Devotions for Teens

[Soldier4Christ]

  Your Journey or His

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord directs his steps.” –Proverbs 16:9

As I have watched certain events unfold in the lives of people around me, and listen to their stories, I'm reminded of something that someone told me a few years ago...they learned from an experience they had watched their sister go through that caused their sister's death.

I went on to learn more about the woman who told me the story and found something interesting... she lived a life that caused her sister's death, yet she said she “learned” from her sister's experience.

What really did she learn? And what do we consider "learning"? Does the mere fact of going through unpleasant circumstances equal that a person has "learned"? Does getting over and used to the reality of an event qualify as having "learned"?
Learning is what happens when a person examines the very point at which something went wrong. Unfortunately, many people have said they learn, only to do the same mistakes over again, jumping into similar circumstances that got them, or someone else somewhere they would have rather not been. That causes a person to become drained and really the only thing a person learns to do is either say "I give up" in the humiliation and frustration that they can't get it right and they become numb doing it over and over again. Or they become more and more guarded. Not guarded in the honorable sense, but guarded in the sense of mistrust, leery of even all the right opportunities.
What would you do if you fell? What would you tell someone if you saw them fall? Would you tell them to get back up and dust themselves off? That’s a good start. But what do we do with our feet when we do get up? Do we wander around, possibly even going through the same path that led us to the pothole we fell into? Do we start walking through a path and hope it’s the right one? We make so many plans for ourselves.

Sometimes, getting it right is by trial and error. But it doesn’t have to be. Do you really want to learn? Do you want to know the very point that the journey went wrong? Here’s what you do. Get up, dust yourself off, and call on the name of Jesus. Then, be patient and listen. Do you hear Him? Do you hear His voice? Be careful, there is a voice that will try to lure you to even the most seemingly innocent path. Don’t be fooled. Follow the voice of the one who sticks closer than a brother. When you find Him, it’s then that you’ve learned. He has a lot to teach on the road ahead.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Have You Lost Your First Love?

In the Book of Revelation John writes to us what the Lord has to say about the significance and seriousness of our love relationship with Christ. Revelation 2:4 states "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love." This is a warning to the members of the church, in this instance, the church in Ephesus, that they have lost the fervent love that they had when they first became Christians. This is problematic because God's desire for us is to love Him with all that we are, and no less than that.

A strong and intentionally focused love for the Lord is important for every Christian to take hold of and practice every day. Why is that? Because when we love the Lord with that kind of intensity, we will also love our fellow humans in the same manner. The Lord's message in this verse is a very clear chastising of our becoming indifferent to the sin of those within our sphere of influence.

John continues in verse 5 with a sharp rebuke that God gives to the Ephesian church: "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." In other words, they (and we) must confess the sin of losing the initial desire and zealousness they had for the Lord and repent of it, or they will suffer His certain displeasure. When the presence of Christ's grace and Spirit is missing from our lives, we may expect the presence of his correction.

God expects Christians to be people who in meekness and tenderness are diligently fighting against the sin of men. We have become enlisted soldiers in Christ's army against the evilness and darkness of sin in this world. He expects us to earnestly pray against becoming indifferent about sin and constantly be at war against it. If we have lost the love we had for Christ and the zealousness that the Holy Spirit provides us, we cannot battle against the forces of sin in the world around us. Therefore, all committed Christians have an obligation to continually guard against becoming lethargic in our love for the Lord and hold fast to the power He provides for us to be fruitful and victorious Christian warriors.
When we accomplish that mission, we can expect the reward God has promised to us in verse 8 "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." We have to continually guard against becoming lethargic in our love for the Lord. Isn't being in the paradise of God the ultimate goal of every Christian?

When is the last time you took inventory of the depth and intensity of your love for the Lord? Right now might be a good time to review and assess where you truly stand with the Lord. Do it as if your eternity depended on it.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Stink, Stank, Stunk

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  2 Corinthians 5:17

When I was in middle school, I rode the bus to school every day.   In the winter, it was not only very cold, but very dark each morning as I would get on the bus for the long ride to school.  My neighbor and I were the first ones on the bus, which meant we got the prime seats – the ones by the heater.  Because we lived in the country, it was about 10 minutes to the next stop.

