Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:39 — 3.9MB)
The following reflections are an excerpt from a series of thoughts on various verses that have been appearing every Monday on the Youth Compass app for some time now. I hope and pray that this will provide many people with important inspiration for their spiritual lives right at the beginning of the week. God bless you as you read!
Words of eternal life:
“Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” (John 6:68-69).
What do I like about this verse? Peter's conviction! Starting in John 6:22, John tells us about a conversation between Jesus and a group of people. Jesus speaks of the bread (his flesh) and the wine (his blood). This discourse is described as a "tough talk" (verse 60). Many of the listeners are annoyed and turn away in disappointment. Others decide to stop following Jesus altogether! Only Peter and the eleven disciples remain. Why? After all, they heard the same discourse.
The answer to this can be found in Matthew 14:24-33. The disciples are in a boat on the lake and are terrified of sinking. Suddenly, Jesus approaches them! Peter says, “Teacher, if it is you, let me also walk on the lake and come to you.” “Come!” Jesus replies. And Peter walks (cf. Matthew 14:28-29). In the entire Bible, only Peter had the experience of walking on water, while the other eleven disciples watched. In other words, that night the disciples experienced God firsthand. And that is why they could not deny that Jesus is the Son of God and were willing to remain with Jesus, even if they did not always understand what Jesus said and did.
How is it in your life? Have you, like the disciples, come to know and experience God? Experiencing Him is like a foundation. With each experience, it grows stronger—until it is able to support a building. I pray that you encounter God in His love and grace today.
My favorite formula: B+G=E
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours!” (Mark 11:24).
This verse is part of a story from the Bible that I didn't understand for years – Jesus cursed a fig tree!
Why did he do that? Was Jesus acting rashly because of his hunger, or did he abuse his power? These questions troubled me. Today I know that Jesus wanted to impart a very important lesson to his disciples with this event: namely, that faith has power! Jesus spoke to the tree in faith: “No one will ever eat fruit from you again!” (cf. Mark 11:14). A day later, Peter said to Jesus: “Rabbi, look, the tree you cursed has withered!” (cf. Mark 11:21). And Jesus answered: “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them” (cf. Mark 11:23).
Many Christians see these words as a parable or a comparison – I, however, take them literally. Jesus wanted to show his disciples the power of faith! Yes, through faith we can even move mountains – even the highest mountain in Germany, the Zugspitze! We find plenty of examples of this in the Bible. One of them: Joshua, in faith, asked God to stop the sun and the moon, and God did so (see Joshua 10:12-13). The standstill lasted about a day, that is, 12 hours (see Joshua 10:13). Isn't that extraordinary? The entire universe came to a standstill because one man called upon God in faith!
Behind all the miracles in the Bible we see a "formula": Prayer + Faith = Success.
Children understand this formula very well! For them, it's perfectly clear: If I pray, then God will answer! I've experienced this myself. My children are between six and eight years old. Once, when we were still living in an apartment, they asked me why we didn't have a house yet. I told them, "Pray!" At that time, it was nearly impossible to find a house in Speyer. I was curious to hear the children's individual prayers and couldn't help but chuckle a little at them. But less than three months later, we moved into our new house! It works.
I wish you God's blessing as you practice this formula!
From the Speyer Youth Compass