Devotions for Teenagers and Youth

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Psalm 4:8

Posted on November 13, 2017

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety. – Psalm 4:8 New International Version (NIV)

Now, many of us may lie down and sleep thinking of all the circumstances and problems in our lives and whether the following day is going to be different and solutions to them are going to be brought. There might be countless times where you’ve asked yourself why you’re surrounded by a large number of circumstances or whether the huge adversity you’re going through will end at any time. What’s more, you feel like you cannot find a way out of it.

The other day, I was at university with some mates; classes had already finished and we’d decided to have a get-together, afterwards. So we sat down on the grassy ground and a guy suggested that we could sing something from our church. And we did so and an another guy joined us by playing the guitar. That precise moment let me remember memories of my childhood. One summer morning, at the age of 13, I got up feeling that that day was going to differ from the others. Mom and dad had started arguing again and I was in the middle of the shouting among them. One week had gone by and they had decided to get divorced.

That was, for me, one of the most horrible and hard moments, and I’d never thought that I was going to be one of the children in the list of “Divorced Parents”. Honestly, I wasn’t able to assimilate what was going on at that very moment. The promises of God, we all regularly repeat like “ God’s in control”, “Trust in him”, “He’s going to get this problem fixed” among others seemed to be gone.

All of a sudden, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and let me understand that it was possible to get out of the current troubles in our lives. God managed to do so and this is demonstrated on the cross.
Have you ever imagined whether it could’ve been extremely hard for God to accept that his one and only son was going to be sacrificed? God is a father to all of us, and a father cares about his sons and daughters; he even cries for them.

Would you dare to let your son or daughter be sacrificed? If you thought of it, I think your answer would be, “No”. When God says he’s on your side and he encourages you to keep going is because he went through the hugest adversity ever, the death of his son who later rose again.

So, I’m here to encourage you and to say that God loves you, and he’s carrying you through the circumstances so that you don’t get hurt. Do not give up. Remember that circumstances are a excuse for God to bless your life in all aspects. Stay Still!

This is a guest post submitted by Lucas Beron. He’s an English Teacher, and a Pastor’s grandson from Argentina who tries to be a history maker. At the moment, he teaches children about Bible at church and is a part of the youth group. Also, he spreads the word of God at university.

4 Truths About Habits

Posted on November 6, 2017

As 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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Daily Bible Verse and Daily Devotion – October 30

Posted on October 30, 2017

Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the LORD means safety. – Proverbs 29:25 (NLT)

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of fearing others. You might choose to be quiet when your history teacher makes fun of Christians. You might look the other way when someone is being bullied in the hallway. Or perhaps you act a certain way that goes against what you believe because it makes you feel more popular.

Today’s Bible verse tells us that fearing others is a dangerous trap. If you live your life to only please others, you’ll never be truly happy. You’ll always have regret or guilt because you’re not living the way you know you need to live.

It is hard to stand up for what is right. It’s hard to face those who might make fun of you or bully you for what you believe. Taking a stand takes courage, but taking a stand is what is right. When you take a stand, you’re putting your trust in God. When you take a stand for God, its never easy, but it will be what is right in the long run.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – October 25

Posted on October 25, 2017

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. – Isaiah 41:10

What do you need? Do you need encouragement? Do you wish you had more friends? Is there something that is causing you to be afraid? If there is, you’re in luck. This verse is an encouragement for anyone who puts their trust in God.

God is telling us in today’s Bible verse that He will be what we need when we face hard times. God is the answer to our fear. He’s the answer to your discouragement. He’s the answer if you’re tired and need strength. Whatever you’re facing right now, God is your answer!

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That’s great news for us. If we make God our Lord, He will take care of everything we need. So today, whatever your need is, take some time to remind yourself of how good God is. Focus on how much He loves you and wants to take care of you. God will hold you up when you need help.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – October 24

Posted on October 24, 2017

I had a friend who told me that she would start coming to church with me once she got her life together. She said that she was too messed up to go to church and needed to work on herself before she felt like she could go to church.

If you wait to go to church until you’ve worked on yourself, you’ll never go. That’s like saying I’m going to wait until I’m no longer sick to see a doctor. If you’re sick, you need to see a doctor then, not when you get well. In the same way, if you’ve not got your life together and you’ve got sin in your life, that’s the perfect time to get yourself into church.

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
– Romans 5:20

Today’s Bible verse talks about how the law was given so that we could see how sinful we are. And as we realize how sinful we are, we realize that we can’t get rid of sin on our own. We need God to help. God’s grace is always more that enough to cover whatever sin you have in your life.

