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#103
Dear Danielle and Kelly,
I hope you're doing great! I
would like to take the opportunity to suggest a topic for one of your next
issue. I don't know if you guys have talked about the importance of staying
pure (virgins) until marriage. I would like to hear more about this, since it
is more likely that teens lose their virginity. I’d like you to write about the
fact that staying virgins until marriage is important. I don't want any people,
to fall into sin and follow their flesh.
Thank you
~undisclosed~
So this week we are going to write
about just that. Why we need to stay sexually pure. We have TONS of verses for
you so we’re sure you’ll be reassured that this is something that God wants for
you as well.
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
Romans 6:13 – God’s Word
“Never offer any part of your body to sins
power. No part of your body should ever be used to do any ungodly thing.
Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have come back from death and
are now alive, offer all parts of your body to God, use them to do everything
God approves of.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – God’s Word
Don’t you know that your body is a temple
that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you have received from
God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves. You were bought at a price.
So bring glory to God in the way you use your body.
Romans 12:1 – God’s Word
Brothers and sisters, in view of all we
have just shared about God’s compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies
as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him. This kind of
worship is appropriate for you.
Matthew 26:41 - God’s Word
Watch and pray so that you will not fall
into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
1 Peter 1:13-15 – God’s Word
Therefore your minds must be clear and
ready for action. Place your confidence completely in what God’s kindness will
bring you when Jesus Christ appears again. Because you are children who obey
God, don’t live the kind of lives you once lived. Once you lived to satisfy
your desires because you didn’t know any better. But because the God who called
you is holy you must be holy in every aspect of your life.
For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.
Rom. 13:13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not
in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
1 Corinthians 6:13-19
"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"--but God will destroy
them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and
the Lord for the body.
By his power God raised the Lord from the
dead, and he will raise us also.
Do you not know that your bodies are
members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite
them with a prostitute? Never!
Do you not know that he who unites himself
with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will
become one flesh."
But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him
in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body,
but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
Do you not know that your body is a temple
of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not
your own. You were bought at a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use
your body.
But among you there must not be even a
hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because
these are improper for God's holy people.
Col. 3:5
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual
immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Don't let anyone look down on you because
you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in
love, in faith and in purity.
(= THINK IT OVER =)
As soon as we announced our topic I know
some of you started to blush! Well, everything we have to say today is Bible-based,
things that were written about a very long time ago when the people were a lot
more careful about what they said. If they could say it then, we can say it
now. Sex before marriage is wrong. It isn’t how God intended it to be in the
least. He made sex to be something
shared between a MARRIED MAN and WOMAN.
Some people don’t realize the strength of
temptation, but others don’t realize that it is possible to over come it. With
today’s society you can’t go very many places where you aren’t surrounded with
sex. It’s in the movies, on the television, radio, in magazines, some
newspapers, the internet, stores, school, etc. You can’t escape it unless you
literally lock yourself in a closet or hide in a cave! “So what do I do about
it?” you ask. You fight it with the word of God. IT IS POSSIBLE.
Proverbs 2:10,11
For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your
soul.
Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.
This verse can be talking about a lot of
situations. I think it’s talking about peer pressure (which did exist in the
olden days). It says that wisdom is going to come into your heart when you’re
faced with certain situations. And knowledge will fill your soul. The ability
to decide responsibly will protect you and your understanding will guard you…
if you let it. You have been equipped
with all of these things to help you overcome pressure- wisdom, knowledge,
discretion, and understanding.
Relationships. Yeaaahhh I know you don’t
wanna hear it from us too. Now-a-days, people will go on 1 date and decide it’s
okay to sleep together after just that. It lingers around waiting for your
weakest moment. You get carried away. You know in the back of your mind that
it’s not what God wants for you, but you do it anyway. Yeah there may be
forgiveness, but why did you even do it in the first place? “He/she really
wanted me to!” or “I just couldn’t resist… I feel awful though.” For one thing…
if your boy/girlfriend was only with you to get that: isn’t that a sign that
it’s not going to work out? Unless that was your goal too, which for your sake
I hope it’s not.
Don’t you just love how blunt the Bible
can be?? Romans 13:13 is one of those verses. It tells us we are supposed to
behave decently all the time. And then
Corinthians goes on to tell us that out bodies aren’t really ours. They are
simply homes for the Holy Spirit to live in. They actually belong to the Lord.
Also we’re told that when two people sleep together they become one. And once
you do that you are sinning against your own body. You are subjecting yourself
to all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases. People make mistakes: we aren’t
perfect, nowhere near. But under no circumstances does that mean we don’t need
to strive to be like Christ.
