BALANCING DILLIGENCE AT WORK AND PRAYER BBYBY ONOJA

BALANCING DILLIGENCE AT WORK AND PRAYER BBYBY ONOJA, SHARON UYO-OJO BEING A 15 MINUTE PRESENTATION BY THE GROUP 3 TEENS’ OF THE TEENS’ CHAPEL, NATIONAL HOSPITAL, ABUJA

KEY WORDS USED IN THIS STUDY § Balancing: ü balancing connotes a continuous term of keeping something in a state of equilibrium especially between opposing forces or influences. There are other definitions but the above definition will suffice for our study. § Diligence: ü hard work, persistence, indefatigable, careful and thorough work or effort. § Text: Proverbs 6: 6 -11 and 2 nd Peter 1: 1 -10 ü The opposite of diligence is sluggishness and we see the consequence in the text above.

KEY WORDS USED IN THIS STUDY CONT. § Proverbs 13: 4 “The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat”. ü Also read Proverbs 12: 24. ü Thus, Diligence = RICHES While LAZINESS = POVERTY § Prayer: ü to speak to God, dialogue between one and God. It can be prayer for requests, thanksgiving, adoration/worship or even all of the above.

KEY WORDS USED IN THIS STUDY CONT. ü 1 st John 5: 14 -15 “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to his will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him”. ü Also read 2 nd Chronicles 7: 14, Ephesians 6: 18.

KEY WORDS USED IN THIS STUDY CONT. § Work: ü to do something that includes physical or mental effort that brings satisfaction, to have a job. Proverbs 12: 11, John 9: 4, 2 nd Thessalonians 3: 10, Proverbs 14: 23, Genesis 2: 3, 1 st Timothy 5: 18. The reward for labor (work) is wages. ü Hence what can we say is balancing diligence at work and prayer? From our definitions we see that work and prayer must be balanced at all times to bring the best out of us all the time. ü PRAYER is a subset of work. As teenagers most of us go to school and are not working yet hence we see that ‘work’ here has to do with the academic

THE STUDY ü Balancing diligence at work and prayer simply tells us how to go about our academics i. e. school, and be in right terms with God, communicating with him daily and doing these things carefully with persistence and hard work. ü As we know different schools have different programs which do or do not include time for spiritual reflection in the case of prayer. ü Now the question is - HOW CAN A TEENAGER BE DILLIGENT AT WORK AND DILIGENT IN PRAYER.

HOW TO BE DILIGENT IN ACADEMICS ü We have said that diligence is careful persistence so, academic diligence is being carefully persistent in academic work. § Carefulness: a student should be very careful with everything ranging from just taking notes to assignments, practical, or experiments depending on your field of study or course. § This enables one to understand to know what is expected in every problem given them by their lecturer or teacher and puts one on top of the class.

HOW TO BE DILIGENT IN ACADEMICS CONT. § Hard work: every student is expected to work very hard to be at the top of the class. ü We should go the extra-mile to make sure we do what we are supposed to do well. ü Hard work brings favor from ones teacher or lecturer and course or class mates. ü We should also know that hard work sometimes involves thinking outside the box or inside the box this depends on the lecturer, we should know early what each teacher or lecturer wants.

HOW TO BE DILIGENT IN ACADEMICS CONT. § Confidence: we should be confident but not over confident or proud concerning our academic capability and we should always attack each problem or academic challenge with confidence and faith to overcome. ü This helps to curb the tendencies of indulging in examination malpractices. ü We should not be shy of asking questions when or where we are not clear about something. (2 nd Timothy 1: 7)

HOW TO BE DILIGENT IN ACADEMICS CONT. § Perseverance: (Galatians 5: 22) we should never be quick to give up on ourselves in seemingly hopeless situations; we should persevere always as children of Light that have the Holy Spirit. ü There would be a turnaround in events always when there is just the correct amount of perseverance. § Lastly, we should always create the right kind of environment in which we can perform best. ü This also entails having a study plan to suit us, one that would help us perform at maximum level.

DILLIGENCE IN PRAYER ü We already know that prayer is dialogue with our heavenly father, hence to be diligent in prayer the below are outlined: § Proper time management is one key thing to be diligent in prayer. This helps us to communicate with God on a daily basis; this points us to the issue of quiet time. This daily contact with God is a sine qua non (essential).

DILLIGENCE IN PRAYER CONT. § We should also develop an attitude of prayer this means that we should learn to pray about all situations whether favorable or unfavorable. ü Pray about the littlest issues. It develops our prayer life.

HOW TO BALANCE DILIGENCE AT WORK AND PRAYER § We should plan our day beginning it with God, that is quiet time with God including our day’s activities to him. ü This equips us for whatever academic challenge there is that day so, going ahead with school without putting God first and letting God Him lead you will eventually end up being a disaster. § We should plan our day beginning it with God, that is quiet time with God including our day’s activities to him. ü This equips us for whatever academic challenge there is that day so, going ahead with school without putting God first and letting God Him lead you will eventually end up

HOW TO BALANCE DILIGENCE AT WORK AND PRAYER § We should also learn to appreciate God for our failures and our successes; we should thank Him for our failures because He just disguised our success to our benefit. § We should also learn to do the right things at the right time, our walk with God should not be an excuse for academic failure and our academics should not be an excuse for being lukewarm. ü That is the reason why we should have a plan for our time everyday dividing it equally to meet our spiritual and academic needs. § Conclusion ü Ecclesiastes 3: 1 -8

Thanks for listening!