Devotions for Teens

[Soldier4Christ]

  Hand Me Down Offerings

A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I'm a great king, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I'll not put up with it! Malachi 1:14

Have you ever received hand me down clothes? They are sometimes worn out and don’t serve their purpose quite as long. They just aren’t quite like the new thing. So how does God feel when we give Him hand me down offerings?  And what exactly are hand me down offerings?

Have you ever said that you’re bored with church? You become fed up with the same old thing each Sunday and eventually you just quit. You go out and live according to worldly standards, wearing and tearing on your soul.  Things go wrong and you become desperate, then you come to God for help. And you say that you are bringing God your body as a living sacrifice; yet it’s a body that’s been aged by sin. The heart you’re giving Him now has been broken, torn, stained with sin, and you are hesitant to give it completely. You give God leftovers or second best. That is when your offering becomes a hand-me-down.

I encourage you; when you give your life to Christ, give completely. Yes, He can take that tattered heart and make it new, but only when we completely commit to Him. God didn’t give you what was leftover, He gave His ONLY son. He gave His best for you. Jesus died for you, live your best life for Him. Offer Him brand new praise, a new song, and not hand me down offerings.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Waiting for God's Direction

Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore he will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him. Isaiah 30:19

Are you confused or unsure about anything in your life right now?  I sure am.  Currently I am struggling with thoughts of how I am going to have enough money for Bible school coming up, how I am going to earn that money, and how I will get to there and also get to the camp I am working at all summer long.  I struggle with other worries as well, but I won’t bore you with the story of my life when you have worries equally as important and stressful, and already understand the feeling I am portraying that I get when I worry.

The verse I shared above is a verse helps to calm my soul when I am anxious about something.  It reminds me of who really should be in charge of my life and why I shouldn’t be worrying in the first place.  When new are stressed about this or that, God has a message for us in these verses:  He wants to show us where to take each step and what to do everywhere He leads us.  And if we aren’t sure where to take our next steps, that just means we’re not supposed to go anywhere yet, and we need to just wait for God’s direction at that point.

Sometimes we may also realize that we took a wrong step and need to get on the right path again.  In those cases the first thing to do is to admit our sin and wrongdoing and ask God to bring us on the right path again.  Don’t make another move in the wrong direction, and just wait for God to nudge you on the right path!  God is more than willing to do this over and over again because He loves us and wants to use our mistakes to draw us closer and closer to Him.  He will  help us learn from our mistakes!  It’s like walking:  If you find out the hard way, without thinking, that a path is muddy and impossible to walk after the rain, then you won’t go walking on that path or any similar paths directly after the rain again!  In the same way we need to wait for God’s direction with decisions, yes, but when we mess things up, we can be cleaned and next time will gain more of a desire to wait and take the right path.

[Soldier4Christ]

Where to Bestow Our Wealth

"And He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?" (Luke 12:16-17).

God called this rich man, "Thou fool" (Luke 12:20) because, rich as he was in his own eyes, he was "not rich toward God" (v.21). Instead of choosing to bestow his goods on others in need, or on any kind of ministry for God, he decided to build more barns and "there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods" (v.18). The barns did not need them, however, and neither did the rich fool, for he died the very night on which he made this selfish decision.

The intensity of his self-centered nature is pointed up by the fact that he used personal pronouns (I, my) no less than eleven times in three verses (vv.17-19). Furthermore, no counselor advised him on this course of action. He just "thought within himself" (v.17) to keep it all for his own comfort and pleasure.

Jesus told this parable not just to rebuke selfish rich people, however, but to warn all of us against the wicked sin of covetousness "which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5). "Beware of covetousness," He said, in introducing the parable, "for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke 12:15).

Complaining American Christians (and almost all American Christians are wealthy compared to multitudes in many other nations) need to hear the ancient word of the psalmist still relevant today: "Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. . . . Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish" (Psalm 49:16,17,20).

[Soldier4Christ]

  Why Are You So Weird?

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you.. Col 1:10-12a

I work at a restaurant. I’m one of the only Christians that work there. Everyone that works there are into the party scene, among other things. They always are coming in with their stories of the night before, how they went out and partied and what not. They are always asking me why I don’t do the things they do. "Why don’t you drink? Why don’t you smoke? What’s wrong with you, Brooke?" I have never had a problem with saying back to them, "Because I live my life for the Lord and not for myself."