In God’s eyes: sex is a beautiful thing
to be kept inside marriage. It was a gift, a CHILD BRINGING gift. If you are
tempted so bad, you should look forward to it and save it for the one that God
wants you to share it with.
Isn’t it interesting how God knew what
life would be like in the 21st Century? He knew that the world, as a whole,
would be very immoral and that we would need verses like these to remind us
what’s right and what’s wrong.
1 Timothy 4:12 is one of my favorite
verses.
Don't let anyone look down on you because
you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in
love, in faith and in purity.
Lots of people just love to look down on
kids. They think that just because they’re young, they don’t know anything! To
those of you who are reading this that are still considered kids, don’t let
them!!! Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference. You
can do so much simply by being a good example through speech, life, love,
faith, and purity - ahem sexual purity!-.
Here are some things that might help you
in how you can defeat temptation and remain a virgin until marriage.
1) Make sure that you and your
boy/girlfriend are on the same terms in that area. 2) Draw near to God. The
closer you are to God the harder it is to fall away into temptation. 3)
Understand that you can’t do it alone, submit your life and your body and your
mind to God. If you need to, get a friend to encourage you along the way, make
a promise to your friend or even your parents to stay pure until marriage.
(promise rings are a good reminder and may help encourage you as you remember
the commitment you made)
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
For
those of you who are unmarried and have had sex before. We challenge you to not
be offended by this issue, but to take it to heart. You can’t exactly go back
in time to fix certain things, but you can be obedient by not repeating the
action.
But for
those who have waited or you wanna renew your virginity: Wanna make us a
promise? Not only us… but God. If you like: get a witness or tell someone you
are making this promise. If you don’t want to make this promise, fine it’s up
to you and you can scroll down… if you would like to then please read (out loud
if you can/want) the following sentences.
---
From this day forth I promise to myself, ______ and God that I will remain a
virgin until I get married. I will stay away from worldly lusts and temptation
by keeping the Word of God in my heart and my mouth. And I will ask God for
strength for I cannot do this on my own.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord I thank you for giving me the
strength to stay away from temptation. And I know that with you I can keep the
promise I just made, and Please help me to say ‘no’ to temptation when it comes
my way. Thank you for everything you have placed in my life, and for bringing
me out of the world and drawing me close to you. In your name, amen.
**********
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there will be
your heart also.
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, and renew a
steadfast spirit within me.
John 14:1
“Let not your heart be troubled, you
believe in God.”
(= THINK IT OVER =)
This week we want to talk to you about the
importance of what is in your heart. Did you know that what is in your heart,
shows through your actions? If you are happy, sad, angry, everyone will
eventually catch on by the way you act. We need to keep our hearts pure,
carefree, and joyful. I have said this a lot in the past few weeks: it all
boils down to you, and God. Something I like to do before writing is look up
the dictionary definition of the topic.
Heart:
a.
The vital
center and source of one's being, emotions, and sensibilities.
b.
The
repository of one's deepest and sincerest feelings and beliefs: an appeal
from the heart; a subject dear to her heart.
c.
The seat
of the intellect or imagination: the worst atrocities the human heart could
devise.
Non-believers see what is truly in your
heart. If Jesus is supposed to be in your heart then they need to be able to
see that, Am I right? There are many emotions that WILL get in the way of
people being able to see the wonderful life that lives inside of you. God wants
you to have joy, true joy, but only true joy comes from Jesus Christ. We need
to let him forgive us and take away our burdens so that we can have his true
joy and show it to the world as a beacon of hope for the lost! He needs us to
be broken so that we can worship him with everything we have and allow his
presence to flow through us. You can see this in Psalm 51:10 when David was
singing to God practically begging God to forgive him. David felt unclean… he
had sinned, and wanted to be forgiven; it was in his heart and shining through
his actions! So he sang to God “create in me a clean heart”. He goes on to say
that God didn’t want him to sacrifice… all he wanted was for David to be broken
and open his heart for God to change him.
That’s what he wants for you, he wants to forgive you and love you like
no other. He wants people to see you and know that your heart is free from
pain. No more broken pieces lying all over the place, but glued together by the
love of Christ.
In John 14:1 Jesus said that we don’t
need to be sad. Why, Because we believe in God! Some people think that God is
too busy to care about their burdens or anger: but the truth is, He really
REALLY wants to release you from your troubles! Why would a God who sent his ONLY Son to die for our sins, not
even care about us when we’re upset? He wants to reach down and touch your life
in a way you have never seen before. I know this for a fact because God has
done it for me, has done it for a lot of people and wants to do it for you as
well.