So if you’re going through something or if you have sin in your life, don’t hide from God or feel like you need to get things together before coming to God. Rather, go to God. Get His help. Walk life with God and have Him help you fix the sin in your life.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – October 23

Posted on October 23, 2017

For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.
– James 2:10

Today’s Bible verse is kind of sobering. It shows us how perfect we would have to be to be accepted by God. We see that if we have ever done anything wrong, if we’ve ever told a lie, ever said something unkind, ever lusted after someone, or anything else that is considered sin, that we are as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.

The truth is we all needed a savior. We couldn’t be good enough to be accepted by God. No amount of good works makes up for the fact that our sin separated us from God. Even the smallest sin, the tiniest of white lies was enough to keep us from God.

The good news for us is that God wasn’t okay with that. He wanted us to be able to know Him. So He did what we couldn’t do. He sent His son to pay the price our sin deserved. That’s why now, if we’ve accepted Jesus as our savior, we are considered righteous. So take a moment today and thank God for making you righteous!

Daily Devotion and Daily Bible Verse – October 17

Posted on October 17, 2017

There is a certain small Mexican restaurant I love going to. They serve the best quesadilla I’ve ever had. I honestly think I could eat there almost everyday for weeks and get tired of it. Their food is just that good. However, I know that eating quesadillas for every meal for weeks on end wouldn’t be good for my health. I know that I should include other food groups in my diet. To be healthy, I need to eat a balanced diet.

A balanced diet is also good for us spiritually. It’s really easy to get into a rut when it comes to reading our Bibles. Many times we focus on those verses that make us feel good, and we ignore those that challenge us. Just like it isn’t good for us to eat the same foods day in and day out, it’s also not good for us to do that spiritually.

We shouldn’t pick and choose to read only the things in the Bible that we like, or the passages we want to obey and ignore the rest. That’s not what being a true disciple means. Take a look at what today’s Bible verse says:

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. – Matthew 28:20

In this verse, Jesus is giving some final instructions to His disciples. He tells them to teach others to obey everything He commanded them. He didn’t tell the disciples they could obey the things they liked and ignore the things that challenge them in the Bible. Rather, Jesus told them to obey everything.

The same goes for us today. We can’t pick and choose what we’re going to obey and believe in the Bible. We need to take time to read it all, and take time to obey it all. Even if a passage challenges us, or goes against what makes us feel good, as disciples of Jesus, we need to obey it. So today, examine your heart. Are there areas where you’ve ignored some of Jesus’ commands? If there are, make the adjustments today to line your life and beliefs up to God’s word.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – October 16

Posted on October 16, 2017

For the LORD delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. – Psalm 149:4

Have you ever taken a moment to think about the fact that God delights in you? He doesn’t just put up with you to be nice. He really delights in you. He loves you. He wants nothing more than to have a relationship with you.

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God created us to be in relationship with Him. He created us to spend time getting to know Him and to worship Him. God loves us so much that He went out of His way to bring us back to Him through what Jesus did.

This should change how you live your life. The realization that God created you and delights in you should make you happy. You should no longer look down on yourself or feel like you don’t measure up to other people’s standards. Rather, you should see yourself how God sees you. You are important and have worth because God delights in you.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – October 11

Posted on October 11, 2017

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” – Psalm 119:105 (NLT)

Many times people say the Bible isn’t relevant and doesn’t help us make decisions in today’s world. However, if you simply read it with an open heart, you’ll be surprised to find that it’s very relevant.

When you read God’s word you get the chance to learn things that help you with your everyday life. Whether you need advice on dealing with others or some wisdom for your finances God’s Word has what you need.

God’s Word (the Bible) is ready and available to give you light to the decisions you’re needing to make. God cares about the path you’re on. He has wisdom for you today. Read God’s Word today and let it speak truth to you and light your path.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – October 9

Posted on October 9, 2017

Even a young man is known by his actions – if his behavior is pure and upright. – Proverbs 20:11

How are your actions? Its easy to say the ‘right thing’ when you’re around your parents or at church. But what’s the real you like? How do you act when no one is around? Do you slack off? Do you only do the minimum of what is expected? How you act when no one is looking shows your true character.

Your actions are what you’re known by, so if your actions aren’t uplifting and helping others, decide today to make any changes that are necessary. Its not always easy to change, but its always worth it. Its worth it to put the effort in to be a person of character. Choose to not compromise, even in the smallest area. Be a person of excellence and always do your best. Its the small choices you make every day that will set you apart from others. Choose to be someone who is known by good actions!

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Pray: Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I ask you to show me if there are things I’m doing that aren’t uplifting and helping others. I desire to be a person that is pure and upright. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

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