Browsing Tag

salvation

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Matthew 20:32

Posted on June 28, 2022

Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. – Matthew 20:32 (GW)

Have you ever taken some time to stop and think about what you’d like to see Jesus do in your life? Lots of times in life, we just take things as they come or get so busy that we forget we can go to Jesus with the things we need. This Bible verse encourages us to ask Jesus for what we want to see in our lives.

So what would you like to see in your life? Do you want Jesus to be more real to you? Do you need wisdom or help in any area of your life? Do you need healing from a hurt? Then do what this verse says and ask Jesus what you want Him to do in your life. When you ask Jesus to get involved with what you’re facing, you’re able to do much more than you could do on your own.

Today’s Truth: Don’t get so busy that you forget to go to Jesus with the things you need

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – John 17:3

Posted on June 22, 2021

And this is the real and eternal life: That they know you, The one and only true God, And Jesus Christ, whom you sent. – John 17:3 (Message)

This Bible verse shows us something really amazing: God wants a relationship with you. You have the opportunity to know the one true God and Jesus Christ. That is great news!

Jesus wants to walk with you, to do life with you, and He’s made it possible for us to know Him. Not just to know about Him, but to really know Him. He’s ready to walk with you through the trials and troubles that you face and help you find a way out.

Today’s Truth: God Wants A Relationship With You

So instead of trying to do life in your own strength and ability, decide to get to know God. Spend some time today getting to know Him by reading your Bible and praying. Deciding to walk with God in life is one of the best decisions you can make.

[Tweet “God isn’t far away. He wants a relationship with you! – @studentdevos”]

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – 1 Timothy 2:4

Posted on August 1, 2019

who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. – 1 Timothy 2:4

This verse shows us that God cares for us in a deep way. He first cares about our eternity. He wants every person to have the chance to accept Jesus and to be saved. Not everyone will choose to do that, but God’s heart is that everyone would accept Jesus as their Lord.

The end of this verse goes even deeper. God doesn’t want us to get saved and then He forgets all about us. God wants us to get saved and then to learn more about Him. To learn the truth of who He is.

Remember today that God wants a deep relationship with you. He wants you to understand the truth written in the Bible. He cares about you and He also cares about those who have yet to know Him. So spend time getting to know God better and also begin thinking about who you might tell about Jesus. Be willing to be used by God to tell someone else about the truth!

Daily Devotion and Bible Verse – August 10

Posted on August 10, 2018

But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. – John 1:12 (NLT)

In many countries, citizens of that country have rights. In America if you’re arrested you’re read your rights. You’re told you have the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney among other things. These rights mean that as a citizen of the country you’re entitled to certain things.

This Bible verse tells us that if we believe Jesus and accept Him we have the right to be children of God. That is a great right. Its awesome to know that we can be called God’s children. We don’t have to know God from a far. We can know Him personally because we are His children.

[Tweet “We don’t have to know God from a far. We can know Him personally because we are His children. – @studentdevos”]

All we have to do to receive that right is to believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Lord. This verse really shows us how easy it is to become a child of God.

So as you go through today, take some time to be thankful that you have the right to be God’s child. It is great to know that we’ve been given that awesome right!

What Dominos Can Teach Us About Our Faith

Posted on February 25, 2018

I remember playing dominoes as a kid. I hated playing the game by the rules. Instead, I loved setting up all the dominos in a row in all sorts of fun patterns. Once I had the dominos set up, I’d knock the first one over and watch as the first one knocked over the second, the second knocked over the third. On and on the knocking over happened until all the dominos fell down. Knocking over dominos is really fun. Playing with dominos reminds me of Romans 10.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! – Romans 10:13-15

Each part of this scripture is like a domino. You’ve got to have one to knock down two, to knock down the third and so on. So what are these dominos?

Domino One – To get saved you have to call on the name of the Lord.

This domino makes a lot of sense. If you want to get saved, you’ve got to ask Jesus to do it. You can’t rely on your works, good deeds or anything else. The Bible clearly states that it is Jesus who does the saving.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it – Eph 2:8-9 (NLT)

Salvation is a gift of grace. It’s not about what you’ve done, its all about who Jesus is. It’s all about asking Jesus to save you. The great thing about this is that Jesus doesn’t make calling on him complicated. It’s simple, it’s just reaching out to Him by faith or belief. That’s where the next domino comes into play.

Domino Two – To call on Jesus you have to believe.