It appeared to be a normal winter morning like any other until we began to warm up.  As we did, we noticed a not so pleasant smell coming from the floor of the bus.  The warmer it got, the worse it smelled.  By the time we arrived at the next stop, we had a full-blown emergency on our hands.  Obviously, a skunk had crawled up under the bus during the night and froze to death.  As he thawed out, he took his awful revenge. 

I’ve never smelled that bad in my life.  The bus driver called for another bus, but for us the damage was done.  When we arrived at school, it looked like the parting of the Red Sea as we walked down the hallway.  After about 20 minutes we were told to go home and get rid of the smell.  Needless to say, it took a while.  After many washings, ourselves and our clothes were bearable.

Sin stinks!  It wrecks homes, relationships and lives.  It’s ugly, nasty, and horrible.  And yet we’re drawn to it like moths to a flame.  The greatest news of all time is that Jesus Christ has saved us from our sins.  They are no more.  And yet, many times as Christians we live like we still stink.  We walk around expecting others to be repelled by us and letting the Devil tell us how stinky we are.  Beloved, you are pure and clean.  You are a real live walking air freshener.    You are a new creation – live like it!

[Soldier4Christ]

  Trusting God through the Pain

The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them. Deuteronomy 7:22-24 (NIV)

Have you ever felt God doesn't hear you when you ask Him to take a problem out of your life?  It can feel like God is just not listening to you, or you may feel like you aren't praying correctly, but the truth is that God is working blessings in your life whether you can see them or not.  The blessings that God is working out aren't always the things we are focused on, and for a good reason.  You may be praying about something that is step 33 on God's list and He may be on step 5.  God knows what He's doing and knows He can't fix problem 33 until He has fixed the other 32 problems first.  The key is to follow His guidance even when it doesn't seem to have anything to do with what we are asking of Him.  It can get so frustrating when you are trying to work past struggles, weaknesses or repetitive sins that you just can't seem to shake.  Once we step back from focusing only on ourselves and taking a look at the bigger picture, our Christian life and walk start making more sense. 

In the scripture verse up above, God is talking to Israel about driving out all the other nations so that they can move in to the promised land.  This scripture says that He is only going to do it "little by little".  In looking at this, we would be tempted to ask "Why would He not just destroy everyone at once so the Israelites could just walk right in?"  As we look at the bigger picture, we can see that it took several years for Israel to move completely into the promised land.  If God had destroyed all the opposing nations at once, wild animals would have come in and ravaged the cities, turning them in to wastelands.  Without the area being worked by farmers and such, much of it would have become overgrown by weeds and grass, essentially turning it into a jungle making very large sections of the land completely uninhabitable.  By God allowing the other nations to stay in the land until Israel was ready to take that section of land also allowed the Israelites to get all that nation's animals, equipment, etc. on top of getting choice land.  That makes more sense doesn't it?  God had a bigger blessing in mind.  God always has a bigger blessing in mind for us too.

Imagine you were in a town that had a railroad track running through it.  One day you go for a walk and hear a kid screaming.  It seems he was playing by the track and has gotten his arm struck in the rail, breaking his arm in the fall.  As you run to him, you hear and see the training coming down the track very rapidly, heading directly toward the little boy.  You have to move the arm around and straighten it up to get him out of the track.  You tell the boy what you have to do but he doesn't want you to move his arm because it hurts.  You try to tell him that the train is coming but he is still more concerned with the pain he is feeling in his arm.  He finally realizes the train is coming and lets you move his arm around thereby freeing him   You quickly move him to safety before the train comes by.  Then you call an ambulance and rush the boy to the hospital. 

Sometimes, our struggles are just like this situation.  Spiritually, we are like the little kid with his arm stuck in the tracks.  The repetitive sins or struggles are the broken arm.  When God runs up to us, He tries to help us get away from the train track so we can go the hospital but we are too focused on the broken arm we fail to see the rest of the picture.  We have to listen to His voice, stop for a second, take a step back, and look at the bigger picture.  We must be willing to follow God to where he tells us to go.  It takes faith to believe that God knows what He's doing.  God can see the train coming, even when we can't, and He wants to help us.  God loves us more than we love ourselves, and for much better reasons.  He wants to get us to safety.  We have to trust that God has bigger blessings in store for us and be willing to follow Him.  Don't get frustrated with God by the pain.   Don't get frustrated with Him for not immediately taking it away or for it even getting a little worse.  The truth is that God is not trying to hurt you at all, He's trying to release you from the train track.

