FOOD FOR TEENS: GO HARD

Dear Teens, what is your perspective about life? Do you think life is meant to be hard or easy? Do you also think that you were created for the soft life? The truth is that life is not meant to be easy, I know you might not quite agree but hear me out; have you ever observed successful people all over the world irrespective of their race, tribe and religion that they always seem to have one thing in common; a strong work ethic, a certain level of discipline which translates to what we call hard work. They all are hardworking men and women. The question you should be asking yourself is; why do they all require a certain level of discipline to succeed? Plainly speaking  this is because life is hard, nothing good comes easy. This world  wasn't meant to be conquered by the weak or lazy. Like they say out there "Only the strong survive". I have searched the scripture and I discovered that only two people who walked with God had everything given to them on a platter of gold and at the end of the day they both missed God: I'm talking about Adam and Solomon.  

Every other man who walked with God in scripture never lived an easy life, not even our Saviour Jesus Christ. The life He lived would be considered difficult in today's world. What about the apostles? No one lived an easy life, so why then do Christians desire easy life? Someone was praying for me the other day and said may you work like ant and eat like elephant, I didn't say amen because it's such prayers that have led many Christians astray. They expect life to be easy; no stress, so when they face tough situation they assume something is wrong and God is no longer with them but James 1:2 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." 2nd Timothy 3:12 says, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

I read a powerful statement somewhere and it reads "Winners expect it to be hard, losers expect it to be easy, both adjust their effort accordingly " This is the reason why a student at the beginning of a semester starts preparing for the exam which will come up at the end of the semester because he/she expects it to be hard meanwhile another student waits two weeks before an exam to begin preparation, guess what? When they both get into the exam hall, it becomes easy for one who has been preparing for a hard exam and tough for the guy who thought it would be easy. This is really the secret to life success, no wonder Paul admonished Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2:3 thus, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."

Education, marriage, career, ministry, business, prayer, study and meditation of God's word and every other good thing in life is hard, that's why you must prepare yourself for every possible outcome, don't be caught unaware. Once you prepare yourself mentally for tough battles, you will look for the necessary tools required to win them. No wonder Jesus instructed us in Luke 14:28 thus, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it ?" Often times, it is when you count the cost that you know that you need Jesus for without Him you can do nothing, this is why we desire His strength, this is why we come to Jesus for rest. Jesus gives you the strength to win over every situation. For ill prepared young couples who expects matrimonial  life to be easy, they usually give up as soon as the marriage becomes tough, for ill prepared entrepreneurs, they jump in and out of businesses because they do not expect difficulty. However, if you will envisage tough times in every venture and prepare both mentally, spiritually and physically for it, like Joshua and Caleb, your giants will be as bread for you. Don't ever be at ease in anything you do, as a matter of fact, convenience is a thief, it steal the best version of you, Go Hard in all that you do.

One footballer I greatly admire is Cristiano Ronaldo due to his work ethics, a teammate of his shared a remarkable story of him, he said when he newly joined Manchester United, he was told training usually commences at 10am but each time he came in daily he would find Cristiano already far gone in his own training session, so one day he made up his mind to arrive earlier to begin training before Ronaldo so he came the next day by 9am, but he noticed that when he came Cristiano was already there training as usual. So, he decided to come by 8am, same thing, he saw the young man already deep in training, so he kept on trying to show up an hour earlier until he came by 5am and saw Ronaldo just starting his routine even though he looked drowsy but he had already started his workout and he said that was the secret to that man's success. Who comes for a training meeting 5 hours before everyone? That is the highest form of sacrifice, no wonder when he gets to the big stage, he makes winning looks easy.

How willing are you to succeed? God is not unfaithful to allow someone with lesser commitment to get better result than the one who makes more sacrifice. So don't expects to win easily if you are not willing to work the work. He promised to share His spoil with the strong, (Isaiah 53:12).  Proverbs 10:4 says, "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich." Proverbs 12:24 says, "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute." Make up mind this year to go hard at whatever you do, always depend on the Lord for strength required to achieve your goals and watch your life soar from one level of glory to another.

God bless you. See you next month