There are so many people you see on the way road now
that are abandoned. Do you know why?
The enemy has already collected what he wants from
their lives and he does not want their empty carcasses again. Even though the devil will like to see
fathers go to hell, he is not fighting too much to have them. As far as he is
concerned, he has already collected what he wanted. He has sifted them like wheat and left them with the
empty chaff. They will most likely end up with him in hell anyway.
THE BATTLE BEGINS: Then the lord went ahead to
address the men. The word ‘men’ here is used in a generic sense and it includes
both the young men nd ladies. He says, I write to you young men because you
have overcome the wicked one. The word ‘overcome’ indicates battle. When God,
in that Scripture, came to dealing with young people, the language switched to
that of battle. It is about the battle for the young. Repeating it for definite
emphasis, God said,
I have written to you
young men because you are strong and because you are strong and because the
word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one.
That immediately shows that someone is very greedily
desirous of tempering with you as a youth. That person is no other than the
wicked one, the devil.
As soon as you step
into the teenage years, the battle begins. Whereas you might have had some
little agitations in your heart before this time as a child, it is nothing
compared with what you face as a teenager or as a youth.
This time the conflict comes fierce and incessant.
It comes with an inordinate pressure from within your heart. Have you noticed
that this particular segment of your life is a time when things happen to you
that you yourself are sometime surprised about? There are things that baffle
you and sometimes even you are asking ‘but why am I like this?’
One of the first significant things that would
sometimes surprise even you, when you become a youth is how you started
querying everything your father and mother told you as a child. Before when
daddy spoke, you simply said ‘yes sir’. But now, when they say ‘a Christian
should not do this’, you found yourself asking… what will happen if I do it?
When you were a little child, your parents went to
the market and you received joyfully whatever they bought for you. But how many
young people now enjoy having their mothers go to the market to buy dresses for
them. If she does so without taking you along, the immediate response as a
youth is ‘NO! if you meant to buy something for me, you should have asked me
what I wanted, or you could have given me the money and I would have one to
make my choice myself.’
At this time of yur youth, when your mother makes a
long dress for you, the first inclination of your heart is to go back to the
tailor to adjust it the way you like. That shows you have reached the age where
you want to make your choices.
When you step into
this second segment of your life, whatever people used to choose for you before
and you gladly took, suddenly becomes outdated to you. You have to choose it
again for yourself.
This is the reason why some, who were very serious
choir members as children suddenly fell out in their teenage age. It is as if
something is battling for your affection, for your decision, and for your
choice.
This is the age of personal choices. It is usually
the time of inner crises. At this time, there is a fierce battle for your mind,
your focus and your affections as a youth. It is the battle for the young.
Why is the wicked one focusing on this time of the
youth?
v Because
he knows that this is the time of foundation laying. He also knows the scripture that
say, “and if the foundation is be destroyed, what can the righteous do? He
knows that even fasting and prayer cannot change significantly, a foundation
that has been wrongly laid.
For that reason, he decides to position himself at
this crucial point, saying, “I must not allow this young man or this young lady
to lay a correct foundation. Let us destroy it! And then, we shall see what he
would become afterward. The rest of his life would be a mere patchwork, a
matter of struggle for the rest of his years. The enemy wants to be part of
your foundation laying, to stick his finger into what should be God’s
masterpiece. I pray that you will not allow him, and may God forbid that in
your life in Jesus name!
v The
second reason is that he knows that there are certain things peculiar to you as
a young person. This
is the period of an unprecedented outbreak of all the virtues embedded in you.
As wonderful as whatever it is you were as a baby,
it was temporary. Permanence, even of your physical features only begins now
that you are a youth. You are now coming to a stage when whatever is formed
within you is permanent; it is not likely to change again.
And so, the enemy, knowing that this is the time
that permanence of character and direction is established, desires to make a
damage that will be permanent and irretrievable for your entire lifetime. When
you see men that are disoriented in life, who have become addicted to wrong
things, this is the segment when the permanence of addiction and disorientation
started. So the enemy knows that the best time to capture a man is when he can
gain permanence in his life. But if you escape his hand when you are young, you
have escaped indeed.
v The third reason is that the
devil knows that everything that will become your future and destiny is rooted
in your youth. So he looks for you at this time of your youth to affect your
destiny. This is why there is a scramble for your life. This is why you are
faced with all kinds of conflicts, temptation and troubles.
Because you are strategic even to the devil; he
desires to use you as an instrument to do his evil works but to dump you later
in life to face a fate that is hopeless.
You are equally
strategic and as well precious to God especially now that you are young. God
Himself sees the time of the youth as the best time to affect a man or woman
and gain the best part of his or her life. It is the best time to prepare him
or her for a glorious future.
Solomon was a young man that had great affection
for. He started out with the favour of God. He prayed at the onset of his
enthronement and God blessed him with abundance of everything. But he began to
make experiments with his life typical of the young. All that his father David
planted in his heart as a child were being tested and pulled apart as he felt
he must explore life by himself. Listen to him describe one of his experiment
with life:
I said to myself,
let’s go for it—experiment with pleasure, have a good time! But there was
nothing to it, nothing but smoke.
What do I think of
the fun-filled life? Insane! Insane! My verdict on the pursuit of happiness?
Who needs it?
With the help of a
bottle of wine and all the wisdom I could muster, I tried my level best to
penetrate the absurdity of life. I wanted to get a handle on anything useful we
mortals might do during the years we spend on this earth. Eccl 2:3
Everything I wanted
I took—I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse, held back
nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task—my reward to myself
for a hand day’s work
Then I took a good
look at everything I’d done, looked at all the sweat and hard work, but when I
looked, I saw nothing but smoke. Smoke and spitting into the wind. There was
nothing to any of it. Nothing. Eccl
2:10-11
This is the age when you feel like buying anything
you see and like. This is the age of curiosity and inquisitiveness when you
want to try out things and experience how they feel. This is also the point of
seeking personal expression… you feel like doing it yourself and in any
direction you want to.
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