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What Dominos Can Teach Us About Our Faith

Dominos Photo Teaching Teenagers About Faith

I remember playing dominoes as a kid. I hated playing the game by the rules. Instead, I loved setting up all the dominos in a row in all sorts of fun patterns. Once I had the dominos set up, I’d knock the first one over and watch as the first one knocked over the second, the second knocked over the third. On and on the knocking over happened until all the dominos fell down. Knocking over dominos is really fun. Playing with dominos reminds me of Romans 10.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! – Romans 10:13-15

 

Each part of this scripture is like a domino. You’ve got to have one to knock down two, to knock down the third and so on. So what are these dominos?

Domino One  – To get saved you have to call on the name of the Lord.

This domino makes a lot of sense. If you want to get saved, you’ve got to ask Jesus to do it. You can’t rely on your works, good deeds or anything else. The Bible clearly states that it is Jesus who does the saving.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it – Eph 2:8-9 (NLT)

Salvation is a gift of grace. It’s not about what you’ve done, its all about who Jesus is. It’s all about asking Jesus to save you.  The great thing about this is that Jesus doesn’t make calling on him complicated. It’s simple, it’s just reaching out to Him by faith or belief. That’s where the next domino comes into play.

Domino Two – To call on Jesus you have to believe.

You have to believe in Jesus to call on Him for salvation. If you think that you’re saved by your works or any other way, there’s no need to call on Jesus. To call on Jesus, you’ve got to humble yourself and realize that without Jesus you can’t do enough good to get into heaven. You’ve got to firmly believe that Jesus is God’s son, and his sacrifice on the cross was the payment for your sin. Once you believe that, you’re able to call on Jesus to save you.

But that statement makes you wonder: How do you begin believing?

Domino Three – To believe in Jesus, you have to hear about Him.

If you haven’t heard about Jesus, how would you know that you should call on him, or believe in Him? You wouldn’t. You’ve got to build belief in Jesus by hearing about Him. Think about it, the more you hear about a great movie, the more you want to go see it. When you hear about something good it makes you want to try it. The same is true about Jesus to develop the faith to believe Him, you’ve got to hear about Him. You’ve got to learn that He’s good, that’s He is the only way to God.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. – Romans 10:17 (KJV)

So how do you begin to hear about Jesus?

Domino Four – To hear about Jesus, someone has to tell you about Him.

This about a new restaurant you’ve tried recently. What made you decide to try the new restaurant? Most likely, someone told you about it. Maybe a friend told you the new restaurant was really good and their review made you want to try it for yourself. The same is true with Jesus. If someone hadn’t told you about Jesus, you couldn’t have called on Him for salvation.

When you hear about the goodness of God, it makes you believe in Him and want to invite Him into your life.

So finally, how does someone tell others about Jesus?

Domino Five – Those who tell others about Jesus are sent.

The Bible tells us in Mark 16:15 that we are to go into our world and tell others about Jesus. As believers, we are called by God to tell others about who Jesus is.

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. – Mark 16:15 (NLT)

So take some time this week to think about this scripture. You’ve been called by God to tell others about Jesus. You are called to preach to people the message of salvation.

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As you tell others, they will hear the message, then they have the option to believe and finally call on Jesus to be saved. But the process starts with you telling people about Jesus. If you don’t open your mouth, then other people won’t have the opportunity to hear the gospel. It’s up to you to share with those around you. You sharing salvation with those around you can cause a great domino effect. You could cause someone you know and care for to get saved and to spend eternity with Jesus.

So what are you waiting for? Begin sharing Jesus with others today!

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Three Steps To Love Difficult People

Teen Devotion - 3 Steps to Love Difficult PeopleHow many times do you struggle to love someone who is difficult to you? I remember I used to ride the bus to school and one girl always seemed to go out of her way to be mean to others. No matter what I did or said, she always seemed to have it out for me. From calling me mean names to making comments about my clothing she was one of meanest people I had ever met.

Loving someone like this girl can be really difficult. People who are unkind are hard to love. So how do we do it? How do we handle all the difficult people and difficult personalities?

Step One – Realize Their Value to God

Regardless of how that person treats you, they have value to God. They were created for a purpose, and even if they’re far from God, God loves them and wants to have a relationship with them.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous–how well I know it. – Psalm 139:14 (NLT)

God loves difficult people. He might not approve their actions but He loves them and wants a relationship with them. When you realize that they’re important to God it helps you be able to love them better.

