You Can Start Living

Growing old in the world is fearful but in the Body of Christ, power is given to old age — a power beyond prophesying and seeing visions. At the end of life, the people whom you love, the ones closest to you, and those whom God has put under your care are the most important.

When you get old in the Body of Christ, you do not have to curl up and die. You can start living! Our cry must be, “Oh, God, turn our hearts to the children of this generation. No matter how far away they might seem, give us the courage to speak into their lives and leave a lasting impact.”

Perhaps in the past your words were not what they should have been, but this can be a new day. Despite our flaws and frailties, God remains faithful and will empower us to speak to the next generation.

It is amazing when you realize that you have the power of speech to make a difference in somebody’s life. I remember as a young Christian, I went through a season when I felt like a failure and I ended up under this cloud of despair for a couple of months.

One day I was out with an older police officer named Doug, a Christian, and he asked me, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m so discouraged,” I explained. “I feel like a failure. I want to be different, but it’s just hopeless.”

He looked at me and said, “That is just the devil trying to condemn you. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I know you want God, so let’s just put that attitude away.”

To this day I still remember the words that he spoke over my life! They were not especially profound but they were spoken by an older man into a younger man’s life. And they enabled me to get up again.

Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 at the invitation of the founding pastor, David Wilkerson, and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2001.