[Soldier4Christ]

  We Can Be Confident Amid The Storms

“Suddenly, a windstorm struck the lake and waves started splashing the boat and it was about to sink. Jesus was in the back of the boat with his head on a pillow, and he was asleep. His disciples woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re about to drown?” Jesus got up and ordered the wind and the waves to be quiet. The wind stopped and everything was calm.” Mark 4:35-39

In Mark chapter 4 we read about the disciples who were in the boat with Jesus on the Sea of Galilee when a horrible storm suddenly begins. Jesus is in the back of the boat sleeping peacefully while the disciples start to worry and wonder how he could sleep through such a horrible storm. When they awaken him, they ask him why he didn't do something and why he doesn't care what happens to them. Isn't that just like us? Even when we know Jesus is right there with us, we start to panic when things get out of control. We know as Christians that He loves us and cares for us but, we doubt and wonder if he's really there sometimes.

It takes a lot of faith to trust in a God you can not see, but we have to stand firm on the truth the Bible tells us. In 1 Peter 4:7, the Bible tells us to "Cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us." We can also stand on the truth we find in Romans 8:28 "For we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose."

When the seas of our life get stormy, we may not see Jesus sitting in the back of the boat but we can rest assured that He is there. We can have faith in knowing that He loves us and wants the best for us. When life seems overwhelming and it seems you just can't go through one more trial, hang on! Jesus is the lifeline in the storms of life. He will not let you drown! He's there to hold out his hand and speak "Peace, be still" into your life. He is not sleeping when your world seems to be crashing in around you…he's right there with you. Trust that He will provide for you and wait for Him to calm those stormy seas. He can and He will if you only have faith.

[Soldier4Christ]

  How Full is Your Grace Tank?

How Full Is Your Grace Tank?

Nearly everyone I know has a personal MySpace on MSN.  For those of you not familiar with MySpace, it's a personal website that you can customize to share your unique personality and to show the world your style, photos, likes, dislikes and a host of other facets of your life.  Some of the MySpace sites I have seen are pretty interesting and have all sort of techno wiz artistry, photo slide shows and Blog boards with all kinds of subjects being addressed.  Even most of the leading Christian recording artists have a MySpace setup, as a unique way to reach out to their fans and have a converstation with them in a secure and easy fashion.

As in most things, there are always those who might take advantage of others through the use of the messaging, email, comments section, or message boards features.  I have a friend who fell prey to another user who sent her some pretty sexullay explicit and unwelcome messages.  The question facing us at that point is how do we respond as Christians to those individuals.  When I think about how Jesus would respond, I have to go to 1 Corinthians, verse 16:14 to be exact, where He tells us to "Do everything in love."   Wow, talk about challenging our character.  That's a pretty serious command for us to follow up on.  So just how do we do that?

The answer, I believe is found in the Book of Colossians.  Paul exhorts us in verse 12:9 "But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  If we have a good, strong relationship with Christ, his power will give us the strength we need to give others the grace they need, just as Peter writes to us in 1 Peter 5:5.

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."   We are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and love others as He loves us, just as it states in 1Jo 4:19 "We love because he first loved us."

So, the next time someone throws you a curve ball, return it with a homerun full of God's love.  It might just be what that individual needs in their life, to send them to the One who loves us the most and gives us His saving Grace.

[Soldier4Christ]

  What Spills Out


"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."  Romans 12:17-18

The recent tragic and heart wrenching event that occurred on the campus of Virginia Tech serves as an overwhelmingly sad reminder of the evil present in the world today.  Words can not express the pain that the students families are now feeling.  This incident resonates directly to the core condition of the heart of every individual and begs an answer to the question, "Why do things like this happen?"

The Senior pastor of my former home church had a simple, but very relevant question that he would ask of us from time to time.  "What spills out of you when someone bumps you?"  The way in which each of us respond to that question is a crucial indicator that reveals our true relationship with the Lord.  As Christians, we have a responsibility to live to a higher standard than those who do not know Christ as their Savior. 

