A Young Man's Decision

A Young Man's Decision - by Greg Laurie -

www.harvest.org

 

With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! -Psalm 119:10

 

By the time he was eleven, Johnny Cash had started to sort things out for himself concerning spiritual matters. "I knew there was two distinct ways to go in life," he wrote in his first autobiography. "The people who had their hearts right-I recognized them as being different from the ones who were playing checkers over at the service station during the church service."

 

He sought God's presence through prayer and music. Songs like "I'll Fly Away" transported him to another place. "To me, songs were the telephone to heaven, and I tied up the line quite a bit," Cash reflected.

 

Johnny attended a revival meeting in Dyess shortly after his twelfth birthday on February 26, 1944. When it came time for the altar call, the choir started singing the hymn "Just as I Am." In the front row was Cash's older brother Jack, who he idolized, with his eyes closed as he sang along with the choir.

 

Up till then, Johnny hadn't been particularly moved or affected by anything he'd heard that night; in fact, when the song started, he was thinking of cutting out and going home. But all of a sudden he felt his soul touched by the music, the words, and the inevitable choice facing every child of God going back to Adam and Eve: to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, or to reject Him. It was an easy decision. Cash walked to the altar and knelt with the other converts.

 

I left feeling awfully good that night," he later recalled, "feeling joy and relief at having made my decision." He was formally baptized shortly thereafter.

 

Faith is a wonderful and powerful thing, and young Cash reveled in the peace and contentment it brought him. But he would soon find out that it doesn't automatically inoculate us from pain, misery, temptation, doubt, pride, and all the other frailties that are our birthright as mere human beings.

 

Scripture Reading:

 

1. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10 NKJV)

 

Each of us must make a personal choice to believe in and follow Jesus Christ or to reject Him. Have you made that decision? If so, when?

 

2. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! (Psalm 119:9-10 NKJV)

 

What is the key to maintaining a straight path in your spiritual walk?

 

3. Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 NKJV)

 

Johnny Cash would spend much of his later life straying away from the Lord, perhaps from lack of a good example or role model. Is there a young person that you can come alongside to encourage spiritually today?

 

Words of Encouragement - by Greg Laurie -

www.harvest.org

 

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.-1 Thessalonians 5:11

 

When Johnny Cash was young, he had a high tenor voice. Across the street from his hometown high school lived La Vonda Mae Fielder, a music teacher who offered private singing lessons at $3 a pop. Johnny's mother took in laundry to earn money for her son's first-and, it turned out, also his last-lesson.

 

His sister accompanied Johnny and his mother to Fielder's home that day, and vividly remembers what went down in her living room.

 

"Ms. Fielder said, 'Well, let me hear what you can do.' So, he sang a song-I don't remember what it was-and she said, 'You can stop now.' He hung his head and said, 'You mean I'm no good?' She said, 'On the contrary-you have a gift from God that I wouldn't dare touch! You're a song stylist. Always do it your way.' And that encouraged him greatly because he knew he had that calling."

 

Those words, in contrast to so many withering ones from his father, impacted Johnny dramatically.

 

By the time Johnny turned sixteen, his voice had become a deep baritone. Johnny's singing, while cutting firewood one day, brought tears to his mother's face because it reminded her so much of her daddy's voice.

 

She looked him square in the eye and added portentously: "God has His hand on you, son. Don't ever forget the gift." For the first time since his brother's death, Johnny Cash felt suffused with God's grace and imbued with hope that his life had a purpose after all.

 

Scripture Reading:

 

1. Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. (Proverbs 12:25 NKJV)

 

Can you think of a time someone gave you a good word of encouragement that made your heart feel glad?

 

2. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. . . And we urge you, brothers and sisters . . . encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. . . always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. (1 Thessalonians 5:11-15 NIV)

 

When is the last time you were a source of encouragement and help to someone in your life? Can you think of someone you can build up today?

 

3. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you . . . (Isaiah 66:13 NKJV)

 

Johnny's mother, in stark contrast to his father, offered words of encouragement and comfort to Johnny. What impact has your mother had on your life?

 

 

 

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