Step Two – Realize Your Value To God

Just like the difficult person has value to God, you have value to him too. Never let another person and how they treat you determine your value. If you place your worth in how others treat you or what they think of you, you’ll always come up short.

Your value should be firmly planted in what God says about you. Just because someone isn’t kind to you doesn’t mean that you’re not important. You have value to God and His opinion is the one that counts.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! – Psalm 139:17

God is thinking about you. That shows your value to God. You’re important to Him. He loves you and knows you and wants the best for you. Choose to believe the value God places on your life.

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Step Three – Choose to Love

Regardless of how the mean person is treating you, you can choose to love them. They might not be right in how they treat you, but you can choose to love them. Ask God to show you ways to get along with them better. And choose to treat them with respect even when they aren’t doing the right thing to you.

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. – John 13:35

Choose to love others. Show the world the love of Jesus by loving others. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be best friends with people who are mean, but you don’t have to return their meanness with meanness. You can love them, pray for them, and do good to them.

If you’re a youth leader, here are some discussion questions you can use with your youth group.

 

 

4 Truths About Habits

Teen Devotion About HabitsAs a teenager, you might not really think about your habits much. But, you probably have tons of habits. You might have a habit of getting up in the morning a certain way. Or a habit of eating something a certain way.

I have this crazy habit of eating Nutter Butter cookies. I take two cookies, open each cookie sandwich up, and scrape out the peanut butter. I then re-stack the cookie using only two of the four cookies and all of the peanut butter filling. This makes a mountain of a cookie with lots of good peanut butter filling. Its so good!

Sometimes, habits can be weird, like how I eat Nutter Butter cookies. Other habits are boring and some habits are good and others are bad. Regardless of how habits are characterized, let’s look at a few things that habits have in common.

Truth One – Habits are Hard to Break.

Habits can be really hard to break, especially if you’ve been doing them for a long time. Maybe you have a habit of cracking your knuckles and it drives your mom crazy. So you try really hard to quit, but it seems like you always forget and crack them anyway. Habits are tough to break. Over time, they’ve become a part of who you are and it makes it much harder to break them when you find a bad one.

A bad habit never disappears miraculously. It’s an undo-it-yourself project.  – Abigail Van Buren

Have you ever had a habit that was really hard to break?

To break a habit, it takes a lot of hard work, but if you decide to do it and are determined, you can break any habit. Also, don’t discount God’s help in breaking a habit. Ask God for wisdom and he’ll show you creative ways you can break your habit.

The more bad habits you kick when you’re young, the freer and more fun you’ll have as you get older. Don’t waste any time, start working on those bad habits today!

Truth Two – Habits are hard work

Good habits don’t just appear in your life. As awesome as that would be, habits don’t just show up in your life. You’ve got to choose to work on the habits you’d like to have.

If you want to be more generous, you’ve got to spend time working on generosity. If you want to be more patient, you’ve got to practice patience in your life. A good way to do this, is to find some verses in the Bible that deal with the habit you’d like to see in your life. Read the verses and say the verses out loud daily, and put a copy of the verse in your locker at school or mirror at home. Getting God’s word into your heart is a good way to develop good habits.

Another practical thing you can do is to find some resources to develop the habit in your life. Perhaps your library has a book on your habit, or you can spend some time searching online to find tips to develop the habit. You can gain a lot of insight by simply looking for resources designed to help you develop good habits.

Regardless of how you develop the new habit, you need to realize that good habits aren’t going to just show up in your life. Just like an athlete has to practice hard to become good at their sport, you’ve got to spend time practicing and developing good habits in your life. Good habits don’t happen by chance, rather they’re developed through hard work and discipline.

Truth Three – Habits  determine your destination.

Just because you want to get a certain level of success in life doesn’t mean that it will happen. Just desiring something will never get you to where you want to go. Your destination in life is determined each day by the habits you keep.

Habit is a cable; we weave a thread each day, and at last we cannot break it. -Horace Mann

You’ve got to put in work to get to where you want to go in life. High achievement doesn’t happen automatically. You’ve got to put some time in to developing habits that will help you reach the destination you desire in life.

If you want to do well in sports there are certain habits you must develop to get you there. If you never show up for practice and don’t eat right, you’ll never achieve as much as those who do. To be good at something, you’ve got to develop the habits you need for success.