Is your heart dwelling on the things of
earth that are passing away? Money, big houses, shiny cars, the coolest trend
will all die out. So if that’s all you think about, that’s truly where your
heart is. Did you not even know that treasures are being stored up in an
eternal place? Matthew 6:19-21 tells us that the things of earth can be
destroyed or stolen, but in heaven they will last forever. Storing up your
treasures in heaven can be done many ways. Most of the ways that I have heard
are “good deeds”, but I think it’s all how you look at it. When you start to
set your heart upon eternal treasures, your whole life can change. The way
people will see you will be totally different: you will stand out from all the
rest. Don’t be surprised when people ask you why you have such hope and joy.
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
Take joy in the Lord and set your heart and
mind to the treasures that are not of this world. Have a mind-set that the
things you do can impact other people’s lives forever. Set your eyes upon the
eternal kingdom and storing up your treasures there by living out your life as
a SERVANT. THAT’S how to truly store up a reward in heaven.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord Jesus, I want to be a servant
like you were when you were here on earth. You were one with God, yet you chose
not to glorify yourself but instead serve those who were less fortunate than
you. I want to have that same mind-set today. Give me the heart of a servant
and help me every step of the way. Amen!
**********
><>
FROM THE TEXT <>< (= THINK IT OVER =)
Even though the Bible never comes right out and defines
what a Spiritual gift is, there’s enough teaching on the subject to give us a
pretty good idea. A spiritual gift is something given to a believer by the Holy
Sprit. They’re given this gift so they can help a certain ministry.
Here is a list of some spiritual gifts and references where you can find
them:
Missionary
It is the special gift given by the Holy Spirit to
certain members of the body of Christ (local church) to minister whatever other
spiritual gifts they have in a second culture or second community.
Healing
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit employs certain
Christians to restore health to the sick.
Intercession
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain
Christians to pray for extended periods of time with great positive effect for
the building of the Kingdom.
1
Thessalonians 3:10-13, 1 Timothy
2:1-2.
Craftsmanship
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit endows certain Christians to use hands and minds to build up the Kingdom through artistic, creative means.
Hospitality
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain
Christians to open their homes willingly and offer lodging, food, and
fellowship cheerfully to other people.
Faith
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit provides Christians with extraordinary confidence in God's promises, power, and presence so that they can take heroic stands for their future of God's work in the church.
Discernment
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit certain
Christians to know with assurance whether some behavior is of God or of Satan.
Mercy
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain Christians to feel exceptional empathy and compassion for those who are suffering so that they devote large amounts of time and energy to alleviate it.
Giving
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain
Christians to offer their material blessings for the work of the church with
exceptional willingness, cheerfulness and liberality.
Administration
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain
Christians to understand the goals of a given segment of the Church's ministry
and to direct that area effectively, keeping the Church on course.
Leadership
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain
Christians to motivate, direct and inspire God's people in such a way that they
voluntarily and harmoniously work together to do the Church's work effectively.
Hebrews 13:7, Judegs 3:10, Exodus
18:13-16.
Helps
It is the spiritual gift whereby the Spirit empowers
certain Christians to willingly bear the burdens of other Christains and help
them in such a way that they can do their tasks more effectively.
Serving
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit empowers certain Christians to identify unmet needs of people and implement plans to meet those needs. Serving one another, like witnessing, is a calling of all Christians, but there are some who have a special desire to find ways to serve, and get great blessing from it. There seems to be a special desire to meet physical needs in the people who have this gift.
Knowledge
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain
Christians to understand in an exceptional way the great truths of God's Word
and to make them relevant to specific situations in the church.
Wisdom
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit endows
particular Christians with an understanding of God's will and work as it
relates to the living of life.
Exhortation
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain
Christians to stand beside fellow Christians in need and bring comfort, counsel
and encouragement so they feel helped.
Music
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain
Christians to praise God through various forms of music and enhance the worship
experience of the local congregation.
1 Corinthians
14:26, Mark 14:26.
Teacher
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables particular Christians to communicate the truths of God's Word so that others can learn.
Pastor
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain Christians to assume responsibility for the spiritual welfare of a group of believers.
Evangelist
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables particular
Christians to share the Gospel to unbelievers in such a way that the unbeliever
becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
Prophet
It is the special gift whereby the Spirit empowers
certain Christians to interpret and apply God's revelation in a given
situation.
1 Corinthians
14:1-5, 1 Corinthians
14:30-33, 1 Corinthians
14:37-40.
