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| Pastor (Dr.) Oluseyi Afolabi |
By Rachael Oke
Presiding Pastor, CAC All Nations, Pastor Dr. Oluseyi Afolabi, has said that if youths maximize their youthful days, they will be productive in their later years.
Pastor Afolabi said this during his lecture on the topic, Maximizing the Dew of your Youth, which was the second lecture at the CACYOF 2020 International Youth Conference, which kicked off in Ibadan on Wednesday, 26th August.
According to him, youthful period comes with opportunities which should be maximized by youths.
"Youthful period comes with opportunity to discover yourself, your talent, your abilities and your strengths. It is a phase of life when you dream, you plan and you create a new strategy." He said.
Understanding, discernment, opportunity, seasons of life and maximization were the five pillars on which Pastor Afolabi based his lecture. He explained that understanding and discerning opportunities at this season of life and maximizing the opportunities will result to a great future for youths.
He then stated that the youthful days when maximized, will yield positive results in future while failure to maximize may result to loss later in future.
"If you manage your youthful days very well, you will be most productive in your later years, you will be joyful and thank God for this phase of life in which you are; but God forbid that you manage this season poorly, if you blow this season away wastefully, you can never have them back." He stated.
He also identified how much interest the devil has in youths as God does. Explaining this point, he said:
"The devil understands the virtues and strengths of youths; he understands it as God does, so, the contest is between God and Satan and you are the major determiner of who wins."
"God says I deposited these virtues in this young man so that I can use him, so that he can serve Me and have a great future; Satan will also say he wants to use the virtues to extend his kingdom.
The winner between God and Satan lies in your hands; it has to do with your understanding, discernment and maximization of all that God has enabled our fathers who have taught you or will be teaching you." He added.
He added that youths have fallen victim of deception of the devil to first, enjoy life and thereafter, serve God; this, he said, was a wrong foundation laying which may not be amendable later in future.
"So, it is whatever foundation you build your life on that you find to have later in the future. He is a God of second chance, but not everyone usually has second chance with Him." He said.
He then advised the youths not to give themselves to sexual immorality, homosexuality, lesbianism, alcoholism adding that a good God does not create a man to waste his life away living those lives, it is Satan that destroys lives and destinies.
Concluding his lecture, he identified remembering the Creator now (serving God passionately in this season of life), abstaining from sexual immorality (keeping your body for God's use only), discovering God's purpose for one's life (knowing the specific mandate you were created for), discovering and developing one's God-given talents and investing one's time wisely, as the five ways in which youthful age can be maximized.