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Relationship with God

4 Reasons to Live for God

Posted on April 29, 2015

Devotion on reasons to live for God

It can be easy to wonder, ‘what is the point of living for God?’  You probably have friends that don’t live for God, and it seems like they’re having more fun than you. Or maybe you feel like there is so much pressure to be good and do the ‘right’ thing that you question if it is really worth it.

It can be really hard to stand strong in the face of peer pressure and live for God. Even though it can be hard at times, living for God is always worth it. So here are four reasons to live for God.

  • Living for God Doesn’t Bring Heartbreak
    There can be pain and hurt associated with making bad choices. Choosing to do things God’s way can seem hard at times. However, in the end, you won’t experience the regrets and heartbreak that not living for God will bring.
  • Living for God Brings Rewards –
    God brings rewards into the lives of those who do right.

    The LORD rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence. – Psalm 18:24

    This doesn’t mean God is mad or doesn’t love those who don’t do right. God loves people regardless of whether they do right or wrong. However, doing the right things sets you up to be rewarded in the end.

  • You Get to Choose to Live for God
    A great thing about living for God is that it starts with a choice you make. You decide to put aside peer pressure and choose to live for God. One of the best decisions you can make is to start living for God when you’re young. Don’t put it off.  Make the choice to take control of your life and choose to live for God.
  • Living for God Doesn’t Mean You Have to Be Perfect
    What a relief, you don’t have to be perfect to start living for God. Many times we make living for God really hard, but here’s the truth: You don’t have to be perfect to start living for God. Lots of times in living for God, you’re going to mess up. That’s ok. God’s grace is big enough to help you through it. The good news is that you don’t have to be perfect to live for God.

Living for God might seem hard sometimes, however, in the end it is always worth it. Decide today to live for God and don’t let anything stop you or get in your way. If you do mess up, you can pick yourself back up, knowing that God’s love and grace are there for you.

Listen: You Lead by Jamie Grace

 

Are You Dating Blindfolded?

Posted on February 23, 2015

Teen Dating DevotionHave you ever been blindfolded? Maybe you were blindfolded while playing a game at youth group, or a friend’s birthday party as a kid. Being blindfolded is hard because you can hear everyone, but you can’t see what’s going on. This can lead you to trip over a chair or run into a friend simply because you can’t see where you’re going.

Have you ever thought about the fact that many people approach dating blindfolded?  Many people are into dating just for the fun. They might take the time to get to know the person they’re dating. They just assume since the person they’re dating is good looking and gives them goosebumps, the relationship is meant to be. Before they know it, they’ve jumped wholeheartedly into a relationship with someone they hardly know. Dating blindfolded like this can bring disastrous results.

Here’s a few things you should find out before jumping into a relationship with someone.

 

  • Do they love God? This should be a deal-breaker for you. If the person you’re dating doesn’t love God and challenge you to get closer to God, run away. You are heading towards relationship disaster.
  • Do they value what you do? Find out if your values are compatible. If you like spending time with family, and your date doesn’t, you’re heading towards relationship disaster.
  • What’s their drama level? Are they in crisis mode in their life? And you like things more low key? Then be warned, you’re heading towards relationship disaster.
  • What do others think? Do your parents like this person? Your best friends? The people that know you the best can often warn you about relationship blind spots. Don’t forget to pay attention to those who know you best.
  • Have you given the relationship to God? Have you asked God if this is the right relationship for you? If you don’t get God involved in your relationships, you are certainly headed towards relationship disaster.

 

Its easy to get wrapped up with all the emotions and excitement that come with a relationship. Many times all these emotions can lead you to forget about God. However, a relationship should reflect your walk with Jesus.

A relationship should not pull you away from Jesus. If you start dating someone and realize that you’re coming to church less and less, you need to realize that you’re dating blindfolded. Your relationship has become all about you and God has taken a back seat in your life. Your relationships should be pushing you towards God, not away from him. If the relationship you’re in is pulling you away from God, its time to seriously re-evaluate the relationship for any areas where you might be dating blindfolded.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. – Matthew 6:33 (NLT)

 

 

 

Check out Sex Has a Price Tag: Discussions About Sexuality, Spirituality and Self Respect This is an engaging read with lots of real life examples and fun stats!

