GROWING UP SPIRITUALLY!  Maria #238       DO 2952  10/94
"When I became a man, I put away childish things!" (1Cor.13:11). More on "Breaking Down the Walls!"
By Maria

(Following is a letter to Mama from another of our young people, which contains more "food for thought" and covers further aspects of the subject of YA nationals and Family-born YAs.)

(From M. YA, 9/94:)
         1. I was asked to write down some thoughts I had concerning why some of the young people in the Family have a bit of a condescending way of looking at the EE nationals and new disciples in general. These are a few things I wanted to share about my personal experience and why I think this is.
         2. My personal experience has been that some of the young new disciples were given a lot of responsibility when they first joined, or shortly thereafter. I think a lot of shepherds felt that the new disciples were more mature in some areas than Family-born YAs. Although they didn't have a foundation and heritage in the Lord and the Word like a lot of us young people have who were born in the Family, I think because they didn't have it their whole lives and suddenly found the truth and the Lord, they really appreciated the value of it. They were a lot more hungry for the Word, knew they had a lot to learn, and thus even had a closer relationship with the Lord and more spiritual depth, in the sense that they followed the Word more closely than some of the Family young people. I think this was a source of envy for a lot of born-in-the-Family young people--at least it was for me.
         3. I think too that sometimes young people raised in the Family can feel inferior to new disciples in the sense that we haven't forsaken all to join the Family, and in some ways (especially in the "worldly wise" sense) the new disciples have had a lot more experiences in their lives and have sort of learned by trial and error. Of course, you can't compare our lives being reared in the Family with those in the world because there's a night-and-day difference; but we have been a lot more sheltered. So in some ways our new disciples are more experienced and knowledgeable and can have a more mature way of looking at things. In some cases they are even more dedicated and sold out to the Lord because they've known what it's like to live without knowing Him.
         4. My past personal experience has been that in some situations new disciples were trusted with more than the senior teens and YAs because the shepherds felt they were more mature, had more of a connection with the Lord, hunger for the Word and a more desperate and serious attitude about their service for the Lord--all qualities you need if you're going to be in a position of responsibility. I think our Family-born young people see that and can be envious, so they tend to criticize the nationals and in some cases demean them, their length of time in the Family, etc., because they feel inferior in some ways.
         5. I feel sometimes we can take our heritage and years growing up in the Family, the training we've received, and all the prophecies and things the Lord has said in the Word about our new generation for granted. We can get tempted to be lifted up thinking "we are the people" if we're not on guard. The verse, "What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it; why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (1Cor.4:7), has really helped me. Everything we have and know has been poured into us by our parents, teachers and shepherds, and it's not something that we can personally take the glory for or pride ourselves in, as we haven't really done anything to receive it. I love you!
         Love, M.

(Mama's response to M.:)
         6. Thank you, M., for your good Spirit-led comments. I believe you've touched on another very important reason why there has often been friction between our Family-born YAs and our new disciples who are in a similar age bracket--whether they be Eastern European nationals, Western European nationals, or nationals from North America, South America, the Pacific or Asia.
         7. What you are saying would seem to indicate that some of our Family-raised young people are still somewhat immature and shallow. Although they have been born and raised in the Family and fed the Word for so long, it hasn't seemed to have taken root in their lives. Familiarity with it has resulted in lack of appreciation of its value and power to transform and work wonders in them and others.
         8. Some of our young people have a tendency to feel that just because they were born and raised in the Family, they have it all down pat, so to speak, and know all the ropes, and are just naturally more spiritual and have a greater concept of the Word and spiritual things than those who have been born outside of the Family and have only recently joined--whereas the sad fact of the matter is that what some of our young people have is more like "a form of Godliness, without the power thereof" (2Tim.3:5).
         9. Just because someone has had the Word all his life, it doesn't automatically mean that he is living it, or has a close link with the Lord, which comes through prayer and obedience and yieldedness to Him. Maybe a solution for our young people with this problem is to take a new and fresh look at the Word, pretending they've never known it before, and asking the Lord to help them see it with new eyes so they can find the deep and wonderful "strange truths" therein that they've never realized before.
         10. It seems, M., that this was what happened with you. In an additional testimony you wrote up about how you got the victory over unyieldedness, which I just read, you said that your pride had such a hold on you, you didn't feel you could change. However, you knew in your heart you wanted to, and when you earnestly prayed to be yielded, the Lord came through and gave you a real deliverance from that awful pride and self-righteousness that had bound you previously. You also prayed for the Lord to cause you to grow and mature, and then you were able to start seeing the Word in a new way and how it applied in your own life.
         11. Instead of just continuing in your jealousy, resentment and critical spirit, you decided to go to the Word and get the victory over these problems, and the Lord was faithful, and even showed you why you had been having these negative feelings.
         12. Thank the Lord, many of our YAs, like yourself, do have a great deal of spiritual depth and a close link to the Lord now, and a love for and dependence upon His Word. But there are others who seem to be trying to sort of coast along or claim their anointing simply because they were born in the Family, rather than really learning the spiritual principles the Lord has been trying to teach them, and truly growing up spiritually. For such people, jealousy, pride and envy will of course be a problem, since they are tempted to feel cheated or left out when they see their peers or those just a few years older than they are who have come from the outside and only been in the Family a few years getting positions of responsibility or being entrusted with certain ministries before they are.
         13. And as you mentioned, some of them also feel they are a bit handicapped because they have been so sheltered, having grown up in the Family and not having had worldly experiences nor the feeling of being fed up with them. Unlike young people who join the Family from outside, those who have been born and raised in the Family haven't eaten and sickened of the husks of the System and wallowed in its mire, which brings no satisfaction, and therefore causes outsiders who join us to become desperate for the truth and therefore spiritually hungry and receptive.
         14. Of course, having been born and raised in the Family doesn't have to be a handicap or hindrance in any way, and shouldn't be! Your case illustrates, M., that our young people can be hungry and receptive, dedicated and trustworthy. As soon as you recognized your problems and got help and prayer and started earnestly going to the Word, you paved the way to quickly become mature and reliable and entrusted with very big responsibilities.