You have to believe in Jesus to call on Him for salvation. If you think that you’re saved by your works or any other way, there’s no need to call on Jesus. To call on Jesus, you’ve got to humble yourself and realize that without Jesus you can’t do enough good to get into heaven. You’ve got to firmly believe that Jesus is God’s son, and his sacrifice on the cross was the payment for your sin. Once you believe that, you’re able to call on Jesus to save you.

But that statement makes you wonder: How do you begin believing?

Domino Three – To believe in Jesus, you have to hear about Him.

If you haven’t heard about Jesus, how would you know that you should call on him, or believe in Him? You wouldn’t. You’ve got to build belief in Jesus by hearing about Him. Think about it, the more you hear about a great movie, the more you want to go see it. When you hear about something good it makes you want to try it. The same is true about Jesus to develop the faith to believe Him, you’ve got to hear about Him. You’ve got to learn that He’s good, that’s He is the only way to God.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. – Romans 10:17 (KJV)

So how do you begin to hear about Jesus?

Domino Four – To hear about Jesus, someone has to tell you about Him.

This about a new restaurant you’ve tried recently. What made you decide to try the new restaurant? Most likely, someone told you about it. Maybe a friend told you the new restaurant was really good and their review made you want to try it for yourself. The same is true with Jesus. If someone hadn’t told you about Jesus, you couldn’t have called on Him for salvation.

When you hear about the goodness of God, it makes you believe in Him and want to invite Him into your life.

So finally, how does someone tell others about Jesus?

Domino Five – Those who tell others about Jesus are sent.

The Bible tells us in Mark 16:15 that we are to go into our world and tell others about Jesus. As believers, we are called by God to tell others about who Jesus is.

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. – Mark 16:15 (NLT)

So take some time this week to think about this scripture. You’ve been called by God to tell others about Jesus. You are called to preach to people the message of salvation.

[Tweet “You’ve been called by God to tell others about Jesus – @studentdevos”]

As you tell others, they will hear the message, then they have the option to believe and finally call on Jesus to be saved. But the process starts with you telling people about Jesus. If you don’t open your mouth, then other people won’t have the opportunity to hear the gospel. It’s up to you to share with those around you. You sharing salvation with those around you can cause a great domino effect. You could cause someone you know and care for to get saved and to spend eternity with Jesus.

So what are you waiting for? Begin sharing Jesus with others today!

Youth Group Discussion Questions – What Dominos Can Teach Us About Our Faith
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Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – February 13

Posted on February 13, 2018

“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

It’s amazing to think that it wasn’t your sin that got you in trouble with God. It was the very first person to do that… Adam. He and Eve sinned and got us all in trouble with sin and death. Their sin was now being passed down to every single person that would ever be born because they were all born of other sinful humans. It was in our blood and we could do nothing about it.

Then Jesus came. He was of a different bloodline; God’s bloodline. He was born of God and perfect, yet was also fully a human like us. God supernaturally broke the curse that we were in through Jesus being born and then becoming our way back to God. Jesus did it right; life, no sin and a perfect bloodline of God. Then Jesus died for all sin at one time and God raised Him back to life. He completely made things right between us and God.

So how does one receive this work of God? It doesn’t just happen because you’re alive. No, you have to reach out and receive it. You have to confess it with your mouth and believe it in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. If you do this, you receive what Jesus did and you partake in all that He’s provided.

If you’ve never received Jesus, here’s how. If you have, then reminding yourself of this truth is still very helpful. One person had made it all wrong (Adam), but one person (Jesus) made it all right.

Why Jesus Is Like Snapchat

Posted on April 18, 2016

Snapchat is a great way to connect with your friends. You can send them a photo, video, add a caption, and send the snap off to a friend. Snapchat is a great app to use and a lot of fun.

Have you ever thought about the fact that Jesus is a lot like Snapchat? No, Jesus isn’t an app or a way to communicate with your friends, but we can learn about Jesus from Snapchat.

Once a snap is sent, it can be viewed for a limited amount of time. Then the snap deletes. Its never seen again. This is a lot like what Jesus did for us on the cross. Our sin was a barrier to get to God. We couldn’t come to God on the basis of our works, because any sin, no matter how small keeps us from knowing God. What we needed was a solution to our sin. The solution was Jesus.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23 (HSCB)

Jesus Fixed The Problem

Jesus was able to delete sin, permanently. Once we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins, they’re gone, deleted once and for all. Just like the snaps in snapchat. They can’t be viewed again once they’re deleted. And that’s what Jesus did for us. He deleted the sin out of our lives by dying on the cross. His death and resurrection caused the sin problem to be destroyed. When we accept Jesus in our lives, all our sins are deleted. They’re gone. We can go to God as if sin never existed in our lives.

Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. – Romans 8:2 (NIV)

So the next time you use snapchat, let it be a reminder to you of how Jesus was and is the solution to sin.

If you’re a youth leader and liked this devotion, we’ve got a great youth leader lesson download based on this devotion.

Why Jesus Is Like Snapchat – Youth Group Lesson
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What an Astronaut Teaches Us About Eternity

Posted on March 16, 2015

Eternity can be a pretty scary thing to think about. What happens after death? How do we know if we will go to heaven? What about this life on the Earth. What does it mean? Questions, Questions, Questions. And sometimes it might feel like its hard to know the right answers to these questions. So, we’ve designed this devotion to help bring some clarity to the mystery of eternity.

First of all, what is eternity? According to Merriam-Webster, it’s time without an end or a state that comes after death and never ends. Great, so what? Well, eternity is something that God is, God is eternal. He has no beginning or end. He was for eternity past and will be for eternity future. But what does that mean for us?

Well, knowing all this helps us understand who we are better. See if God is eternal, and we are made in the image of God, that means that we are eternal and spirit beings as well.

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. – Genesis 1:27 (NLT)

So if we’re eternal spirit beings like God, what does this mean for us when we die? Well, that’s where our good friend the astronaut helps us out. See astronauts are able to travel beyond the earth and explore space. And when astronauts are exploring space, many times they wear a spacesuit.

Their spacesuit is really awesome! It helps them be able to survive in outer space. It helps them perform experiments and learn about things outside of earth.

In the same way astronauts wear spacesuits, we wear bodies here on earth. Our body helps us live and function here on the earth. When we die, if we’ve accepted Jesus as our Lord, our spirit leaves our body and goes to heaven to spend eternity with God. Just like the astronaut takes off his spacesuit when he is no longer in space, when we die, we take off our ‘earth suit’ or body and go to be with the Lord.

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from this body and to live with the Lord. – 2 Cor 5:8 (NIV)

When we die, we don’t stop existing. Our spirit simply leaves our body and goes to either heaven or hell, depending on whether we’ve made Jesus the Lord of our life. And just like the astronaut takes off his spacesuit when he’s done exploring outer space, when we die, we take off our body, and the real us, our spirit goes to be with the Lord.

This is great news for people who’ve accepted Jesus. They can know that when they die they go to heaven and be with the Lord. So the next time you see a picture of an astronaut, let it be a reminder of how one day we will get to spend eternity with the Lord.

Similar Youth Devotions

What a Sandwich Can Teach Us About Judging Others

Posted on March 9, 2015

I’ve always hated a small restaurant near my house. I saw the outside of the building and how it was painted and just knew I would hate the food. It really didn’t seem like it was my style at all. I was certain I hated the place and its food.

However, one day a bunch of my family decided they wanted to eat there. So I went along with them to have supper. I wasn’t impressed by anything in the restaurant and knew the entire meal was going to be disgusting and not worth my time. But for the sake of my family, I stayed and ordered some food from the menu. I decided on a simple sandwich. I figured its pretty hard to ruin a sandwich.

Before too long, our food arrived. I bit into my sandwich. I didn’t have an expectations that the sandwich was going to be good. In fact, I was just hoping I could eat it without gagging. I took the first bite, and to my surprise, the sandwich was great! In fact, it was one of the best ones I had ever had. I couldn’t believe it, how could I have been so wrong about a sandwich?

That sandwich reminds me a lot of how easy it is to judge others. You can see how a person acts, the clothes they wear, or even the friends they have and put that person into a box. We write certain people off because of how they treated us, or how we perceive them. However, just like I was wrong about the restaurant being good, many times, our judgements of people can be wrong.

By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The other thing about judging others is that it cheapens the price Jesus paid for mankind. Jesus gave his life for all humanity. That means each person has value to God. From the most popular to the least popular, each person matters to God. Because each person matters so much to God, when we judge others we cheapen the price God paid for each person.

So the next time you’re tempted to pass judgement on someone. To look down on them for what they wear or how they act remember that they are important to God. He loves them and wants them to have the chance to get to know Him. So the next time you’re tempted to judge someone, use it as an excuse to share God’s love with that person instead. See the person like God sees them and invite them to start a relationship with a loving God.

God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. – 1 John 4:9 (GW)

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