This is why its so important to develop good habits while you’re young. As you get older, habits become harder to break. It also becomes harder to reach your destination. Choose to develop habits that will help you reach your goals.

Habits help you reach your dreams.

If you have a dream of becoming a musician, then begin to develop good habits of practicing music. If you want to be a writer, begin writing a little bit every night before you go to bed. Whatever it is that you dream of doing, the habits you work on now matter. They will take you toward your dreams or away from them.

People ruin their lives with the foolish things they do, and then they blame theLord for it.  – Proverbs 19:3 (ERV)

Habits are really important. So choose today to make good habits in your life. Choose to not let life just pass you by, but rather put in the effort to develop good habits today.

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If you’d like to discuss this devotion with your youth group, we’ve got a PDF handout of discussion questions ready for you. Click below to add to cart.

What Does The Bible Say About Anxiety?

Teen Devotion on AnxietyCan you think of times in your life when your parents would ask you what you learned at school or church. Most likely they were being really nice, but for some reason, you wanted to go to your room to be alone, or listen to music. You just wanted to be away from your parents and their questions. Because you wanted to get away, when your mom asked you, “What did you learn at school today?” You might have said, “Nothing”, and ran to your room. Or perhaps your dad asked, what did you do with your friends last night, and you said, “Nothing”.

This devotion is a tribute to those moments when you told your parents you learned nothing at school or did nothing with your friends. So when your mom asks you what you learned in this devotion, you can honestly say, “Nothing”.

To learn about nothing in this devotion, let’s check out a scripture about nothing that’s found in Philippians 4:6.

Be anxious for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. – Phil 4:6 (Jubilee)

Being Anxious Is Easy

The first part of this verse is easy. It tells us to be anxious. And for me, being anxious is really easy. I don’t have to try to be anxious, I can do it naturally. Being anxious is almost like second nature to me. You might have more homework than you have time to do, or you can see all the bad things going on in the world and it can become so easy to be anxious. You might even feel like you have a really good reason to be anxious.

Even if we feel like we’re justified in being anxious, this Bible verse tells us to be anxious for nothing. How is that even possible? With all the stress in our lives, with all the craziness going on in the world, how can we live our lives not being anxious?

Can We Really Live Our Lives Without Anxiety?

The end of this Bible verse gives us a clue how we can do this. It tells us in everything with prayer and thanksgiving, let our requests be known to God. So when we’re faced with anxiety, we’re to pray and to be thankful.

I know in my life, a lot of my anxiety comes from not being thankful. I can be stressed out that I have all state choir and band competitions next weekend, or I can be thankful that I have a God given musical ability. I can be anxious that I might not get my paper written in time or I can be thankful that I have the opportunity to go to school and get an education. When we are thankful, it makes all the difference. It’s hard to be anxious when you’re always being thankful.

Your Approach To Anxiety Matters

I remember a time when I was trying to learn how to skip rocks on water. As hard as I tried, I wasn’t able to make the rock skip. My best friend however, was a master at skipping rocks. He was able to make rocks skip four or five times across the surface of the water. I was so jealous at my friend’s ability to skip rocks, that one day I asked him how he did it.

He showed me a way to hold the rock that allowed me to get my rocks to skip across the water several times. My friend had what I needed, which was to change my approach to skipping rocks. Once my approach changed, I was able to skip rocks successfully.

How many times are we anxious because we need to approach things differently?

Living a life free from anxiety isn’t impossible, however, we may need to change our approach to do it successfully.

How Do We Change Our Approach To Anxiety?

So how do we do it? How do we change our approach to anxiety? I think it starts with really believing that God cares about you. It’s easy to think in the midst of a difficult situation that God forgot about you or that God doesn’t care. In reality nothing could be further from the truth.

God cares about you and wants to walk with you through any situation and circumstance you face. So don’t believe the lie that God doesn’t care about you. He cares about you so much. He wants you to be able to be anxious for nothing because you know that God will take care of you.

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We Can Be Anxious For Nothing

We don’t have to life our lives full of anxiety. Instead we can do what Phil 4:6 says be anxious, for nothing. We can choose to pray and be thankful in the midst of bad situations and circumstances. As we do that, we’ll experience God’s peace and love.

So dare to believe that God cares about you. Dare to live your life free from anxiety because you know that there’s nothing that God wouldn’t do for you!

If you’d like to discuss this devotion with your youth group, we’ve got a PDF handout of discussion questions ready for you. Click below to add to cart.

