Daily Bible Verse

Faith enabled Moses to choose God’s will, for although he was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he refused to make that his identity, – Hebrews 11:24

The issue of identity is something that many teenagers struggle with. At school, you may not be sure what group you fit in with.  That might cause you to do or say things to get acceptance that you later regret.

Moses was no different. He too struggled with his identity. He had to decide did he fit in with Egypt and Pharaoh, or did he fit with Israel. It probably would have been easier to side with Egypt. He would have had lots of great clothes, friends and tons of good food. However, Moses decided instead to not make that his identity. He chose instead to follow after God.

Choosing to look to God for your identity is one of the best decisions you can make. If you base your identity on anything else than God you will always be unhappy. Anything other than God can change. Your friends could change. Your social status could change and if your identity is solely based on those things, you could be really shaken if something changes.

Instead, choose to look to God for identity. Let Him be the one to tell you your worth. When you base your identity on God and His plan for your life you’ll find true peace.

For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. – Galatians 3:3

There is this tree stump at the local ice cream place in my town that looks like a sheep. I remember getting out of my car the other day and staring and staring at what looked like a sheep under the tree at the ice cream place. I kept thinking why doesn’t that sheep move? What is it doing over there? Did someone lose it? It took me a few minutes of staring at it to realize that it was only a tree stump. What I thought I saw didn’t exist.

In life, a lot of the time what we see isn’t real. We look at ourselves in the mirror and see someone who is too fat or too shy. Maybe we see someone who struggles at school or battles lust. If we let it, that reflection of ourselves becomes reality to us and makes us feel bad about ourselves.

But what if that reflection of ourselves isn’t real? Yes, you might struggle with sin or schoolwork, but what if that didn’t have to define you? What if God wanted you to see beyond what you see in the mirror and rethink what you saw?

The truth is, God doesn’t look at you and only see shortcomings. God sees you through Jesus. And when He looks at you that way, you are enough. So today, determine to see yourself like God sees you. See your value to God. Realize that you’re important to God’s plan on the earth.

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy.  – Psalm 5:11 (NLT)

Have you noticed how easy it is to not be joyful? Maybe you’re worried if the boy in Chemistry class likes you and you see him talking to another girl and it makes you sad. Or perhaps you don’t get the solo in the choir and you feel so sad. It’s easy to let circumstances determine your happiness. This is bad because you can’t always control your circumstances.

Life isn’t always going to go your way, but you can choose joy in the midst of your circumstances. A good way to do this is by spending time in God’s presence. Do things like reading your Bible. Also, reminding yourself of how good God is can help you change your perspective.

Think of the times he’s protected you or walked with you through difficulty. As you love God and get close to Him, He can be your source of joy. Your life can be filled with joy if you choose to love God and get close to Him. Your circumstances might not always be perfect, but you can choose joy in the middle of what is going on around you.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.  – 1 Peter 1:6 (NLT)

Life has lots of ups and downs. There are days when you feel like everything is going great and others when it feels like your entire world is collapsing around you. Life can be really strange that way.

Today’s Bible verse gives us hope in discouragement. It shows us that there is always joy ahead. We can always find joy when we focus our attention on Jesus. He gives us hope for each day. Through Jesus, we know that our future is secure. We know that He paid the price for sin, sickness and eternal death. Jesus is our reason for joy and hope.

That’s why in the middle of the trials that we face we can have joy. It’s not that we’re happy about the trial but rather we take comfort in our hope. We know that Jesus will see us through whatever we’re facing. That’s what gives us joy. Jesus has been there already and He helps us make it through another day.

Today’s Truth: Jesus has already been through what you’re facing and tells you that you can make it another day.

So today regardless of what you’re facing, you can be encouraged. Jesus is your source of hope. Whether you’re experiencing one of life’s highs or one of the lows you can know that you have joy. It’s a joy that’s going to last because it’s based on what Jesus did and who we are in Him.

Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. – Hebrews 2:14 (NLT)

This week we’ve been talking a lot about contentment. We’ve focused on working to be content regardless of our circumstances.

Today, however, we’re going to look at why we can be content, even if things are not going the way we would have planned.

Hebrews 2:14 shows us that Jesus did something amazing when He died. He broke the power of the devil and the power of death. That is such amazing news. Why?

It means that even in the middle of all the uncertainty in the world around us, we know that Jesus broke the power of death and the devil. We don’t have to fear death because Jesus defeated it. We don’t have to fear the devil, Jesus defeated him.

So we can live free from fear, content because Jesus broke the power of death and the devil in our lives.

Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. – Romans 8:2 (NIV)

How do you feel when it’s Friday? Do you feel relieved? Maybe you know that you don’t have school for a few days and get the chance to get caught up on sleep and schoolwork. In a way, Friday is a type of freedom for students. You know that you have two days to relax and catch up.

The feeling you get on a Friday is only a small fraction of the freedom that you experience in Christ. Today’s verse tells us that we’ve been set free from sin and death. We are no longer bound by sin, we’re not held back by our sinful nature and it’s desires. Rather we’ve been set free. Sin no longer has a hold on us.

This freedom that we experience in Christ is way greater than any weekend, school break or holiday. It’s life changing. You’ve been made completely and totally free from the power of sin because of what Jesus did. That’s the most freeing news there is!