Maximizing Your Encounters With God Beyond Youth Camp Ireland 2024
MAXIMIZING YOUR ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD BEYOND YOUTH CAMP IRELAND
After the Youth Camp Ireland (YCI), I have observed a yearning in the hearts of many to take your walk with God serious. I am so grateful to God for that. That increased love and hunger stirred up in your heart for God is God pulling you closer to Himself, just like Moses in the burning bush experience and Samuel with the voice of God that pulled him to a greater walk. My question to you is, what will you do with that pull? In this generation there are many just like you whom God is pulling, but your response will determine the outcome of your walk with Him. I would encourage you to respond by obeying Romans 6:11.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:11 KJV)
The above scripture asks you to consider yourself to be dead to sin - to see to it that your relationship with sin is broken, but on the flip side, that you be alive to God. Now you have an unbroken fellowship with God in Christ Jesus because you are a new creature. Remember before God pulled Moses, Peter, James, John and Paul the apostles, just like you to Himself, they all had their ways of doing things. Similarly, you already had your ways of doing things before now, but now that the bible has instructed you to reckon, count, consider, think and picture yourself as dead to sin, I believe that you want to obey that. The second part of that bible verse asked you now to think of yourself as alive unto God, act and think like one that has an unbroken fellowship with God.
You are new to this level, so you will have to start learning new things. Your learning and action in those things you have learnt is your response to God. Let us look at some points that will help you to learn these new ways.
1. Develop A System That Accommodates God and The Things of God Around You.
Make up your mind that you will get to the height God has ordained you to reach in Him, just like Apostle Paul’s decision in Philippians 3:12–16. This decision will help you to be regularly conscious of who you are in Christ, and with this mind set you can form a system.
A system is a deliberate, organized approach to achieving a larger goal. Often, it is composed of multiple habits, decisions and processes. In this case you must set a goal to get to the height of God and just as you were taught in camp “run to win the race”. Make up your mind that you will not settle for anything less than the best of God and you will partner with the Holy Spirit to achieve that.
When you have this in mind, then you are not afraid, and neither will you be ashamed of the demands and instructions God will give to you.
With this mindset, now start forming a new system around you like; the word of God will be my standard from today, the word of God will form my value system, I will allow the bible to shape my way of thinking and options in decision making, not the world, and not social media. Cutting off wrong friends that influence you negatively and being deliberate about accommodating only friends that add godly values to you.
Have a schedule that will help you grow in God. For example, when do you pray? When do you study your bible? When do you fast in a week? Where you go or do not go, what do you watch and do not watch, what do you say, what do you sing? Remember you are now a new creature in Christ, so think and act as one, no matter the peer pressure, you are first a child of God.
2. Form New Habits
A habit is any action, conduct or behaviour that an individual repeats or performs regularly. Habits can be good or bad. Brushing your teeth daily is a good habit; while smoking or vaping is a bad habit that could have an adverse effect on your health.
Before now the devil had corrupted your habits, and that was why you found yourself masturbating, lying, gambling etc. Now that you are alive unto God, consider your new habit now as a gift from God to help you succeed. Habits are formed through discipline, especially in the initial stages. It is discipline that ensures you repeat the behaviour consistently over time. Discipline in this context is forcing yourself to learn this new way so you can form a habit that will help you attain your desired set goals in God. Once your habit is formed your behaviour becomes natural. Form practices like waking up earlier to pray, for some of you that received the baptism of the Holy Spirit during YCI, you should continue with practices like praying in tongues for 15 minutes during your prayer in the morning and 15 minutes before you go to bed.
Set a time and be consistent. Remember you are forming a habit. You can decide, for instance, God will be the first person I speak to in the morning and the last person I will fellowship with in the night before I go to bed, and not scrolling your phone endlessly. Start practices like reading two chapters of your bible every day. Make decisions like, "I will fast twice a week every Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday" or yours could be once a week Wednesday or Thursday. Pick one and be consistent. Tell your parents about it so they will know your fasting days and they can help you out. Remember to drink water regularly when you are fasting to stay hydrated.
Make up your mind to read one Christian book every month, you can join the new Light Book Club (LBC) in church, Listen to two sermons every week.
Make up your mind that wherever you are, you will be conscious that you are a child of God. All kingdom champions you see today are products of great habits that they practice daily. The bible said concerning Jesus, as His custom was, he went to the temple to read (Luk.4:16). He also woke up to fellowship with the Father (Mar.1:35). These practices will help to form a consistent walk with God.
3. Fellowship with other believers.
We grow our walk with God by spending time with Him in the secret place, but we grow our character by fellowshipping with other believers. In 2Peter 1:5-10, God instructed us to add to our faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. He said if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The easiest way to develop these qualities is by fellowshipping with other believers - people that you are learning the same truth, that can hold you accountable when you want to do the wrong things or fall back to your old ways.
Some of you will be resuming college, don’t be ashamed to publicly identify with Christ, join a Christian fellowship on campus. If you don’t have any, make up your mind that you will start one for Jesus on your campus. Don’t miss church, all activities in church are designed to aid your growth spiritually.
4. Have Honour for God and His things.
If the devil can get you to dishonour the things of God, he has succeeded in setting you up for destruction. The goal of the devil is to make the things of God look foolish to you so that you can dishonour them. That’s one of the first things he does for those who don’t take God or church seriously anymore. He subtly lures them to start disrespecting the things of God first and before you know it, they will start advancing to dishonouring more things after which they will withdraw from church and God completely. Some could even claim to be “hurt” by other believers, but the goal of the devil is to get them to start dishonouring God, so that he can isolate them for destruction. Remember, the word said lest we be taken advantage of by · Satan; for we are not unaware of his intentions (2Corinthians 2:11).
In 1Samuel 2:30, God said He will honour those who honour Him: but those who dishonour him will be cursed. Another translation said, "those who respect Me I will respect, and those who despise Me will be insignificant." Imagine God respecting and honouring you because you honour Him. When God honours you, everything in the physical will respond with respect and honour to you. I believe you don’t want to trade that for anything. Start by honouring His word by reading and obeying them, honour his systems and structure, church is part of that system, anytime you come to God’s presence, either in private, personally or public gatherings of believers, be conscious that you are before Him, have a sense of honour for Him. It’s not a time to be talking with your friends or pressing your phone. Honour your parents because God has set them over you, honour your body because it is the temple of the living God.
Honour your life by becoming the best in everything you do. Overcome laziness, distractions, and procrastination, because the life you now live in the body you live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself up for you (Galatians 2:20). I believe If you can start with this and keep coming to church you will learn more.
Prayer
Lord, I receive grace, strength, consciousness and I develop the discipline to be a doer of your word in Jesus Name
Sweet Holy Sprirt I yield myself for divine training, be my coach I choose to obey your Instruction.
Father, I choose to respond to your inner pull and move by obeying your command. Lord show your command and I will obey them.
Father, help me to become a responsible believer in my generation.
Bro Paul Olufemi