The third time he lied to me I was pretty mad. Pedro had been suspected of vaping at YFC Camp but kept denying it. We had a few vape pens turned in by his associates but Pedro maintained his innocence.
As his leaders we had given grace and chances to turn in the pens, and talked about potential consequences but none of it was changing his behavior. Pedro didn’t just have sin in his life, sin had Pedro.
YFC Camp can be pretty intense as the spiritual battles in kids’ lives come to the front. Spiritually lost teens are drawn to the good news of Jesus and the fellowship of his family all while the rebellion of their flesh intensifies in resistance. By day three all the leaders were aware of this dynamic, the heaviness, the struggle, the intensity. You’d see kids on fire for Jesus standing in the front worshiping with all their might, and kids in the back with headphones and hoodies on doing their best to drown out the moment.
Oftentimes Pedro would leave these gatherings entirely. We’d sit outside, talk a little bit, and then encourage him and others to sit back inside for the message. All our cajoling wasn’t making a dent. It was disheartening to see kids struggling and missing out on freedom in Christ.
I was at my wit’s end. I was feeling the spiritual heaviness and feeling anger towards the evil that has enslaved teens. So I reached out to a couple YFC prayer teams with a list of kids to pray for. I went into the gathering after sending those text messages and there was Pedro, being prayed for by two leaders, crying. Breakthrough.
A new friend he had made saw the struggle he was in and took him to a leader for prayer. It was a God-moment. One breakthrough in a thousand that he needs.
However, that next day he was caught vaping again and so there we were on a bench talking about him lying. After going through the same conversation as before we said, “Unfortunately we’re going to have to
send you home this time.” And then Pedro broke down and, for the first time with us, he started getting honest. Both me and the other leader started to tear up. “Pedro, we can work with honesty, you can stay.”
Following Jesus is a process and Pedro is on a long journey. He hasn’t said Yes to Jesus yet but he’s encountered the power of God through prayer. He’s experienced a friend who believes. He’s practiced confession with leaders.
God was showing me something at camp. In the midst of these intense spiritual battles, prayer should have been my first response, not my last resort. “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2). I know that I don’t understand everything about prayer. But what I do understand from scripture is that God invites us to pray and moves in it.
Would you add the ministry of Youth For Christ to your list? Pedro needs prayer still, as do I, Christian students in the ministry, church partners, volunteers, and lost teens. We’re praying for breakthrough, for repentance, for salvation and revival. We’re praying for boldness to proclaim Christ and fruitfulness in our discipleship.
My prayer for you is Ephesians 3:16-18, “I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
To God be the glory in your life,
Jameson