How to Read the Bible and Not Fall Asleep – Part 2

Posted on July 16, 2014

Teen DevotionsIf you’re like most people, reading the Bible can feel like a bit of a challenge. Its a huge book, and sometimes, its hard to make yourself really get into it. Perhaps you really struggle with understanding the Bible or feeling like you read it but don’t get anything out if it.

If reading the Bible seems boring to you, it doesn’t have to be.  One great way to get more out of reading the Bible is to start by listening to teaching by other pastors and ministers.  They can offer easy to understand insights to the Bible, which will open the Bible up to you in new ways.  They share great things that they’ve gotten out of scripture.  If you pay attention as they speak you can read along in your Bible as they reference a scripture.  Sometimes, you can pick up where they left off and keep reading in the Bible. Lots of these pastors and ministers offer teaching you can listen to online. By listening to the teaching, you are getting God’s word into your heard, which will help you grow spiritually.

We’ve got lots of great resources too on our website to help you grow in your relationship with God. We offer video devotions and teaching, audio devotions, written devotions, and discipleship tracks to help you get started in your walk with God. Depending on how you like learning the best, you can pick a way that you like and get started getting into the Bible.

You can search online for other good ministries to listen to.  The main thing to watch for is that they teach from the Bible and put their focus on Jesus as savior and Lord of their life.

Don’t let any excuses stop you from reading the Bible. Challenge yourself to not be lazy, but to get into the Bible in some way or another everyday.

Similar Youth Devotions

Who is God?

Posted on July 9, 2014

Youth Devotion - Who is God

Have you ever wished that you could see God? Touch Him? Go grab some coffee with Him and chat about the meaning of life? Sometimes, its easy when you feel you can’t see or touch God to wonder who is He? What’s He really like?

One of the best ways to get to know God is by reading or listening to the Bible. While that’s not the fun solution, its the best way you can get to know who He is an what He really likes. Getting into the Bible does take a little bit of work. Its not for the weak. It might mean setting some time aside when you’d rather be on Facebook or Twitter. It may mean refocusing your energy, or putting your phone away for ten minutes so you can focus without having to respond to a text.

By reading the Bible you can get to know who God is. And one of the best things about God is that He is love. Check out this verse:

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]And the love of God was made clear to us when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. And this is love, not that we had love for God, but that he had love for us and sent his Son to be an offering for our sins – 1 John 4:9-10 Basic English[/quote]

Wow.  What a God.  The fact that he loved us enough to sent his son Jesus for us even before we loved him back is incredible. We wouldn’t do anything close to that for someone else. We wouldn’t trade our most valuable possession for someone who was our enemy. Yet that’s what God did. While we had no love for God, He stepped in and gave everything He had. He put it all on the line so that we might have the chance to have eternal life through Jesus. Talk about love!

So the next time you’re wondering about God, who He is and what He’s in to, remember that you can always go to the Bible to find answers. Its also important to remind ourselves that God is love. He loved us so much that He put everything He had on the line to pay the price for our sins. There is no one else who could love you the way God does. So challenge yourself to go deeper into the Bible and get to know more about God!

Similar Devotions for Teenagers

 

3 Tips for Smarter Dating

Posted on July 2, 2014

Tips for Smarter Dating

Dating.  It’s a loaded word.  Some people hate the word because it brings thoughts of broken relationships and rejection.  For others, dating is an exciting and fun adventure to explore. Regardless of how you feel about dating, here are some principles that will help you become smarter in dating.

  1. High School relationships don’t last – Almost all high school relationships end in breaking up.  That can be a depressing reality, or it can be something that empowers you.  If you realize that more than likely the person you’re dating right now you won’t marry and will most likely break up with, it can free you to not take the relationship so seriously.
    You can be free to get to know someone of the opposite sex, but without putting tons of pressure on yourself to take the relationship too seriously.
  2. Keep your friends – This mistake is made all the time.  People in dating relationships often become so engrossed in another person they forget to keep other friendships.  This isn’t healthy.  You need a variety of relationships to keep you centered and grounded.  Also, if the relationship you’re end probably won’t last, its good to keep your friends so you have someone to hang with when your relationship ends.
  3. Stay close to God – Don’t become so engrossed in another person that you forget to spend time with God.  Your relationship with God is the most important relationship in your life.  Don’t let it fall to the wayside.

