Devotions for Teenagers and Youth

Three Steps To Love Difficult People

Posted on February 5, 2018

How 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.

[Tweet “You’re important to God. He knows you and wants the best for you – @studentdevos”]

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.

Youth Group Discussion Questions – 3 Steps to Love Difficult People
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Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – January 22

Posted on January 22, 2018

“Say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: When someone falls, he gets back up. When someone turns away from me, he returns – Jeremiah 8:4 (GW)

Falling is never easy. Sometimes, it hurts. Today’s Bible verse challenges us that when we fall, fail, or mess-up, that we should get back up.

Getting back up can be a really hard thing to do. You might have to overcome some fear of failing in an area. You might have to overcome some pride and ask for forgiveness. Regardless of what it is you need to do to get up after a fall, it’s in the getting back up that you are able to move forward.

[Tweet “When you fall, it’s getting up after that enables you to move forward – @studentdevos”]

Getting back up takes guts. You’ve got to put aside any fears, hurts, and negative emotions to get back up. It takes guts to face a friend that you’ve hurt and tell them sorry. It takes guts to stand up in front of your class and give a speech when you messed the last one up really bad. Getting back up takes guts, but it’s always worth it in the end.

So if you’ve experienced failure recently in any area, be encouraged. You’re not alone. Begin the process of getting back up and turning to God for help. God is always ready and able to help you whenever you need it!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – January 19

Posted on January 19, 2018

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, – Phil 2:10

The name of Jesus is powerful! What Jesus did on the cross and in the resurrection changed everything. Jesus won us the victory over death, hell and the grave. What Jesus did for us wasn’t a small thing.

Now, all of heaven, earth and hell know that name. Whether they believe in the name of Jesus as savior or not, they all know that name. That name is a powerful name.

[Tweet “There’s power in the name of Jesus – @studentdevos”]

Choose today to not take that name for granted. Choose to realize that the name of Jesus has power. If you call upon that name, it means salvation. The name of Jesus is a name that is greater than any other name. Today thank God for sending Jesus, the name above all other names!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – January 18

Posted on January 18, 2018

The man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” – Exodus 2:4

In this Bible verse we see that Moses failed. He did something really bad, he killed someone. Despite his sin, Moses didn’t let this failure define him for his entire life. Moses eventually lead the nation of Israel out of slavery and did many amazing things for God.

Like Moses, when you face a set back or failure, you have a choice. You can let that failure define and stop you. However, people who are successful, choose to view failure as being temporary. Failure can’t stop you unless you let it.

Who you are when you fail is just as important as who you are when you succeed. Failure is never final unless you let it be. Choose to be a person like Moses who is able to learn from your mistakes and go beyond them. Failures and mistakes happen to us all, however, if you treat them as a learning opportunity, they don’t have to be final in your life!

[Tweet “Failure is never final unless you choose to let it be. – @studentdevos”]

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Luke 1:37

Posted on January 1, 2018

For with God nothing shall be impossible.- Luke 1:37

It’s a new year, and you’re probably all geared up for all your new years resolutions. Maybe you want to spend less money, read your Bible more, or get better grades in Chemistry. Whatever your goals might be, it’s always good to get God involved in them.

If you set a goal to get better grades, then get God involved with it. Find some scriptures in the Bible about learning and choose to read and study those. As you get God involved and mix faith with your efforts, you’ll really see your goals succeed.

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God says that with Him nothing is impossible, so believe God this year. Choose to have faith that He will do what He says. Believe Him that He will bring your goals to pass and that with Him nothing is impossible!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 22

Posted on December 22, 2017

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

– Matthew 19:26 (NIV)

In today’s Bible verse, Jesus is talking about how to enter the kingdom of God. He makes it very clear that we can only do this through God’s ability, not in our own strength. There is no amount of good deeds or hard work that can make us right with God. We needed a savior, Jesus. Through Jesus, God made the impossible possible.

