Browsing Tag

words

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Hebrews 11:3

Posted on May 16, 2024

Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God’s words! He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen. – Hebrews 11:3 (TPT)

Have you ever needed some extra energy? Maybe you stayed up all night studying for finals or doing a project. The next day you were struggling to stay awake because you didn’t sleep the night before. When you’re sleepy, you need an energy boost. It’s easy to drink a huge cup of coffee, large soda or energy drink to empower you to make it through the day.

Spiritually, we need empowerment too. Today’s Bible verse shows us that one of the roles of faith is to empower us. Faith is what empowers us to see that God created the universe. It takes faith to believe that God was the one who was responsible for our world and that He created it with His words.

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Faith can be empowerment in your life too. Maybe you are facing something really tough. Faith can help you get through it. Perhaps you don’t know what career to choose after high school. Faith empowers you to believe that God has a good plan for your life and that you will know what to do when the time is right.

Faith is empowerment in your life. Today, don’t overlook the power of faith. It’s there to empower you when you need it the most!

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Eph 4:29

Posted on February 21, 2024

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. – Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)

Today’s verse is a challenge. It talks about us taking responsibility for what we say. It’s not up to God to watch what comes out of your mouth, or stop you when you’re about to say something bad. Today’s verse implies that this is our responsibility. It’s up to us to guard the words we speak.

We shouldn’t be letting any thought or feeling just fly out of our mouths. Instead, we should pay attention to what we speak and choose to speak life-giving words.

Choose today to be more careful about what you say. Your words are powerful, so be sure that you’re using words that build others up and help them. Choose to speak words of life today!

Why Words Are Like Legos

Posted on August 10, 2015

Devotion on the Power of your wordsDid you ever play with Legos as a kid? I remember when I was growing up that playing with Legos was one of my favorite things to do. There wasn’t enough time in a day to build all the towers, houses and cars I wanted to build. I just loved building stuff with Legos.

In a way, the words that we speak each day are a lot like Legos. Our words can build or create new things. Each word we speak creates what we see each and every day.

The Bible says in Mark 11:23 that we can have whatever we say.

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. – Mark 11:23 (NKJV)

Our words build or create where we go in life, good or bad. The Bible says in Proverbs 18:21 that death and life are in the power of the tongue.

The words we speak build what we have today. If you don’t like what you’re seeing in your life, check up on what you are speaking each day. If you speak words of defeat, words that say you’re worthless, that you’re a mess, and that you’ll never amount to anything, that is exactly what you will build in your life. I encourage you to realize the power of your words and to make the decision to speak words that build good things in your life.

What you speak out sets the tone for your life – Joel Osteen

Surviving Summer Vacation

Posted on June 15, 2015

Teen Devotion on Surviving Summer Vacation

Summer vacation can be a little rough at times. Perhaps you’re crammed into a car with your brothers and sisters and have to drive half-way across the country to see some old monument that you could honestly care less about. Or perhaps, you’re stuck driving your little brother to all his baseball games, when you’d rather just be hanging out with your friends. Whatever the case may be, we know that summer vacation can feel long, boring, and less than awesome at times, so we’ve put together a few tips to help you survive summer vacation.

  1. Pay attention to what you say.
    It can be easy to get mad at  your brother or sister because of something they did. You can want to lash out at them and call them a horrible name or tell them you hate them. However, your words are really powerful. They can cause hurts that you never intended. So spend a little extra time thinking about the words that you speak.

    The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. – Proverbs18:21

  2. Have a good attitude.
    There may be times during summer vacation that you are forced to do something that you’d rather not do. In those times, you can choose the attitude you will have. So choose to be happy!

    Rejoice in the Lord always- delight, gladden yourselves in Him: again I say, rejoice! – Philippians 4:6

  3. Get creative.
    You might be stuck at home or bored out of your mind. Use the time to find something creative to do. Build your little brother a fort out of cardboard boxes. Try baking something new. Invite your friends over for a water balloon fight. Just get creative and find out of the box ways to keep yourself entertained.
  4. Spend some extra time in Bible study and prayer.
    If you’re bored in a car, at your house or at your brother’s baseball game, spend the extra time reading your Bible. Download an app for your phone, or use the good old fashioned paper Bible. Whatever works for you, just spend some time reading the Bible and getting excited to know God deeper.

Summer vacation can sometimes feel like its not going your way. You might feel like you’re not able to do all the things you want to do. Don’t spend too much time getting sad or upset. Rather, focus on keeping a good attitude and choosing to be happy regardless of what is going on around you.

[Tweet “Make the decision to be happy regardless of what is going on around you. – @studentdevos”]

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Why What You Speak Matters

Posted on April 13, 2015

Devotion on the Power of Words

Words Matter

If you’re like most teenagers, you’re speaking a lot of words everyday. You might be texting friends, posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or talking to friends in the hallway. The fact is, you’re using lots of words all day long. On average, a person speaks between 10,000 and 25,000 words a day. That’s a lot of words!

