Education// By Yeisie Mateo
Can you recall your aspirations as a child? I do. I remember wanting to achieve higher goals in life, even as a little girl. At first, I wanted to be a lawyer, then I changed my mind and I wanted to become a reporter, than a nurse, a teacher, a probation officer, and the list goes on. It seemed as if I could not decide. But the importance of this is not how many times I changed my view on a profession but the commitment to god, hard work, and effort I later learned I had to deposit in order to realize any of these dreams.
As children, we all had different aspirations in life; some may be able to relate to the ones I’ve listed. But for some reason many times those goals are shifted and sometimes never accomplished. It is necessary illustrate the importance of education in our lives as Christian youth. Christ has always been considered as the “foundation of all knowledge”. It is our responsibility to prepare ourselves for the purpose of making a Godly impact on the world. We can use the secular knowledge we obtain with a higher calling of good.
As I mentioned before, all of this requires commitment and dedication; first to God and then to our own hidden strengths. Many of us think we are not capable of achieving such goals or we just aren’t “smart” enough. That is a complete lie, and it is the mission of the devil to make us feel vulnerable and worthless because he knows that by knowledge our eyes are opened and we can fight with the tools of wisdom. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12:9-10 that wisdom is the ability to impart knowledge; a desire to learn; truth and uprightness. When we learn, we discover many things that before were so hard to comprehend. God does not want us to speak only out of our own personal experiences, but to be intellectuals that speak from logic and study rather than to decide based on emotion.
We cannot give up on ourselves and believe that we are not capable of making it. Some of you are ready to enter or complete high school, and some have already made the step of higher education by applying or entering in a college. Yes, it is a challenge that we sometimes feel is impossible to complete but we have the Conqueror of Conquerors by our side; our Lord Jesus Christ. Many do not have that privilege. People grow and change physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, but our sovereign, unchanging God will be with us, and direct those changes to make us into men and women of integrity and impeccable strengths. The Bible says in James 1:17, Proverbs 17:17, Proverbs 18:24, John 15:13-14-God never changes. Jesus is our friend and sticks with us. He is closer than a brother. He will never leave us or forsake us. We need to trust in these promises. Our efforts, trust, and positive attitude towards God are crucial ingredients for these changes to occur.
We are all children of God and we want to become men and women that preach the word of God with true understanding of the content in order to further educate others, such as our friends, family, future children, and non-believers. We do not want to be an individual that just assumes that whatever he knows is all he needs to know to be as competent to address an issue as anyone else. It is understood that not everyone wants of can continues his or her education in a four-year college, but you can always attend a two-years college, or go through special training, and most importantly attend Bible institute, which is the most valuable knowledge anyone can obtain.
Education is the key to all knowledge, especially to the complete truths found in the biblical scriptures. We cannot continue to ignore that fact. You may feel overwhelmed with all the choices you are faced with everyday, but the decisions you make today will be your future. Remember; don’t let anyone or anything shatter your dreams of becoming the best you can be. Always set higher expectations upon yourself and never limit your potential to strive. You are a child of God, which means you’re a warrior and a conqueror.
Relationships// By Ivette Gonzalez
“And the Lord God said: It is not good that the men be alone; I will make him an ideal help” (Gn. 2:18)
Imagine that you didn’t have to worry about marrying the wrong person because you know that all along that ideal person has been reserved for you. Wouldn’t that be nice? Let’s think about Adam for a moment. God planted a garden in Eden and then gave Adam the opportunity to take care of it; plants, animals, fruits, etc. But knowing that Adam would not be completely happy, “…then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” You see; God knows our needs. He was the founder of relationships; for all species he created a mate. And he created women for men, and vice versa. It is normal to fall in love. God intended for it to be that way. But, for that reason he also wants us to understand that we don’t have to stress out about it, because he already knows who is the one for us.