3 Things Your Phone Teaches About the Power of Thoughts

Teen and Youth Devotion on The Power of Your Thoughts

If you’re like most teenagers, you love taking pictures with your iPod, camera, or phone. Each picture you take shows a piece of your life. And some of these are so great, you have to share them on social media or Snapchat so all your friends can see.

I want you to imagine that every thought you have in a day is like a picture stored on your phone. Some you look at and decide “that wasn’t too great- I look stupid” and hit delete.

Did you know that your thoughts are similar to photos? They contain an image. Some thoughts you should choose to keep and others you choose delete. Every day you can scroll through your thoughts and ask yourself “is this thought worth keeping?” So with that in mind, here’s some tips to help you develop good mental pictures:

1 – Bad Thoughts Can Be Deleted

If you have a thought that is a negative image, one that doesn’t make you smile, then delete it from your thinking.

Many times, we don’t take any time to think about what we think about. Getting into the habit of deleting bad thoughts is important because our self-image is based upon how we think about ourselves.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. – Phil 4:8 (NLT)

The Bible talks about fixing your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure and admirable. If you’re continually thinking thoughts that aren’t good according to this verse’s standard, you should be deleting them. Don’t spend tons of time thinking about things that aren’t good. Instead delete those thoughts and replace them with good thoughts.

2 – Thoughts Can Be Shared.

Each time you take a picture on your phone you have the choice to share it or not. If you really like how you look, most likely, you’ll choose to share it on some social media platform. You want others to see what you’re up to and interact with what you shared.

As you know, everything you post on social media sites reflects you. It’s like a billboard that tells everybody what you are thinking and doing. So ask yourself, what image are you portraying? Are you posting your fears, your emotions, your hang-ups?

The things you post and speak reflect your thoughts. If you’re constantly speaking negative things and posting negative things, it’s a reflection what you’re thinking about. If you wonder how people see you, just check out what you’re sharing with others.

There’s nothing wrong with sharing your thoughts, but what you say and share often affects your attitude. If you’re always speaking and sharing negative things, often your attitude and outlook will follow. Your attitude is determined by what you think about. Spend time thinking good things and your outlook and attitude will follow.

There’s power in sharing positive things and avoiding spending too much time talking and sharing things that are negative.

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Tip #3 – Thoughts = Success

The images you look at daily determine your success online and in life. If you always look at the images where you don’t look good, you’ll begin to believe that you’re ugly or don’t measure up. What you look at on your phone matters.

In the same way, your thoughts are linked to what you look at and listen to. Take some time to examine what you’re letting your eyes and ears feast on. If you’re having a hard time keeping your thoughts positive, pay attention to what you’re looking at and listening to.

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If you want to propel your life forward, begin to examine what you’re thinking about. If you have a thought isn’t a good one don’t hesitate…delete it from your thinking. Thinking good thoughts will help you achieve success.

“We take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. ” – 2 Corinthians 10:5 (TEV)

Pray: Father, help me listen to my thoughts more and delete those that I don’t want developed in me. Help me not always say what I feel, but instead say what I want in my life and what will help other people. Help me to come to You with my hurts and feelings in prayer. Then what others hear from me will encourage them.

Read: Battlefield of the Mind for Teens: Winning the Battle in Your Mind by Joyce Meyer

If you’re leading a group for students, check out these discussion questions. They go along with this devotion and will help reinforce what this devotion is all about!

3 Practical Ways to Deal With Stress

3 Practical Ways Youth Devotion Teen Devotion on Stress

Stress isn’t just something that adults deal with. As a teenager, you face lots of stressful situations every day. You might be stressed out because of something going on at school or home. Perhaps you’re in a stressful relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend. No matter what the source of your stress is, this devotion is focused on helping you overcome stress in healthy ways.

1 – Don’t Deal With Stress Alone

The best thing to do about stress is realize one simple truth: You weren’t built to deal with stress alone. You aren’t expected to deal with hard situations on your own. God wants to help you deal with the stressful situations that you face.

O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. – Jer. 10:23

This scripture describes it so perfectly. We aren’t built to do things on our own and in our own strength. We need God’s help to live our day-to-day lives. We need to trust that God has our back in every situation and circumstance that we face. When we get stressed out, we should go to God and ask for his help. He’s just waiting for us to ask for His help.