 

 

 

Related Youth Resources

3 Reasons Why Your Relationship With God Matters

Posted on January 26, 2015

So life, its crazy sometimes. Its busy, its messy, its not always easy. As a teenager, there’s tons of things screaming for your attention. From your homework, to your friendships, to your job, its hard to keep it all straight and most importantly, its hard to find time for God. So with all the things that are screaming for your attention, why should you take some time out from those things to spend with God? Does it really matter that you spend time in the Bible or praying?

Here are three reasons you should cut through the busyness of life and get to know God.

  1. God went out of His way to know you.
    This is huge. God had no need to know you. Heaven is awesome and perfect. He didn’t need to know you, but He wanted to. He wanted to in such a bad way that He gave His son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin, so we could know Him. If God gave all He had so He could know you, then we should put a priority on spending some time each week getting to know Him better.
    “Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 (ERV)
    Learn More
  2.  God wants you to have an awesome life.
    God didn’t want a relationship with you to stop your fun. Many people believe that if you live for God it means you can’t have fun. That you have to turn in all your fun if you really follow after God and live a boring, rule filled life. That is simply not the case. Living for God will bring a new level of awesome to your life.
    “A thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came to give life—life that is full and good. ” – John 10:10 (ERV)
    Learn more
  3. God is always ready for you.
    God is not like many people in your life. He is never to busy to hear from you. He doesn’t think your problems and challenges are too small for Him to take time for. God won’t put you off, or not accept you. God loves it when you come to Him. He wants to know you and for you to spend time getting to know Him.
    “The Father gives me my people. Every one of them will come to me. I will always accept them. ” – John 6:37
    Learn more

We’re not denying that you’re busy as a teenager. You are. There is tons of pressure for you to do well at school, sports and you still take need to take time for your friends and family. However, its important in all the busyness that happens every week to carve out some time to focus on your relationship with God.

Your relationship with God is the most important relationship in your life. Without that relationship all other relationships are meaningless. Choose to put a priority on knowing God and making that relationship matter.

Get Started Knowing God

Discipleship Track 1 – You Didn’t Measure Up

Posted on January 3, 2015

Discipleship Track 1 (Lesson #2) – You Didn’t Measure Up

These growth tools are powerful. They provide scriptures and great resources so that you can cement the truths of the Word of God into your heart and grow!

Growth Points

  • No amount of good deeds will help you get into heaven.
  • You needed a savior, Jesus to pay the price for your sins.
  • “Everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence.” – Romans 3:23 (TEV)

discipleship-youth-track-pdf

Growth Questions

Growth Questions are designed for you to get the word of God down inside your heart. If you download the PDF and answer the questions, it will help you meditate on what God has done for you!
Download Your Growth Questions : Lesson # 2 – You Didn’t Measure Up

 

 

Growth Scriptures

Growth Scriptures are designed to kick-start your relationship with God by getting the Word of God into your heart. The Word of God planted in your heart will help you grow up spiritually. Read and think about these scriptures and begin growing in your walk with God.

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Track 1 – Is Good Enough?

Posted on January 2, 2015

Discipleship Track 1 (Lesson #3) – Is Good Enough?

Knowing that we have been made clean from sin is a powerful truth. These growth tools will help you establish exactly how God sees you, clean from sin!

Growth Points

  • If you say you haven’t messed up or sinned, you’re fooling yourself.
  • If you ask God’s forgiveness, you’re free from sin’s power.
  • “If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth.” – 1 John 1:8 (NLT)

discipleship-youth-track-pdf

Growth Questions

Download this great PDF that will help challenge you in your walk with God.
Download Your Growth Questions : Lesson # 3 – Is Good Enough?

Growth Scriptures

Take these scriptures and spend time to get them into your heart. These scriptures will help encourage you and help you understand what God did for you.

Track 1 – The Exchange

Posted on January 1, 2015

Track 1 (Lesson #4) – The Exchange

Knowing that Jesus exchanged all He was for all you are is a powerful truth. When you know that truth it will change the way you see yourself and others too!

Main Points

  • Jesus exchanged all He is for all you are!
  • You’ve got a new nature in Christ
  • “Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! ” – Romans 5:18 (Message)

discipleship-youth-track-pdf

Growth Questions

These questions will help reinforce the truths in this lesson.
Download Your Growth Questions : Lesson # 4 – The Great Exchange

Growth Scriptures

Reading these scriptures will help you get excited about what Jesus did for you in the great exchange!

