Devotions for Teens

[Soldier4Christ]

  The Heart Of A True Leader

By: Adam R. Rinehart


I Samuel 12:5 “Then he said to them, "The LORD is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand."
And they answered, "He is witness."”

When you look at the qualities of a great leader, and if you ask me who would have been a great leader, I cannot help but look at the life of Samuel.  Samuel wore the hats of many different roles in the life of being a judge to Israel.  God worked through his life not only as a judge, but also a priest, a prophet and God’s counselor at a prime turning point in the history of Israel.    The key with Samuel was that he was able to be used by God because of one foundational character in his life.  He was genuinely dedicated to the life of being a servant of God.  Samuel did just that and was able to lead Israel well, even though God really did not want them to have a king, Samuel led them in the choice for a king.

Many times we as humans have people in the public view and have accepted him for what he is, and then something happens,  maybe they find out about his past, or he says something that is not up to code, or may miss communicate something and never mean any malice to the situation, but when that happens the pedestal that he was put upon comes tumbling to the ground like a rock falling to the earth, because they are human and are not perfect.

How many times in our lives has our youth pastor, pastor, or someone that is in leadership disappointed us, or maybe they said something that was off color?  Have you given them a chance to get it right?  Have you given them a chance to be forgiven?  There are so many times that we forget that these people that are in leadership are human and will make mistakes as well?  Do we give them the benefit of the doubt?

Friends, I implore you to take a look about what you think of the leaders in your life.  Do you put them on a pedestal waiting for them to be knocked down to make a mistake, or are you really seeing the effort that they are putting toward being the best leader that they can with the gifts that God gave them?  Take a look and see.  Maybe God will open your eyes to something that you may need to change in your heart.  May God’s Grace Abound In You.   

[Soldier4Christ]

  Call Me The Underdog

By: Tony B. Rhoda


"....Here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken earlier. May they give you the confidence to fight well in the Lord's Battles. Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. (1 Timothy 1:18-19) NLT"

In a world where only the strong will survive, and the fast will win, live us. The Christians. Tired, fallen, beat up, broken down, Christians. Finding the strength each morning to get up and take on another day is hard. Especially when it seems like we will never come out on top.

It was once again time for another soccer season. This was my final year and I had the starting position. I came from a rather poor school in what most called "hick town." We didn't have fancy equipment or sexy new jerseys. We had only enough money to buy 3 new soccer balls for the games. We had some talent. Not a whole lot. But the one and practically only thing we had, was heart. We also weren't afraid to get a little rough when needed.

The season started up and we had to face a private school who was ranked very high in the standings. These guys were big, skilled, and ready. We huddled up to take the field. It was in front of our home crowd that we spent the next hour running, sliding and doing everything in our power to keep from being run over. By the end of the game we dragged ourselves to the benches with our heads down. We lost 1-0. But against a team like that, deep down we were still pretty happy.

Even though we didn't win the game, we were expected to lose 7-0 in the paper. Everyone thought they could just run right over us. But we wouldn't let them. It was our home town and we weren't going to sit around and be played like fools. Now it's our turn as Christians. This is our home court. God made this place not Satan. We need to stand up and take it back. We are expected to get torn apart. We're not the greatest but we have the heart. Except in this game we will win. We will come out on top. Even though it seems like we are down now, there is still time remaining on the clock. And until the final whistle blows we need to be out there on the field fighting for Christ. It's a war out there and the other team isn't playing fair. But we will still win. Hold your head up my friend, because in the end we will no longer be the underdogs.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Our Amazing Potential

By: Beth Hays


Matthew 13:33
    Jesus also used this illustration: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast used by a woman making bread. Even though she used a large amount of flour, the yeast permeated every part of the dough."

The hour a day I spend in prayer, yes, God is definitely in that. And He’s totally included in the few minutes of reading His word (which I keep promising will increase). Sometimes I let Him in on my decisions, especially the big ones. And I ask for plenty of favors. But when I’m just watching T.V. or playing a game on the computer, He’s the last thing on my mind.

Can you relate to that? It’s not like we exclude God intentionally. We don’t look at Him and then ignore Him (unless of course we’re sinning intentionally). No, most of the time we know He’s with us. But, there are times when it just isn’t convenient to be a Christian.

Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God should permeate every part of the dough (symbolism for our lives). God shouldn’t just be on our minds when we have the time to think about Him. He should be permeating every part of our beings. We should be so intertwined with God that we are inseparable…even when it’s not the easiest thing to do.

Take a moment and consider the wonder of the intimate time you have spent with God. Can you imagine having that joy and fulfillment all the time? What an amazing life we could lead! All we have to do is hang out with God often enough and concentrate on making God a part of every shred of our lives. We have amazing potential! Let’s go after it!

[Soldier4Christ]

  Anger Management 101

By: Jeff Lappano


The bible defines anger as, “violent passion.”  This means you want to go “postal” on someone because they did something to you. Ephesians 4:26, psalm 4:4 (NIV)

            Now lets deal with the issue of, “Is being angry right?” Let me ask you a question now. Do you have the right to be joyful? If your final answer was “yes”, you are correct. The bible talks about believers being angry. Psalm 4:4, and Ephesians 4:26 says ”Be angry…” Both David and Paul give the people of their day, and we who read this the okay to get angry. In the second part to the verses, it says, “AND do not sin.” Chances are if you think about doing something long enough, that you will do it. David and Paul both give us ways to deal with the anger without sinning.

            I want to first off look at what Paul says to the church at Ephesus. Verse 27 says, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Verse 26 deals with the issue of speaking the truth. With that in mind, I believe that there is a connection between the two verses. Paul is saying, “Hey! If you’re angry, tell that person, and deal with the situation today.” As Christians we’re not called to keep silent, but in a loving manner, be confrontational.

            Lets look at how David tells us how to deal with anger in the rest of Psalm 4:4.“Mediate within your own heart on your bed, and be still.” Oh my, David almost contradicts Paul by saying go sleep on the matter at hand. Who is right, Paul or David? I believe that they’re both correct. Sometimes its good to be confrontational right away. But then there are other times when many things are said all at once in a mumble-jumble kind of way, its kind of a good thing to go sleep, and let your heart deal with the situation and when you wake up, you’ll know what to do.

            Child of God, how do you deal with anger? Do you just blast out, or do you chill and rest upon the matter and then deal with it? Brothers and Sisters, deal with your anger, yet do it in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Amen.

[Soldier4Christ]

  America, the Hurting

By: Steve Self


But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV)

America, home of the proud and free.  I’m blessed to be an American, but I can’t say that I’m all that proud at some of the things we do.  America itself was founded on Godly principles, but good ole’ Satan has come in and trashed that.  He has perverted the pride in God to be pride in ourselves; he’s taken “free to worship God” to “free to do anything we want, without hindrance.”  America is hurting so badly that it’s become numb to the pain. 

There is a show on the Bravo network called “Queer eye for the straight guy”; here is how their web-site describes their mission:

“Five gay men, out to make over the world — one straight guy at a time.
They are the Fab Five: an elite team of gay men dedicated to extolling the simple virtues of style, taste and class. Each week their mission is to transform a style-deficient and culture-deprived straight man from drab to fab in each of their respective categories: fashion, food & wine, interior design, grooming and culture.”

This show is a hit, I hear people talking about it all the time.  These people shouldn’t be glorified, they need to be helped.  Straight people are watching this and listening to these people’s ideas of what is good, instead of lovingly trying to show them the truth.  We are calling evil good and good evil.  If we believe in the bible then we realize that by listening to this, we are listening to evil.  We’ve gone from a society built on God’s word to a society built on destroying God’s word. 

Where is the good news in this?  Well, we have job security in Christianity because there is obviously a lot of work to be done in our own backyard.  It’s time we put on our hardhats and hit the trenches, it’s time we share God’s word with a hurting nation in a powerful way, more than we’ve ever done before.  Jesus died for these people who are hopelessly trying to find pleasure in a bottomless pit of despair.  We need to let them know that and show them where the true pleasure is.  Christians, stand up, speak up and help others to listen up.  Do your best to make sure that they hear God’s word and about His love before Jesus comes and tells them Himself in judgment.  He’s coming back but when He does, it’ll be too late for them.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Learning the Hard Way



Alcohol and prostitution have robbed my people of their brains.(Hosea 4:11) NLT

I have an older sister who has taught me many things by example. Growing up, she was always my protector…keeping her little sister safe from all the evils of this world. Well, the evils she could identify anyway. You see, by the time I was born she was already on the path of destruction.

