Introduction:
The most
critical point in one's life is the time of his or her youth. The seed of our
destiny is sown the time of our youth. Nations are built the time where the
general population is youthful, the church depends on the youth, because they
determine the future of the Church and a representation of the later rain.
The most needed
stage to remember our maker is the time of our youth. But the devil plans evil
attacks over our destiny at this time that many realize, but only to cry, had I
known. Instead of us being useful to the church, society and the nation, we
become oppositions and fighters against the church and society.
Amidst
the celebration that comes with this season, we must also always learn to take
stock of what we have achieved in the year and how we can do better. This is
why the Psalmist said: So
teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom
(Psalm 90:12).
Who is a youth?
According
to the Webster dictionary, a youth is ‘someone who has or shows freshness and
energy’. Being a youth is synonymous to ‘vigour’ ‘strength’.
What then, is being useful?
This
means ‘to be of a valuable or productive kind’.
As
youth, you must not only be full of strength, you also need to be productive. This entails that you be a
man or woman of value, adding positive impacts to the society and the world at
large.
Worthy of Note:
Life itself is
all about adding values. The measure of success is not in what you can acquire
or the fame you get, but how much impact you are able to make, which comes with
how useful you are determined to be.
To
understand the value of usefulness, we will be examining a few Biblical
examples of youths who through being useful impacted their generation:
a. David
He
was useful to his parents in helping to tend the sheep. Through this, He
acquired the strength and boldness to save the whole nation from shame; he took
off Goliath’s head and the glory and victory was given to the God of Israel (1
Samuel 17:3-55). The skills he acquired as a teenage shepherd boy guided him to
being a great king.
b. Joseph
He
utilized his special gift of the interpretations of dreams to preserve the
nation where he sojourned. He gave ideas that brought about economic
empowerment for the nation of Egypt (Genesis 41). That gift in you, that
special skill may be what society will need for a time like this.
c. Jesus Christ
Even
our Lord Jesus Christ was a useful youth. He was busy about his father’s
business (Luke 2:49). He fulfilled his purpose here on earth at the youthful
age of 33years.
d. Esther
She
was a fearless lady who saved her people from destruction. (Esther 4)
e. Nehemiah
He
was a nation builder (Nehemiah 2:5). He took the courage to raise and rebuild
the ruined city wall of Jerusalem.
All
these people among several others were useful youth that imparted or added
value to their society.
If
you want to be like one of the youths mentioned above whom God used mightily in
their own time, your first step is to be born again and enter in God’s family.
Here
are five keys that will help you:
1. Ask God to increase your capacity.
1
Chronicles 4:10 in the Amplified Bible says:
“Jabez cried [prayed] to the God of Israel, saying,
Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be
with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God
granted his request.”
Have
you ever asked God to increase your borders. . .you capacity for a greater
blessing flow?
I’d
like to believe that most of you have. However, the real question is. .
.did you ask in faith believing. . .not wavering or doubting?
I’ve
known way too many believers whose faith comes in sudden bursts. . .when their
back is against the wall or even when it’s convenient.
When
we ask God. . .we’ve got to know that He is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him.
2. Charge out of your comfort zone by
challenging the way things are.
- Stretch your
thinking, increase your understanding....
- Do something
you’ve never done
- Enlarge your
capacity for increase by believing something, you previously thought
impossible.
- Believe God. .
.like Abraham who left what was familiar and held onto the promises of God.
- Believe God. .
.like Noah who had never seen rain but built the ark.
- Believe God. .
.like the Centurion who knew one word from Jesus would bring life to a dead
situation.
- Believe God. .
.like David who took a rock and rolled the giant.
- If God is going
to enlarge your borders you’ll need to leave your comfort zone and the
predictable behind so He can increase your capacity to believe and receive
beyond your previous expectations.
Genesis
12:1-2 in the Amplified Bible says:
“Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for
yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives
and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.
“2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I
will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and
distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].”
3. Put on your spiritual glasses.
- We
must stop looking at life through our rear-view mirror, at what has happened or
didn’t happen in the past, our future is in front of us. . .and we need to
allow the Word of God to be the glasses through which we view our capacity for
success. We need to see the world before us through the promises of the
Word.
- To
increase our capacity for success. . .our blessing flow. . .we need to have
2023/2030 vision.
2
Chronicles 20:20 says:
“. . . Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O
Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall
ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”
To believe the Lord our God. . .is to see things as
He sees them.
Take a moment to allow that statement to sink in…He is the God of limitless
possibilities.
4. Negative conversations will adversely
affect our capacity for IMPACT.
- We can never be
motivated by those who aren’t motivated.
- We can never
share dreams with those who aren’t dreamers.
- We can’t talk
about achieving our goals with those who don’t have any.
- If we desire to
make impact, we need to make sure we hang around the folks who can help fill
that capacity with the pure, the powerful and the positive from God. People who
will cause us to stretch our thinking while expanding our borders.
1
Corinthians 15:33 in the Amplified Bible says:
“Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil
companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and
morals and character.”
5. Positive associations will dramatically
increase our capacity for success.
- Make
it your business to learn from people who’ve been or are at where you
-
Advice
that has not been tested, proven and successful is just opinion. . .an
experiment … not experience.
-
Someone,
regardless of how good they sound,. . . cannot take you where they haven’t
been.
-
When
it comes to your capacity for success and change. . .you need to realize that
every new generation can go beyond the previous generation.
Proverbs
15:22 in the New Living Translation says:
“Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers
bring success.”