Devotions for Teens

[Soldier4Christ]

  Soar on the Wings of Eagles

Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Forrest Gump decided one day to run to the end of the street; once he got there he decided to run to the end of the town; once he reached there he decided to run to the end of the state, and he didn’t stop there either he just kept on running. Most of us have health problems that cause us to not be able to go long distances walking without taking a break for a short time. My sister Katie this year signed up my family for relay for life. It was 6pm-12am, we had to have someone at all times walking around the half-a-football field during then. I thought it was going to be a pain and that I would get sore after the first time *laugh*, but it ended up that the majority of the time I was the one walking. I actually enjoyed it, and had fun!

Can you imagine though soaring on wings like eagles?! I know that as a little girl I always wanted to fly (haven’t we all?). I never went to the extremes and jumped off a house, but had I thought that it actually could make me fly I might have tried it.  People say that God is like the wind, you can’t see Him but you can feel Him. Just because the wind isn’t blowing, doesn’t mean it’s not there, likewise with God. Eagles, particularly bald eagles, are endangered, meaning there’s not many of them left. It’s illegal to shoot them, or even touch them in any way, yet poachers continue to harm and kill them. That same story could kind of be said about Christians, there’s not many of us left, and the ones that are, are under constant attack by the enemy, even though we have God’s protection around us.

It’s hard to stand up alone for something, especially when there’s more than one person up against you.  My mom always tells me, “You have to stand for something or you will fall for anything.” It’s easier to fight a battle when we have something to look forward to at the end. 1 Corinthians 9:24 says, “Run in such a way as to get the prize.” What’s the prize? A place in the throne room of Heaven next to God.

[Soldier4Christ]

  A Pepperoni Pizza

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.  Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”  Psalm 81:10

I love pizza!  I’ve tried to imagine a kind of pizza that I would not like, but I haven’t been able to.  I love it so much that a few years ago, my cousin and I bought a small pizza place.  My favorite part, of course, is the free pizza.  But an unexpected joy is having employees.  Not that I like bossing people around.  In fact, I’m never there so I don’t get to boss anyone.  But that’s not the fun part anyway.  You know what the greatest part of it is?  Giving gifts!  That’s right, gifts!

I love the people that work at our store.  Almost all of them are high school or college students and they do an unbelievable job.  So much so, that my cousin and I sat around a few weeks ago trying to think up something great to do for them.  Just to say thank you for all the great things they do and to show our appreciation.  We decided on a contest.  If the employees could break this one store record, we would do this great and amazing thing for them.  But here’s the funny part.  My cousin and I have been working like crazy to make sure they win.  That’s right!  I am absolutely determined that they win and that they get to enjoy the great prize. 

God is even more determined that you win.  Too many times we think of God as a big Boss in the sky telling us what to do.  Instead He is a Father, a Protector, and a Gift-giver.  His greatest desire is not to punish us, but to reward us.  In the verse above one of the most important words is the word, “your.”  I am the Lord YOUR God!  He belongs to us as we belong to Him.  And He has so much to give you (read v.13-16).  But He is Holy and requires our obedience.  Our obedience is such a small price to pay for the overwhelming goodness that we receive from God. “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”  Psalm 107:8-9

[Soldier4Christ]

  No Exceptions

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. John 19:26-27

This was Christ’s third word on the cross. There is no complicated inner meaning waiting to be deciphered in this passage. It simply tells us that Jesus was concerned with His mother’s welfare after His death. He did not wanted her to be lonely and therefore chose John, His beloved disciple, to take care of Mary in the days to follow.

So here's our Jesus, insulted, mocked and beaten, suffering more pain than we can comprehend. This is Jesus, the man who never once stopped caring for others, the man who never cared about Himself. From the beginning till His very last breath, it was always about somebody else. And that, my friends, is the story of Christ. This is the message that our minds need to remember during and after Easter as we go out into the world. It's a rather loud message for all of us who complain at the smallest of pains and stresses. Too many times, we're just too busy watching out for ourselves that it's just too inconvenient to reach out to another. But as Christians bearing the name of Christ, we ought to put ourselves at the bottom of our priority list. To become truly Christ-like is to take care of others at all times. At all times, with no exceptions. Christ didn't stop even as He suffered the most painful death. So why should we ever stop? I pray that each of us find the strength to be like Christ at all times, with no exceptions.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Resisting Temptation

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

As humans, there are three main temptations that we are faced with.   These are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  It doesn’t matter who we are when dealing with temptation, because each and every one of us is tempted.  But as Christians, we should follow Jesus’ example and resist temptation. 