In his address at last week's convocation for the students who died and were injured, President Bush exhorted all Americans to do what God would want us to do when he quoted Romans 12:21; "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."  This was an awesome and courageous example of how we all should respond when violence is committed against ourselves or others. 

Every day, we have opportunities when people 'bump' us, to be an example of how Jesus would respond.  He would respond with love, kindness, gentleness and understanding.  Take a moment to ask yourself, "How would I respond?"  As believing Christians revenge, bitterness, anger, evil and resentment are words that should not even be in our thinking. 

My challenge for each you today is this: the next time you get bumped by someone, rather than lash out with indifference, resentment or anger, in kindness, ask the individual what you can do to help them.  Show them the love of Jesus that reigns within your heart.  We can all make a profound difference in this world.  It happens one changed heart at a time.

[Soldier4Christ]

  The Coolest Thing Since Sliced Bread

...Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Romans 12:3

I can remember when I was 14 years old, my family took a summer vacation to Ocean City Maryland. One of the days we were there we decided to spend the early evening on the boardwalk. Well, being 14 and buying a cool new outfit for my vacation, I was feeling pretty good about myself. As we were walking on the boardwalk I noticed that other kids my age weren’t walking with their parents. They were walking with their friends or just by themselves. So I decided to be "cool" and walk ahead of my parents. As I was walking all by myself, feeling pretty confident, I noticed a large group of kids walking my way. So I put on my "cool" strut and just as I gave them a little side-glance (to see if they noticed my cool self) a low-flying seagull decided I was a port-a-potty and unloaded right on my head. Don’t tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor. I heard the group of kids start laughing uncontrollably, and my family behind me were practically rolling. God sure did knock me off my little self-made pedestal. I felt completely stupid and foolish.

God tells us in the Bible to not think too highly of ourselves. This of course doesn’t mean to not feel good about ourselves. It means to not forget who created us. We shouldn’t think we are above our Lord. We need to find our identity in our Savior. God calls us to be humble. I looked up humble in the dictionary, and came up with this : not proud or arrogant, to lower one’s self in importance. No matter how popular or shall we say "cool" we are, we need to place our full selves in the Lord. Our focus should not be trying to fit in with the people around us. Our number one focus should constantly be letting the light of Jesus shine through us. We all want to feel accepted in this world. Always looking for someone to notice us, to pat us on the back, but we will never find true acceptance if we don’t’ look for it in God. So just remember when you find yourself trying to please other people, remember my story. Instead of looking to the group look for favor in the eyes of the Lord, only then will you be truly "cool".

[Soldier4Christ]

  True Worship

..speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19-21

These verses are about worship, but not what you may think worship is.  Many people think about worship and the first and sometimes the only thing that comes to their minds is singing hymns or ‘worship’ songs to God.  But that isn’t the only kind of worship out there.  God speaks to us through these verses and says that He wants our hearts, not just a song of praise that we may not even really mean in our hearts!  Sure, singing worship to God can be very powerful and worshipful in God’s eyes, but only when our hearts are in what we’re singing!  The words of God above tell us that each of us should be “singing and making melody in [our] heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things …”.   Have you ever come to realize that making melody in our hearts to the Lord does not just mean singing?  Worship is all about where our hearts are at, and there are many ways to worship God. 

For example, my sister cannot seem to focus and mean what she’s singing in worship in church.  But I’m the opposite, and even sing on the praise teams as a part of the group helping lead the church in singing songs to God!  For others, worship to them is just being outdoors in God’s creation, quiet, yet listening to whatever God is telling them through His creations they see.  Others worship God in multiple ways, because they connect with Him in more than one way.  There are many so many endless ways we can worship God that honestly I cannot list them all! 

Where am I going with this?  Well, to keep it short, find the ways you can truly worship God in your heart, and don’t always stick with doing it the same way…let God guide you in worship with Him no matter how He leads you to worship Him!  Open up your heart every time you think about Him, and may it be that at some point you will learn to worship God in nearly everything you do, everyday, all day.

[Soldier4Christ]

  A Great Work

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day that Jesus Christ appears. Philippians 1:6

Ever had one of those days when it seems like everything is going wrong? The kind of day when you finally get yourself together and out of the blue something else goes wrong. It’s like a roller coaster that stops at the top for a little bit, then drops down the hill faster than ever. You wonder if the ride was worth your heart pounding so fast and your hands shaking, but yet it was fun. Our lives are like a roller coaster ride, and sometimes we wonder if the ride is worth it. You know what’s great though? You’ve got something going on inside of you that makes it worth it all!