Apostle
It is the gift whereby the Spirit appoints certain Christians to lead, inspire and develop the churches of God by the proclamation and the teaching of true doctrine.
Lots of the information has been taken from- http://www.cforc.com/sgifts.html
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
This week we challenge you to go out and try to discover what YOUR
spiritual gift is. You can have more than one. Pray to God and ask Him for
guidance when you’re trying to figure this out.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this week. Thank you for helping all of us kids get
through our first week/s of school. Please help us as we search for what
spiritual gift you may have given us. I love you.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen
**********
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
Learn a definition
FAITHFUL
1. Worthy of trust; doing one’s duty;
keeping one’s promise; loyal.
2 Chronicles 19:9
And he commanded them, saying, "Thus
you shall act in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and with a loyal heart:
Proverbs 28:20
A faithful man will abound with blessings.
Learn a definition
FAITH
1.
A
believing without proof; trust; confidence
2.
Belief
in God or God’s promises, religion, or spiritual things
3.
What
a person believes
4.
A
system of religion
5.
A
being loyal; faithfulness
Psalm 16:1
Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my
trust.
Matthew 9:22
But Jesus turned around, and when He saw
her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you
well." And the woman was made well from that hour.
Matthew 21:21
So Jesus answered and said to them,
"Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not
only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain,
"Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.
Matthew 24:45
"Who then is a faithful and wise
servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in
due season?
Mark 11:22
So Jesus answered and said to them,
"Have faith in God.”
Luke 18:8
I tell you that He will avenge them
speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on
the earth?"
Acts 3:16
And His name, through faith in His name,
has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes; the faith that comes
through Him, has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
Romans 1:17
For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by
faith."
John 20:29
Jesus said to them, “Thomas because you
have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet
have believed.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to
please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and
that He rewards those who earnestly seek him.
(= THINK IT OVER =)
One of the main things in the Christian walk is faith. You have to have
it or else Christianity just doesn’t work. There are a whole lot more verses I
found on faith (over a hundred!), but I think with 12 verses you can get the
point. It was so hard not to leave all those verses up there! We have to have
faith in our everyday lives. Right now as you read this you are having tons of
faith! In what, you ask? In the chair you’re sitting in! I don’t think that you
inspected the chair to make sure it would hold you before you sat down in it… you
just sat. You already had faith in that chair because it had held you before
and didn’t let you down. (Unless you’ve fallen out of it before, but I’m sure
that was your fault because I’ve done it many times… my fault every time.) This
same way we can have faith in God. Have you ever felt like God let you down?
You trusted in God the same way that you are trusting in that chair, but
something happened and He let you down. You remember what I said about falling
out? Do you think maybe that you let yourself down instead? I know that
sometimes we hope and hope and hope in things but sometimes it just doesn’t
work out. What we need to realize is that God didn’t let us down… no! Not at
all! Jesus promised us that if we had faith and did not doubt it would come to
pass.
Jesus said “Blessed are those who have
not seen and yet believed.” Do you realize how much faith one person has to
have to be a Christian? We believe in God even though we haven’t seen him, or Jesus!
But the thing is, is that we know He is real because of His works and the
things he has done all around us. It’s like the wind! You can’t see the wind,
but you can see the effects of the wind. You can’t see air, but you breathe it
in having faith that it will keep you alive.
Faith isn’t hard. We’re just human. We
need proof proof proof! What ever happened to having “faith like a child”? I’ve
been looking up “proof that the bible is true” and it’s very interesting. I
applaud all the people who study and go out and search for ways to prove the
other scientists wrong, but in all this you need to still have faith, am I
correct?
OK… being faithful. Something a lot of
us need to work on I’m sure. I left out a couple of verses, but what they
basically said was that God is extremely faithful to US. (remember the whole
chair faith thing.. yeah) HE won’t let us down because of His faithfulness. So
if he is soooo faithful to us in loving us and giving us what we need,
shouldn’t we do the same for him and love him and give him what he needs as
well? Whoa whoa wait… I said “need” yup you’re right… I said “NEED”. Do you
know what God needs from us? Do you know one of the very reasons he created
us?? To WORSHIP HIM. (We will talk about worship specifically next week but it
IS part of being faithful don’t you think?) So if he is being faithful to
satisfy our needs, we can be faithful satisfy His needs and everything is honky
dory right? Nope. Don’t wander off: another part of being faithful. Husbands,
wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, parents, you all know what I’m talking
about. Cheating, affairs, backstabbing, there’s a long list. Yes you can do
that with God too. Did you know that? I’m talking about “idols” when you go off
and put something before God… OH MY GOODNESS! You cheated on God!! “Oh.. my…
gosh.. are you a Christian??” “what? Who me??? Noooo I don’t want anything to
do with them!” WHAT?!?! You just stabbed God right in the back… and after all
he’s done for you!