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2 – Look for the Cause of Your Stress

Look for the cause of your stress. Stress can come for a lot of reasons. For example, maybe you’ve committed yourself to too many things. You can’t realistically do soccer, volleyball, cheer, choir, band, yearbook and lead youth group Bible study. If you’re stressed out because you’ve overcommitted, then look for ways to get out of an activity or two. Even though being involved in a lot of things is fun, if it’s causing you too much stress, it isn’t worth it.

Perhaps you’re stressed out because of a bad relationship. If so, pray for wisdom to know how to deal with the person or situation.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. – James 1:5 (NLT)

Do some searching to see if you can find out what is causing you to be stressed. Then determine if there’s a way to handle the situation differently to help you be less stressed.

3 – Ask Advice From Other People

If you’re really stressed out about a situation or another person, it can be helpful to ask advice from someone else. Find a person who you feel you can trust and ask them their thoughts about your situation.

Many times, a wise friend, youth pastor or mentor can help put your situation into perspective. People that have gone through similar stressful situations can help give you advice and the encouragement you need to make it through stressful situations.

A fool thinks he needs no advice, but a wise man listens to others. – Proverbs 12:15 (TLB)

Remember that no matter what it is that is stressing you out, you can know that God wants to help you. It might be through the advice of a trusted friend, or through a God inspired idea. All you need to do is ask Him and he will be happy to help you out.

Pray: God, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I thank you that I don’t have to live my life in my own strength. I thank you that I can go to you when I get stressed out about things and you’re there to help me. I ask for your help today. Thanks. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If you’re a youth leader and you liked this devotion about stress, feel free to download a PDF of discussion questions based on this devotion.

Two Often Overlooked Secrets to Success at School

Youth and Teen Devotion - Two Often Overlooked Secrets to Success at School

Have you ever envied those people at school that just always seem to get good grades? It’s easy to watch them and think about how unfair it is that they are always getting good grades. There are moments when you feel like no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to do as well as they do. It can be easy to feel like their success is because they’re just naturally smart. And while it’s true that some people have a knack for book learning, there are ways to do better in school even if reading and writing isn’t your thing.

Let’s take a look at a couple of ways you can boost your grades and earn some brownie points with your teachers. The great thing about these is that they don’t require any extra IQ points at all!

  1. Show up.
    Yep, success at school is as simple as that. Show up to class. Everyday. Whether you feel like it or not.
    Simply showing up each day goes a long way towards success at school. And don’t only show up in person, but be there mentally as well. It’s easy to get sucked into passing notes around the classroom, or Snapchatting your friends, but if you want to do well in school you’ve got to pay attention. It’s amazing how many times a teacher will give you tips for a test that you miss if you’re not there or if you’re not paying attention. There’s power to just mentally participating in your class.
    Its amazing how much better you can do on tests, quizzes and assignments by simply mentally participating in class. It may be hard for you to focus on what makes up DNA or the quadratic equation. You might not find those topics that interesting, but force yourself to listen anyway. The more you listen and participate mentally, the better you’ll do in class. Its just that simple.
    Show up physically and show up mentally. If you’re there and focused you can guarantee you’ll start getting better grades!
  2. Communicate.
    This is huge. Communicate with your teachers. Let them know if you have a doctor’s appointment and will be missing class a few days ahead of time. Then get your missed classwork done quickly and turned in.
    It’s amazing how willing teachers will be to work with you, if you just communicate with them. Let them know if you’re not keeping up and ask them for tips, pointers and help. Ask if you can do extra work if you need to bring a grade up. Just keep the lines of communication open, and it can really help you out. When communicating, don’t wait until right before finals to get the help you need. Once you realize that you’re struggling, get the courage to go talk to your teacher. Ask them for any tips or help. Most teachers are eager to help you succeed.

Teen Mp3 download of success scriptures for teens

These two things will help you out a lot at school. If you show up to class each day and show your teachers that you’re trying your best they will be much more likely to help you out if you get behind or need extra help. If you haven’t been to class everyday or doing the work, you don’t really have much ground to stand on when asking your teacher for help. The best way to do well in school is to show up everyday and communicate!

Finally, don’t forget to ask for God’s help. He can give you wisdom if you need help in dealing with a difficult teacher or school situation. He’s got the answer for any situation you’re facing. Don’t be afraid to ask Him what you should do.

Related Youth Resources

Here’s a student resource that’s sure to knock your socks off! This mp3 is full of awesome scriptures to help you be a success at school. Get them into your heart and watch God help you become a success at school!

