Surviving A Difficult Time

God did not promise us a difficulty free life; he only promised us victory through Christ our Lord. So do not be too burdensome because of this difficult time nations are going through right now. God has a purpose in every situation, including a very bad one like the one we are in right now in this country.
How can we therefore survive this situation?
Be Prayerful
The word of God says that we should pray without ceasing. When you turn to God in prayer in a difficult time like this, He gives you strength to go on. You will also enjoy certain level of favor that will make things quite easier to for you. Through prayer, God gives you direction as per what to do, where to go and probably who to go to for certain assistance with a guarantee of favor.
Be Hopeful
Even when it seems that your prayer is not receiving a quick answer; just be hopeful and steadfast in doing good. God will surely answer when you do not give up too soon. Have assurance that things will be better.
Be Diligent
Bible says whatsoever your hands find to do, do it with all thy might.
Do not be too proud to find certain honorable but small jobs too low for you to do. Remember, the token that comes into your hand at the end of the day is better than nothing. At least it saves you from being totally dependent on people. Moreover, who knows maybe from that small job you will be promoted or you may meet a destiny helper. Despise not the days of little beginning. Do not be lazy.
Be Thankful
This is the will of God concerning us in Christ Jesus. Do not just thank God alone in prayer; let it be a lifestyle. After all, many people who are better and richer than you are dead. Therefore, for every little blessing you get, be thankful for it and see how God will come to your rescue.
Come to think of it, why does God allow us to go through difficult times?
To produce strength of character in us
If you haven't gone through a tough and rough time before, how do you know your strength level? By the time you come out of a difficult situation, there is no way you will not become better or stronger, except you refuse to learn because God will not force you to learn. How do you know if you can resist the temptation of stealing if you are not faced with a situation that will almost leave you with no choice but to steal? However, when you stand your ground not to steal no matter what happens, then you have become stronger in that area of your life.
To strengthen our faith in God
Difficult situations have a way of pushing even the worst sinners to God. Why will you have faith in God if all you want is available at the snap of your fingers? However, when you are faced with lack, disappointment, discouragement, failure, etc., then you surely would have no choice in most cases than to turn to the One who never fails.
To help us know our true friends
Your true friends are the ones that stand by you when the going gets tough, but when things are working out well, everybody is your friend. Difficult situations enable you know those that are worthy to be called friends.
So you now agree with me that God has you in mind in every situation of your life? See you next time!

Vision: Step 2 To Planning Your Future

Now that you have started your journey of life with prayer, then you need to realize the power of vision. Vision is your foresight about your future, it simply means where and how you see yourself in the nearest future. So if I may ask, where do you see yourself in the nearest future? How do you see yourself in the future? What do you see yourself doing in the nearest future? 
Living without a vision equals to roaming about in darkness. Imagine if you have to walk within a house with your eyes closed?You may fall and fall very bad. You may be fortunate not to fall. Nothing guarantees your success in the house when your eyes are closed. That is what happens when you live without a vision, without a foresight of what, where and how you want to live your life in the future.
So have you got a vision? If no then lets discuss how vision can be birthed. You just don’t sit and birth a vision because you watch a movie and you like something about a character that touches you so much, and you want to be like him/her. Vision is an inspiration from God Almighty and when He gives you that inspiration about something you should do, He gives you peace of mind, enhances your level of confidence that enables you to do it. Then inside of you are potentials and talents that are needed to actualize the vision. Major benefits of God given vision are that you are sure that He will help you, give you grace to move on in the face of difficulties and He surely will prosper you at the end if you stay faithful to the vision.
We must know that some people develop their vision and stay true to it, but it is best when you wait on God to give you a vision to run with, because you may not have His support or grace to run a vision He didn’t give you. Sometimes you may be frustrated out of the vision when challenges come. A self-oriented vision is not likely to bring you fulfillment at the end, even when you have prospered and acquired wealth. That is why we have many unhappy millionaires today. 

I guess you will be thinking that how do you know when it is a God given vision? 
God speaks to us in diverse ways, through His word, prophets, dreams, visions or trance. He can even speak audibly to you. However, He speaks to those who have a relationship with Him, especially those who are passionately expecting to hear from Him. In addition, when He speaks to you, He gives you peace of mind that assures you that you are on the right track.
My dear friends, when you start your journey with God praying to Him, wait on Him for a vision to run with, you will never regret doing so in Jesus’ name.

PRAYER: STEP 1 TO PLANNING YOUR FUTURE

Prayer is the number one key to fulfilling your future. Money does not guarantee future, not even intelligence or connection. Remember that none of these can assure you of a long healthy life; after all it takes a living healthy person to enter into the future. Therefore, can you see why you need to pray? It is in the place of prayer you secure your future and tackle any obstacles that may want to hinder you.

You cannot afford not to include prayer in your lifestyle especially if you are from this part of the world where there are many spiritual forces that does not want you to excel. Some of these forces can be family members and they can be friends or people around you that just hate your success, especially when they see that your future is glorious. Therefore, you cannot afford to live a prayer-less life.

In case you are living a prayer-less life, let me tell you reasons why you need to see prayer as your number one key to a successful future.

a) Devil himself does not want you to enter into your future. Have you not been seeing the way young people are killing themselves these days, both home and abroad? It is the devil at work, making young people to kill themselves over nothing, and some times over trivial issues, that does not worth it. May God never allow us to be a victim of such wickedness in Jesus’ name.

b) Some wicked forces that do not want you to succeed. Like I said earlier, some of them can be from your household, some can be from your peers, and sometimes some parents have sown evil seed that will affect the future of their children in one way or the other.

c) Some bad habits are capable of ruining one’s future. Every man has one or two or more habits to deal with, and most times it takes the help of God through prayer to destroy such habits. Just look deep into your life, name those bad habits that can affect you and begin to table them in prayer before God before they hinder your future from becoming a reality.

