By Capazin Thornton
You are a V.I.P.—very important person. There is, never has been, and never will be anybody exactly like you. You are one of a kind, special and unique.
Young V.I.P.s in the Bible
The Bible is full of stories of young people who are V.I.P.s because they did great things while perhaps no older than you.
David was chosen to be the king of Israel when he was just a lad. As a teen, David pursued and killed a lion and a bear which took one of his father’s lambs. He later faced and killed the giant Goliath with a slingshot and smooth stone. Wow!
Josiah was only eight years old when he became king of Israel. (2 Ki 22:1). Daniel and his friends began serving in the court of the king of Babylon while teenagers. (Dan 1:3-7)
Young ladies, Saul was out looking for his father’s donkeys which had strayed off. He came upon some young maidens who directed him to Samuel the prophet. This turned out to be very significant. Samuel the prophet helped Saul find his way to God. At God’s direction, Samuel anointed Saul as Israel’s first king. (1 Sam 9:11-14; 1 Sam 9:27-10:1)
Mary was a young virgin. Because she kept herself pure, God chose her to supernaturally conceive, carry and birth the Christ child. (Lk 1:26-28; Lk 1:34-38)
Prepare for Your Destiny
Okay, so maybe you won’t be killing lions, bears and giants. The point is God wants to use you to do great things. You can start preparing now. Here are five things you can do to prepare for your destiny.
1. Be obedient to and honor your parents
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” — Eph 6:1-2
Obey (give attention to) and honor (highly esteem, value) your parents. Of all God’s commandments, honoring parents is the first commandment with a promise. The promise is that things will go well with you and you will live a long, blessed life.
Jesus submitted to his mother and step-father. As the result of submitting to his parents, he became strong in spirit and increased in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and men. (See Lk 2:40; Lk 2:51-52)
2. Keep yourself pure
“Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.” — Dan 1:8
Keep yourself pure. Do not defile yourself. To defile means to stain or to debase the pureness or excellence of. Realize that you are too valuable to be defiled by anyone. Make a decision to stay pure from here on out. With God’s help, you can do it.
3. Submit to God
“Therefore submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” — Jas 4:7
Submit to God by taking your concerns to Him in prayer. You can be totally honest with Him. (He is omniscient—He knows everything already anyway). He wants you to talk to Him and listen when He speaks to your heart.
Read the Bible. It will give you strength, encouragement, and direction. Stand boldly on the side of God’s Word and watch the devil flee from you.
4. Use your talents
You have at least one terrific God-given talent. Pray to discover, develop, and use your talents for God’s glory. (See Rom 12:6-8)
5. Dare to Dream
Dare to dream about doing something great for God. Write down your goals. Pray over them. Do something every day towards your goals.
Finally, stay encouraged. Don’t let anybody rain on your parade. Remember, in Christ you have the best possible future.
Which of these five things has been the most rewarding or the most challenging for you to do?
Capazin Thornton is a Christian speaker and author in Orange County, California.
4 Responses
So true, so true. I’m going to copy this and give to our youth leaders for the youth.
I think it’d be such an encouragement to them, plus a lot of guidance and direction.
Thanks Capazin
Please do. I actually ministered at one of your church’s youth camps around 1996. Those young people are probably now married with children of their own. We must do all we can to reach, engage, and empower our young people.
Wow, Capazin, this is great! I am so blessed by this. I was surprised to see this information because I didn’t know how serious you took me when I shared this about The Youth. This group is one of my favorite people groups in the church. My son is very much involved in the Youth Group and the Lord has used him in so many ways to invite people to get saved, to minister to other youth and even to pray with suicidal teenagers who gave their life to the Lord. He has a strong Evangelistic/Prophetic call on his life. This is the group of people that the enemy launches attacks against in an unmerciful way! Their vigor, vitality and tenacious boldness for Jesus terrifies the enemy! The young Josephs’ and Elijah’s and John the Baptist and Paul’s, that GOD is raising up will shake this nation when they start walking in their calling. I believe out of this people group that God is and will raise up the next Smith Wigglesworth, AA Allen, William Seymour, Kathryn Kulhman, HIS young “Army of Generals” that the enemy fears will be and is being raised up and launched forth in this last hour. I thank God that you have been given this platform to share about our youth. God Bless You.
Angie, you did plant a seed in my heart when you asked me about doing some blogs directed to the youth. God watered and also gave the increase. More to come. It sounds like you have done an excellent job training your son in the things of God. It is so refreshing to hear about young people who have a strong sense of destiny and purpose and truly are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe there are many young people in this nation and around the world who love the Lord and want to be used by Him in these last days. May we keep all our young people covered in prayer as they learn the Word, ways, and timing of God.