So, when God when? May be our next question. The bible says that if we delight our selves in the Lord, he will give us the desires of our heart. When we delight our selves on something, we take pleasure on it. We don’t stress about other things; we just concentrate on whatever we are doing at that very moment without worrying about time. Have you ever felt stressed because you are being pressured to do something by a certain time or otherwise you will not reach a goal or meet a deadline? Were you enjoying yourself at that moment? Probably not. You see, when we are pressured on to something, we tend to feel overwhelmed, preoccupied, unhappy, etc. These will bring doubt, which will in turn bring confusion, and end up in us not accomplishing our goals the way we wanted. As youth, there comes a time when we begin to feel pressured about not having met that special someone. Friends start getting married, family members begin to ask if we have a boyfriend or girlfriend, coworkers tend to make comments, and so on. The point is we may be driven by all these facts into making decisions we will later on regret.
When it comes to relationships, we must be very careful not to put at risk all the blessings that come along with God promise for a companion. Consider Solomon, he asked God for a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong. God granted him his request, but “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter-Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.” The result…as Solomon grew old, his women inclined his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God. God knew all along what was going to happen. He also knows what will happen in your life and mine. He wants us to be happy with that person He’s chosen for us. We don’t need to go to Egypt searching, because He’s got the one for us right here in Israel. Therefore, He asks that we wait on him without despair for love is patient and perseveres. If we love God, we will wait on Him
Ministry// By Ivette Gonzalez
“This hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Ro. 5:5)
Have you ever felt disappointed just because others received what they had been waiting for and you didn’t? The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, reminds us that our wait in the Lord is not in vain. Since the very first moment we accept Christ in our hearts as our personal Savior, we compromise ourselves to Him. We declare to the world that we promise to follow Him, live for Him, and wait on Him.
We may ask ourselves, why is it so critical for us to wait on God’s timing? Well, lets just say that this is the part of the game that we all need to learn how to play. You see, because we all have certain aspects of our character and personality that needs to be developed to its fullest in order for us to be a blessing, God has to take time to work in our lives so that His purpose in us can be accomplished just the way He’s planned for us. Just like when you go to school to become educated in a specific career. You have to go through certain trainings and therefore wait the necessary amount of years to obtain your degree.
At the beginning, it can sometimes be frustrating. There are assignments, tests, lots of things and terms to learn, and so on. You may come to a point where you even think that you’re not learning, that it is not working and that you’ll never be able to reach your educational goals. But as time goes on and that special day comes, you see yourself graduating and you feel satisfied with all the things you went through. You now feel that you didn’t loose your time but rather gained invaluable experiences. The same goes for our time of wait in the Lord. It’s during this time of wait that God develops our character and personality spiritually, emotionally and physically. He’s preparing us for a ministry.
How long should we wait? There isn’t really a specific amount of time. How soon God responds to our requests will depend on our obedience to His instructions. Solomon, also known as The Preacher, in his book of Ecclesiastes said: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” (Ec. 3:11). We should never be rushed into accomplishing our goals. Otherwise frustration will overcome us once we begin to see that our goals have not been met and our prayers have not been answered.
Remember when you were little and you were just starting to walk? I do. I remember being very excited about it, but it only took one fall and I decided not to walk again until a year later. Has this ever happened to you?
When it comes to waiting in Gods timing, it is always best to let Him do what He wants to do with us, for He knows what we need. Many times God begins to work in our lives…Oh! How great it feels. We are so excited; we want to do so much for the Lord that we suddenly start to go ahead of Him, and we end up falling. Right after; we realize that we have failed the test; we get scared and choose not to keep walking.
Do you remember Moses? He was chosen by God to lead Israel. At first he was very eager and enthusiastic; he had experienced a personal encounter with God. Assured of God’s commandments, he went on to do what he had been asked. While Moses obeyed God’s will, he witnessed every promise come through. However, it only took him one step ahead of the game to loose his entrance to the promise land. You see; he was doing okay up until he decided to do things the way he thought was best. It wasn’t really that fact that he disobeyed God what got him into trouble, but that he tried to show that he could do it on his own without God’s help.
We must never forget that we are all humans and as humans our thoughts, feelings and emotions will always be carnal unless the Holy Spirit controls them. Thus, we ought to give ourselves completely to the Lord and let the Holy Spirit take charge. If we devote ourselves to Him in such a way that our spirit conforms to His, there will be no period of waiting time too long for us for us to wait. For we will enjoy every aspect of it to it’s fullest. Our ministry will be a victorious one as we will witness God’s glory in our lives and be a blessing to all those around us. Foremost, we will give God the glory for his mercy and love.
Are you willing to wait?
