Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus: A Message for our Young People
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Very soon hundreds of young people will gather together at Commission Festival 2023 to sing and worship Jesus, and we, Nathan Guy from Life Church Southampton and Phoebe Gubb from Hope Church Winchester, have the privilege of being part of the band who will lead these young people in sung worship.
As the timeless Christian hymn says, our ultimate desire is to help these young people turn their eyes upon Jesus and fix their gaze upon His wonderful face. We are asking God to help us present the reality, glory and grace of our unshakeable Lord and Saviour to these precious souls through music and song so that they can behold and be left in awe of Him, and have their lives transformed as a result. Picture this - the teenagers of your church leaving the festival into a world that is incredibly shaky and unstable but they are not because their God is not. Imagine them in their homes, schools and friendship groups standing secure and firm upon Jesus as their solid rock.
We have dedicated time throughout the year to plan, prepare and rehearse, seeking to serve with excellence. However, we humbly recognise that it is the Spirit of God who holds the power to make our vision become reality and to bring lasting change in the hearts and lives of these young people forever. Therefore, we ask that you join us in prayer, believing that through the work of the Spirit, miraculous things happen.
Therefore, please pray:
That Jesus increases to be supreme in the hearts and minds of the young people, reigning in every aspect of their lives.
That the young people are equipped to use their spiritual gifts and play their part in their local church, in mission and in their everyday lives, so that life continues to come to their families, friends and communities.
That the young people depart from the festival transformed, comforted, strengthened, empowered and filled with unwavering confidence in Christ.
Over the past year some of our musicians and songwriters from across our family of churches have been meeting to write and craft new worship songs that will unite us together, help us rejoice in our unshakeable God and go home with us to be sung in our churches throughout the year ahead, and we are thrilled to introduce and sing a selection of these songs at the festival in both the youth and adult meetings.
We can’t wait to be together with you all and the good news is that there isn’t long to go.
See you soon!
Nathan (Life Church Southampton) & Phoebe (Hope Church Winchester)