I am a 17 year old girl living in the U.S. I have been in the Salvation Army more than 1/2 my life, and have had God in my life for as long as I can remember back. Just a few months ago, I finally woke up and answered God, and decided to WHOLE heartedly follow him. I have such a passion and I feel called to lead. However, I have the support of my fellow church members, but no support what so ever from any other surroundings.
My parents use grounding me from church as a punishment, and not one person at my school understands. I feel really pressured by my dad especially, because he tries to tell me that women have no place in the church. I really don't understand why God would call me to do something if he did not want women in the Church.
Also I can feel that God is going to do something really big. Something that will shake the world. Can anyone else feel that.?????
Hi Kristi, I have a 'sense' that I may have read /heard a similar story to yours before.
Hope someone from this site is able to respond sensitively and appropriately to your deepest (and True heart felt) needs and inner desires to WHOLE heartedly follow Him in truth and in spirit.
May our loving Father Bless you.
Congratulations young kristi for deciding to wholeheartedly follow God. This is God-honouring.
As God triune is the true leader and plants the passion in His creation to lead give Him daily the glory for this.
A moments perspective is called for.
At your tender age you are still dependent on your parents and you must continue to honour them.
Even though you feel pressurized seek by sensible living to bring calm into your life.
It is advantageous to remember what your parents have done for you so far in your young life and praise God daily for them.
Remember also that even good aspirations need preparation and planning. Remember the whole of our life involves holy service unto God.
I suggest that you communicate and demonstrate your growing interest in glorifying God�s Name, by acts of helpfulness, within your family.
One possible way is by desiring to contribute financially into your families lives or by committing yourself to some form of studious study.
Families need obedient children; for cooperative children are becoming an endangered species.
Seek therfore to offer by example(behaving well at home) to demonstrate that your faith is living rather than lament lack of understanding from those around you.
It is sufficient that God understands! Children need to get their priorities right. We can't honour God properly unless we are desirous to input wisely into our families.
Let us count our blessings.
Remember, Kristi, that God is compassionate!
He brings those He is allowed to teach into favourable situations.
He will improve your prospects if you show yourself eager to learn from Him.
Remember, too, that even if your parents were currently more supportive of your attending Church life for the relatively inexperienced has its challenges.
Even if you were twenty years older bringing God�s word faithfully to fallen humanity opposition towards you would not be small. Take your eyes off yourself and breathe in a breath of hope.
Look at me! I'm close to half a century old and not everyone pats me on the back for my leadership efforts.
Kristi, your time for excelling before God will come, if you patiently persevere in seeking out a life of purity.
God's love opens doors. The doors of opportunity will be flung open by God Himself when men or women and teenagers are deemed by God ready to walk through them.
To truly love God we must desire to grow faith-focused and put off any unhealthy feeling focus.
Kristi, Young lady of promise, God is a God of joy and understanding and as you draw closer to Him He will transform your tinges of frustration into assurance.
Above all seek to bring the name of Jesus Christ into your correspondence; for He is the author and finisher of our faith!
Teenage years are tough, testing yet rewarding times.
I personally believe that you should concentrate more on studying the holy Bible. Let all eager leaders be very careful that they can be led by the Lord one step at a time before they desire to lead their neighbour two steps at a time!
To God be the glory!
Young kristi, what a brave, young lady you are. The Salvation Army are a very good God-honoring association. I encourage you to keep your association with them going strong.
Kristi,you are one of God's treasured tortoises.
Now that you have poked your head out your house and woken up and answered God, and decided to wholeheartedly follow Him, you will notice that your passion to lead will increase; for it is God's loving holy Spirit who increases our confidence to lead.
Hold tight to God's truthful teachings, brave young tortoise, and you will notice that the pressure on you will begin to petter out as you carry on praising God's faithful character with renewed vigor.
Although I don't understand fully why your parents would punish you by grounding you from attending church. The thing to understand is that imperfection exists - even amongst parents.