From the day that you were born, every detail of your life has been coming together to form one big, awesome picture. You’re being molded into something beautiful. It’s like playing with play dough when you’re little. You have the little molds that you press the play dough into. You don’t give up until you get it just the way you want it. The mold and the time that you take make ordinary play dough something unique, never the same. The extra pieces of play dough are torn off and thrown away, much like the baggage and sin in our lives. Yet the new, detailed play dough is left to admire., much like us when we are molded into what God would have us to be.

When it seems this roller coaster of life is too bumpy of a ride, when it seems like what you’re being molded into isn’t just right, don’t question the ride or the artist. Beyond all that you can see, is a work of God taking place within you. The Bible tells us in Philippians 1:6 (I’m typing from the message), “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day that Jesus Christ appears.” When you’re not who you think you ought to be, be assured that you are being made better each day until Jesus returns. As long as you are living for Jesus, nothing can stop that.

[Soldier4Christ]

  A Generation that Boils

‘Ah, Sovereign Lord, ‘I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:6-8

You’ve probably heard the old wives tale, “A watched pot never boils.”  Obviously, this isn’t exactly true.  If you watch a pot of water which is over heat, eventually it will boil.  The point is that it “seems” like it takes forever to really get to a boil.

For years, those in the Christian community have watched the current generation of youth, generally those in middle school, high school and college, to see if there would be a generation that would “boil” for Christ.  And as they watched, many felt like this pot would never boil.  But I think we need to look again – a few bubbles have started to come to the surface.  Several colleges in the US have experienced a brief, but substantial revival setting in the past few years.  Students are volunteering in large numbers for the challenge of taking Christ to the Nations, and on many college and seminary campuses, students are using the “R” word.

Could it be that God is preparing to do something great in this country as He has in many countries over seas in the last couple of decades?  South Korea, as well as parts of Africa have seen substantial revival as people are saved and the saved are calling on the power of God.  Could it be that this is the generation that God will use to bring the whole thing to a boil?  Of course, no one knows.  The more important question is, if He does, will you be a part of it?  Will you be a part of going to everyone He commands you to go to?  Will you be part of the boil?

[Soldier4Christ]

  What Spills Out

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."  Romans 12:17-18

The recent tragic and heart wrenching event that occurred last week on the campus of Virginia Tech serves as an overwhelmingly sad reminder of the evil present in the world today.  Words can not express the pain that the students families are now feeling.  This incident resonates directly to the core condition of the heart of every individual and begs an answer to the question, "Why do things like this happen?"

The Senior pastor of my former home church had a simple, but very relevant question that he would ask of us from time to time.  "What spills out of you when someone bumps you?"  The way in which each of us respond to that question is a crucial indicator that reveals our true relationship with the Lord.  As Christians, we have a responsibility to live to a higher standard than those who do not know Christ as their Savior. 

In his address at last week's convocation for the students who died and were injured, President Bush exhorted all Americans to do what God would want us to do when he quoted Romans 12:21; "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."  This was an awesome and courageous example of how we all should respond when violence is committed against ourselves or others. 

Every day, we have opportunities when people 'bump' us, to be an example of how Jesus would respond.  He would respond with love, kindness, gentleness and understanding.  Take a moment to ask yourself, "How would I respond?"  As believing Christians revenge, bitterness, anger, evil and resentment are words that should not even be in our thinking. 

My challenge for each you today is this: the next time you get bumped by someone, rather than lash out with indifference, resentment or anger, in kindness, ask the individual what you can do to help them.  Show them the love of Jesus that reigns within your heart.  We can all make a profound difference in this world.  It happens one changed heart at a time.