I think you get my point… faithfulness
is the key to Christianity, to a close relationship to God, and to your
everyday life as well.
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
Have faith! That’s it! Do you think you are
being unfaithful to God or you just don’t have faith in Him any more? Well only
you can get yourself straight. We can’t help you with that part… Here’s a tip.
Ask God what He thinks, what you can do. Spend time with Him, get to know Him
better, get rid of an everyday distraction once and a while if you need to!
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord, I thank you that I can have
faith in you and that you will always have faith in me. I know that you will
never let me down, and that you will always be there for me when I need you.
Amen.
**********
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
John 4:23 – God’s Word
Indeed the time is coming, and it is now
here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The
Father is looking for people like that to worship him.
Psalm 150:3-6
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre,
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and
pipe,
Praise Him with loud cymbals,
Praise Him with resounding cymbals,
Let everything that has breath praise the
Lord.
2 Samuel 6:14
And David was dancing before the Lord with
all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod.
Revelation 19:5
And a voice came from the throne saying
“Give praise to our God all you his bond-servants, you who fear Him, great and
small.”
Psalm 105:1-5
Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; known His deeds among the
peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory
in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD! Seek the
LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works
which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
(= THINK IT OVER =)
There’s a difference between how people
worshipped in the Old Testament and how we worship now. In the Old, the Spirit of
God lived in the temple. Now, it’s alive and the Spirit lives inside us. We can
now worship God wherever we please because He lives within us.
Lots of people have trouble finding the
worship that is best for them. Just as God created all of His people differently,
he also created different ways to worship so that each of would be correctly
suited. In Psalm 105:1-5 there are 10 different ways you can
worship God
1) Oh, give thanks to the LORD!
2)
Call upon His name;
3)
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
4)
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
5)
Talk of all His wondrous works!
6)
Glory in His holy name;
7)
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!
8)
Seek the LORD and His strength;
9)
Seek His face evermore!
10) Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
Psalms 100:2 lists two other ways of
worship: "Serve the LORD
with gladness; Come before His presence with singing."
When we praise God it’s almost like
we’re thanking Him. It’s how we show our joy to the Lord. We praise Him for who
He is and for what He has done. True praise comes from a sincere realization of
who God really is.
Last night I was going through some
things with a couple of friends, and it really burdened me and touched my heart
at the same time. So today while everyone was out of the house I went into the
living room put a CD in started praying, then played the music loudly and just
praised my heart out. You know there are times when you worship… but then there
are those time when you WORSHIP. This was one of those WORSHIP times. My heart
was really going out to something I was dealing with and I was very serious
about getting this off my chest! I was there singing, dancing, and lifting my
hands, praying in tongues, shouting everything! I was so serious that the night
before God even laid upon my heart to fast for half of the day. Then while I
was just praising him asking him to take care of my needs and thanking him for
always listening, he answered my prayers. It wasn’t any kind of audible voice
but he touched me it literally felt like he reach into my chest and touched my
heart. I started weeping and praying! THAT’S what God wants to do for you. He
wants you to be broken before him in praise and awe of who he is. He wants to
touch you and show him self to you. So just push the world away and do what
you’ve been waiting to do for a while. Worship God.
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
Today we challenge you to spend some time
praising God. Go somewhere completely private where nobody will distract you.
Your shower or closet if you have to! First spend some time simply praising God
for who He is and what He’s done. Then worship Him- sing a song of worship to
show Him your love. While doing this push everything else, all of the problems
in your life, aside so you can focus on God and only God.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord, I thank you for who you are
and what you have done in my life, I want to truly worship you and feel you
touching my heart. I want to be a broken vessel before you Lord. Open me up to
praise you for who you really are. Amen.
**********
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
Leviticus
20:7 NLT
Live
holy lives, be holy because I am the Lord your God.
Romans
12:2
And do
not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God.
Proverbs
5:21-23
Each
person’s ways are clearly seen by the Lord and he surveys all his actions. A
wicked person will be trapped by his own wrongs, and he will be caught in the
ropes of his own sin. He will die for his lack of discipline and stumble around
because of his great stupidity.
