Devotions for Teenagers and Youth

Your Bad Day Checklist

Posted on October 23, 2013

Bad days happen to all of us. Unfortunately, life isn’t perfect and sometimes it just doesn’t go as you wanted it to. With that in mind, we’ve put together an awesome checklist to help you beat the bad day blues.

[list type=”check”]

Don’t blame God – Bad things are bound to happen to you. This doesn’t mean that God is trying to teach you a lesson or is punishing you. So when hard times come, don’t place the blame on God. God is a good God and He wants the best for your life. James 1:17
You Are in Control of Your Attitude – You might not be able to control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude in tough times. You can choose to stay positive and have a good attitude when a bad day happens. Philippians 4:8
Do something for yourself – Sometimes when having a bad day, it helps to do something special for yourself. It might be something simple like buying yourself a candy bar or taking a long walk. Whatever it is, find something that you can do for yourself to help you unwind.
Recognize that tomorrow is coming – Your day might be bad today, but tomorrow is on its way. Sometimes, things seem better in a day or two. Time really does help in lots of different situations. Philippians 3:13

[/list]
Unfortunately, bad days happen to everyone. When you’re having a bad day choose to put things into perspective and realize that your life isn’t over. You may have had a bad day, but the good news is that you’ve got God on your side. God will help see you through when you’re having a bad day.

Similar Devotions For Teenagers

How To Know You’ll Go To Heaven When You Die

Posted on October 21, 2013

One day you’ll stop breathing and die. Do you know where you’ll go?
The Bible shows us a clear path to heaven – through Jesus
Jesus’ death was payment for our sins and gave us a ticket to heaven.

If you’re not sure that if you died today that you would go to heaven, you can know. The way to heaven isn’t about doing the right things or having your good outweigh your bad, rather its about believing that Jesus’ death was payment for your sins.

Similar Youth Devotions

Learning to Like Yourself

Posted on October 18, 2013

Learning to like yourself is really hard sometimes. You can watch your friends on Facebook and see their profile and start to think, man I wish my life was more like theirs. Its easy to start comparing what you have and who you are to them and begin to feel like you don’t measure up to them.

Liking yourself and having a good self-esteem can be really challenging. So how do you begin liking yourself when you feel like you don’t measure up to those around you? We’ve got some suggestions below to help boost your self-esteem.

Do a reality check – This can be really tough to do, but take a realistic look at your situation. You might feel like no one really cares about you, but is that really true? Its easy many times to let something someone said or did make you think that no one cares about you. More than likely, you have a ton of people who really do care about you. You have parents, siblings, grandparents, and most importantly God that care about you. So when you think you’re all alone and that no one cares, do a reality check and realize that in reality you have people that care about you.
Check your thoughts – Its easy to get into a negative pattern of thinking about yourself. You can start to believe lies that you’re worthless, or that your life doesn’t matter. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. When these thoughts come, recognize them for what they are…lies. Take the necessary steps to switch your thoughts from negative patterns of thinking to ones that are positive. The Bible says in Philippians 4:8 (NLT) “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.” Checking to make sure your thoughts are good ones is an important step to winning the battle for your self-esteem.
Choose to see yourself like God sees you – Decide to begin to see yourself like God sees you. He doesn’t see you as a failure, as a loser or as anything bad you might think you are. He sees you as important. You’re so important that if you were the only person in the world he would have sent his son to die for you. Your life matters to God. He knows everything about you, and cares about everything that is important to you. God thinks so much about you that the Bible says his thoughts about you can’t be numbered. Psalm 139:17 (NLT) – “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!” I can count pretty high, so the idea that God thinks about you so much that those thoughts can’t be numbered just goes to show He cares about you a ton and a half. So, decide to see yourself like God sees you. Choose to base your worth on how God feels about you.

I believe that these tips can help you with learning to like yourself. The battle for your self-esteem is very real, but I believe that with God’s help, you can come out and win this fight!

Check out the song: Gold by Britt Nicole

Here’s a great book for you to read too: You Are God’s Best!: A Classic on Human Value

3 Ways to Know If College Is For You

Posted on October 16, 2013

Deciding to go to college is a big investment of both time and money. How do you decide if college is the next step for you? We’ve got a few things to examine in making the decision of whether to go to college or not.

Are you a good student? This might seem obvious, but are you a good student? Do you like studying and learning from books? If school has been a struggle for you up to this point, perhaps college isn’t the next logical step for you. If you have a hard time learning in the classroom setting, its worth considering other options before you make the commitment to go to college.
Do you know what you want to study? Many times college students will end up changing their major several times in the course of study. Each course change will mean extra semesters studying at college and will cost you money as you have to take more classes to graduate. If you’re not sure what you want to study consider either taking your general education classes first or putting off college until you know for sure what you want to study.
What will you get in return? Find out what kind of job or career your college degree will get you. Many times people will get a degree in a field only to find out after college they didn’t like the career or didn’t need the degree they got for the field they’re in. Do some investigating before college to find out if you like the career path you’ve chosen. Do an internship or shadow someone in the field to find out if the career is a good fit for you.