We as humans, are not qualified to worship the Lord. We are not perfect, and do not live holy lives, no matter how "perfect" we think we are. God has qualified us. He has chosen us to live for His glory. What an amazing privilege! The God of all, who created the heavens and the earth, has chosen me!! Has chosen you! We have been called to live our lives out in a way that others will want to know why. Why we do the things we do, and why we don’t do certain things. Peer pressure is so hard, believe I know! But the Bible tells us that the Lord will not tempt us more than we can bear, and He will give us the strength to stand against peer pressure and speak up and explain, without fear, why we are the way we are. Be proud to be the weird one in a world so corrupt. Be the light.

[Soldier4Christ]

  God Knows Your Name

I have written your name on my hand. Isaiah 49:16

Your name is special to you. When someone calls you by your name, don't you feel good inside?  Think of that award you won in school...they printed your name in bold letters or maybe even did it in calligraphy. It's pretty neat to see your name in print, isn't it? Can you even imagine what it's like to know that God loves you so much and considers you to be so special that He has placed your very name on his hand? That's an awesome thought isn't it? God knows you by name. He knows you inside and out. You are precious to him. 

Maybe you don't always hear people say your name with kindness. Perhaps your name isn't used until you're being called down for being in trouble. Even so, just remember that God, the almighty creator of the universe, has your name engraved on the palm of His hand...your name and it's encompassed with His almighty, unfailing love.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Putting It All Behind Us

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.(NIV)

How often are you finding yourself looking backwards at your life?  If you are like many Christians, it is far to many times.  One thing Paul finally got was that it was not fruitful to be looking over his past.  If anyone had a past to be forgotten, it was Paul, a former Christian persecutor.  Like Paul, there are many things that we have done that violated God's commandments to live pure and Holy lives.  The question that begs to be answered is this: how much of the past can we change?  The answer: Zilch, zero, none.

Looking behind us is a very unproductive use of a Christians time.  Allow me to ask another question.  If we are looking back over our shoulders, how much are we going to see up ahead of us?  In all likelihood nothing, unless you have the gift of telling fortunes.  Not!!  It is interesting that Paul used a word like "straining" to describe his efforts.  Why?  Because he realized how difficult it was to not look behind and instead focus on the future.

Paul knew that God wanted to use him in many ways for the good of the Kingdom.  Like Paul, the Lord also has many important missions that he wants to accomplish through our lives.  It might be in a foreign land, like Paul, or it might be down the street.  Wherever it is, or whatever it may be, we need to be looking in the right direction, or we are going to miss it!!

Finally, Paul closes these verses with an important and strategic fact.  He presses on toward his goal, the goal which Christ set for him; towards Heaven.  This is the same goal that every Christian should be focusing and pressing toward as well.  I encourage you to start the process of looking in the right direction, forward.  Try not to waste your life reliving and regretting the past.  There is no future in the past, the future lies ahead of us.  It lies before us in the Kingdom, sitting at the throne, worshiping Jesus.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Drivers Ed

but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm. Proverbs 1:33

So.. the other night i get pulled over by a police man for "speeding". It was my first time being pulled over.  I was more mad than i was nervous, considering he pulled me over as i was turning into my driveway.  I sat in the car while he processed my license.  He came back to my window and only gave me a warning.  He explained to me to be careful because I could hurt not only myself but others. 

God does the same thing with us.  When we make mistakes, He gives us warnings.  He gives us chances to learn from our mistakes.  He has given us His instruction book, THE BIBLE, to tell us how to live.  Just like at drivers ed, they give you that little white paper-back book, with all the rules of the road in it. You study it and learn what not to do when driving.  When we break those laws, (like speeding) police give us warnings to stop breaking the laws that our set to protect us.  God has given us the Bible, He tells what to do and what not to do.  Fully explained, right there in your face, God has told us how He wants us to live.  He has given us those guidelines to live by to protect us, to keep us from sin.  Sometimes God needs to send us warnings so we don't fall away from Him.  Cause face it guys, if we didn't follow driving laws, it wouldn't be a pretty picture.  Dig into your Bible, and watch for the life road signs along the way.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Taking Responsibility

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Romans 13:1

There has been a great deal of news recently about a certain individual belonging to a high profile family having the same name as a well known hotel chain.  This individual knowingly broke the law, not once, but on two separate occasions.  In fact, in the second incident, she was caught driving under the influence of alcohol again, even after her driving privileges had already been revoked. 