(= THINK IT OVER =)
God
calls us to live holy lives. Most of the time this seems impossible! You go
around sometimes not even noticing when you are sinning and sometimes even when
you do notice you do it anyways! I know I’m not perfect, heck, I mess up a lot,
but that doesn’t mean that God has called me to live to a higher standard. I
need to strive to come up to that standard that He has set for all of our
lives. There may be some divine reason that we can’t understand for him calling
us to live holy and perfect lives. An obvious reason is that we will stay out
of trouble! There are others that have to do with mental health! Yeah mental
health… you ever notice how when you do something you know wasn’t exactly
“holy”… yeah that.. it sticks around with you for a while and you can’t seem to
get it out of your mind. You feel terrible and once you feel horrible in your
head it starts to spread to your physical body! Being unholy can do damage to
you spiritual life as well. We all need to work on this subject. It’s an
extremely hard one! One that I struggle with all the time! One thing that I
have noticed personally is that your flesh is extremely weak. If God weren’t
there to help me life would be a disaster. There is a verse in the Bible that
says, “the Spirit is willing, but the body is weak” that verse is sooo true, Don’t
you think? I can look back at many times in my life where my flesh has failed
me. (I’m sure a lot of you can understand what I’m talking about, if not then
praise God you’re perfect.) Well here’s the truth, if you can’t think of a weak
point in your life then you are lying to yourself. Wake up and face the fact,
you aren’t perfect, so stop acting like it. God doesn’t want you to think you
are perfect. God wants you TRY to live up to his standards but the only reason
he wants you to do that is so that HE CAN HELP YOU. Yeah sounds a little weird…
I laughed when God told me that too. Why would he set such a high standard if
he knew we could never live up to it with out him? He loves us so much that he
wants to help us everyday in any way he can, he wants us to depend on him, he
doesn’t want us to be independent!
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
Strive
to be holy.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear
Lord I thank you that you are all-forgiving. Give me what it takes to live a
holy life. In Jesus name, amen.
**********
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
Mark 3:35 NASB
"For
whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."
1 Peter 3:17 NASB
For it is better,
if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than
for doing what is wrong.
John 5:30 NASB
I can do
nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just,
because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Psalm 40:8 NASB
I delight to do
Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart."
(= THINK IT OVER =)
How many
times have you prayed to God for an answer to a question? God answers your
question, but not the way you’d like. Do you usually follow what God wants
instead of your own wants? This is what we’re going to talk about this week –
doing God’s will above your own. When looking in a concordance I found a ton of
verses about this, but we wanted to narrow it down a little.
Think of your
and God’s relationship as a parent-child relationship. God, being the parent,
has been around quite a bit longer. He knows what’s what. So, when he tells us
not to touch the strange dog and to keep our hands off the hot stove, don’t you
think we ought to listen? Sadly enough,
most of us don’t settle for the ‘no’. Not initially. As humans we have to go
through the trial and error process, being we need to get bit by the dog and
burned by the stove before we will learn.
So, now that
we’ve established the fact that God really does know what He’s talking about,
let’s move on to His will. Everything He tells us to do is for the good. I’m
not sure exactly how many times we’ll go through that trial and error process
before we understand this.
I realize
that it’s not always easy to do God’s will ahead of your own. As a matter of
fact, it can be one of the harder things to do in life.
If God tells
you to swim across a river instead of crossing the bridge just a few feet away,
you might say, “No, I don’t want to get wet, and I’m not a good swimmer, I
would much rather take that bridge.” So you proceed to take the bridge, and it
breaks as you are walking across it, you land funny in the shallow water and
twist your ankle. Oops, maybe you should have just swum across!
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
We challenge you to take God’s word for it.
Just once. I don’t know which word to take… but take one of them He gave you
hundreds. See how it turns out. I have a hard time with doing it as well, so
this can be something we will work on together.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord, I thank you for giving me a
way. (Even if I chose to find out the hard way anyways.) You know more than I
do and can see the road ahead and thank you for warning me ahead of time and
teaching me in which way to go. In Jesus’ name, amen.
**********
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
John 15:13
Greater love
has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
You are My friends
if you do whatever I command you.
No longer do I
call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I
have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made
known to you.
Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves
at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 18:24
A man of many
companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a
brother.
(= THINK IT OVER =)
Ah, friends. Without these, life would
be pretty dull. As I look around at the friends God has given me I am shown how
much God really does know what He’s doing. He knew that we would need
companions. He knew this way back in the days of Adam and Eve. Adam was lonely
so God gave him Eve – a friend, someone to keep him company, someone to stay by
his side no matter what, someone to laugh with, and cry with, and to just be
there.
At times in your life, a friend can
keep you ALIVE. A real friend is there to support you and help you through
everything you are dealing with. Someone you can go to at any time to talk to.
