Browsing Tag

living for God

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Psalm 34:8

Posted on July 22, 2022

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! – Psalm 34:8 (NKJV)

What is your favorite food? Have you ever given any thought to how that food become your favorite? Most of us simply tried new food, realized it was amazing, and now it’s our favorite.

The same is true with getting to know God. To really get to know Him, you’ve got to try Him. Obviously, you can’t try God like you would try the food, but you can get to know Him. You can pray, read your Bible, listen to teaching on YouTube, or a Podcast, and find out for yourself that He’s good.

The closer you get to God the more you realize that you can trust Him. God isn’t up one day and down the next. He doesn’t have days when He likes you and days when He doesn’t. God is always the same. He’s faithful, and as you get to know Him, you begin to trust Him more.

Today’s Truth: As you get to know God, you begin to realize how good He is!

Choose to make getting to know God more a priority. Decide to put the effort into finding out that He is good!

Daily Devotion and Bible Verse – Galatians 6:8

Posted on November 15, 2021

Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. – Galatians 6:8

This verse talks about sowing to our flesh. That can really mean a lot of different things. Simply put, sowing to the flesh is living out from under the control of the Spirit of God. It’s not allowing God to have control and be number one in your life.

There are a lot of different ways this could look. For example, you could be in total disobedience to God, or it could just simply be that you’re not pursuing the things of God. A lot of the time, it’s easy to get distracted by social media, TV shows, or hanging out with friends. We don’t realize that when we put these things first, we’re really not pursuing the things of God.

Today’s Bible verse tells us that if we sow to these things in our life we will reap destruction. Challenge yourself today to not sow to please your flesh. Choose instead to do things that are sowing to the Spirit. Choose to follow after God wholeheartedly, and see the awesome things He does in your life!

Today’s Truth: Choose to follow after God, and see the difference it makes in your life!

What Fortnite Can Teach Us About Living For God

Posted on August 8, 2018

Have you ever played Fortnite? It seems like everyone these days is talking about playing it. Fortnite has millions of users and is growing in popularity. If you’re a teenager that loves Fortnite, have you ever stopped to think about how the game can teach you about living for God?

The More You Play The More Rewards You Unlock

The more Fortnite you play, the more rewards you can unlock in the game. The same is true for Christians. As we seek God, get closer to Him and do the things He says in His word the more rewards we unlock in our lives.

And while the rewards we unlock as Christians aren’t emotes, outfits, or back bling, they do help us in life. Check out a few of the rewards you can unlock as a Christian.

Reward One – Less Heartache

Living for God helps you have less heartache. God has set up some rules in His word on how we should live. These rules are to help you avoid heartache and pain. For example, God gives instructions about lust, not to keep you from having fun, but to keep you from the pain and heartache that unchecked lust can bring.

Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.
– 2 Timothy 2:22 (NLT)

God doesn’t want your life to be destroyed by heartache and the consequences of unchecked lust. So challenge yourself today to live for God and make Godly choices. When you do, you’ll be glad you did.

Reward Two – Fewer Regrets

When you live for God and are seeking His will for your life, you can avoid a lot of regrets. If you’re constantly looking to God and seeking His direction for your life it will help you make good decisions. Seek God’s direction in everything you do. From big decisions to little ones and be willing to follow God’s leading. As you follow the direction God tells you for your life, you will make good decisions.

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. – Proverbs 3:6 (NLT)

God knows everything from beginning to end. Getting God involved in your decision-making process will help you make better decisions and help you live with fewer regrets.

Your Squad Makes You Stronger

When playing Fortnite, your squad can help you. They can be another set of eyes to watch what’s going on, and help you when you need it. Also, playing with other people helps make the game more fun because you’re not alone.

As Christians the same is true. God has put into place a squad called the church. Getting involved in a good local church can help you in lots of different ways. Trusted friends at church can help you see areas in your life you need to improve or work on. They can also help you when you’re struggling and feeling weak.

Finally, as you spend time with the people in your church, you develop awesome relationships which make life more fun. You weren’t created to deal with life’s problems alone, so get involved with a local church and get into a Bible study or a small group.