The result of all this is that she was ordered to spend a certain length of time in jail for her misdeeds.  This socialite turned herself into the sheriff, to serve out her time.  A few days later, the sheriff released her citing "unknown health reasons" causing a threat to her if she stayed in jail.  She was sent to her Beverly Hills home fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet affixed to her, with orders not to leave. for the remainder of her sentence.

The next day, the judge who had ordered her to jail, had her brought before him once again, and ordered her back to jail, citing that the sheriff had no authority to release her in the first place.  She was sent crying and screaming, back to jail.  I think that this incident points out the purpose of Romans 13:1 very well.  We are all supposed to be subject to the authorities.  Why?  Because God established them, and for a very good reason.  We cannot have a world that operates in total chaos, with every one running around doing whatever they please.

The socialite did the right thing initially, then we see a sheriff overstepping his own authority, only to be overruled by someone in a higher authority.  Now, while the verse does not specifically point it out to us, there is a higher authority we must all submit to some day.  At the end of this age, we will all stand before God and submit to His final authority over the manner we lived our lives here on earth.  Ask yourself these questions; will you be placed in jail, be under house arrest, or be set free to spend eternity in Heaven with our Lord?  Remember, as Christians, we have been given a "get out of jail free card."  I urge you, do your best to not lose it.

[Soldier4Christ]

  The Storm or the Child

When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.  And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being covered with the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" Matt 8:23-27 (NASB)

Storms come and storms go. Sometimes weathermen can predict them and sometimes they cannot. When they attempt to predict and they are wrong, they tend to get the brunt of it. But who can truly predict a natural phenomenon that by the amazing works of God has its own way of doing things?

Sometimes I wonder if we are the same way when it comes to spiritual storms. Of course we know that they are going to happen, but when they hit do we question ourselves as to whether we should have seen it coming? The disciples did not even know the storm was approaching when they were in their boats. If they did, I am sure they would not have been out on the sea. However, they were trapped in the middle of it. Being experienced fishermen, they had dealt with several storms. So what made this one different? Was it larger? The Bible does not say but one can speculate that the larger explanation was the case. It had to have been a storm that was so big the disciples feared for their lives. Do we ever have storms in our life that look like that?

One thing that we can learn from the disciples is that even though Jesus was on the boat with them, the storm still came and they still feared. No matter how spiritual we are or even think we are the storms of life are still going to come. It is how we handle them that matters. Another thing that can be learned is that Jesus’ reaction was not to them waking him up but to their fear. The disciples never once asked Jesus to calm the storm. They, instead, focused on themselves and asked him whether he cared about them. This is a sure sign of fear. When the storms of life come, we need to take refuge in the fact that God does care and He knows exactly what is going on. Just because Jesus was asleep does not in any way mean he did not know that the storm was going on. I have a suspicion that He was simply waiting for them to come and wake him up. Do we wake God up when our storm happens?

The larger lesson of this story is that Jesus dealt with the disciples before he began dealing with the storm. There is a famous song that says ‘Sometimes he calms the storm and other times he calms his child.’ How true this is. Sometimes God does not calm the storms in our life. Rather He allows them to continue but calms us and teaches us how to trust Him when even the most difficult of situations arise.

What storm is happening in your life right now that you need to know God cares about? Could it be a divorce in the family? A death? A job? Whatever it is, God wants us to know that those who take cover in Him will be able to ride out the storms.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Some Ugly Black Thing

I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.  He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. John 1:26, 27

After I arrived home from Africa it took me several weeks to get adjusted back to life in the US.  My time in Africa had been eye-opening and God had used it amazingly in the lives of the students who went with me.  A few weeks after I was home I noticed that there was a black “thing” next to the toenail on one of my big toes.  That’s kind of weird.  I looked at it for a while and even asked others to check it out.  I knew what I wanted to do.  And I tried hard not to.  But after a few days I gave in and did what every red-blooded American guy does when faced with just such an occasion – I squeezed it!

Stuff that would be impossible to describe in color and volume came flowing from my foot.  It oozed and oozed and the more I squeezed, the more it came out – it was awesome!  After the squeezing, which did not hurt by the way, I put a band aid over it and left it alone, for a while.  But the black kept coming back.  Finally, I did the ultimate, I got out a knife and played surgeon.  I dug until it hurt and the black stuff went away.  Later I found out it was a sand worm found in the dust in Africa.

Let’s face it, feet are dirty appendages which God never really tried to make very attractive.  Imaging being the servant in a home 2,000 years ago and being given the lowest of all jobs – foot cleaner.  The roads were dusty and feet got dirty, so someone had to clean them.  Yucko!  Only the lowest slave on the ‘ole slave corporate ladder would get the job.

