The Sunday Mail
ONE of the joys of being a Christian is that you have access to a different perspective on life and situations, thanks to the Word of God.
Times are tough. Joblessness, moral decadence appear to be the norm.
However, God is always in control, particularly in times such as these. He always does the impossible and turns the situation around.
Jeremiah 29:11 boldly declares that God alone knows the plans that He has for you. Not your mother, father, friend, boss, husband or wife; not your MP, headmaster or teacher. Not even your pastor knows God’s plan for you.
At times God will reveal some details of your future to those around you but ultimately He is in control.
The future is not bleak but brighter than it has ever been.
In Joel 2:28, God says, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.”
I want to focus on three elements of this verse.
‘I pour will out my Spirit’
What spirit is driving you?
In Luke 9:54-55 Jesus had to deal with overzealous young brothers James and John.
They were unhappy with how Jesus had been treated and wanted to call fire down on a town in anger.
Jesus says “ . . . You know not which spirit you are of.” Some people are driven by the spirit of pride, for some the spirit of anger, for some its jealousy or lust or greed, for others its fear. Which spirit motivates your actions?
This has a significant bearing on your future and the outcome of your effort. God does not look only at the works but He looks also at the heart.
‘Your sons and daughters will prophesy’
Who is your prophet? Who has already foretold and pre-cast your future for you?
Some people grow up in abusive environments. Some are told they are too ugly to get married or will never amount to anything.
Your teachers could have told you that you will never amount to anything simply because you never performed well in class. At other times it’s the friends that we have who make fun of us for one reason or another.
Sometimes it is the situations around us that begin to pre-cast our future. For example the newspaper can publish an analysis concerning the nation and begin to pre-cast your future.
Sometimes the television can pre-cast your future through the information they give out. Magazines and books do the same.
Today we have statistics telling us marriage is unnecessary and old-fashioned. We are told by the media that it is okay for young adults and teenagers to indulge in sexual activities before marriage as long as they are “safe”.
Who is the prophet determining your future?
There was a young lady called Esther. She was an orphan cared for by her uncle in a foreign land because their nation had been conquered by a powerful king and they were slaves.
Many voices were telling her she was a nobody going nowhere. Her future looked quite bleak.
However, she knew who held her future and that the situation – though significant – did not control her future. In a short space of time she became the queen of a kingdom that was the combination of India, Palestine parts of Africa and Europe.
So, who is your prophet?
‘Young men shall see visions’
What is your vision? Where do you see yourself in five years? What is your plan for the remainder of the year? Do you have a plan to move you from where you are to the next level?
Some of you might be saying that plans do not mean much but I beg to differ.
You see, if the Spirit of God is leading and the Word of God is your prophet your plans will come together. You need to be awake to life and not to death. God’s plan is always to raise you and no matter how big your plan, God’s plan is better and bigger.
Take the time right now to ask the Spirit of God to come on you and to begin to lead you: in your exams, in your work, in your family. That is all for now. Till next time God bless.
Tinashe Zinyemba is a pastor with New Life Covenant Church. Email feedback at [email protected]
