Day 2 Morning Session II

We need God's strength to be successful as singles, married couples and families. We cannot do well in any of these estates with our strength, as this was not the intention of God for man even from the beginning. God ministered strength (life) to man as He visited and communed with him in the garden.

In the beginning, God breathed His life into man and made him a living soul, but Satan intercepted the workings of God and introduced a contrary life (evil). Man has hitherto grown in doing evil continually until he degenerated into flesh; he became a natural man (a vain and carnal state). A vain man is a man that is not ascending in his mind nor seeing as God sees.

Jesus came to reestablish the pathway through which God can give life to man. He came so that we can access and own God's life abundantly, but Satan is also interested in giving man a contrary life, which is corruption disguised as life. (John 11:25).

The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life are Satan’s tools intended to take us away from the course God originally charted for us, we can choose to succumb to them or resist by bringing our souls under the tutelage of the Spirit of God (1 John 2:16).

The program of Satan is running in our world so much that many youths are entrenched and overwhelmed by the course and path he has designed. We must learn to bring the flesh under control.

Though we are born again, we cannot access God because we are still holding onto the works of the flesh. We must thus be wise and run out of the workings of the flesh. At new birth, we are introduced into the life of God; however, there is a higher life, which is eternal life, that we must begin to pursue to attain.

The flesh is an identity; it is a law at work in us. God wants us to put the flesh in its place rather than letting it rule us. Allowing the flesh to rule hinders us from accessing God. This is because to worship God and to come to him, we must come to Him in spirit and truth. Hence all that we do must be borne out of the knowledge of the Spirit. Our service must be in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).

The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life are seen as life and pleasure to a natural man, but in all that we do, we must ensure to yield to the Spirit of life. To yield to the spirit of life we need the strength of life. To do marriage well, we also need the strength of God. Every unmarried person must know that any nature in them will be enhanced and more glaring in marriage. Hence, every young person must be given to change.

A weak man is a man who cannot apologise to his wife. A woman also ought to know to honour her husband as her head. Emotional attraction is not equivalent to the strength required for marriage.

As singles, we must strive to gain strength in God at our different levels where needed. We must be open to learning the standards of God and not compromise with them because these natures will show up in marriage. As believers, we should not live dual lifestyles. Our career and family life is not different from our spiritual life. The life of a believer is spiritual, it cuts across every sphere of life. God desires that we put on His strength, and we cannot achieve this without yielding completely to Him. (Isaiah 52:1).

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