God owns all the cattle in the world — or to use the modern equivalent, all the crude oil. He’s got all the resources He needs. And we know He loves these teens far more than we do — in the words of Hosea (11:8), my heart is turned over within me, all my compassions are kindled. So the dilemma is this: if He wants so badly to minister to teens and He’s got all the resources and power to do so, why isn’t this crazy-awesome ministry happening? What’s standing in His way?

We are.

God is waiting for us to obey His call. You see, God likes to call and send humans to partner with Him. Even when He saves Paul miraculously, He still sends a human to cure his blindness and baptize him. But when God sends, sometimes we’re like Jonah — disgusted by the people we’re sent to. Or, more likely, we’re like the Christians in Jerusalem — ignoring the Great Commission because we’re just too comfortable where we are. God had to resort to persecution to push them out of Jerusalem to spread the good news.

God is waiting for us to humble ourselves. He opposes the proud; He doesn’t bless their ministry. When we trust in ourselves and our brilliant ministry strategy, He will have nothing to do with us. It’s only when we rely on Him — walking in His Spirit — that He will reward our efforts. As our Master said, whoever lives in Me will have much fruit; apart from Me you can’t do anything (John 15:5).

And most importantly, God is waiting for us to have faith. In the absence of faith, He refuses to work. So much so that He says He cannot do miracles in Nazareth because of their lack of faith and says that it is people’s faith that heals them. When we believe in God’s immense power, it will drive us to plead with Him for real heart-change instead of trusting in our own efforts.

God wants to work in these teens — far more intensely than we give Him credit for. Let’s let Him work by obeying His call to get involved in their lives, humbling ourselves by walking in the Spirit and believing so ardently that it drives us to prayer. In the end, may He get all the credit, since He’s the One who’s really behind everything.

Do you agree that God wants to minister to teens? Are there other reasons He refuses to work in our ministry?