Awe!!!! Eita young people - The Salvation Army

What an honour to engage with you through this article. I thank God for each one of you and your involvement in your respective Corps. I have no doubt that you continue to reach out to other young people and share the love of God with your peers at school, college, university and work. I believe that through you, God is going to take this great Army in the Southern Africa Territory to greater heights. However it is very crucial for us to pause and ask God for real Refreshment.

Have you ever taken the time to look back on your life to see where you have been and then tried to look ahead to see where you want to be?

At this point in your life, do you know what you want out of life or is life just a blur of busyness? What are you expecting of life? Have you ever been thirsty for something? Thirsty for something that nothing else would satisfy or refresh your thirst.

Each of us are looking for refreshment in our lives. We are all busy. We start out looking forward to that 16th birthday, and then we look forward to getting out of High School. We continue our search for refreshment by thinking about getting a University degree, then the job and somewhere along the line we hope that each of the next steps in life will bring satisfaction, only to find that it does not.

In John 4:7-18, we read of the woman at the well looking for refreshment, and not just for physical water, but in life in general. This woman went to a well to get some water, but what she got was something that would satisfy her thirst for the rest of her life and for eternity.

I personally believe that God is looking for young people in The Salvation Army today, who have experienced real refreshment in their life, that will satisfy their inner hunger and thirst for true Life both now and into eternity.

There’s a song I remember from when I was a kid. It was called “Looking for Love” by Johnny Lee and had a line in it that said; “Looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in too many faces”.

Many young people tend to look for refreshment or some relief from the day to day activities of life in all the wrong places. If we are going to find real refreshment, we need to know where to look for it. In today’s world young people are looking for relief from the difficulty of life. Young people will look for this relief in the clubs, alcohol, drugs, the opposite sex and entertainment.

This poor woman was looking for refreshment all of her life, moving from lover to another, but until this point she did not know where to look.

Sharing with many young people since I became an officer, I find that people will look everywhere else but Jesus, who is the only real refreshment in life.

We misunderstand the spiritual thirst and try to quench it with the stagnant waters of the flesh and of this world. The result is poison and death.

Within our hearts many of us sense a thirst for…
• Purpose
• Meaning
• Significance
• Satisfaction
• Fulfilment

Something to fill the void, the emptiness.

The Apostle John, records for us this encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, to show us that His offer is open to everyone.

My prayer for you, in fact that all young people will come to Jesus for real refreshment.

Captain Vukani Nkosi
Corps Officer Claremont Temple Corps