Young people from different churches in Istanbul came together at the Awakening Youth on Saturday, April 1.
The event began with the “Fire of the Spirit”, visiting from Izmir, leading a time of worship. The young people prayed to the Lord in hymns. The classic Awakening Youth “Prayer for a city every month” was started.
This month, prayers were offered for Adıyaman, one of the provinces severely damaged by the earthquake. Prayers were offered for the families of those who lost their lives in the earthquake disaster and for the healing of the injured. They cried to the Lord for the good of the rulers and the whole people. There was also prayer for the strengthening of Christians and churches.
“We need to build the Bible, the knowledge of God, on the truth and then add the emotions on top of that”
The young people born in April were prayed for blessing by İbrahim Deveci, Pastor of Ankara Lifeway Church.Then he shared from the Word of God.
Pastor Deveci asked to the young people, “How do you feel when you hear about disasters?” and said, “I do not recommend living on emotions. It is necessary to live on a real basis. But it cannot be lived without emotion. However, the life of faith can be affected if it is not lived in truth. So we need to think about what we are building our faith on. We need to build the Bible, the knowledge of God, on the truth and then add emotion on top of that. It is only when you put truth on top of emotion that in times of disaster difficult questions come to your mind: ‘God, why did you let so many people die?’ If you don’t know God, this question can easily come to your mind. Questioning and doubts are human emotions. Jesus Christ did not get angry at Thomas’ doubts, on the contrary, he helped Thomas by convincing him. When we turn to Jesus Christ and the Bible, we can find the truth with God’s answers.“
The event continued with a time of worship where the final hymns were sung. After the meeting, the youth had a meal together and shared in a time of conversation.
It was announced that the next Istanbul Awakening Youth meeting will take place on Saturday, May 6th. (SAT-7 TÜRK/SMY)