Remember, don’t take dating relationships too seriously.  Be sure in any relationship to not shut out the other relationships in your life.  Long after your dating relationship ends relationships with your friends, family and God will see you through.

Learn More About Godly Relationships

This is our simple five day devotional on relationships. Check it out and challenge yourself to pursue Godly relationships!

What Baseball Shows Us About Living For God

Posted on June 11, 2014

Devotion for Teens on baseball and living for GodHave you ever noticed when you don’t know the point or the goal of something it can sort of seem pointless?

For example, let’s say you’re out for the baseball team this year and you show up to practice on time. During the entire practice, your coach never gives you any instructions. You just sit around for the few hours of practice feeling weird maybe you and your team mates might even get mad, all because your coach never told you the goal or point of the practice for that day.

It can be easy to feel that same way as Christians. When we don’t understand the point of we’re living for God it makes it easy to feel mad and frustrated.

So, what is the ultimate goal of the Christian life?  Is it doing good stuff? Or is it all about going to church? Is it learning to become a better person?

While all those things are important, the main goal of the Christian life is getting to know Christ.

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, (Philippians 3:10 NLT)

As a Christian, our main goal should be getting to know Christ. That gives our life as Christians meaning and should be the basis for all we do. It would be a shame to live out our whole life here on earth without spending some time getting to know Christ. So make knowing Him a priority in your life today!

Pray: Jesus, I thank you for what you did for me on the cross. I determine to take time to get to know you. I want to know you and make getting to know you a priority today!

Similar Youth Devotions

How to Have an Epic Summer – Part 2

Posted on June 4, 2014

Teen Devotion - Great Summer

Its summer break time again! You’re probably happy to be free from the stuffy halls of your school and able to sleep in! What are you going to do with all this newfound freedom and time? If you’re looking for some suggestions you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got ten ideas to make your summer epic!

  1. Start a business. You could run around your neighborhood and see if some of your neighbors would let you mow their lawns. Or maybe you’ve got a knack for making the most amazing chocolate chip cookies the world has ever seen. Take your ideas and skills and see if you can make some money selling them. You might find that making money is a lot more fun than you originally thought.
  2. Get a job. This might seem like a really lame way to spend the summer, but you might be surprised at how much you like working. The extra money is always nice, plus it gives you a chance to make some new friends on the job and also helps you not get too bored being at home.
  3. Write a song. Take some time to give songwriting a try. It doesn’t have to be serious or grammy award winning. Have fun with it and see what you can come up with. Start by working on the lyrics and words and be creative. You might be surprised at how much fun songwriting can be.
  4. Read your Bible. Set yourself some challenges for Bible reading this summer. Decide to read a chapter of the Bible that you might not have read before, or really go for it and see if you can get through the whole book this summer. You can use your free time to get to know God a little better through His word.
  5. Take a crazy adventure. You don’t even have to go out of your neighborhood or town to do this. Just be creative and think of something crazy you can do. Maybe you try to hike all the walking trails in your town, or see if you can bike across your neighborhood in an afternoon. Get outside and explore something new.
  6. Do something unexpected for someone else. Find someone you can do something unexpected for. Maybe you can cook dinner for your neighbor that just had surgery. Perhaps your grandma needs some help planting flowers. Find an opportunity and fill a need you see around you. You won’t have to look very hard to find one.
  7. Visit an older neighbor. Find an older friend or neighbor and stop by their house to visit. This might seem totally lame, but you’ll really make the older person’s day. Be open to talking to them and don’t be surprised if a friendship develops.
  8. Randomly help out around your house. This might make your mom or dad freak out, but you could try to do something small to help out at home. You could do the dishes before you’re asked or take out the trash. Perhaps you could even clean out the distaster area that was once your room. You might find out you made your mom or dad’s day.
  9. Find a new part of town. Get some friends together and check out a new part of town that you haven’t visited before. See if you can’t find something fun to do or see in the town near you.
  10. Do something crazy with friends.  It might be seeing who can drink the most cans of soda in 5 minutes or having a water fight outdoors like you used to when you were a kid. Just get together with some friends and do something crazy. You’ll have a ton of fun!