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What Twinkies Teach Us About Faith

Youth Group Teen Devotion on FaithTwinkies are a fun treat. They taste good, they’re light and fluffy, and that have that delicious creamy vanilla frosting center. Simply put, Twinkies are amazing. Can you imagine your life before you had your first Twinkie? If you’re like most people, you wouldn’t want to imagine something like that. But think about your life before you knew all about the awesome frosting center and it’s sugary goodness?

If you didn’t know Twinkies existed, how would you have heard about Twinkies? Perhaps one day you were hanging out with a friend and they began to tell you about how good Twinkies were. They talked about the texture, the flavor, and of course the vanilla frosting. More than likely, after hearing your friend describe a Twinkie, you’d want to head to the nearest store and try one out for yourself.

How Does Our Faith Come?

The idea of your friend telling you about Twinkies is a little like how faith works. After hearing about how good Twinkies are from a friend, your desire to eat a Twinkie grows. That’s a lot like how our faith in God grows. As we begin to hear about God and His goodness, we want to know more about Him and our faith grows.

So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. – Romans 10:17 (NLT)

The more you hear about Twinkies, the more you want one. The same is true for our faith. The more time we spend in God’s word, talking about God’s word, and thinking about God’s word the more our faith grows.

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Faith Is Taking God at His Word

What would make you believe that Twinkies were good? It would have to be a matter of trust. You’d have to trust that your friend was telling you the truth about how good Twinkies are. You might rely on the fact that your friend tells the truth or that they have good taste, but it really comes down to believing what your friend said about Twinkies was true.

That’s a lot like how faith works. Faith is just taking God at His word. Its trusting what God says above everything else. Just like you would trust your friend’s word that a Twinkie was a great snack, you have faith by trusting that what God says is true. Hebrews says it like this:

“The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.” – Hebrews 11:1 (Message)

Faith takes God at His word. When the Bible says something, having faith is believing what the Bible says no matter what it might look like around you. So the next time you rip open a package of Twinkies, remember that they can teach you a lot about faith!

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If you’re a youth leader and you liked this devotion, feel free to download a PDF of discussion questions based on this devotion.

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What Driver’s ED Can Teach You About Giving

Teen Devotion Youth Devotion What Driver's Ed Can Teach You About Giving Teen Devotion

I remember the day in driver’s ed where we finally got to drive the student driver cars. This wasn’t another day of sitting and watching videos or doing handouts about the proper stopping distance behind a stop sign. No. This was for real. We were getting to drive. It was all I could do to stay in my seat in the school’s cafeteria until my name was called to go drive. I watch classmate after classmate get up and leave with their driver’s ed instructor. Finally, my name was called and I was so excited because I was finally getting to drive.

I opened the door of my driver’s ed car. I sat down and tried to remember all the things the books had said we were supposed to do before leaving in the car. I fastened my seat belt and reached for the keys to start the car. But before I did, my driver’s ed teacher stopped me. He reminded me, “Check your mirrors! You always want to do that before you pull out.” There it was, the thing I had forgotten, to check my mirrors.

Checking your mirrors before pulling out in a car can help illustrate a point that will help us when it comes to giving. Its important to always remember to check your mirrors and make any adjustments necessary so you can see while you’re driving. In the same way, its important that we check our motives when we give money to God.

So why do we give? For some it might be to get recognition – maybe they want to impress someone. Others may feel obligated to give.  There are lots of reasons why people give but it’s always good to take a look at what God says about giving in the Bible.

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully – 2 Cor 9:7 (NLT)

This verse tells us several things about giving. It first tells us that we shouldn’t give reluctantly. You shouldn’t be giving but wish you weren’t doing it. You shouldn’t be giving because you feel pressured to do so. Those methods of giving don’t bless God.

God says in His word that He loves it when you give cheerfully. So next time you pull out your wallet or purse when its time to give, check your motives when you give. Just like you’d check the mirrors in your car before pulling out, check up on your motives. Decide to give because you love God and know that he wants the best for you.

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Choose today to start thinking about giving. Make giving a part of who you are, even as a student. Be saving money to give to your church or a missions project. Develop the habit of giving while you’re young, it will help you out in life.

Pray: God I thank you that I can give to you. I choose to have the right attitude when I give because you said in your word you love a cheerful giver. I thank you right now for the ability to give and choose to have the right motives when giving to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If you’re a youth group leader feel free to download our discussion questions based on this lesson.