And yet John says that he is not worthy to untie the sandals of our Lord.  In other words, if given the opportunity to be the foot cleaner for Jesus – he’s not worthy!  The humility and honest reverence for our God and King are amazing in his statement.  How about you or me?  Would we consider ourselves worthy to be the lowest servant in Christ’s house?  Oh, but we’re so much more, we’re children of the King.  Praise God for raising us to a place we don’t deserve.  And praise God for putting dirty feet as far from the nose as possible.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Banana, Kiwi, or Just a Bad Apple?

“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”
Matthew 7:18-20.

As I walked through the produce department in the grocery store, something caught my eye. It was the section of apples. As I was hungry, I decided that I would pick out a couple. So I went through the apples, looking at their exterior appearance as well as picking them up to see if they were firm or soft. The ones that I picked up that looked good were actually soft and that is not what I wanted. So I continued on my way and decided that apples were not for me that day.

Have you ever thought about your life in this light? Just because one looks good on the outside, does not mean they are good on the inside. It’s only upon careful examination that one would find this out.

Just as I carefully examined those apples, so the world examines us as Christians. They examine us to see if we are living out what we say and what might possibly be different in our lives from theirs. Fruit in the Christians life is simply that: living differently than the world. Galatians 5:22 and 23 gives us specific fruit that should be evident in our life: “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” These can be displayed in many different ways, but they are still the core.

How is your life measuring up? When people look at you and get a ‘feel’ for you, are they ready to buy?

[Soldier4Christ]

  The Workers Are Few

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.  Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.  But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the tows and got there ahead of them.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he began teaching them many things. Mark 6:30-34

From the above passage I will pick out a few things to focus on for this devotional.  First of all, it must be understood that Jesus was a busy man, healing people much of the time and teaching them all He had come to share with the world.  In a way, the world today is also a busy place.  Many Christians are being dragged down by all that they have to accomplish each day, and it often seems to almost everyone that there are not enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to get done!  In this passage we see that even though Jesus was very busy with His ministry, He sacrificed Himself for those needy people by not taking any rests when the people needed Him more than He needed rest.  Jesus is the perfect example to us of the attitude we should have.  We should always put others before ourselves.  When we need a break from doing God’s work, it should not be at the expense of those who are desperately searching for answers. 

Also from these verses is the example Jesus was to us, through his compassion on those who were helpless, and like sheep without a shepherd.  We should try to show that same compassion to those around us who need God, because as Jesus stated, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”  We should both be ready to go out and help with the harvest should we be shown the need and hunger that the people around us have for God, and we should also be asking God to send out more workers into His harvest field.

To conclude, the main point I want to make is, even though we may be awfully busy in our lives, we should always put the needs of others before our own needs, and always be ready to follow Jesus’ example by showing compassion to the Savior-less and needy people around us.  After all, God loves us all just the same and equally wants us all to be with Him in Heaven when He comes back to receive His own.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Pride or Love

I read somewhere that, " Every morning when we wake up, we choose our attitude for the day.'' Will we be grumpy, happy, upset, depressed, irritated, etc... I know I've definitely woken in one of these moods before. Got up on the wrong side of the bed, as they say. But I can't ever remember a morning where I woke up and decided to be prideful. We all have someone in our lives that we love. Our family, friends, or our "significant other." Everyday we interact with the people we love. We like to surround ourselves with those we care about. We enjoy their company. We like to feel that we are important to someone else, that we matter in someone else's life. More often than not, when we are with the people we love , we are happy, we have fun, we are comfortable with ourselves. But when the people we cherish step on our pride, we become upset. Depending on who you are, when someone rubs you the wrong way or says something to "offend" you, you can either become, angry, depressed, upset, sad, hateful, even violent. There are many ways we can react when someone steps on our pride. If you ever noticed, if some random person "off the street", whom you don't know from Adam, says something to offend you, more often than not you shrug if off. They don't know you, and you don't care about them or what they have to say. Complete opposite when the people we love offend us. We throw our guard up and ready dour ammo. Almost second nature, we think of something hateful to shoot back at that person. Once this gets going it turns in to a war of words and emotions. Neither of you wants to swallow your pride and stop the war, you both want to win and don't want to look weak . By the end of war you both are left hurting and confused. This person who you love and loves you has become your enemy. Because neither of you wanted to let up and try to talk through it, because of pride. Some arguments caused by pride leave relationships broken and lost forever. We refuse to be the one to say sorry and ask for forgiveness. We don't want to look like the loser of the war, the weak one. On the contrary, being the one to swallow your pride and try to repair the damage makes you the conqueror of the battle. 