These suggestions should help you get on your way to having a great summer vacation. You’ll have a blast doing some things that are out of the ordinary. Leave us a comment if you have any ideas on ways you’ve made your summer break epic!

Similar Youth Devotions

How To Make Better Decisions

Posted on May 28, 2014

devotion-for-teens-making-decisionsHave you ever made a really bad decision? Or maybe sometimes you just struggle with making a decision. Maybe you’re afraid to make the wrong choice and so its hard for you to commit to making a decision and stick with it. Making decisions can be tricky at times, but here’s a few thoughts that we think will help make the decision making process easier.

  • God wants to help. God wants to lead and guide His children into making good decisions. Whether its what car to buy, or who to date, God is interested in helping you make a good decision about that thing. So lean on His wisdom and include Him in the decision making process.
    “Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s children.” – Romans 8:14 (GNB)
  • Spend time with God. To really get to know God and get His take on your decisions, you’ve got to start by spending time hanging out with God. You get to know God better by reading the Bible and talking to God/praying. So invest the time now getting to know God so that when a time of decision comes, you’re ready to know and hear His voice.
  • Don’t get mad if you don’t get an answer right away. Its easy to pray about something and expect an answer right that second. Sometimes, the answer doesn’t always come right away. So don’t give up or back out on involving God in your decisions if you don’t hear anything right away. Choose to hang in there, knowing that God will always come through for you.
  • Balance God’s wisdom with other people’s wisdom. If God speaks to you about a decision always go with what God says, not what others say. However, if you haven’t really heard anything from God about a decision, its okay to ask other people for advice or help. Some decisions aren’t world altering, and so its totally fine to just lean on the advice, thoughts, or wisdom of others.

Making better decisions always starts by putting God and His word first in your life. If you’ll choose to always put those things first in your life, you’ll find that you’ll be making better decisions and living with less regret. Choose to always put God and the Bible first in your life!

How To Handle Life Changes

Posted on May 21, 2014

Devotion for Teens Life Changes
Sometimes, life brings lots of changes. Whether it’s a move to a new city, maybe a graduation from school, a new job, a divorce, you name it, those changes can be really stressful. So what are some good ways you can deal with the stress of a life change? Here’s a couple things to help make life change easier.

  1. Draw close to God
    Major life changes can really mess with your relationship with God if you’ll let them. When life changes happen, you’re faced with a choice. Will you let those changes draw you closer to God, or will you push Him away?
    Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. (James 4:8 NLT)
  2. Don’t be afraid
     It’s really easy to fall into the trap of fear when life changes come. You know things aren’t going to be the same as before and many times the fear of the unknown or fear of the changes can become very real.  Be sure to watch out for fear in your life and if you see it creeping in be sure to tell it no. Don’t allow fear to become something that holds you back.
    Don’t fear, because I am with you; don’t be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous strong hand. (Isaiah 41:10 CEB)
  3. Get Help
    Don’t avoid asking for help if you need it. Your youth pastor or pastor has great life advice they can give you to help you through life change. Be willing to ask for their advice or help if you need it. God has placed these people in your life. They can be an encouragement when you need it the most.

Changes in life happen to us all. Sometimes, they’re harder to handle than others. The good thing to remember is that no matter how hard times get, you’re not alone. Find a pastor or youth pastor you can talk to or draw close to God and get his help and advice. God will encourage you like no one else can. Get close to God and see how awesome he really is!

Similar Devotions For Teens

Learning to Ask For Help

Posted on May 14, 2014

20140115-083531.jpg
It’s really easy to not want to ask others for help when you’re stuck. In school math has always been a subject I struggled with. I would have trouble getting my homework done because I wasn’t always sure how to do the problems. Many times I’d feel so frustrated because I needed help but felt too dumb to ask for it.