She started drinking at about age 15, I believe. I always heard it second hand, so I don’t remember all the details. From there she got started in a lot of promiscuity. As she grew she got caught up in the drug scene and topped it all off with a little prostitution to pay for the drugs.

It was about this time (when she was about 18) that I was born. She loved me with all she had within her. I have no doubt about that. She showed her love in more ways than I can count. But, she was still slowly deteriorating, both inside and out. The sister I loved and cherished started to diminish. She lost a great deal of weight and cried all the time. I knew something was terrible wrong.

One warm day when I was six years old my parents informed me that my lovely sister couldn’t handle life anymore and took her own life by jumping off a bridge. That was incredibly hard for me as a six year old to swallow and accept.

But, at least it was better than the truth. I found out many years later that she did jump off a bridge, but did not succeed in her suicide attempt. They put her in a psychological hospital for years and to no avail. She was lost and angry—not a good combination. So, they decided to use electric shock therapy to erase her memories of her childhood and teenage endeavors. Not only does she not remember the events of her past, but the people are foreign to her as well. My wonderful big sis doesn’t even know who I am all because of some really bad decisions.

Hosea 4:11 is not just another slogan for anti-drugs or convincing teens to behave themselves. No, it is so much more than that. I watched alcohol, prostitution, and much more rob my sister of everything she has especially her brain. I was fortunate to learn early not to touch dangerous substances or participate in dangerous activity and I am grateful. I hope by sharing this experience you will see that God wasn’t kidding and neither am I. It’s not worth the cost. You are worth far more than a little bit of temporary enjoyment!

[Soldier4Christ]

  Add Your Two Pennies

By: Matt Crawford


"And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two pennies...."

"And he (Jesus) called to him his disciples, and says to them, 'Verily I say to you, that this poor widow has cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living." (Mark 12:43-44 KJV)

     So often I catch myself thinking: "What do I have that is worthy to give to God? What can I possibly contribute that will add souls to the kingdom? So many people have more charisma, more speaking skills, more stage presence, and more smarts than me; yet God wants to use me?"
     The above verse reminds me, that it is not about how much or the appeal to men of what we have to offer God, but the heart that is behind us when we offer what we do have. Jesus said that the widow above gave more than all else, because she gave all she had.
     Also, in the story of Samuel searching for Israel's next king, we see that God rejected all the sons of Jesse, despite all the stature, charm, or strength they seemed to offer. Yet He chose the least and youngest, David, whose only skill was being a dedicated shepherd boy. And He chose Him because of the willing heart that was behind that small and seemingly insignificant talent. And we know that David went on to be the greatest king who ever ruled Israel, he was used by God to judge His people, and even wrote the majority of the book of psalms.
     What you have to offer God may not seem like much to you, or may seem insignificant in the eyes of man, but if you give all you have, you will be used in a big way. It is the heart behind what you have to offer that matters, and your dedication is enough to make Jesus Himself stop what He is doing and honor you.   

[Soldier4Christ]

  Finding Our Worth

By: Beth Hays


For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10) NLT

This is one of my favorite verses. I have grown up believing that I was worthless. I always knew that I would never be good enough for anyone. I had absolutely no self-esteem. I felt as though everyone around me had given up on me. And then I read that I am God's masterpiece. I'm not just a creation...because creations can go bad...but I am His masterpiece...the one thing he adores most made by His hands.

God goes even farther here to say that not only are we His cherished creation, but he has had a plan for us the whole time. Even before God made you, he knew what you would become. (Ephesians 1:11) He saw all of the mistakes you would make, and all of the joy you would find. He saw all of your failures that you will ever have, yet He still decided to create and love you. Then, He adds that not only did He create you even though he knew you even better than you know yourself, but He has got an amazing plan just for you. He had that picked out long ago too! He knows what He is doing.

The next time it seems as though you are worthless and not good enough for those around you, remember that you are God's priceless masterpiece and that He has a plan just for you. He adores you, brothers and sisters in Christ. Let that love overwhelm you!

