Let us read Luke 22:35-36

“And he said unto them, when I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything?  And they said nothing. Then said he unto them but now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one”.

It cannot be an over-emphasis to repeat that the life you are about to face now is tougher and the temptations more daring than the ones you had faced while as a student in the school. Therefore, whatever that sustained you as a Christian student may not sustain you now that you are graduating. This is the costly mistake that brethren had made over the years and many have ended up as causalities and victims after their graduation. If I will talk directly, I will like to tell you that the prayer life, the quiet time life, the personal Bible reading/study life, etc that sustained you as a student will fail you as a graduate. If you don’t improve on them and grow them now, you will be surprised at what will happen to you and your vision for life.

Dear, the battle is fiercer than you think; you must be uniquely equipped. You must put on the whole armor of God so that you can stand the test of time in these evil days (Eph. 6:13). In the passage above, Jesus showed his disciples clearly that the days they had spent with him learning under him and the days ahead of them when they will be without his physical presence are not the same. Hence, they need to change their attitudes from now and equip themselves at all cost with a sword (he must be referring to God’s word which is the sword of the spirit: Eph. 6:17) if they must survive and succeed in the days ahead. We would look at three major areas that anyone who must stand the test of time must adequately prepare himself now. They include: personal relationship with God, deeper commitment to God’s word, and quality discipleship. Let us look at them one by one.

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD 

God must be your source (source of strength, power, grace, etc) for you to stand the test of time, hence, the need for a strong connection to the source. Your personal relationship with God must be very strong and intimate for you to be able to stand the test of time. Indicators of a strong and intimate relationship between man and God include:

• He must be a man that have been saved from the power of sin. Hence, such a person is no longer living in sin. The simple truth is that it is not possible for anyone to be living in sin and at the same claim to be in any serious relationship with God. Both of them do not go together.
• He must be a man who has truly surrendered his life to the Lordship of Christ. The evidence of this will be that proverbs 3:5-6 are now the guiding principle of his life. He has trusted the Lord with his whole heart; he no more uses his common sense to make his choices; he depends totally on God by acknowledging him in everything both big and small; and must be a man that is ready to follow God’s guidance as he reveals it to him. 
• He must be a man whose love for God is supreme. He must have loved God above himself, his relations, his friends and every other thing. Love is the foundation of every relationship. If a man has really loved God from his heart above all men and things, his relationship with God must be strong and intimate. Real love for God must result to strong and deep prayer life. Friend, check your love for God presently and compare it with your love for money, relations and friends. Remember, your love for God is shown by the level of your devotion, commitment, submission and obedience to him. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).
• He must be a man who is totally committed to seeking God’s will, discovering it and doing it. This is the key to God’s abiding presence (John 8:29). He must be a man that hears when God speaks. Many issues of life that causes many believers to stumble and fell off the way are as a result of the fact that they don’t hear from God. Your prayer life must move from talking to God only to talking to God and hearing from God. Intimacy with God does not exist except the man hears clearly and often from God, otherwise, I am afraid you will not stand the test of time. You need to do something urgently about this.

DEEPER COMMITTMENT TO GOD’S WORD.

To stand the test of time, you must be deeply committed to God’s word. It is a new dawn. Your present knowledge of God’s word cannot do. Jesus said, “sell your garment and buy a sword if you don’t have one (Luke 22:36). A deep knowledge of God’s word is indispensable; you must bend down now to gather it before you face this journey. If you study the recorded temptation of Christ, you will notice it was this sword “the word of God” that he used and overcame Satan. Temptations will surely come to you many times; you are finished if you don’t have this sword of the spirit to wield against Satan. The concern here is not this shallow superficial knowledge of God’s word that you have, because even the tempter knows the word and quotes it correctly. He quoted it to Christ and would have deceived him if not that Christ’s knowledge of God’s word is deeper than his own.

Some people cannot stand the test of time because the level of God’s word that is abiding in them is very small. Even the Devil knows this. He knows that they are very cheap in his hand because it will not take him anything to deceive and confuse you. Please note that deep commitment to God’s word is beyond just mere knowledge of the bible or empty quoting of some portions of the scripture. It is a total commitment to read, study, meditate on the word of God and obey it. It is a deliberate creation of time to sit down with the Bible and devour it with readiness to practice its teachings. This is the kind of thing that Ezra did in Ezra 7 vs. 10. He prepared his heart to study the word, do it and teach it in Israel. When God called Joshua to replace Moses, he strongly instructed him to take the word very serious. He must meditate on it day and night so that he will observe and do everything therein; the result is a prosperous and a successful life.

Friend, there are no two ways about this. If what killed and finished your predecessors will not catch up with you, you must deliberately bend down now and devote yourself to the study of the word. The matter is simple; if you want to succeed in life as a Christian, then totally commit yourself to God’s word; if not continue the way you are going, time shall tell. The first temptation the Devil will face you with the moment you are leaving school is the temptation to urgently pursue money (for Brothers) or marry (for sisters). The wise among you will use the period of your NYSC itself to pursue the deeper knowledge of God and His word. This will establish a very strong foundation for your successful future and place you on a pedestal where you can run against the wind and stand the test of time.

...to be continued...