[Tweet “Through Jesus God made the impossible possible – @studentdevos”]

God wants to do the impossible in our lives, but we have to trust Him and believe that what He says is true. Today decide to trust in Jesus and know that if He promised it, it’s possible in our lives. Be encouraged that it’s not in our own ability but through His that these things are possible.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 21

Posted on December 21, 2017

but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. – Luke 2:10 (NLT)

The reason Jesus came was to bring good news to the world. What is this good news? It is that God wants to restore relationship between mankind and Himself. He wants peace between us and Him. God doesn’t want sin getting in the way of us having a relationship with Him.

This is why Jesus came, to remove the sin that separated mankind from truly knowing Him. The only way God could remove this sin was to have Jesus come as our perfect sacrifice. He came as a baby born of a women but His Father was God. By doing this, He could legally take our place on the cross and completely be made sin for us.

Thank God for Jesus! This is the good news of the Christmas story. Knowing this removes all fear and brings great joy to those who grasp an understanding of what Jesus did for them!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 19

Posted on December 19, 2017

Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the lord and turn away from evil. – Proverbs 3:7

In the Christmas season, it’s easy to get really busy. We get caught up in the excitement of presents, giving, and shopping. In all the busyness, it’s often easy to forget to include God in our daily lives. Many times when things are going good, we don’t really stop to include God in our day to day activities and decision making. If we’re not careful, we can fall into the trap of thinking that we’ve got everything together in our own ability.

However, God encourages us to not get busy and impressed with what we can do in our own strength. Instead we should be respecting God, spending time with him, and turning away from the things that keep us from Him. To do this, you might have to take a break from Snapchat or binge watching your favorite show, but spend some time this holiday season getting close to God.

[Tweet “Take some time this holiday season to get close to God – @studentdevos”]

Challenge yourself today to spend some time identifying any areas in your life where you’ve become impressed with what you can do by yourself. Choose to give those areas to God and to spend time getting to know God.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 18

Posted on December 18, 2017

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins. – 1 Peter 4:8

During a professional basketball game, there’s no confusion as to what players play for what team. Why? Because in professional basketball, each player wears a jersey. That jersey has the team logo on it. Each team member wears the same colors and logo. The jersey identifies them and tells others which team they play for.

In the same way, as Christians we should have an identifying characteristic. There shouldn’t be any confusion as to whether someone is a Christian or not, it should be evident.

The Bible tells us what our identifying characteristic should be, and it’s love. Love is what should make us different from everyone else. Love is about seeing people and valuing them like God would. It’s looking past what they look like and talk like. Love sees others like Jesus sees them and chooses to say they’re important. So decide today to love others, not in response to how they treat you, but because they have value to God.

[Tweet “Choose to love others, not based on how they treat you, but because they have value to God – @studentdevos”]

Have trouble dealing with mean people? Here are few tips for dealing with mean people that we’ve found helpful.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – December 8

Posted on December 8, 2017

For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.” – Romans 15:3 (NLT)

Jesus didn’t live His life here on earth to please Himself. He wasn’t using his awesome water walking skills to get more friends, or making extra cash by turning water into wine. Instead of doing things to please Himself, Jesus was selfless. He wasn’t intent on doing things that made Him happy.

Jesus had a mission and a purpose for His life. When He gave His life at the cross, He became sin and a curse for us. He took the punishment for sins that He never committed. He was totally just, yet took the punishment for the unjust. Jesus was selfless. He gave all He was so that we could become all He is.

[Tweet “Jesus gave all He was so that we could become all He is. – @studentdevos”]

How Jesus lived His life on earth should be an inspiration to us this Christmas season. We should be thankful to Him for what He did for us, but His life’s example should stir us to be more selfless. Everyday, there are people around us who need hope. They need to hear that they’re important to God. This Christmas season, will you get out of your comfort zone and reach out to those around you?

You could go visit the lady who lives near you that can’t get out. You could volunteer time at a food pantry, or at your church. You could tell a friend that their life matters to God. Whatever you do, let Jesus be your inspiration. Choose to reach out to someone around you in need today!

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