[Soldier4Christ]

  Anger management 102

By: Jeff Lappano


“In your anger do not sin” Ephesians 4:26, psalm 4:4 (NIV)

Webster defines anger as, “hostile feelings because of opposition”. The bible defines anger as, “violent passion.” We’re going to learn, in one way, how to deal with our anger. Transliterated from the Greek, “sin” is, “missing the mark”, or “offending”. Today I want to minister primarily from the second definition. How do we offend people? Mr. Webster (the writer of the dictionary) tells us that offending someone comes in the form of hurting his or her feelings. We hurt people’s feelings by doing or saying something offensive or hurtful to their feelings.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 says, “A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” When you’re angry, what time is it? According to what we’ve been studying, I think its safe to say its time to keep silence.

Proverbs 18:21 says "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."   King Solomon was literally telling us that there is so much power in the words that we speak; it directs people's lives! James 3:4 tell us that the tongue is like a rudder (which is a small propeller on the motor of a boat). That small rudder moves boats both in good and bad weather. The rudder has power! I think its pretty safe to say when one is angry, speaking “words of life” wont be on the top of his list. With that in mind, its better to shut up when your angry so you don’t tare someone down, even though you don’t mean it, and maybe because of the mood, you really aren’t conscious what your doing. May the Lord minister blessings to and through you in Jesus name, amen.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Gone Before You Know It

By: Matt Crawford


"See then that ye walk circumspectly (diligently), not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16 KJV)

When I moved into my apartment last February, one of the things I was most excited about was the pool. I'd never had my own pool that I could use any time I wanted. My swimming was always done at friends' or family's, or at public pools. So of course, I couldn't wait for summer to arrive.

I had big dreams of going for a swim every day after work, inviting friends and family over for swimming and food, and just being able to lounge around in the water whenever I wanted. As soon as the pool was open, I was out there. I remember the first day the water was still freezing, and I kept going out every day waiting for the temperature to be tolerable. When it finally was, I was in heaven!

At first I swam every day, invited people over like I had planned, and enjoyed it to the full. But soon I found myself taking it for granted, knowing I had the whole summer to swim whenever I wanted. Before I knew it, it was the end of August, and very suddenly, rain came and the temperature dropped way down. The last day the pool was open in the beginning of September, I decided to go for one last swim. Again, the water was freezing! Looking back, I wished I had enjoyed it more while I could. But now it was over. The next day, the apartment manager came and locked up the pool until next year.

The moral of this story, and the warning Paul gives in Ephesians 5:15-16, is that we have time now, every day, to live for God and produce fruit for His kingdom. Before we know it, though, that time will be up. Our "manager" will come and call us in and lock the doors behind us, and any work we will have done will be final, all we get. The word "redeem" in the above verse means to ransom, buy up, or take opportunity. The word "evil" can also mean calamitous, or ill. That says to me, that while we are young now, the days may come when we don't have our full health, and the freedom we once did. Stress, responsibilities, or even illness may hinder our abilities.   

We need to stop spending our time as if we have it in unlimited quantity. For me, this means playing games, talking endlessly on the phone, chatting, or just sitting around watching TV. The time will come when our opportunity to work for God is finished. We will either be raptured, called home to be with God, or even become weighed down by the illness and calamity this life can cause. Let us buy up, and ransom our time, and use every opportunity, all our youth, and all our health to serve God. Let us put in our work while we still can, so when "summer" is over, we don't look back and realize that we didn't use the time to it's full potential

[Soldier4Christ]

  Serving God

By: Adam R. Rinehart


It is 12:30 in the AM here on Tuesday morning, and I am in the midst of
an “All-night” (or at least a most of my precious beauty sleep time)
concert of prayer here at a friends church. It is so cool to see how God
speaks to you through prayer, and the inspiration that He gives at a time
like this of total solitude and totally seeking God’s face. I share what
He has given me with you for today’s devotional.

