devil can flip your mind out going back and forth with temptations, sin, or whatever, then he'll keep you going up and down, back and forth as a Christian. If you are going to be stable in your walk with God, you have to commit your mind to Him.

      Proverbs 20:6 talks about being faithful. Faithfulness is a characteristic of stability. You hear a lot of people say, " I am going to love you. I am going to be there for you." But not enough people are actually faithful. A lot of people go forward at conferences and camps to give their lives to Jesus. They say, " Lord, I am going to love You. Lord, I am going to live for You." But not nearly as many stay faithful. Being faithful means others can believe that you're going to be consistent. You are going to do the things that you always do. And the things that you are in the habit of doing the right things.

     The Scripture emphasizes that God doesn't care as much about what you say. He cares about your faithfulness and stability. He cares about your faithfulness to Him, to your own word, and to other people.

     If I am a faihtful man, you can have confidence in me. In other words, you can believe that I can be consistent, unchanging and faithful to my word. I will be faithful to my commitments.

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Benefits Of Stability

Proverbs 28:20

      The trustworthy will get a rich reward. But the person who wants to get rich quick will only get into trouble.

     You can see the promise here that if you have stability and faithfulness, God will richly bless you. Let me tell you how. First, when you become faithful, you become more like the Father. Psalms says over and over again how faithful God is. He is always faithful, faithful, faithful. And when you become faithful, you become like Him. And the more you become like Him, the more excited He gets and so the more He blesses you. So, supernaturally, blessing is attracted to you.

     Many people pray, "God, please bless me. Please, please, please." But the fact is that if you line your life up according to His principles and build character into your life, His blessing is promised to come your way. You didn't even have to pray for it. You can pray, but it's going to come your way anyway because that's the kind of God He is. I think we'd all be better off if we did less begging for blessing and more practicing God's character in our lives so God's blessing will be drawn to us.

     Second, when you build faithfulness and stability in your life, even in the natural realm blessing is drawn toward you. What do I mean? When people see that they can count on you, that you're stable in all your ways, they will trust you with more. You'll get promoted into leadership. You'll get promoted in your job. You'll get more responsibility. Your youth pastor might let you share in a meeting. You might get elected to a position of trust. Blessing comes your way, even in the natural realm,  when you build stability in your life. For example, let's say you want to take out a loan to buy a house. The banker will look at your stability. How long have you lived in your current house? How long did you lived the house before that? How long have you had your job? When the banker sees that you have proven your stability, he is going to loan you the money.

      Here's another example of natural blessings that come from having stability. Maybe you're wondering why you haven't received a promotion, or why your parents won't trust you with certain things, or why you haven't had the opportunity to do the things you wanted. Well, if your authority figures look in your life and see a lack of stability, they'll have a lack of trust. But when you build your stability and faithfulness in your life, people in leadership positions feel free to trust you.