Young and Crazy in Love with Jesus

By Sipokazi Somzana

Ps 119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word.

A modern day read that seeks to equip people with the necessary knowledge and insights of being a child of God, an exciting and fulfilled Christian. The book takes on a very practical and relevant approach towards the challenges both the young and matured people face in their journey of faith. The author collaborates her personal experiences with those faced by every other person, the culmination of this being the reader’s appreciation of the content and ultimate spiritual maturity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sipokazi Somzana
• Release date: Aug 25, 2021

Book preview

Young and Crazy in Love With

Jesus

Sipokazi Somzana

Copyright © 2021 Sipokazi Somzana

Published by Sipokazi Somzana publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Sipokazi Somzana using Reach Publishers’ services,

Edited by Trevor French for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Trust God Completely – the Power of Faith

2. Seek His Face

3. His Training – the Power of Discipline

4. Obedience – the Power to Hear God’s Word and Act Accordingly

5. Reprogram Your Thinking – the Power of an Attitude

6. Maturity – the Power of Growth

7. Holy Spirit-being Filled with the Spirit of God

8. Perseverance and Patience

9. Prayer –the Power of Communication

10. Fasting

11. Worship

12. Commitment – the Power of Dedication

Conclusion

Reference List

Acknowledgments

The greatest thanks and acknowledgment of all must go to my Lord and Saviour, as He is the one who granted me this potential before my very existence and gave me the idea and the courage to start what had already been finished before the beginning of time.

Many people have had an impact on the writing of this book, particularly those who believed in my abilities and my dreams. I love my family but, to just show how great our God is, He has shown off His love and greatness by giving me a second family, the circle of my friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ. These lovely people from different walks of life have all had their impact on me, ultimately leading to the writing of this book.

Introduction

So many times we read novels, magazines and even Facebook status, see on Twitter and hear from television and radio how much people are in love with each other. However, the picture and animation of those characters at times, whether real or Hollywood movie characters, leads each person around the world to a question, as to how you find that one person, the love of your life. Every young and old person out there wants to be in love, not just young people but everyone. They say we are looking for the real thing, our soul mate. But behind each and everyone’s fantasy world is a truth which is unknown or ignored. This element of a relationship is one of the most expressed in the world by people, yet it is still the most misunderstood by many. Probably you are wondering how that is.

Well the truth is that such an idea of love portrayed by these media tools is not always realistic, they don’t show the important things that each person needs to see and hear but does not want to see or hear. That even though love is amazing and truly the greatest thing that God ever created, it’s not easy. What do I mean? Probably in your mind you think I’m being negative or that I’m saying this because I have never been in love.

Well that’s not the case. The reason behind my opinions/statements about love is the truth that people and even the Hollywood movie directors at times fail to put across and understand is that love is not a feeling, that it needs to be selfless instead of being selfish and that it’s not just feelings but way more than that. That over centuries it has been proven by situations, real life events and through statistics that it’s not an easy thing for human beings, as it requires commitment to a decision made, and sacrifice and denial of one’s needs/wants at times. That love is not just a feeling, butterflies in your stomach. No, it’s more than that. It’s a life commitment, it’s a decision you make and stick to regardless of challenges or trials on the way.

The portrait of this kind of love has led many people/couples to divorce because they no longer feel the excitement or butterflies in their stomach, because their expectations have not been met. Expectation to many have been instilled by the novels they have read and romantic movies they have watched, and most importantly because they themselves do not understand what love is. They speak of terms such as I have fallen out of love; I’m no longer in love with this man or woman, mainly because things are not easy and exciting as they used to be a year ago or three years ago or because the person they married has changed. You know this important element of life seems to be forgotten, that change is inevitable, especially when it comes to human beings and it’s only God where change is evitable or not possible. As much as we may not want to admit this simple truth, that people do change, yet we always hope that people in our lives change for the best, but sadly that is not always the case. Change is something that many of us fear and at times try by all means to avoid or run away from it; sadly we can’t run away from change, change is part of us.

There is one important definition that Dr Myles Munroe once shared, that love is a decision to commit to meeting the needs of another person for life without expectations. It is no lie that when you are in a relationship there are expectations, and because of that disappointments are inevitable; one of the reasons which has led to some of the many divorces and great disappointments in general in people’s lives. He further stated that love is caring, that is being able to anticipate a need and meet it, a need of the one you claim to love.