How do you serve God? Some of you are thinking, well, I go to church, I
read my Bible, and I live a pretty good life. But, is that really how God
calls us to serve Him? I am afraid that the answer is no. God not only
wants us to serve Him in those things, but He wants us to serve Him with
joy and gladness. (Duet. 28:47-48) How many times do we find ourselves
just serving the Lord to be serving the Lord? What happens to joy and
gladness that get thrown out the window? He calls us to serve Him also
with a good attitude and a zeal that wants to see His will totally spark
out interest and our lives! (Luke 12:42-48) When you serve the Lord are
you faithful? Do you say, “Here I am Lord, I am ready to do your will. I
want to take the task to be faithful. (I Cor. 4:2) What about for your
family? Are you willing to serve them? Parents? Siblings? etc. etc.? What
about seeing God as our Master? Oh sure He is the creator of the
universe, and saved us from our sins, but is He REALLY your master, and
you want to take the above and do His bidding?

Finally, do you serve like Christ would serve? Do you give you life to
others for the cause of the Gospel? (Phil. 2:3-8) That my friends is how
we are called to serve the Lord. Take time today to take that challenge
and say, “God how am I doing at serving you? How do I match up?” Do we
say, “Here I am! Send Me!” May God’s Grace Abound In You.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Getting to God

By: Beth Hays


"When Aaron enters the sanctuary area, he must follow these instructions fully. He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a whole burnt offering. Then he must wash his entire body and put on his linen tunic and the undergarments worn next to his body. He must tie the linen sash around his waist and put the linen turban on his head. These are his sacred garments. The people of Israel must then bring him two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a whole burnt offering. (Leviticus 16:3-5) NLT

Shew...that's a lot of work just to get to God isn't it? Actually, to get to God they had to do a lot more...this was just to enter the sanctuary. Think of how much you have to do before entering your church. Hmmm...maybe put on some clothes? I mean, come on, how many of you actually have to put forth effort to enter God's sanctuary? Not me...and most likely, not you either.

Before Jesus (in old testament times) in order to get into the Holy of Holies (where God was) you had to go through more work than I put forth in a week. The book of Leviticus is full of tons of rules that must be followed in order to reach God. Besides the obvious need for a sacrifice for sins, this is one reason we need Jesus. Jesus says in John 14:6 (NLT) "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." Jesus became the way to get to God. That's a whole lot easier than going through all of the steps, isn't it?

Now that it's been made so easy for us, I think we sometimes forget how special it is. You see, back when it took hours and even days to ever reach God, they were full of awe and appreciation by the time they got there. Now, we take God for granted. He is still just as holy and just as amazing. We just have easy access through Jesus. So next time you say "Hey God," or whatever your greeting may be, remember who you are talking to and the sacrifice made for you to get there.

[Soldier4Christ]

  The result of unity

By: Jeff Lappano


“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Acts 1:1 (KJV)

          Should we take a moment and study this passage better, we would find that a simple term for “one accord” is “like minded”. The 120 people gathered in the upper room were totally focused on one thing. Should we study various parts of the Gospel, we would find that they were waiting for the promise of the Father that Jesus talked about in Luke 24.

          Continuing in Acts 2, Luke records that the power of God fell on those gathered in the upper room and they began to speak in tongues. Apparently, they were so loud that those in the city could hear them and gathered outside to find out what was going on. Peter takes the opportunity to preach and teach the people as to what they were seeing.

          Jesus’ final statement before ascending to the Father recorded in Acts 1:8 (NASB) says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth.” What we’re studying in Acts 2 is what Christ was taking about as He Ascended to the Father.

          The topic we’re studying today is the result of unity. I know that we haven’t gone there, but we’re there now. What is the result of unity? It’s simply the job getting done. Verses 41 of Acts 2 records three thousand souls were saved. Had the 120 not been in unity as the Day of Pentecost had come, I guarantee you that 3,000 people would not have been saved. Today, unite instead of divide with friends, family, and those at school. You will get more accomplished and be a better witness to God.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Living in the Light of the Son

By: Steve Self


Have you ever noticed the beautifully radiant colors of the sky as the sun begins to peek through the clouds?  Nature is a wonderful thing; God makes things so beautifully and wondrously. God is an artist and His art is in perpetual motion, His paintings never get stuck on canvas in a room amongst many others.  Humans can’t even make paint as beautiful as the paint God uses.  His artworks are living and always moving.  They are always new and fresh.  In order to see the exhibit, the only fee you have to pay is attention during sunrise or sunset.