If none of us had to work for love, then loving someone wouldn't be worth it. There would be no proof of love even existing. If something isn't tested we can't know if it will work or not. If love isn't tested how do we know its love in the first place? You can't truly know if you love someone or not until you've been through the good and bad with them. When you go through the bad, don't let pride creep in and steal away from the fight for love. If you let pride overtake you, then you will never be able to truly someone. Because your always on guard ready to shoot your ammo at the first sign of confrontation. To be able to have a healthy and long living relationship, you need to be open and vulnerable. So when trials come you don't lash out ands say things that you don't truly mean. When pride takes over, your mouth runs away with you. You can never get those words back. They are lost in the other persons head forever, and each spoken word that is hateful will cut through the ot her person. When confrontation with someone you love comes, and it will, watch your words..don't let pride overtake you and ruin your relationship. Love is something you need to work at, not something that comes easy. No real, long-lasting , love can stand if you don't work and fight your hardest for it. IF your willing to give up on the relationship with the person, than it wasn't true love in the first place.

Look to the Lord to take away any pride in your life, He will be more than happy to step in.

[Soldier4Christ]

  A Father's Love

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1

Father's Day always reminds me of how important a father's love is to us.  My own father went to be with the Lord sixteen years ago, however, I still have many fond memories of the various ways he showed his love for me.  For many Christians, their view of God is filtered through the way in which they were treated by their earthly father.  In talking with friends and others at my home church, this fact was affirmed by many of them.

One woman in particular shared with me that her father would be very nice to her in many different ways, and then unexpectedly, might 'thump' her for something she did which he might not have approved of.  This would often come out of nowhere, and for no apparent reason.  She said to me that although that was more than forty years ago, she still today anticipates that God will 'whack' her for any little mistake she makes.

Later in the day, I thought about how sad her story was.  Especially since today was Fathers Day, but more importantly, because God's character is so very different from that type of behavior.  As the verse above relates, our Heavenly Father lavishes His love upon us.  Webster's online dictionary gave me this definition for lavished:  "To give or bestow in abundance; shower, [Middle English laves, probably from Old French lavasse, downpour,]"  To me, this definition is quite different from being whacked around by an angry God.

If you have a negative view of your Heavenly Father because of the way your earthly father may have treated you, simply look to that verse and be reminded that our Heavenly Father's love is constant, meaningful and given in abundance.  I urge you to claim that love and allow it to modify your view and feelings towards God, despite what may have occurred in your relationship with your earthly father in the past.  Our God is a God of love, for He cares for us.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Don't Chicken Out

Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. Joshua 3:5

I was scared to death.  As an adult leader at youth camp, there was an unwritten rule, “Don’t chicken out!”  As I stood on the top of a 50 foot telephone pole, I wondered who wrote that rule and why couldn’t it be broken just this once?  I knew I was strapped in, I knew others had gone before me and had successfully, in other words safely, made it back to the ground.  But what if the rope didn’t hold?  What if the zip line which was supposed to give me a thrilling ride was good for 5,000,000 zips and that was the last person?  I stood on the brink of chickening out.  But I was saved by an amazing thought.

“What will everyone say if I don’t do it?”  I learned that the only stronger than my fear was my pride.  So I took the leap and the zip down the mountain began.  It was awesome!  For about a 1 second I felt my body weight pull me down as if I would fall forever.  Then came that magic moment where gravity stops and secure harnessing takes over.  I loved it!  And when it was done, I wanted to do it again.

You’ve had an experience like that – thrilling, scary, terrifying and absolutely wonderful!  Maybe it was a big roller coaster, a solo, or your first job.  Whatever it is, it teaches us something important in life – those things which are the most fun usually start off the scariest.  It’s amazing to do something you didn’t know you could do or even suspected you might not be able to do.  And it’s exactly God’s plan for your life.

Joshua stood on the edge of a land promised to the people of Israel.  A land they would have to fight for and possess and it was scary.  Yet Joshua knew the way God worked when he said, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”  It’s what HE does!  Amazing things through us and for us are God’s specialty.  But it requires a leap of faith on our parts.  So go ahead and leap.  But believe God will do something great in you and through you when you do.  And if you get a chance to do the zip line, take it!  Don’t be a chicken (like me!).