You may find yourself unsure about your future, wondering if this year of lockdown after lockdown has ruined your studies, limited your chances of success or even changed the direction of your studies entirely !
Don’t feel alone, there are probably many of your friends sitting with the same dilemma of “ What Now” and wondering if 2021 will be any better.
The good news is that you survived 2020 and let’s be realistic, if you could survive 2020, then you can survive anything that this life throws your way !
Yes there has been real hectic challenges. You may have not been able or allowed to see your friends. You may have been limited to just electronic communication for months and let’s face it, an emoji of a hug just is not the same as that real feeling of comfort and re-assurance that things will be OK.
The question you have to ask yourself is easy but also hard in a way, that question is “What Now?”
There are a few options and answers to that question simply because we are all different and unique in every way you could imagine so for one person it would be a simple answer and for some, who may not have all the same benefits, maybe lacking finances or seeing the opportunities as missed, the answers may not be there at all yet.
The only way to survive these terrible storms is by taking a step back and to look at your challenges from a different angle. Remember that when you are in the middle of a storm, it’s very hard to see which way you should be going but if you look at your challenges a bit different, you may find that you are on the edge of the storm and with a bit of effort and focus, it may just be one final step to clear skies.
You have maybe heard all of these motivational snippets before but you maybe feel that your challenges just does not go away or even get easier to handle. Maybe in the past you started with the wrong question : “What can I do to get out of this?” and the answer is “NOTHING”. No matter how strong a person you think you are, on your own and with our limited human bodies and minds, we can only do what is humanly possible. Sometimes that is just not enough.
When we look at some examples from the Bible, the following in John 21:2, 4–8 KJV really explains our everyday problem-finding so perfectly :
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.
John 21:2, 4–8 KJV
The long and short of that specific scripture is basically your challenges you are facing. Think about it for a second… These poor guys were trying to catch fish the entire night and did not even catch a cold ! They caught nothing.. Hungry and tired and probably a bit depressed, they saw the sun come up and a Person ( at that stage they did not know it was Jesus) tells them to throw their nets in on the other side of the boat. I mean come on, in my world fish swim around so what difference would it make ? They threw the nets in on the other side and so many fish got caught in that net that it almost sank them and the boat !
Is that not like your challenge you are facing right now ? Is it not the same frustrations you feel with yourself and your situation that those men felt ? It’s exactly the same ! They needed to take a step back and look at their situation from a different perspective and then because they had faith, they tried something so different but the same but in a different way, that they could not try to understand the result.. but they succeeded with the help of Jesus !
Do you think they expected that result ? I am quite sure they were so tired and out of ideas that they said to themselves “Guys it sounds crazy but what do have to lose ?” And in putting their faith above themselves and letting Jesus do a miracle, their challenge was overcome, they ended up being the heroes of the day, able to feed the hungry.
Whatever you are facing today, right now, nothing is bigger than God and His Love and understanding. Nothing is too big or too difficult for Him to solve and handle and guess what, you don’t even have to break a sweat. All you have to do is to believe, to put your faith in Him and then know that your challenge is overcome. There is a trick though… you cannot just sit back and chill and expect miracles to drop down around you… You gotta pray a bit, and when I say a bit, I mean a whole LOT !! Have you ever woken up in the morning and your parents waltz into your room and tell you what all your worries are over and they have solved all your problems that previous evening ? I guess it has not happened to you yet, and the reason for it ? If you did not tell your parents for instance that you needed some things for a school project, how do you expect them to help you with it ?? Same with God, if you don’t take some time to TELL Him your problems, how do you expect Him to help you ?
Remember God gave man free will, and with free will comes free choices, free thoughts, free direction. So you gotta ask yourself, if I don’t pray, how will God know what I need help with… Once you understand that you can talk to God anytime of the day or night, anywhere you are, it becomes easier to pray more and more ! Its like WhatsApp, you send a message to your friend, you wait for the one tick mark to show then you know its sent, then you know that when your friend has time, he or she will respond.
Prayer is a little bit similar when you have faith. You pray your prayer to God, once you have finished your prayer, your faith should be strong enough to give you the re-assurance that you don’t have to wait for it to be received… your faith should tell you that you have now put your challenge at the feet of God and that His promises to us are so clear we do not have to try and figure it out.
Remember, you don’t have to look nice to pray to God. You don’t need makeup on, you don’t need to put on your shoes, you don’t even have to brush your teeth !!!
Matthew 11:28 in the KJV shows us the scripture : Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. It does not say that you must make an appointment, it does not say you must comb your hair, it does not say you need to put deodorant on… It says Come just as you are, if you are tired and have heavy burdens which we can compare to any challenge you may have.
God’s word is clear, you must just take off your headphones for a bit and listen to God’s voice for a change and not look for comfort in worldly music or distractions. When last did you just listen to what God wants to tell you ? Make some time for Him and He will be by your side thru the most difficult things you may face !!
If you feel you can pray about your challenge, then do so right now. Don’t wait for tomorrow or later because we may not see the next day. Time is short and you only have one life and its worth living to the full !! Oh and a FYI, you need to say the words you pray with your own mouth. Free will – Free thoughts and all that stuff means God does not read your mind and suddenly jumps to action when there is a thought that looks like a prayer… He listens when you TALK to Him… Try it, it gets easier !
Lord Jesus, I am sorry for not listening more to your voice of reason and understanding. I am sorry that I have followed my own head Lord Jesus and that I wanted to stand on my own against the world Lord Jesus. I cannot do this alone anymore Father God. I have tried so many times and failed. I now know that I am not strong without you Lord and only with Your Grace will I be able to face another day. Father God, my challenges that I face has tired me out Lord, they have shifted my focus away from You and I ask that You forgive me for this Lord Jesus. You are the only salvation Lord Jesus, You have died so that I could live and I beg you Lord Jesus to take my hands and lead me back to your ways. I pray that you make me see again Lord how much I love you and how much You love me. The world has clouded my thoughts and I pray that you restore the clarity in my mind again Lord to know that You are the Beginning and the End and that nothing can ever defeat You Lord. I pray Father God that you restore my body, mind and soul Lord Jesus that I can heal and recover and stand up again with You by my side. Forgive me Lord Jesus for drifting away, pull me closer to you and protect me from evil. Lord Jesus, I ask that you please help me with facing : (You seem to be talking to God pretty well , so just tell Him all your hurts and needs and it will just be a discussion between you and Him and then after your chat with Him you can continue with this short but powerful ending to it) Lord I pray all of this in the Mighty name of Your Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth and I stand on my rights as a Child of God. Satan, you are no longer welcome in my life. Stronger is He that is inside me than anything of this world and in this world and there is no more space in my life for you Satan. Lord Jesus, I ask that you surround me and my friends and family with a legion of Angels Father God, that They would surround us with a ring of Fire and protect us from any evil. It is written that whatever we bind on earth, will be bound in Heaven and I now bind your works and those of your demons in my life Satan, you have no hold on my life anymore ! I am a child of God, my name is written in the Book of Life, a God-Child and I stand on the rights and promises from my Father. I pray all of this in the Wonderful Name , Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen
If you feel you need to chat to one of our funky and friendly Youth Ministers, give us a shout. Remember, there is nothing wrong to have some fun and laughs as a Child of God, God never intended for us to be sad and gloomy 24 / 7 , life is great , challenges – yeah plenty , but in the End, we are Children of the Most High. What a privilege.
Amen
