Pray that I won't be bad anymore...

Last night was the ministry that we do with the teenagers. We broke into our Life Line Groups and I had 3 boys in mine. Until God tells me differently, the topic that we have been sharing with the kids is either His LOVE for them or the RIGHTEOUSNESS that they have in Christ. I had just finished sharing with the boys that God has given them a breastplate of righteousness and compared it with a bullet proof vest, something they are familiar with. For 20 minutes I shared with them how Jesus sees them as clean, pure, innocent, holy and He even calls them a saint. At the end, I asked if they needed specific prayer for anything. One boy said, "Pray that I won't be bad anymore." Me heart just broke because I had just finished telling them that God sees them as good. But, this kind of teaching is all so very new to them. If they have been taught anything about themselves, they have been taught that they are a sinner, dirty, bad and not good enough. My heart is to pour the message of righteousness into them until that is all they know how to see themselves, and then begin to walk in it. That is when this neighborhood will be changed. If these kids, who I know have invited JESUS into their hearts continue to see themselves as bad, this neighborhood and city will remain in the trap of drugs, gangs, violence, teen pregnancies and destruction. Isaiah 62:1 "I will not stop praying for her (East St. Louis) until her RIGHTEOUSNESS shines like the dawn..."