[Soldier4Christ]

  The Coolest Thing Since Sliced Bread

...Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Romans 12:3

I can remember when I was 14 years old, my family took a summer vacation to Ocean City Maryland. One of the days we were there we decided to spend the early evening on the boardwalk. Well, being 14 and buying a cool new outfit for my vacation, I was feeling pretty good about myself. As we were walking on the boardwalk I noticed that other kids my age weren’t walking with their parents. They were walking with their friends or just by themselves. So I decided to be "cool" and walk ahead of my parents. As I was walking all by myself, feeling pretty confident, I noticed a large group of kids walking my way. So I put on my "cool" strut and just as I gave them a little side-glance (to see if they noticed my cool self) a low-flying seagull decided I was a port-a-potty and unloaded right on my head. Don’t tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor. I heard the group of kids start laughing uncontrollably, and my family behind me were practically rolling. God sure did knock me off my little self-made pedestal. I felt completely stupid and foolish.

God tells us in the Bible to not think too highly of ourselves. This of course doesn’t mean to not feel good about ourselves. It means to not forget who created us. We shouldn’t think we are above our Lord. We need to find our identity in our Savior. God calls us to be humble. I looked up humble in the dictionary, and came up with this : not proud or arrogant, to lower one’s self in importance. No matter how popular or shall we say "cool" we are, we need to place our full selves in the Lord. Our focus should not be trying to fit in with the people around us. Our number one focus should constantly be letting the light of Jesus shine through us. We all want to feel accepted in this world. Always looking for someone to notice us, to pat us on the back, but we will never find true acceptance if we don’t’ look for it in God. So just remember when you find yourself trying to please other people, remember my story. Instead of looking to the group look for favor in the eyes of the Lord, only then will you be truly "cool".

[Soldier4Christ]

  True Worship

..speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19-21

These verses are about worship, but not what you may think worship is.  Many people think about worship and the first and sometimes the only thing that comes to their minds is singing hymns or ‘worship’ songs to God.  But that isn’t the only kind of worship out there.  God speaks to us through these verses and says that He wants our hearts, not just a song of praise that we may not even really mean in our hearts!  Sure, singing worship to God can be very powerful and worshipful in God’s eyes, but only when our hearts are in what we’re singing!  The words of God above tell us that each of us should be “singing and making melody in [our] heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things …”.   Have you ever come to realize that making melody in our hearts to the Lord does not just mean singing?  Worship is all about where our hearts are at, and there are many ways to worship God. 

For example, my sister cannot seem to focus and mean what she’s singing in worship in church.  But I’m the opposite, and even sing on the praise teams as a part of the group helping lead the church in singing songs to God!  For others, worship to them is just being outdoors in God’s creation, quiet, yet listening to whatever God is telling them through His creations they see.  Others worship God in multiple ways, because they connect with Him in more than one way.  There are many so many endless ways we can worship God that honestly I cannot list them all! 

Where am I going with this?  Well, to keep it short, find the ways you can truly worship God in your heart, and don’t always stick with doing it the same way…let God guide you in worship with Him no matter how He leads you to worship Him!  Open up your heart every time you think about Him, and may it be that at some point you will learn to worship God in nearly everything you do, everyday, all day.

[Soldier4Christ]

  A Great Work

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day that Jesus Christ appears. Philippians 1:6

Ever had one of those days when it seems like everything is going wrong? The kind of day when you finally get yourself together and out of the blue something else goes wrong. It’s like a roller coaster that stops at the top for a little bit, then drops down the hill faster than ever. You wonder if the ride was worth your heart pounding so fast and your hands shaking, but yet it was fun. Our lives are like a roller coaster ride, and sometimes we wonder if the ride is worth it. You know what’s great though? You’ve got something going on inside of you that makes it worth it all!

From the day that you were born, every detail of your life has been coming together to form one big, awesome picture. You’re being molded into something beautiful. It’s like playing with play dough when you’re little. You have the little molds that you press the play dough into. You don’t give up until you get it just the way you want it. The mold and the time that you take make ordinary play dough something unique, never the same. The extra pieces of play dough are torn off and thrown away, much like the baggage and sin in our lives. Yet the new, detailed play dough is left to admire., much like us when we are molded into what God would have us to be.

When it seems this roller coaster of life is too bumpy of a ride, when it seems like what you’re being molded into isn’t just right, don’t question the ride or the artist. Beyond all that you can see, is a work of God taking place within you. The Bible tells us in Philippians 1:6 (I’m typing from the message), “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day that Jesus Christ appears.” When you’re not who you think you ought to be, be assured that you are being made better each day until Jesus returns. As long as you are living for Jesus, nothing can stop that.