With so many words coming out of our mouths all day long, its understandable that God puts a lot of importance on the words we speak. For example, in Proverbs 18:21 it says, “Those who love to talk will experience the consequences, for the tongue can kill or nourish life. ” (NLT). That’s a pretty strong statement on the importance of your words.

[Tweet “Words can kill or nourish life. The words that you speak every day are important. – @studentdevos”]

When you’re in math class and find out you missed 10 problems on the homework assignment, what comes out of your mouth? Do you say things like, “AHH! I’m so dumb…I’ll never get this!” Words like that will shut off your success in school.

The words you speak are important.

The words that you speak every day, even the smallest words, are important. They set the course and tone for your life. If you don’t like something that is happening in your life, pay attention to the words that you’ve been speaking regarding that thing or situation. Perhaps you need to begin to speak words of life.

Words will direct the course of your life, so begin to pay attention to what you’re speaking.

Pray: God, I choose to pay attention to the words that I speak each day. I ask you for your help in speaking words of life over me each day. I know that my words are important and I choose to speak words of life every day. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

 Listen: Words by Hawk Nelson

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3 Resons To Keep Your Word

Posted on January 14, 2015

Devotion for Teens - Keeping Your Word

Don’t you hate it when people don’t keep their word? Maybe your mom said she’d take you for ice cream after school and forgot all about it. Perhaps you had a friend that borrowed money from you and said they’d pay you back the next day but never did. When people don’t keep their word, it can be really frustrating. Here are some good reasons to keep your word, even when it isn’t easy.

Keep your word even when it costs you” – Psalm 15:5 (Message)

  • Keeping your word pays off in the end. It probably doesn’t feel like it will pay off, but keeping your word will set you up for future success. It might feel like you’re not getting ahead when you do what you say, but if you keep your word, people begin to trust you. That trust will lead to you having more responsibility.
  • Keeping your word takes guts. It’s not easy to follow through with what you say. Sometimes, it means you end up having to do something you’d rather not do. Keeping your word isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes a person who is committed and is ready to do the right thing no matter how hard it might seem.
  • Keeping your word takes work. Its easier to not follow through and do the things you say you’ll do. It’s hard to keep your word. It also doesn’t happen right away. It’s a habit that you have to develop. Realize that learning to keep your word doesn’t happen overnight. Don’t become discouraged if you’re not perfect at it right away. Keep working on it, and you’ll get better the more you make it a priority in your life.

Keeping your word isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes guts and it takes work. However, keeping your word is something that will pay off in the end. You won’t have regrets or have to feel bad because you didn’t do something that you said you would do.

It’s better to stay silent than to commit to something that you know you can’t fulfill. Challenge yourself to begin becoming a person that keeps their word. It will really pay off in the end!

What Your Phone Can Teach You About Words

Posted on October 13, 2014

I have a friend who uses a passcode to lock her phone. She does this because her younger sisters always try to use her phone without her permission. They want to play the games on her phone and think its so much fun to read her text messages. Many times in the process they’d mess something up on her phone. They’d delete a photo she liked or mess up her settings. As you can imagine, my friend got really tired of her sisters messing things up on her phone. She decided to set up a passcode on her phone. Now, her sisters can’t access her phone since they don’t know the code.

Setting a passcode on your phone is a lot like what we should do with the words that we speak everyday. The words we speak can make or break us in life. The words we speak steer our lives. If we speak positive words, our lives get steered in good directions. Negative words can steer us off course quickly. Words have a lot of power in our lives. We should be choosing to put a passcode on our mouths just like we would on our phone. We should choose to be careful to guard our mouths and the words we speak. Proverbs puts it this way:

People who are careful about what they say will save their lives, but those who speak without thinking will be destroyed. – Proverbs 13:3

So how good are you about guarding your mouth? When you get angry do let your mouth run wild? Do you say things you regret? Or maybe you don’t feel good about yourself, so you constantly put yourself or others down. Challenge yourself to begin setting a passcode over your mouth. Don’t just say whatever you feel in the moment, but really guard the words that come out of your mouth.

The tongue can speak words that bring life or death. Those who love to talk must be ready to accept what it brings.  – Proverbs 18:21

Just like you wouldn’t let just anyone use your phone to send text messages or take pictures, you should guard your mouth too. A great way to start guarding your mouth is to spend more time in God’s word. Its what you get into your heart that will ultimately come out of your mouth. If you spend time getting God’s word into your heart, then God’s word will be what is coming out of your mouth.

… What people say with their mouths comes from what fills their hearts – Matthew 12:34

Choose to put a passcode over your mouth. Speak words of life that steer your life in a good direction!

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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.

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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.