 

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What Canoes Teach Us About Hope

Teen Devotion and Youth Group Lesson on Hope

When you’ve got a great talent or ability people will often ask you when you realized you were able to do your talent. I discovered my “talent”, or lack there of at the age of ten. I was at a summer camp with some friends and during a free time at the camp, a friend and I decided to take a canoe out on the lake. It was fun, we paddled and talked and had a great time. When we were about in the middle of the lake, we heard the camp’s bell. The bell was telling us that our free time was over and we needed to go to the next scheduled activity. 

My friend and I began trying to turn our canoe around. We realized in a few minutes that we weren’t able to turn the canoe around. We tried and tried and tried, but no matter how hard we tried we weren’t able to turn our canoe around. And in that moment, I realized how bad I was at steering a canoe.

In canoeing and in life there’s often times where we need to turn it around or we need to course correct. Sometimes we might see something coming up ahead and realize that we need to change our course. Or perhaps, we see a dream, goal or vision that God has for our lives but we don’t know how to get there.

How Do We Get There?

So how do we do it? How do we get from where we are now to where we want to be? How do we stay motivated and keep moving toward our goal even when our goal seems too far away and we begin to wonder if we can ever get there?

Hope is what keeps us focused and moving toward our God given dreams and goals. Hope is what motivates us when things get tough and we want to give up. In the Bible, the disciples faced a situation where they wanted to give up hope.

but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. – Luke 24:21 (NIV)

In this passage, the disciples were sharing their feelings and said they had hoped. They had given up on hope since Jesus had died. They were feeling really discouraged and didn’t know what to do next.

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How do you turn a bad situation around?

One of the most important things to do when you’re in a tough situation is to not give up on hope. Hope is very important to accomplishing your dreams and goals, so let’s look at a few reasons why.

Hope = Direction.

If you lose your hope, you lose all direction in life. If you were in a canoe and you dropped your paddle, you’d be in trouble. Without the paddle, you’d have nothing to steer you. Hope is the same for us in life. Without hope, we have nothing steering and driving us toward our goals and dreams in life. If we give up our hope, we give up our direction.

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Hope = Anchor.

When you’re boating an anchor is important. Without it, you could run aground or drift off course. An anchor helps keep you in place. In life, it’s no different. We need something secure and something to help hold us steady. A secure anchor for our lives is Jesus.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain – Hebrews 6:19 (NIV)

Many times in life our emotions, feelings and circumstances can try to drift us off course. We have to realize that if we lose hope, we lose our anchor.

Guard Your Hope.

When you’re canoeing it can make sense to take a dry bag with you. A dry bag is a safe place to put keys, books, maybe even food that you don’t want to get wet. Once this bag is sealed, it keeps important items from getting wet. Our hope is important. It’s something that needs to be guarded and kept safe. If we’re going to accomplish the dreams that God has put in our lives, we need to be sure to guard our hope.

What you put your hope IN matters.

If you were to try to hope in a canoe and paddle on carpet, you wouldn’t get very far. It would be hard work and really tough. However, if you were to put that same canoe into water and begin to paddle, it would be a lot easier. Why? What you put your canoe in matters. In life, it’s no different. What you put your hope in matters. You can put your hope in your friends, or in money, or lots of other things. Just be sure that what you put your hope in is solid. That it’s something that can see you through. In life, putting your hope in Jesus is a good choice. Jesus will never leave you or let you down. What you put your hope in matters.
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Hope can be resurrected.

Your situation isn’t too far gone for God. Your hope can be resurrected.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? – Luke 24:5

These women went back to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. They were looking back at what had been. The angel asked them why were you looking for the living among the dead. The angel was telling them that even though their hope (Jesus) was once dead, it had now been resurrected. They didn’t have to keep looking for it in the place of death. In the same way, our hope can be resurrected, if we put it in Jesus.

Hope is important as it is the motivation for you to reach your God given dreams. Always remember that your situation isn’t too hopeless for a resurrection. Your dream isn’t too far off for Jesus to help bring it to pass in your life. If you choose to keep hope alive, your situation is never too hopeless. If you trust in God and lean on Him as the source of your hope, you’ll never be disappointed and never be without true hope.

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If you’re a youth leader and would like discussion questions or a lesson outline and powerpoint, you can download them below.