Your dad isn't right when he tells you that women have no place in the church.
God's church are the very people He saves.
Jesus Christ is the High Priest of God's Church and true believers, male and female, are pastors unto Him.
This means that the saved are the true church of God.
Even though the congregations that we attend are not the church in the highest meaning of the word - it is a very beautiful thing to desire to to input wisely in them.
Be encouraged, young Kristi, God is certainly calling you to do something and He wants women in His Church and in congregations.
You are right. Your feelings are reliable. God is going to do something really big and that something could shake the world. Certainly as a fellow tortoise I can feel that.
Be encouraged, brave Kirsti, as long as tortoises like you and me are intent on pleasing God and go about His work gradually, methodically, generously and joyously miracles will happen.
Surely God's goodness will follow all who follow Him.
Father, our tortoise-like neighbors are in urgent need of teaching. Father, multitudes slumber in spiritual hibernation.
Help us to teach them wisely; so that You will desire to awaken them.
Our prayer is that You will be able to delight in the sight of their heads poking out of their houses to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.
Listening avidly to the hollering of the words ho, ho, ho will never help us to understand the vital importance of hallowing the words holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty.
As you join me I am enjoying strolling around the children's section of our local public library.
Like the parrot clinging impeccably to my shoulder I have noticed almost straight away that the artwork of the creative and God-blessed children exasperatingly exalts the person of Santa Claus.
We noticed also almost straight away, that parents are virtually nowhere to be seen in their artwork nor is any knowledge of the Holy Bible exhibited.
But most appallingly of all nowhere to be seen is the precious, treasured, holy name of Jesus Christ.
Dads and mums, when Santa is considered cool and Jesus Christ virtually not at all clearly our celebrating of the character of Jesus Christ during the Christmas holiday season is not at all right.
Dads and mums, holy righteous long-suffering God never said: this is my beloved Santa Claus in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
Why then are you and your children so absorbed by his ho, ho, ho?
Why then do so many of you also take your children on Santa parades where glory is given to his name?
All time is a gift of holy God and God commands us to rejoice in the Lord always.
When children are encouraged by adults to idolize mankind even the parrot currently pecking my ear understands very well that lack of understanding is on parade.
Dads and mums, do you still not understand, like Precocious my parrot, that your behaviour falls short of glorifying God?
Our patient, longsuffering God commands us to pray "Our father which art in heaven hallowed be Thy name" and not our cool Santa that cometh to earth give me a nice treat for I know your heart is kind.
Faithful Father, may our hearts always rejoice at the sound of the Lord Jesus Christ's name.
Holy Father help us, like my peculiarly special parrot, to refuse to develop pre-teen and teenage crushes for Santa.
Dads and mums and children, let's endeavour to emulate and copy Precocious; for she has absolutely no delight in Santa's ho, ho, ho; for she understands pretence when she sees it.
Dads and mums the sooner we sanitize ourselves from the unsavoury habit of sitting serenely on Santa's lap and stop clapping his highly misunderstood heart the better.
Come then, somewhat confused dads and mums, Jesus Christ's voice is the voice of truth.
He is the giver of true gifts - not Santa.
Our future and the future of our children is with Jesus Christ and with no one else.
His lap is the only lap that is loyal.
Beloved Jesus Christ is the only name we will listen to.
Such a gracious heart as His is not to be found in anyone else.
Jesus prays for us with the very voice of God and weeps for us with the very heart of God.
Let us remember too, treasured dads and mums, this Christmas that Jesus incarnate died on Calvary's Cross pouring out His pure soul unto death; because He loves us uniquely.
Restorer of the unrighteous have mercy on the duped followers of those who go around in praise of the ho, ho, ho-ing; so that they and their children would have more and more opportunities to sing, full of praise, holy, holy, holy God Almighty.
Dads and mums, Holy God is a jealous God. He is jealous for us to understand Him.
He isn't clapping His hands when we, without thinking too thoroughly, fall into foolishness.