Finally, in anything you do, be sure to ask advice from God and others. God knows you inside and out and can help you find a career path that is right for you. Ask advice from others who know you. They’ll be able to help guide you into making a decision about college that is right for you.

Read: The New College Reality: Make College Work For Your Career by Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder

Do I Love God More Than My Reputation?

Posted on October 14, 2013

I remember a time when I was playing drums at church in the youth group band. Practice had gone well and I was geared for a great worship service. I started playing the set and somewhere around the second song, my drum stick flew right out of my hand and hit me right in my eye. It made a loud noise and totally messed up what I was in the middle of playing. I remember feeling so dumb. I couldn’t believe that my drumstick just flew right out of my hand and hit me in the eye. I had never done that before in my life. I felt so stupid and knew that everyone there at church had seen it happen.

Its so easy to put a lot of importance on how we look to others. We hate it when we look bad or embarrass ourselves in front of others. I think a lot of the time we take this same way of thinking into our relationship with God. We don’t want to look silly to our friends, so we don’t really speak up about how God has changed our lives. We think our friends might think we’re dumb for believing in God and so we shut up. We think our silence is better than us possibly looking silly in front of our friends.

So I have a simple question for you: Do you love God more than your reputation?

Do you love God more than what others think about you. Would you stand up for God at your school if no one else did. Would you be bold enough to tell a friend how Jesus has changed your life? Or are you like most people who are afraid to tell others about Jesus. Are you afraid that someone will think you’re stupid because you believe in God. Are you willing to stand up for Jesus, even if it means possibly losing your reputation? That’s a big thing to consider.

I challenge you to not let your reputation get in the way of telling others about who God is to you. Don’t let it shut you up or steer you away from sharing your faith. Choose to make God more important to you than your reputation!

Jesus Freaks: Martyrs: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus: The Ultimate Jesus Freaks

This book is easy to read and is filled with awesome stories of people who made a stand for Jesus. They didn’t worry about how they would look or who they would offend. They stood up for what they believed in.

Similar Youth Devotions

hope vs. belief

Posted on October 12, 2013

“Something good is going to happen to me” was a phrase Oral Roberts made popular. What do you believe about today? Why not just determine to look for the good today? Expectation and hope are more than just wishful thinking. When you are expecting something good because God is in your life and wants to be part of blessing it you are simply including Him in your day. Hope is not “well I hope something happens good today”. No, hope is expectation that God who is able and willing.

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: [/quote]

Realize that God is looking for someone to believe His goodness, His love, His favor- whatever you need today. He needs you to expect, to believe and to say so that He can do for you! He is not limited by willingness to help you. He is not limited by the ability to help you. He is only limited by your expectation that He will do for you.

Can I really love my enemies?

Posted on October 9, 2013

People can be mean. I think back to when I used to ride the bus to school every day. I remember one girl that would just pick on about everyone. She was an older student and she sure was mean. She used to pick on this one girl by pulling on her hair and calling her “shrimp”. It got so bad that she even made this other girl cry. There are some people like this girl that are just plain mean. So the question is with all the mean people that we meet at school, at the mall, or even on the bus, is it really possible to love those who are mean to us?

I think the answer is “yes”. The Bible says in Matthew 5:44 – “But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you.” How do we do that? How do we muster up love for people who are mean and don’t treat others with respect? The Bible says in Romans 5:5 that the love of God has been placed into our hearts (NIV). So yes, God tells us to love our enemies which can seem hard, but he gives us the love to do it with.

So, that bully you ride the bus with everyday, or the person that books you in the hall, the people in your life that seem to be too hard to love, you can love them. Why? Because you don’t have to love them with your own love. You love them with the love that God has placed into your heart. So remember that when loving mean people gets hard, you’re not doing it alone. The love of God has been placed in your heart. You’ve got all the love you need to love your enemies.

Pray: God, thank you for placing your love in my heart. I thank you that with that love I can love those who are mean and unloveable. I ask you to help me to love others and know that with your help I can love my enemies.

Listen: Love, Love, Love by sidewalk prophets

Lessons on Success From Frozen Waffles

Posted on October 4, 2013

Frozen waffles could possibly be one of the best inventions on the planet. There is nothing better when you’re rushing off to school in the morning than being able to stuff a frozen waffle in the toaster and have a hot breakfast ready in just a few minutes. Other than enjoying their crispy goodness, have you ever stopped to think about where frozen waffles came from?