Track 2 – Lesson #1 (God is Faithful)

Posted on December 8, 2014

Discipleship Track 2 (Lesson #1) – God Is Faithful

If you were asked to introduce God to a friend what would you say? Getting to know characteristics about God helps you to know and love Him more.

Main Points

  • God is loyal, consistent, and trustworthy
  • We can trust God when we get to know about who He is!
  • “And He who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will He change His mind, for He is not human that He should change His mind. ” – 1 Samuel 15:29 (NLT)

discipleship-youth-track-pdf

Growth Questions

These questions will help reinforce the truths in this lesson.
Download Your Growth Questions : Lesson # 1 – God is Faithful

Growth Scriptures

Thinking about these scriptures will help you get the truths of God’s faithfulness into your heart.

 

Track 2 – Lesson #2 (God is Love)

Posted on December 7, 2014

Discipleship Track 2 (Lesson #2) – God Is Love

If you were asked by a friend, “Who is God?” what would you say? This discipleship track will help you get to know an important part about God, that He is love.

Main Points

  • God’s love is big!
  • Knowing God’s love helps us love Him and others more.
  • “And may you have power to understand..how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ” – Ephesians 3:17 (Message)
Growth Scriptures

These scriptures will help you get to know more about God’s love.

Track 2 (Lesson #4) – God is Good

Posted on December 5, 2014

Discipleship Track 2 (Lesson #4) – God Is Good

Have you ever taken the blame for something you didn’t do? Maybe you got blamed for your brother breaking your mom’s new dishes, or a rumor was started at school about you that wasn’t true. How did that make you feel? Just like you, sometimes God gets blamed for things He didn’t do. Many times in movies and on TV God takes the blame for things He didn’t do. This youth lesson will show you from the Bible about who God really is.

Main Points

  • God is good!
  • Knowing about God’s goodness helps you love Him more.
  • Knowing that God is good helps you want to live for Him.

discipleship-youth-track-pdf

Growth Questions

These questions will help reinforce the truths in this lesson.
Download Your Growth Questions : Lesson # 4 – God is Good

Growth Scriptures

Read these awesome scriptures about God’s goodness and get them into your head and heart. You’ll find that loving and living for God is easier when you know how much He loves you!

 

Help! I Lost a Loved One

Posted on October 27, 2014

Dealing with the loss of a loved oneLosing a person you love is never easy. When someone you love passes away, it is a very tough thing. You’re hit with so many emotions. Some people get angry, while others feel sad. Some feel guilty or blame themselves when something bad happens. There are tons of emotions that come when you are faced with the loss of someone you love.

So how do you channel those feelings of sadness, loss or even anger? Here are a few things I learned when I was faced with the loss of a loved one a few years ago.

  1. Don’t let it affect your relationship with God. This was the biggest mistake I made in my time of loss. I had lots of questions about why the person I loved died. I didn’t understand. I was mad and let my unanswered questions hurt my relationship with God.
    When a loved one passes away, you’re bound to have questions. You may even want to blame God for what happened. However, no matter how many questions you have or how mixed up you feel inside, God is not to blame. Don’t allow your questions to keep you from going to God for help and healing in this tough time.
  2. Recovering from loss takes time. Losing a loved one is not something you just ‘get over’. It takes time. It will take time for you to feel okay. You might experience tons of difficult emotions, that’s okay. You might be faced with your family or life just not feeling right or normal anymore. That is okay too. It will take time for you to heal. Don’t be upset if you’re not feeling like yourself for awhile.
    Losing someone you love is a big deal and it takes time for you to recover.
  3. Get help if you need it. Sometimes you need to talk to someone about your loss. You might have a lot of emotions that you need to work through. Its okay to get some help. Go to a pastor or a counselor at your school. These people are trained to help you process your grief in healthy ways. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

Losing a loved one is a big deal. However, you can take comfort in the fact that God is always there for you. He’s there to help you heal. You can put your trust in Him. He will be your strength and anchor when things get tough. Look to him to be what grounds you when dealing with the loss of someone you love.

We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. – Hebrews 6:19 (Holman)

Why, God, Why?: What to Do When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
This is a powerful book that will help you deal with the questions you face when dealing with the loss of a loved one.

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