Loving Triune God and lover of lovers of parrots, we seek to love You passionately and true; for You are Our all-wise God whose awesome compassion and divine mercy is within grasp of mankind's outstretched contrite and purity-seeking heart.
Faithful, forgiving Father, teach us that Christmas is only truly understood if we are desirous also to remember the events of Calvary.
We understand that the physical eye will always be unconvinced about the events of Calvary.
Assist us all as we seek to search diligently and sincerely for You; so that we might gain a new spiritual eye that trusts God's word.
We love You beautiful Lord God; for such an eye, even when pecked by an over zealous parrot, will always be convinced of Christ's triumph over death and utter defeat of Satan.
With such a glorious eternal eye not even a precocious parrot, in search of increased wisdom, can prevent us from celebrating Christmas and Calvary correctly.
A warm welcome to everyone. This is the website of Josef Sefton. I know that God Triune
will bless you richly as you give your best effort to trust and obey Him.
Teens, can I encourage you to fill your mind with truth? Teens, can I
encourage you to immerse yourself in the holy Bible?
Teens, can I encourage you to start in the books of Mathew, Mark, Luke and
John.
Start here and you'll discover that regular Bible reading is tremendously rewarding.
Start here and you will be taught how to deal with life's pressures.
Start here and you can delight in the process of knowing Jesus Christ better.
Start here and really seek after Him and He will lift your level of interest in Him.
Start here and before long you will desire ever increasingly to put into practise His
holy teachings.
Teens, if you are looking to be inspired look no further than at God's best.
God's best is Jesus Christ.
Commit yourself to His living word and you will find He shall graciously delight to
commit to you.
The risen Christ is Our God with us. He is with us in our personal life transforming our speech and deed
life. All our praise and adoration belongs to Him.
The greatest life ever lived awaits you to explore and examine Him.
Discoveries are exciting. Your rewarding discovery of Jesus Christ is just a sensible decision away.
Draw closer to Christ and He will draw closer to you.
Young explorers, strength can be drawn from daily studying Scripture.
Get started and you will soon be convinced that biblical literacy enriches your life.
Get started and you will soon be convinced that biblical literacy is relevant and strengthening your
family and societal engagement.
Teens the greatest life ever lived awaits you to explore and examine Him. Get started and you will soon
be convinced hat biblical literacy and its sincere demonstration gives you a heightened sense of place and
purpose before God and man.
You say sometimes that you are baffled by the holy Bible. You say sometimes what is
that book all about? One thing is certain you can not do yourself justice if you seldom or never bother
to read God's love letter to you. Treasured teens suffering from biblical illiteracy, let us start at
the beginning: Eve wasn't created from an apple tree, but by God.
What has to change is that we have to stop saying in our heart that reading the Bible seldom dishonours
God's name. It does.
What has to change is that we have to stop saying in our heart that reading the Bible hardly ever
never dishonours God's name.
It does. Let us start at the beginning God is far superior than the god that you think you know.
You say you want a God who helps those who help themselves. God does. The true God helps those who can't
help themselves. That is far more impressive.
The true God helps those who hate Him; for when God punishes us we are given a chance to put things
right.
Let us talk honestly together the average person has a general education and biblical education that is
grossly out of balance. Let us talk honestly together the average person is a biblical illiterate, even
if they can look pious from time to time when they make a huge effort!
Let us talk honestly
together, without a knowledge of the Holy Bible we are all at a huge disadvantage.
Can I ask you why you still enjoy putting on a hat called my biblical ignorance is impressive?
Treasured teens, you have a unique opportunity to discover the greatest book of all. Reading the
holy Bible should be an essential part of your education, so you've got some catching up to do.
I know that the education system has been have starving you of the opportunity to study the Bible by
shoving other books before your eyes which are no substitute for it.
I'm on your side and Jesus Christ is too.
Learn from Jesus Christ and you will discover that He is by far the most capable Teacher of all.
Go searching for God's best now and you will love every minute of this glorious challenge.