True friends are un-conditional. UN-CONDITIONAL do you know what that means?
The dictionary says: without conditions, absolute. And conditions can include,
your new car, big pool, or good looks. So if you lost everything you owned,
your true friend will still be there for you, while your conditional
friend would leave you in the dust all to yourself. I don’t know about you, but
I would like to have a true friend more than one that is conditional. Most
importantly when you have a friend, is that you make sure that you are being a
true friend to them as well. Be like Jesus was to his friends take the position
of a servant!
Did you know that Jesus calls us
friends? I for one, feel very honored
to be given a title that great. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay
down one’s life for his friends. So put a friend ahead of yourself. Be there
for them – even when you would rather be doing something else. To have a REAL
friendship, both people need to be willing to do this.
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
I have a real assignment for you this week.
Don’t get lazy and not do it… this can help you a lot!
You are going to write about your idea of a
perfect friend.
Get out a piece of paper and a pen. At the
top of the page write “My Perfect Friend”. Start off by explaining character
qualities you want your friend to have. (my friend is loving, kind, selfless,
loyal… etc) Be creative and put your heart into it. Make it a couple of
sentences long it doesn’t need to be an essay. End it with a creative sentence
like “This is a friend everyone should have.” (You can even use that if you
want, but be inventive.) Read it over and check for errors. You can share it
with someone you know if you like it enough. Now comes the part where you have
to really think. At the beginning where you probably put, “The perfect friend
would be…” say, “To my friends I am…” does it fit? Are you your idea of a
“perfect” friend? Work on your perfect friend example and try to be the best
friend you can be by your own idea of a perfect friend.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord, please help us all to be
good friends to the ones that we already have. Help us to build friendships
like Jesus did, by humbling himself below everyone else. Thank you for blessing
us with all the friends that you have placed in our lives. In Jesus’ name,
amen.
**********
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
Ephesians 6:1-4
Children, obey
your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
HONOR YOUR FATHER
AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), SO THAT IT MAY BE
WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.
Fathers, do not
provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and
instruction of the Lord.
Proverbs 10:1
The proverbs of
Solomon.
A wise son
makes a father glad,
But a foolish
son is a grief to his mother.
Colossians 3:20
Children, be
obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.
2 Timothy
2:22-24
Now flee from
youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who
call on the Lord from a pure heart.
But refuse
foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.
The Lord's
bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach,
patient when wronged,
(= THINK IT OVER =)
Who knew that the Bible gave family
counseling? Well, we should have figured. It has the answers to EVERYTHING… and
then some.
Last week we talked about friends, and
how they’re very necessary to most people. Well, in my experience family is
even more precious. This doesn’t apply to every person, but hopefully it does
for the majority. In most cases, we live with some of our family, and since we
end up spending so much time with these people they often get on our
nerves.
I know that when a lot of you saw the
verse that says, “obey your parents…. You will live a long life” you said, “oh
man I’m gonna die when I’m 30!” I know I did.
2 Timothy lets us know that we need to
give up our silly fights. We need to be patient and pursue righteousness,
faith, love and peace. We have to “refuse foolish and ignorant speculations,
knowing that they produce quarrels.”
Nope, it’s not much fun. Sometimes you
come home after a long, bad day. All you really want to do is take it out on
someone. Well, don’t do that. There are plenty of other techniques that help
you vent your anger.
Ephesians, Proverbs, and Colossians all
talk about obeying your parents. Honor them, don’t hurt them, and be obedient.
Even if you and your parents/guardians, don’t get along well, that doesn’t mean
you can completely disobey them. God is our Supreme Father and we all have to
listen to Him and His Word before anything else. So, if He tells us that we
need to be obedient to the people He has temporarily set above us, then you
know we have to do it.
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
You ever have one of those times where you
know that you really appreciate your family, but you never let them know? Take
the time to make a couple of thank you notes sometime SOON. Let them know how
much you really appreciate them. If you are having a lot of family problems and
don’t really feel like you appreciate them, don’t give up! Pick out SOMETHING
that you like about one of your family members and thank them for that. When
you find the positive and let it be known, it will make things feel a little
better and bring people a little closer.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord, I thank you for my family, it
may be picture perfect, or small, or broken, but no matter what, I know that
you have placed me in this one for a purpose. I thank you that no matter the
religious situation of this family I always have my spiritual family. I thank
you that I have people to run to when I need comfort. In Jesus’ name, amen.
**********
><> FROM THE TEXT <><
Proverbs 27:6
God’s Word
Wounds made by
a friend are intended to help, but an enemies kisses are too much to bear.
