What does God want from you?

Unlock meaningful conversations with the teenage boys in your family – our weekly question explores PAGE (purpose, awareness, good grades, and emotional intelligence) through a God-centred lens.

Questions are powerful tools.

Tools that can nurture a sense of self-respect and dignity.

When your opinion is requested, your opinion is deemed to be respected.

You are deemed to matter.

Teenage boys in Britain want to feel like they matter. They do.

So, ask them questions.

Ask them as many important and interesting and relevant questions as you can think of.

In this newsletter, I will consistently share one key question to assist you on this journey.

Since September 2023, I have been asking these types of questions to the Year 7 Muslim boys from London whom I have the honour of mentoring on a regular basis. All praise and thanks belong to God.

My hope is that these questions lead to further questions, which go on to form the basis of beautiful dialogue and connection between you and the boys in your family.

May God honour and strengthen the boys and future men of our community to achieve their full potential.

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1 Question. What does God want from you?

Why ask?

God willing, it will help the boys:

• Build a personal and direct relationship with God.

• Realise that God’s opinion of them is the opinion that matters most.

• Reflect on ways they can strive to gain God’s pleasure through their actions and their goals.

How to ask?

• In private. Away from the eyeballs and judgments of others. Ask in an environment most conducive to them speaking openly.

• Walking side by side. Ideally, in a nice park. Someplace outside. Answering ‘deep’ questions can feel less intimidating when you’re not looking directly into another person’s eyes.

• Emphasise ‘you’. Many children will instinctively respond to this question with ‘worship Him’. To facilitate greater depth, ask what God might specifically want from them. Someone with their skills, relationships, and gifts. How might God want them to use everything He’s provided them with? Even use their name in the question (i.e. ‘What does God want from [Adam]?’)

What next?

• Ask ‘why’ and ‘why’ again. Preserve space and time for them to unpack their reasoning without a sense of rush. What forms the basis of their perception of God’s commandments and wants? Does it stem from the belief that God knows and loves what is best for us? Or something different? Patiently listen to their perspective before offering any suggestions.

• Ask ‘how’. How might God want them to fulfil their potential? What makes a person honourable and helpful? How might God want them to act as a son, brother, grandson, student, nephew, friend, and/or neighbour? What might it look like to help their community remember and serve their Creator?

• Ask ‘now what’. What is one thing we can do now that God will hopefully be pleased with? Not tomorrow. Today. What intention shall we make before we next supplicate?

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If you’ve read this piece, I would be grateful if you took 30 seconds to complete this short feedback form. Your feedback will help us improve and better serve you and the boys in our community.

At your service,

Muslim Boys United (MBU)

P.S. Muslim Boys United is an organisation that currently focuses its services on supporting Muslim boys in Britain. However, it is important to note that this question and many of the questions that will be shared in future newsletters will be equally applicable to Muslim girls. May God honour and strengthen the girls and future women of our community to achieve their full potential.