Frozen waffles began with a guy named Frank Dorsa. Frank got his feet wet by making mayo, then he started experimenting with making waffle batter. His waffle batter was really good, and he had lots of people wanting more of it than he could make and keep fresh. This caused a problem. His waffle batter was going bad. He had a great product, but couldn’t keep it fresh long enough to ship it all over the country.

So what did Frank do? He thought outside of the box and decided to ship the waffles frozen.

What if instead of finding a solution, Frank had said, ‘My waffle batter is going bad. Bummer! I guess I’m just going to have to say forget it, and stop making waffles”. If Frank would have done that, he would have cut the worldwide brand, Eggo short.

In the same way, how many times do we do that type of thing with God? Life throws us a problem and we say, “Bummer! I guess I’m going to have to forget it, or do something else”. We hit a problem and give up. We never stand our ground, believe God, and allow God to help us turn what looks like a problem into an opportunity.

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all. – James 1:5 (GNB)[/quote]

When you’re faced with a problem and you don’t know what to do, ask God. He wants to help you. When you’re teamed up with God, you know you’re bound for success! Let God help you, and you’ll see what once looked like a problem turn around into an awesome opportunity!

###

Story Adapted from: “Eggo Guy – Frank Dorsa.” Mental Floss. September/October 2013

Similar Devotions For Teens

What To Do When People Give You A Hard Time About Being a Christian

Posted on October 2, 2013

You’ve probably experienced people giving you a hard time because you’re a Christian. Maybe they make jokes about Christians or poke fun at your beliefs. How do you deal with someone that gives you a hard time because of your faith?

Here’s a few suggestions to use when people give you a hard time.

1. Realize you’re not alone. Since the beginning of time Christians have been given a hard time. Paul experienced hard times too as a Christian. Check out his experiences in Acts 9:29 – “And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.” (Acts 9:29 NKJV)
People were giving Paul a hard time because He was a Christian, in fact they tried to kill him for it.

2. Don’t shut up! Don’t let what people say or do to because of your faith cause you to shut up. It’s easy to want to stay quiet because someone has given you a hard time however, don’t allow yourself to give in to fear and want to be quiet because of your faith. Keep sharing what you believe with others. They will respect you in the end. Here’s what Peter and John said when people told them to stop telling people about Jesus.
“As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20 NIV)

3. Show respect. Don’t jump into an arguing match and start cussing someone out because they don’t believe what you do. Be respectful to people and pray for them to have their eyes opened to the goodness of God. Here’s a good Bible prayer you can pray for them in your prayer times:
“Asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.” (Ephesians 1:17 NLT)

Realize that sometimes people will give you a hard time because of what you believe. Don’t let that stop you or shut you up. God has called you to preach the gospel to those you know.

Similar Youth Devotions

Three Truths on Giving

Posted on September 27, 2013

The principle of giving is something that works. I’ve seen many people get blessed when they plugged into the principles of giving that are found in the word of God. Beginning to give as a teenager can set into motion great blessings that will set you up to be blessed throughout your lifetime.

Your giving isn’t limited to money – if you don’t have any money to give, you don’t need to feel bad. There are other ways you can begin to get in the habit of giving. One major thing you can do is to give time. More than likely your youth group or church could use you to volunteer. Ask a youth leader or someone at your church for ways you can help out.
“But Peter said, “I don’t have any money for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” ” – Acts 3:6 (NLT)
Regardless of whether you have money or not, you have something you can give to the people around you. It may be as simple as giving a smile or listening to a friend that is down, but you like Peter have something to give.
Giving should be a goal today – Make it a goal to begin the habit of giving to others today. Don’t wait until someday when you have lots of money, begin now using what you have. Giving to others brings big rewards.
“If you are really eager to give, it isn’t important how much you are able to give. God wants you to give what you have, not what you don’t have.” – 2 Cor 8:12 – (NLT)
If you wait to give until you think you “have enough” you’ll never begin to give. Start today by giving what you have, and you’ll set up great habits for the future.
Giving will bring you great rewards – Giving will bring great rewards into your life. When you get in the habit of giving, you’ll find that you’re continually getting more and more blessed.
“If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you.” – Luke 6:38 (NLT)
Giving will bring blessings into your life that you never imagined. When God encourages us to give, he isn’t asking us to take things from us, instead he is trying to get more to us.

So whether you have lots of money, or very little money, giving is something that you can start to do today. When you put the principles of giving into motion, you can set yourself up for bigger blessings in the future.

Check out the song Live Like That by Sidewalk Prophets to encourage yourself today.

Older Posts

Newer Posts