Browsing Tag

worship

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Psalm 103:1

Posted on June 15, 2018

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. – Psalm 103:1

Praising the Lord can be hard sometimes. Especially when you just don’t ‘feel it’. So how do you motivate yourself to praise God even when you don’t want to? One of the best ways to motivate yourself to praise God more is to remind yourself of how good He is.

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Remind yourself of the times when God has helped you out. Remind yourself of how awesome it is to have your sins forgiven and to live in freedom knowing that He’s not holding your past against you. Remind yourself of how great it is to serve Him.  As you begin to remind yourself of all the great things God has done for you, you’ll find that your motivation to praise Him grows.

It can be easy to look at all the things going on wrong around you and have a bad attitude. Decide today to do something different. Challenge yourself today to find some time to praise God, regardless of how you feel.

What Legos Teach About Worship

Posted on September 26, 2016

Youth Devotion about Worship

Playing with Lego as a little kid was always one of my favorite things to do. I loved to build anything I could get my hands on. I liked building houses, towns, cars and pretty much anything else I could dream up.

I remember one year at Christmas, I got a new Lego set. It was a train station, and I just loved building it. I opened up the instruction booklet that came with the set and began following each step to construct the train station. In all the excitement to build the set, however, I began to realize that I had missed a step somewhere in the building process. Things began to look a little strange, and the train station just wasn’t looking right. Because I missed a step along the way, things began to not look right.

That reminds me of how its like for us to worship God. Much of the time we try to get the end result of worship, singing, eyes closed, hands clapping and whatever else worship looks like, but we often forget a step.

The Missing Step

Often when we worship, we forget why it is that we worship. And sometimes, we forget why we even can worship. We’re able to worship because of our relationship with God.

You wouldn’t be able to talk about how good food is at a restaurant if you didn’t eat there. It’s after you’ve tried the food that you’re able to talk about how good it is. That’s how we are with God.  To really enjoy praising him, we’ve got to get to know Him. We’ve got to develop a relationship with Him.

God wants nothing more than a relationship with you. He loves you and wants to know you in a deeper and more real way. This relationship enables us to worship God and enjoy him in a deeper way.

Through Jesus we should always bring God a sacrifice of praise, that is, words that acknowledge him By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name – Hebrews 13:15 (KJV)

This verse gives us lots of good examples of what praise is. It’s a sacrifice, that it may take some work and effort and stepping out of what feels comfortable to give praise. It also tells us that our lips should be giving thanks. That we should be producing thanks to God.

Worship Starts With the Heart

There are so many things that you can thank God for. Whether it’s simply the fact that you’re breathing, or for the food you got to eat, the clothes you wear, or the friends that you have. It could be taking time to think about all that God provided for you in Christ.

You can thank God that you’re not a sinner any longer, but a child of God. You can thank God for His faithfulness and goodness. There are so many things to thank God for.

Worship isn’t complicated. It’s not hard or something that you’ve got to go to Bible school to learn how to do effectively. Worship starts by simply taking time to thank God for what He’s done in your life. So don’t be like I was with my train station Lego set as a kid. Don’t forget a step when it comes to worship. Don’t forget that worship isn’t about actions only, it’s about your heart. It’s about taking time to focus on who God is and what He’s done for you. Worship starts with the heart.

Challenge yourself today to not let your worship become stale, but to refocus your attention on Jesus. Focus on who He is and what He’s done for you.

If you’re a youth leader and you liked this lesson, you can download a youth group lesson outline and powerpoint based on this devotion to share with your youth group in our online resource center.

How to Have an Epic Summer

Posted on August 5, 2013

Teen Devotion - Great Summer

Summer break is in full swing for most students. With all that free time, it can be easy to get bored really fast. So, here’s some ways to to make your summer vacation epically awesome!

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  • Do something crazy – This doesn’t mean jumping off a bridge or risking your life. It means grab a few of your friends and do something out of the ordinary. Fill up a ton of water balloons with pudding and have a really sticky crazy water balloon fight. Or maybe create a scavenger hunt for your friends. Be creative and find something really fun and different you can do this summer with your friends.
  • Read a Book – This might seem totally lame, but you can use this summer to read some great books. Find a book on leadership or read to learn something new about God. There’s tons of books out there that can challenge you to learn and grow. Here’s a few we really like:
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  • Learn something new – Take your extra time this summer and invest in learning something new. YouTube how to play drums. Ask your grandma to teach you how to sew. Read a self-help book on how to create a website. Find something that you’ve always wanted to be able to do and learn how to do it this summer.
  • Get to know God better – Invest some time this summer into prayer and Bible study. Find a great private place where you can plug your headphones in and worship God to an awesome worship CD. Really invest into getting to know God. Time spent getting to know God is never wasted!
  • Overcome a Fear – What’s something you’re afraid of? Can you overcome it this summer? Can you force yourself to talk to someone you don’t know? Can you ride that roller coaster that you’ve been avoiding because it just looks too scary? Find a fear and decide to overcome it this summer.
  • Give Back – Don’t make this summer just about you. Find a way to give back. Offer to cut the grass for an older neighbor. Volunteer to help clean at your church. Go on a missions trip this summer. Find a need somewhere and meet it. Give back to those around you. Decide to help others this summer.

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These are just a few suggestions to making your summer one to remember. If you set your mind to it, you can kick the summer boredom blues and make your summer one that is truly epic!