Experience Makes You Stronger

When you’re playing Fortnite, you want XP. (Experience points). It shows everyone that not only do you play but that you can play well. As a Christian, you should be wanting the same thing. You want to not only live for Christ but to live well.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV).

Life is going to be hard at times. It’s not going to go the way you want it, and there are going to be times where your faith will be tested. However, if you can keep your faith strong in those tough times and not give up, it will make you stronger. When you look back on your life, you want people to say not only did you play, but you played well.

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Each challenge you experience in life can bring you closer to God if you’ll let it. So choose to seek God and draw close to Him in every season of your life.

Youth Group Discussion Questions – What Fortnite Can Teach Us About Living For God
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Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – January 5

Posted on January 5, 2018

He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. – 2 Cor 5:15

One really important question to ask yourself is “who am I living for?” Where do you spend the majority of your time? Is it checking out the latest pictures posted on Instagram? Reading your favorite book? How you spend your time shows you a lot about who you’re living for.

In today’s Bible verse, it talks about no longer living for yourselves, but living for Christ. Living for yourself is easy and it comes naturally. No one has to teach you to live for yourself, it just happens automatically. Living for Jesus, however, takes some effort.

It takes putting aside the things that might be good, but distract you from spending time with God. It means standing up for the things that matter to God rather than being silent. Living for God takes effort and takes you standing up and going against the flow of everyone else around you.

Living for God, however, brings great rewards to you. By living for God, you get to skip a lot of the heartbreak that comes from not doing things God’s way. You also get to enjoy a close and deep relationship with God. Living for God is one of the best decisions you can make. Decide this year that you’re going to make a change and begin living for God!

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How to Live for God in College

Posted on May 4, 2015

If you’re one of the many students getting ready to head off to college this fall, you probably are experiencing lots of different emotions. You might be scared, maybe a little excited, or maybe even unsure of what the future might hold for you.

For most students, college is one of the first times they will be living on their own. Many of the rules, guidelines and curfews they had as a kid are suddenly gone, and as a college student they’re left having to make life choices on their own. How do you live a Godly life at an university or college where you have so many choices and where many of the students aren’t living for God?

Here are a few things that will help you live for God while going to college.

Find godly friends. One of the best things you can do if you want to live for God in college is to find a group of good friends who love God. You can do this by search online to find a church near your school that offers a college age Bible study. Or find out if there’s a group that meets on your college campus to worship God together. Do your research and find friends that are dedicated to serving God like you are. Decide to hang out with the people you meet in these groups. Godly friends will help you stand strong when your faith at college feels tested. They will help you make good decisions and be someone you can talk to when you need advice or wisdom.
Have a solid foundation. You’ve got to be solid in what you believe if you’re going to live for God in college. You can’t just base your faith in God on what your parents believe, or what you heard preached at youth group. You’ve got to know what you believe and why you believe it. If you don’t when the challenges of college come to you, it will be much harder to live for God.
Set up your own rules. You might not have your parents telling you what to do, but you can benefit by setting some of your own rules. For example, if you don’t want to mess up sexually with your girlfriend or boyfriend, then make some rules for how you’re going to stay pure. Decide that you won’t be alone together in your dorm room. Or that you won’t sit on the bed together. Setting up your own rules will help you from pushing any of the boundaries. Choose ahead of time a strategy for staying out of trouble and set up good rules to keep yourself in check.
Don’t compromise. This is huge. Decide to not compromise in any area. Even the small stuff. You won’t have a parent or guardian looking over your shoulder all the time, so you have to determine on your own to not compromise. Compromise in even the smallest area can lead to bigger and bigger compromises. Eventually you’ll be heading down a path that you didn’t intend. But it starts with choosing not to compromise even in the small things.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. – 1 Cor 10:13 (KJV)

Living for God in college is possible. You can come out on the other side and still love God and live for Him. However, its not just going to happen. You’ve got to set up a plan and choose not to compromise in any area. If you do these things, you’ll find that you can live for God at college.

Do you have any advice for students on living for God in college? We’d love to hear about it in the comments section below!

What Baseball Shows Us About Living For God

Posted on June 11, 2014

Have 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!