The Power Within

There is a story of a black boy who was sitting down at the porch of his house, observing a man standing by the square right across the street, selling balloons, inflated with helium. 

He became intrigued with the man's attitude as he would release only blue, red, white, colored balloons and see them go all the way up in to the skies, but never the black ones. He thought the man was racist. 

He decided to cross the street and inquire from the man why he wouldn't release the black balloons.

"Sir, why do you only let go of the other colors but never the black ones?"

The man then did let go of one of the black balloons and showed the young boy that it'd go up too.

Then he told the boy, "It doesn't matter what color the balloon is. What makes it go up is what's inside."

LESSON: 

The day you realize that what makes the difference is not how much money you have in your bank account, how many friends you have, the handsome/beautiful boyfriend/girlfriend you have beside you, nor your academic level, BUT THE SPIRIT YOU CARRY INSIDE YOU, the Spirit of God, then you'll succeed in life.

Luke Castro

YPG National Coordinator

Where do you stand?

Did you know that only 5% of you will really make a difference? The other 95% are maybe thinking about other things... and this is not something I'm making up. This is real.

Everywhere you look you see people and people, teachers and teachers, lawyers and lawyers, doctors and doctors, etc. People you can count on and people who are just there for the money. This difference applies to all professions.

For example, most bus drivers don't even want to look at you and are rude, but then you are surprised when you find one who is polite and cheerful. There are thousands of football players in the world but only one gets the best player award in the world.

"Did you know that only 5% of you will really make a

difference?..."

There are many names in the Bible (just look through the genealogies in the book of Numbers), but there are only a few you are familiar with - Jesus, Abraham, Paul, Moses etc. Why? Because they are the ones that made a difference. They make up the 5%.

This fact also applies to people's spiritual lives. There are many people in the youth group, many who pray, many who call themselves a 'youth of God', but few who are making a difference - and few will be saved.

So now the question is, which group do you belong to? The 95% who only come to the meeting to sleep or to flirt, or who use the youth meetings as excuse to get away from home, or the 5% who are ready to sacrifice. It's not the teacher, the pastor, your parents or even God who chooses, it’s you - you make yourself chosen.

The problem is that many youths know what they should be doing but they don't act, so they end up in the 95%. What are you doing and what do you want? It’s time to wake up!

"...Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy." (Romans 13.11-13)

Paul is warning the Romans to wake up from their spiritual sleep - to stop living carelessly, just taking care of day-to-day obligations and forgetting that Jesus is coming back! If at that time Paul said 'salvation is nearer than when we first believed' and he lived such a long time ago, how much closer are we to it today?

Dear friends, make yourself part of the 5%. WAKE UP to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the work of salvation He began. We can't afford to waste another minute, so 'cast off the works of darkness'. Don't give room for your flesh to work. If you could do whatever you wanted right now, what would that be? Most probably the opposite of what God wants because that's what the flesh wants. When you understand the will of God, you make no provisions for the flesh.

Pr Luke Castro