Don’t get me wrong, some relationships are so destructive and dangerous that God Himself does not want us to remain in them when there is no hope of them being fixed and if they are causing us to change for the worse and probably start losing who we are in the process. I know of people, who have been in toxic friendships, I have also been in one toxic relationship, it is unhealthy and can destroy you without even being aware, slowly paralyses who you are and swallows all the courage you had to stand up for yourself. You basically become a slave to someone else’s needs and wants. The love I am talking about is not just a romantic one or a love between friends and family members; the love I’m talking about is the one given to us by God, which is agape love. Love is a gift from God, a gift that God wants us to share with everyone including Him as our Lord and Saviour.

At this point as you are reading this introduction you are probably wondering what does God have to do with Hollywood movies, lovers and young people? Well my answer to that question is very simply, God has to do with everything. If I can briefly explain, our relationship with God revolves around love, He is love and He first loved us, He further demonstrated this by giving up His only son Jesus to come to earth, suffer shame and ridicule and die for our sins. Leaving behind His very presence to dwell in the world, to guide us and counsel us in all that we do. I believe that a young person (or any person for that matter) and God need to be in a relationship, a close intimate relationship, a relationship that allows one to be crazy in love with Him, a relationship that honours the very presence of God.

Well you might be asking why crazy in love? Well if you have been in a human relationship and were in love you might have a slight idea of how one becomes crazy in love and not just in love. So by the term crazy I mean making a decision to obey God, as He says in His word if you love me you will obey my commands and you stick to it. By the term crazy I encourage you to be in love, despite feelings felt or the excitement, be with no doubts and have the inner peace with the decision you have made and be committed to it. Allowing what is part of you, what is in your very presence to guide you, having complete trust in Him. We need to be crazy in love with our God, just like He was when He died for us and still is even today. To not allow pain, challenges, trials and any sort of temptation or ruin that which we have with our God, we need to hang in there for as long as our bones, blood, soul and all that forms parts of us are intact and still called life.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Wow! What a great and perfect gift, for God to send His one and only son on earth to die for us. To suffer, be mocked, ridiculed at the hands of His own creation, He didn’t have to withstand such humiliation and to be trapped in a human body, feel the pain, be tempted as the great God that He was. To be God but still not use any of His power to make His suffering any less painful or put a stop to it all. He could have wiped out/made extinct the entire human race in a second when they whipped Him, spat on him and called Him names but He didn’t. It was not because He couldn’t but He had a promise to keep, a mission to fulfil, a decision to stick to.

He loved us so much that He was able to take all the pain and brutal killing, to Him that didn’t matter as much as His mission, He wanted us so much even though we rejected Him and disobeyed Him as a God. He wanted to make a way for you and me, a way for you to be with Him forever. His love for us provided us a way to be forgiven of all our sins and secured us a personal relationship with Him. It gave us the greatest gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit, to be our counsellor. Truly Dr Myles Munroe had a point when He said, if love was a feeling, then we would be in trouble because if God responded to us in the way He felt about what you and I did to Him, then we wouldn’t be redeemed today. So love is really not about feelings, it is a decision and one of the hardest decisions; not impossible, yet important.

Hence it is important for us not to take for granted salvation, to be serious with Him, honour and protect a relationship with Him. I know such a great and perfect relationship is not easy for many to maintain as there are so many things that stand in the way of ensuring that it exists for all born-again Christians. The devil hates this relationship and would do just about anything to make sure it did not exist, and that’s if you allow Him. At the end of the day it is by His mercy that you still standing, His grace that you have been saved, so never ever think that you can maintain the kind of relationship I’m talking about on your own or human strength.

Such a relationship exists by allowing God to be your teacher, learn the important components and attributes that need to be applied in order to help you maintain this relationship. If you are a young person (or any person) and you are not there yet, don’t worry, it’s never too late. Anything with God is possible and this little book is just a special gift for you, to help you get started.

Wow! Before anything existed, before the very existence of earth, before creation God knew you, He knew your thoughts, He knew the mistakes you would make, He knew everything about you, even the fact that some of us would do just about anything to run away from Him, scrap His name from planet earth, yet this guy went through His plan and created you and me. Knowing very well that He would be rejected by some of His very own creation, when I truly think about this my mind just explodes, as I realise that we serve a super fantastic, magnificent being. Despite all He still wanted us. Why? Because He loved us, and get this, His love was and is not based on anything, it is not what we have done or how beautiful we might think we are. Guys, truly we have a great Father, He’s truly Lord.

As you take this journey with me I want you to know this: to God there is no race, culture, gender, nationality, etc. but there is just a being created by God – to Him we are all His children, His great creation and He takes