Ephesians 4:2-3
NLT
Be humble and
gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowances for each other’s faults
because of our love. Always keep yourselves united in the spirit, and bind
yourselves together with peace.
Luke 6:31
Jesus said, “Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Proverbs 16:28
God’s Word
A devious
person spreads quarrels. A gossip separates the closest of friends.
Proverbs 20:19
God’s Word
Whoever goes
around as a gossip tells secrets. Do not associate with a person whose mouth is
always open.
Psalms 34:13
God’s Word
Keep your
tongue from saying evil things and your lips from speaking deceitful things.
Proverbs 17:4
God’s Word
An evildoer
pays attention to wicked lips. A liar opens his ears to a slanderous tongue.
Exodus 23:1
{The Lord
continued,}”Never spread false rumors. Don’t join forces with wicked people by
giving false testimony.
Matthew 12:36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for Every careless word they have spoken.Proverbs 11:9With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escape.Proverbs 18:8The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's Inmost parts.
(= THINK IT OVER =)
Have you ever had someone gossip about
you? Have you gossiped about someone yourself? I’m pretty sure you can answer,
“yes” to both of those questions. Did you see how many adjectives these verses
used to describe gossip and people who gossip? Devious, evil, deceitful,
wicked, slanderous, Those are horrible adjectives don’t you think? You remember
the other day when you were talking about that girl to your friend; how you
hated everything she does or says and can’t stand to look at her? Do you
realize that this is exactly what the Bible is talking about? Paul said in
Ephesians to just DEAL WITH EACH OTHER! We are all different and there will be
people you can’t stand, but we need to
accept those differences and get on
with our lives.
Words
are so incredibly powerful. There's an old saying that goes: "Sticks and
stones
may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
That
is a bunch of bologna!! As far as I'm concerned, that saying is completely
untrue.
Words can hurt way worse than some physical things. Gossip can hurt
way
worse than physical things.
Next
time you consider saying anything about anyone remember this- gossip
almost
never stays with just one person. It gets around to everyone - the person
it's
about, the friends of the person it's about. Unfortunately a lot of the time
the
friends
will believe this gossip and this friendship will get broken up because a
bunch
of stupid lies. I mean, hopefully the friendship is a little tighter than that,
but
either way friendships can and do get broken up over silly things… like
gossip.
I
know that I personally avoid people who tell me too much. I will rarely if ever
tell
them anything too important. Proverbs lets me
know that I need avoid people
that
talk too much because they will break your trust. Why on earth would I
choose
to get close to someone who is always trashing their friends and telling
everyone's
secrets?
Did
you know that one day we're going to be judged by what we say? We are
going
to have to give an account for the things we've said. Isn't that scary? It's
just
the fact that one day we're going to be sitting next to God, a.k.a. perfection,
and we're going to have to explain why we
thought it would be okay to make fun
of
Suzie Q's appearance. I
can’t say I am totally innocent though. There are a lot of people I don’t get
along with or can’t stand, and I need to stop too! This is going to have to be something everyone needs to work on.
Even the holiest people you know have their times of gossip.
Let me clear up one thing for you…
Venting is not gossip. When you have a close friend or family member that you
need to just talk to and complain to about people for a moment, that’s ok! But
when you go to every person you know and complain about the same people over
and over again: that’s gossip. So catch yourself doing this. We all have bad
days, but your day isn’t going to go better by complaining about people.
“What if I am the victim of the gossip?
What do I do?” Ahh, good question. You find out who started the rumor and you
go talk to them! There has to be some reason they started it. Whether it
was so fit in, or to get you angry, there was a reason. Most of the time, you
know the person that did it as well! I can’t think of a time someone I didn’t
know started to gossip about me, unless they had heard rumors from people who
did know me first. So my complaint wouldn’t be with the person who didn’t know
me, it would be with the person that they heard it from. You guys, we can’t
keep this cycle of gossip going on forever. It’s getting annoying! So, stop
gossiping!
*&* TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE *&*
Have you started a rumor about someone, do
you remember gossiping about someone today? We can’t fix all the damage we have
done, but we can try to heal the broken friendships that come as a result of
gossip. Trace your gossiping steps and go to the person you talked about and
set things straight.
(-.-) PRAY ABOUT IT (-.-)
Dear Lord, I ask that you will help me
not to gossip anymore. Gossip is ruining friendships all around the world, and
I realize that it is breaking your heart. You want us all to live in peace and
harmony, but it just isn’t happening! I pray that you will help me to keep my
mouth shut when it needs to be and to control my outbursts of gossip. In Jesus’
name, amen.
**********