There’s lots of areas in life where you may need help. It might not be with math homework, but it could be help knowing how to handle the mean girl at school who keeps giving you a bad time. Or maybe you need help in some other area.

One important lesson you can learn in life is how to ask for help or advice from others. Proverbs 15:22 talks about this: “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success. ( NLT)”

Asking for help or advice from a person who is wiser than you in that area is a great idea. It can help you avoid mistakes and push you toward success.

Choose to begin asking for help and advice from others who have a proven track record in an area. Learn from their mistakes and lean on their wisdom and you’ll be glad you did!

Why Your Words Are Like A GPS

Posted on May 7, 2014

20130913-190714.jpgHave you ever used a GPS? Its a pretty neat invention. You can speak or program a destination into it and then it will devise a route for you. What we don’t realize is that every day we are programming our direction in life by the words we speak- whether consciously or unconsciously.

For example, you get ready to take a test and say “I’ll probably fail this” and you are shutting yourself down from doing your best. Or you may say “nobody likes me” and the result of that will be that your downcast attitude repels people from you so you get what you say.
How about on purpose, saying what you WANT, not what you feel?
If you want energy to win as an athlete or a musician you can say “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Phil 4:13

Pro 18:20 says “A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; he shall be satisfied with the product of his lips.” This isn’t talking about the food you eat as much as the words you speak (although the size of your belly does indicate what you’re putting into your mouth as well!) You live with the consequences of the words you think and speak just like you live with the consequences of what you eat by the size of your belly.

Set your life for success by thinking before speaking and then speaking faith-filled words of what you want to see. It’s really pretty easy to understand and with practice, you can learn to say only those words that you want to see happen.

To do: Start listening to your speech. What are you saying that you don’t want happening in your life? What aren’t you saying that you wish was happening? As easy as programming a GPS, you can program your life for success.

Prayer: Thank You Lord for giving me a mouth that I can set the course of my life. I want to speak the words that will cause the plan you have for me to succeed. I want to bring You glory with my thoughts, my words and my actions today. Direct me and correct my words and thoughts today.

Similar Devotions for Teens

 

The Truth About David and Goliath

Posted on April 30, 2014

Youth Devotion on David and Goliath

Remember the story of David and Goliath? David was a young man who had learned how to conquer scary things like lions and bears and giants. He wasn’t a body builder or skilled soldier. What he knew was God and His Word and how to conquer his own fears. How did he do it?

He may have felt “Wow, Goliath, you are so big and strong, I could never kill you. Everybody is afraid of you and so am I.”  But he didn’t allow those thoughts to stay in his mind and he definitely didn’t speak them out. Instead:
[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]
1Sa 17:45  And David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of Jehovah of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 1Sa 17:46  Jehovah will deliver you into my hand today, and I will strike you and take your head from you and give the bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air today, and to the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 1Sa 17:47  And all this multitude shall know that Jehovah does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is Jehovah’s, and He will give you into our hands.”[/quote]

The first thing we can see from this is that David had a relationship with God and trusted what God said He would do for him. Then he looked at the situation from the perspective that he represented God’s kingdom and all that kingdom had was at his disposal. Then he activated that kingdom by speaking what he wanted to have happen. That gave him the courage to step out and conquer.

What do you need to conquer today? Do you see that  “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world”? Do you realize you have been given the name of Jesus and His blood and Word as spiritual weapons that you activate with your mouth? Then take the next step- say what you want to see happen- that is faith!

If you will say “it is written……and that’s the way it’s going to be” that’s the way the outcome will be

Prayer: Dear God, thank you that you gave me spiritual weapons. I believe and say It’s going to be a great day. I say that I am a blessing. I say I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I say I am more than a conqueror.

Courage can be developed. David developed his courage by encouraging himself in the Lord. That means he didn’t wait for somebody else to encourage him- he talked to himself the right way and just did the right thing afraid. In spite of some thoughts that may have come, he didn’t allow those thoughts to stop his progress.