I Don't Want to Live Anymore!

While in Southern California during a youth service of about 100 youth, my wife and one other team member felt there was someone in the service that was suicidal. So after a powerful evening of ministering in drama it was time for the altar call. I approached the mic with a grieved heart and said, “Someone here is suicidal.” You could hear a pin drop as my words echoed across the room. “I don’t know who you are or what you’re going through, but I want you to know that God cared enough about you to let us know about your thoughts of suicide.” I proceeded to say that I was not God, but I strongly believed that if they chose to end it all that night or any other night then the odds of them entering heaven would be against them. “If you kill yourself,” I added, “you will not be ending the pain.” I then took a few moments to make a plea for them to choose life, encouraging them to hang on and not give up because life will get better!

I found out later that evening that there was a young man in the audience battling suicide. He came forward for prayer during the altar time and left encouraged with a new sense of hope that God would help him through that difficult time. We discovered later that this student had been in the pastor’s office before service telling the pastor, “I don’t want to live anymore!” The pastor was very grateful to our team for taking the time to reach out to that young man and pray with him. Remember that when God is telling you to share something with a person or about a situation, you must obey Him. For you never know whose life you could save.