The lust of the flesh includes sexual lusts, anger, alcoholism, addiction to drugs, the TV, computers, et cetera; gluttony, and laziness.  For a few weeks in May of this year, Satan was tempting me with lust of the flesh.  I felt like it was a black hole that I would never escape from; even though I never gave into the evil desires, I believed his lies.  I didn’t know how to overcome the temptation.  Finally, one night on choir tour I couldn’t hold my tears in any longer and started sobbing.  The next morning, I talked to one of my best guy friends about my situation.   He was not judgmental and had actually experienced the same temptation.  He directed me to a verse which has become my favorite:  “Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).  With God’s amazing grace and forgiveness, along with him and his girlfriend’s prayers and support, I was fully free of dark temptation the following Tuesday!

Next, there’s the lust of the eyes.  This is made up of greed, self-gratification, money and material acquisition, getting, grabbing, cheating, and coveting.   1 Timothy 6:10 says:  “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wondered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”  In this crazy world, many people have allowed their love for money wreck their lives.  Just look at all the miserable famous celebrities!  But money cannot buy true and lasting happiness--that can only come from loving and knowing God and being a child of His.

The last of the three main temptations is the pride of life.  The pride of life contains status seeking, selfish ambition; snobbish, stuck-up behavior, opulence (wealth), the sins of power, and ruthless competition. Singing in two advanced choral groups has given me a slight air of superiority.  Every once in a while, I catch myself acting like I’m better than others.  That’s when we need to choose not to act on the temptation to brag or act stuck up, being humble instead.  Remember, to every action there is a consequence.

Temptation.  It is subtle: it can sneak up on us, wreck our lives, and weaken our relationship with Christ.  Because we are Christians, we must practice resisting temptation instead of giving into it.   To resist temptation, we must submit ourselves to God, resisting the devil and quoting Scripture at him and others when they tempt us!

[Soldier4Christ]

  What God Says He Does

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

One day during school, as Melanie was walking down the hall, she noticed a friend of hers talking with a group of people. The closer she got the more she heard what they were discussing. Her friend was sharing the gospel with this group! Oh how Melanie wished she could be that bold. She went home that night and prayed that God would make her that bold and also prayed for opportunities to be able to share the gospel. The next day, as she sat in one of her classes, a girl started talking to her that had never talked to her before. Curious to know why she started talking to her, Melanie asked politely ‘so are you wanting something or just wanting to talk?’ The girl responded back ‘just wanting to talk. You seem like a really happy person so I wanted to find out what made you so happy.’ Melanie felt a prompt in her spirit to say ‘It’s Jesus! It’s Jesus!’ but Melanie ignored it. She simply said ‘I suppose I have a good life and a good home’ to which the girl replied ‘well so do I but that doesn’t seem to make me as happy as you are’. Melanie stood there speechless, not knowing what to say. She let the opportunity slip away from her.

Too many times in my life have I prayed for opportunities and let them slip by. Too many times have I felt a prompting to say something about how God is the one who has made my life the way it is but yet I take the credit for it. Does this sound familiar to you as well? I’m sure it does. We all have gotten caught in this trap. I always seem to think that either the person is going to think I’m crazy or think I’m stupid for being so radical for Christ. But you know, the conclusion I have come to is that it doesn’t matter if that person doesn’t believe me at that moment or thinks I’m crazy. It will remain in their head and they will think about it at some point. Isaiah speaks directly to this. No matter what, if we speak God’s word it will always accomplish what He has designed it to do. Be bold in knowing that it’s not your word that you have to back up, it’s God who is going to back His word up. You are simply the messenger.

I challenge you that especially as we come into this Easter weekend, do not let it be a weekend about the Easter bunny or getting candy. Make sure you at least tell one person what the true meaning of Easter is. I would love to know how many of you take this challenge and how it goes!

[Soldier4Christ]

  Unloved in this place called Earth

Unloved, in this place called earth
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Ever read the advice columns in the paper? You know those ‘dear abbie’ ones; they talk about life problems, health issues, and all that other fun stuff. Someone asked me the other day if I had ever felt unloved by God. I didn’t even have to hesitate with my answer. No, I haven’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve many times sat crying in my bed asking Him “Why?” but I never once thought He abandoned me, I always knew He was right there waiting, anticipating my return to Him.