Just Give Yourself to Jesus!
         15. The same can happen to any of you young people--and older Family members, for that matter--who determine that you will lay aside the weights and sins that so easily beset you, and that you will stop looking at others with envy, but will instead look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. He is the One Who is able to give you the desires of your heart, but Who has also told us that we are going to have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, and that we must give account of ourselves to God, and that it is going to be just between Him and us. (Phil.2:12; Rom.14:12).
         16. No matter how wonderful our parents may be, or how much the Lord loves them or the Family, when we stand before God He is just going to be seeing us--not our background, not our heritage, not our parents, but He is going to ask each individual to give an account of himself. It won't matter if I was raised in the Family; it won't matter who my parents are. It won't matter how much Word I've had all my life. If I am mentally or verbally boasting of my advantages and privileges instead of using them to make me a stronger soldier for the Lord, they're not going to do me any good. And if I've buried my talents instead of doing what I can to wisely invest them in the Lord's work, I am going to be ashamed.
         17. I can't say, "Look, Lord, here's my Family background and here are my good Godly parents, and here's all the Word I've had." Because He is going to say, "But what did you do with all those advantages I gave you? Did you learn from them? Where is your love for your brothers and sisters? Where is your love for the lost? Where is your love for your elders? Where is your love for My Word? Where is your faith in My promises? Where is your obedience and your yieldedness? Where is your sacrificial spirit?"
         18. Of course, you don't have to wait until the Judgment Seat of Christ to make these commitments. He wants you to come to Him right now, stripped of anything else but your heart and desire to do all you can to love Him and His Word, with no excuses, with no justifications, with no props, but just as you are, to come to Him. He calls, "Come unto Me!" (Mat.11:28). And unless you can do this, you're never going to become the strong disciple that the Lord and the Family can truly depend on. You'll always be weak and double-minded and blaming your troubles on others; always jealous and envious of others' positions and accomplishments but never willing to do what it takes to be entrusted with such responsibilities yourself. But if you are willing to lay aside all these hindrances and concerns for outward appearances, and just give yourself to Jesus, as weak and sinful as you may be--just as this young woman and others of you have done--you will be able to truly progress spiritually, and become the man or woman of God that He wants you to be.
         19. It is possible, and you can make up for that lost time. You can pray for the Lord to grow and mature you by taking away your pride and your stubbornness which are holding you back. If you really mean it, He will work the miracle you need in your life.
         20. Don't be content to wallow in the mire of envy, jealousy, pride and a hard and unloving critical spirit, but put off that old man and ask the Lord to renew you and give you His joy and His power and His Spirit! "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and put on the new man! Be renewed in the spirit of your mind!" (Eph.4:22-24). Then you can go forth into battle unencumbered by personal jealousies and rivalries and comparisons and competitions, and you'll be able to look outward at the great needs of others instead of looking inward at your petty selfish desires.
         21. I pray that all of you young people can benefit from M.'s testimony and the experiences she has gone through and the beautiful lessons she learned. I hope that the Lord will use her testimony to speak to your heart and encourage you that you too can find the victory, strength, joy, peace and conviction you long for as you fully commit yourself to the Lord, giving your all to Jesus. I love you and am praying for you! Love, Mama


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