This morning as I drove in to work, I was watching the sun.  I was driving along when all of a sudden the sun was covered up by a water tower.  From my vantage point the entire sun was swallowed up in a brief instant.  My mind followed down a path of wonder as I began to imagine what would happen if the sun were to be covered up.  The world would be a very cold and dark place to live, many things in life as we know them now wouldn’t occur anymore.  There would be no more children lackadaisically laughing as they splashed in the swimming pool, no longer would trips to the beach be a longing in the life of teens for spring break.  People would no longer worry about taking their family on vacation because the entire earth would be one big snowball, probably incapable of supporting life.  In my mind’s eye, it would be a miserable existence.  Without the presence of the Son, life wouldn’t exist.

As I snapped back to reality by seeing brake lights ahead, I began to see how nature closely imitated the actions of its creator.  The body of the sun may have been hidden by the water tower, but the light and warmth weren’t stifled at all.  As a matter of fact, the moon was still reflecting it’s light on the other side of the world.  The accuser tries his best to stifle God in this world, but he can only cover parts of God, he’s not big enough to stop the full presence of God.  Even when Satan hides God from public view, God’s light and warmth still shine through.  He is God, He is creator, He is. 

In our walk, too many times Satan tries to block us from the Lord.  Just like my vantage point on the sun, he can make God seem gone from our vantage points.  But God is God, He is there.  Even when you can’t see Him, and even when you can’t feel His warmth, He is there.  God is just like His creation, if He wasn’t there, life not only wouldn’t exist as we know it, but it would exist at all. 

If your walking through a time where you can’t directly see God, make sure you look around for His light and His warmth.  And remember that God may be doing you a favor by letting Satan block Him from your direct view.  Just as you can’t look directly into the sun without messing up your eyesight, you can’t look directly at God and live.  Not all dark situations are bad for you.  As a matter of fact, once you have traveled through them and reflect back over them, you’ll realize that that cloudy situation in your life was there to give you enough time to put your sunglasses on.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Can you say No?

By: Janet Adams


It was a normal Saturday night like any other, 12:30 am. It was time for my son Jon to be home. Actually he was already 30 minutes late.  When a parent is waiting for their son or daughter to come home, all kinds of things can go through their minds. What if something has happened and he can't get home or get to a phone. Our minds wonder with all the terrible stuff that could have happened.

Then I saw the headlights in the driveway, he is home. As he comes in the door I said, "Hi, how was your night?" Then a strange feeling overwhelmed me as I realized he doesn't look too normal. Oh no, he is either drunk or high on something. He gave me all the small talk of where he went and what he did slurring as he talked. He goes to bed.

Then as a parent I sit and try to decide what to do. This is a terrible feeling for a parent to go through. We want to trust our children. But what happens when they break that trust?

So Sunday morning comes we get ready for church. I tell him I need to talk when we get home. He starts to cry and tells me he feels terrible.  He either really feels bad about what he has done or he is trying to get a lighter sentence because he knew he was caught.

He drank at a party cause he couldn't say no. People were handing him beer and giving him shots, he didn't say no. He knew it was wrong but couldn't say no.  I asked if he feared getting caught and he said yes but he couldn't say no.  He was punished because he couldn't say no.  He broke his trust with me because he couldn't say no.  Much worse could have happened to a 16 year old drinking at a party then getting caught by his parents and grounded.  Many teen pregnancies happen as a result of drinking or using drugs.  Many terrible car accidents happen as a result of alcohol or drug use.  Many a teen has actually overdosed and died from alcohol consumption.

You have to know ahead of time what is right and wrong. You have to plan ahead in order not to do something that may catch you off balance. When you know how you will respond to a situation where you think you can't say no, then you give yourself the power to say no. Plan out how to say no to a certain situation. Have someone else stand with you and hold you accountable. Don't go to the places where you feel strong temptation for doing wrong. Replace the negative places with new positive things.

My son Jon learned the hard way how to say no.  His free time away from home was restricted and it took a long time for me to really trust him again.  He says, now that he is grown up, that drinking that night wasn't worth the consequences that he faced and he learned the lesson the hard way.

Galatians 5:19-21 says, "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissension, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Bad habits originate in your flesh. To over come these tendencies, you need the power of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:16 says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." You walk by the Spirit when you obey what Christ has shown you to do and trust Him to enable you to do it.