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Isaiah 6:8 reads, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” Isaiah was willing to step out and be a voice for God. This is the heart cry of a youth pastor I was recently talking to in New York, Pastor Dimas Salaberrios. It’s a question we all need to ask ourselves. Am I willing to step out and be a voice for God?
We have to step into “their” territory; into enemy territory. It’s not a new concept. God heeded the Israelites in Deuteronomy 11 to take the land of Canaan by the simple act of setting their foot. Verse 24 states, “every place where you set your foot will be yours. (Deut. 11:23)” This is true for us as well. God said that he would “drive out all these nations before you.” These nations were saturated with immorality just as America is. God is a God that “is the same yesterday and today and forever,” which tells us that He still has the desire to drive out immorality (Heb. 13:8).
So many American Christians are dissatisfied with the direction today’s culture is going. Few Christians are really making an effort to veer this nation off of that path. We’re caught up in the business that our daily life brings and often only complain about what’s going on around us.
More similarities follow as the Israelites become afraid to cross into the enemy territory when the time comes to do so. They were required to walk through the raging Jordan River. No one would go until one brave soul decided to step out. By setting his foot in the raging river, God honored his faith and dried up the waters. Do we wait for God to dry the river between us and the immorality we long to change? We need to set our foot in the midst of the craziness of this world and watch God work.
Teen Mania Ministries is rallying the masses to step out in faith and take a stand against these media terrorists. How can we expect to win the battle for the hearts and minds of our young people if we are not out in the culture speaking truth? We have got to set our foot in the middle of today’s culture. As we combat the challenges the media puts in our own lives, then we can confront it in the nation. We can’t afford to be satisfied with only a change in our own life. God’s plan was not to reach only a small few with His love; He wanted to reach everyone. Let’s take His love to them.
What is holding you back from setting your foot? Are you comfortable in the simplicities of your current life and fear stirring the water? Do you look towards where you must walk and only see the raging waves? I pray that the peace of God will come on you right now and that you will see past these things to the heart of the matter; to a heart that yearns for this dying generation in the midst of an ever increasing immoral society.
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One practical way to begin setting your foot is by visiting battlecry.com. This year’s tour “Recreate” gives you useful ideas of how to save this generation by stepping out and aiming to recreate the culture around us. Teenagers are encouraged to creatively express themselves through media outlets such as YouTube, school newspapers, art, poetry, and blogs. We all see that there’s a problem so let’s band together and fix it.
So don’t settle for staying where you are right now. Do you want to be like the Israelites who complained their life away or do you want to be like the ones who set their foot in enemy territory and claim it for the Kingdom of God? Join the ranks of this BattleCry and set your foot in this immoral society. We can’t let it continue on the road it’s on.
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Ron Luce is the founder of Teen Mania, one of the world's largest Christian youth organizations, which inspires, empowers, and equips teens to reject the negative influences of pop culture and embrace the "coolness" of Christ. This year, Teen Mania is rallying hundreds of thousands of teens in the BattleCry movement to save their generation. For more information, visit www.BattleCry.com.
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