Here are some issues you need to put in prayers often

ü  Pray for divine protection

ü  Pray against generational curses, iniquities and wickedness. Some families are extremely evil; they rarely allow their offspring succeed in life.

ü  Pray against bad influence.

ü  Pray for direction. Everyone needs direction in life. As per what course to study, whom to marry, what business to do, etc. it is better to be directed by God because you are assured of his protection and provisions when He leads you. 

Your Future Is Now

Many at times the future seems far, especially when we are still young. For instance, a 12-year-old child thinks it takes eternity to clock 30 years of age. Sooner than imagined, they celebrate 25^th birthday and become close to 30 years.

A wise child therefore starts planning now, having realized that the future is nearer than we are thinking. Serious commitment into today guarantees a better tomorrow. Wealth, success and affluence are not accidents, neither are they destined for special set of people. Anybody anywhere can be successful, wealthy or become affluent, if only they can pay the price.

Do you want to become an employer of labor in the future? On the other hand, you want a good marriage, you want to break a record, or you want to be a successful business tycoon, just name it, anything you want to become all starts NOW, not tomorrow. Tomorrow is only a manifestation of yesterday input. Do not think it is too early to start planning, preparing and praying about future NOW. Do not spend your teenage hood or youthful days playing, partying or catching fun. Your future is right at your doorstep, waiting to enter. Remember, early preparation equals early arrival in most cases.

You want to be a medical doctor at 22 years; then start planning NOW. You want to be a PHD holder before 30 years of age, then start preparing for it NOW. Time waits for no man. Time is equivalent to life, so please spend it well so that your future will not be gloomy and full of regrets.

This is just to charge you up. In our subsequent articles, we will discuss keys to planning your future. Until then, remain blessed and be charged up in your spirit to take your future in your hands by planning NOW.

THE POWER OF CHOICE

The word of God says in Deuteronomy 30: 19,

‘I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live: (KJV)

So if God can give you the power to make choices then who can stop you or take that power from you?

Life is a product of many choices, the gradual accumulation of your choices. So where ever or however you find yourself in future, don’t blame God or people, it’s the accumulation of your choices that take you there.  For instance, your choice to be educated, your choice of friends, your choice of life style , your choice of eating habits, etc. all these and many other choices equal your future.

Do not let people choose for you; never let society determine your choices, because if you refuse to make deliberate choices about your life, people will make it for you. That’s why you have to take your life in your hands and make deliberate choices that will give you the kind of future you desire, remember we have talked about desire in this blog.

There are major areas of your life that you most make deliberate choices, they are;

a)     Spirituality  you most choose to serve God and live a godly life, because you will find it rewarding later in life

b)     Education you most go to school and study hard to have a good result, this will help your chance of getting a good job or in pursuit of your career later in future

c)      Moral  you most choose to stay away from immorality, it has both spiritual and healthy benefits

d)     Health your choice of food and lifestyle will help you to live longer and healthy

e)     Friendship you must choose good friends who have the same beliefs with you, friends that will help you to actualize your vision

Always remind yourself that God has given you the power to make choices, and the choices you make today, determine your tomorrow. So choose wisely!

MAXIMIZING DESIRE

 Dear teenagers, hope the previous article blessed you. Remember that the things you expose your mind to either through sight or ears play a major role in shaping your life, either positively or negatively. Your exposure affects your choice or decision, and your choice and decision determine your Future. So be careful of what you expose yourself to.

This stage of your life is very crucial to your future because at this stage of your life, your mind becomes more active than before;  you gradually begin to build up your own ideas, views and attitudes about life. Such ideas and views gradually build up a new attitude in you, either good or bad, and they determine your sense of choice and decision.

Let me tell you about 'DESIRE' and how it affects your Life.  The word of God in Psalms 145:16 says;

‘Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.’ (KJV)

If God decides to grant you your heart desires now, what will be your lot? Do not think Desire is for old people. As a teenager, you need to start desiring the kind of life you want to live, the kind of career, home, social and spiritual life you want. One thing to possess always is desire, a longing to grow and be better. Where desire is lacking, experience will be lacking. Therefore, if you do not desire to improve in an area or long for positive experiences, it is quite unlikely to live it. The word unlikely is being used as against impossible because there might still be some filter of experiences that might come your way. They might occur one way or the other; it is still possible due to the factor of time and chance.

Life is too short to be lived by chance!

Do not leave your Future to chances or trial and error. Rather, start building your Future now from your mind and that's ‘DESIRE’.

Your life has a way of attracting the things you desire. Therefore, you need to be careful of what you desire. Let your desire be positive and consistent. I'll give you an example of the power of desire. I have a sister that has always desired a baby girl as her first Child even before she was married. Lo and behold, she delivered a baby girl first after she got married. As for me, I've always desired to be an entrepreneur and to marry a godly man, and I got that. So what do you Desire?

The aforementioned instances might seem ‘simple’; no detail about your life is actually simple as they all contribute to make and define your life.

It’s time you started building a great and positive picture of your academics, career, family, community service and spiritual service. Having such picture in mind will shape your prayers, choices and keep you going even when the tide seems contrary.

Many successful people you admire today had lived their today in their mind yesterday and are already living out their tomorrow in their mind today.

Even though not all our desires are met, you cannot be too sure which will be met or not. So please keep building your Future right from your mind. Be positive about life, be consistent in your desires and see how you will miraculously see them Manifest in your life.

‘Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.’ Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

Until the next time, be exposed to positive and godly things that will help you desire positively. Be careful of what you read, see and what you hope for (which is called DESIRE).