Last night while talking to my sister and mother about this I posed the question to them: ‘Have you ever felt unloved by God?’ My sister, Katie, answered yes and no, meaning she had felt at times like He had forgotten about her, while going through cancer and such. Something my mom said then caught my attention, ‘God says that before He formed us in our mother’s womb, He knew us. What if we signed up for all these things that were going through?’ Can you imagine being in heaven with this long form to fill out, a form that is of tribulations your willing to go though while here on earth?! Cancer, Car accidents, Fires, Amputations, deaths, diseases, the list could go on forever. Our views on these things are tragic, ‘how could God abandon us?’ ‘Why doesn’t God love us?’ ‘Why isn’t He doing anything?’ It takes on a whole new perspective though when you think about what if you volunteered to go through this?
What if while sitting at Gods throne you told Him, ‘I know its going to be hard, but you sent Jesus to die for me, this is nothing compared to that!’ Wow. Most, if not all of us just want to give up when we hit a hard time in our life. We don’t rely on God. We think He abandoned us. A song I heard on the radio recently has a line that goes ‘Show me what it's like to be the last one standing’. I don’t know anyone who would want to be the last one standing. In hard times we never like being alone so we try our hardest to drag down the people around us. We hurt them because we hurt. God would never sign you up for something you can’t handle, He’s always been there and always will, holding your hand, telling you everything will be alright. Next time you stumble on a rock in the road, don’t ask God why, tell him Ok. (Psalm 62:2  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken)

[Soldier4Christ]

  A Statement for Surrender

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. I Corinthians 13:1-3

I write this to encourage the body of Christ to move toward excellence and strive to be better than what the past has seemingly wrote as the reoccurring cycle of your life.

God's love is abundantly available to all who want to glean and participate in it. I say surrendering because it requires courage, confidence, trust, and boldness. Surrendering requires one changing a position that was once comfortable to a prior existence. God requires all the time that we change a position of average and mediocrity. And why shouldn't He? He is our Father from whom all was birthed and transformed into what we see. Better yet, He is that awesome that He knows the future outcomes of decisions we made decades ago. How much more should we expect of ourselves as we are borne through and by Him! We are His children in which all authority and dominion is given upon the earth.

Surrendering might require you changing your mind about the things you used to touch. Surrendering might require you hanging your mind about being present with people you used to be around. Surrendering might require your being healthy enough to more for the kingdom of God. So much more is required and demanded because you are a child of the Most High. You might question and doubt, well if I'm just flesh and bones and He is so much bigger than the universe, how can I make even a dent of change? Greater is He that is in YOU, than he that is in the world. Guess what, YOU can do all things through Christ. You don't have to know all the answers you just have to know who has all the answers. Surrender your ways of problem solving and allow God to reign over every area of your life.

My prayer is to be delivered from the disease of PO. People Opinion. Nothing is more tiring than loosening the grip of people acceptance and popularity. If people don't hold you accountable for living the best you can through Christ Jesus but can reaffirm every other negative/positive aspect of your life, then they aren't strengthening you. They are transforming you through the small ideas of their own mind. Surrendering yourself to only be defined by the Word of God spoken over your life is the ultimate surrender. Once you do that, your will shall follow in line. Know that God loves you and wants so much to bless your entire life beyond just you yourself. He wants to bless every environment you come into contact with. He wants to make others see His glory through you. That light which shines from you might make a significant impact for someone else to surrender all for the love of HIM.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Rejoice in the Lord always: And again I say rejoice! Philippians 4:4

There are three weeks left to this semester.  I’m tired and definitely not looking forward to taking yet another exam in a few hours.  There are some people who I just cannot stand anymore; my patience is running low.  I’m homesick and completely drained, physically and spiritually. What’s worse, my best friend is having second thoughts about Christianity.

There are too many times when many of us just want to give up, when life gets too overwhelming.  Our feelings of sorrow get the best us and ruin one too many days.  Our emotions of like and lust lead us to sin and immorality.  Stressed out and frustrated with the world, we forget to give our all to God and obey his command to always rejoice. No matter what we’re going through, we’re supposed to thank God for that very situation!   He sends everything our way for a purpose, whether it is to bless us or teach us something.  If we spend so much time complaining or trying to figure it out on our own, how will we know what He is trying to tell us through this?  Sure we will be hurt and confused; that is only natural for us human.  The apostle Paul said, "None of these things move me" (Acts 20:24). He did not say, "None of these things hurt me.”  Many a time, we don’t understand His plan completely, there are too many questions left unanswered, and we haven’t got a clue where life is leading us.  And it is at those very moments of hurt and despair that it is crucial to praise God, to know that He is driving and will get us to our ultimate destination.

Some time back, a speaker at our Christian club meeting spoke about this very subject.  He challenged us to turn all our frustrations and moments of confusion into moments of rejoicing.  He asked us to take every urge to curse or be negative and turn it upside down and instead say “Praise Him!”  That night, my roommate and I had a blast as we cast our burdens to God and shouted “Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!” with every thought that crossed our minds.

The other night, one of the guys on my floor decided it would be hilarious to turn off the lights in the girls’ bathroom while a bunch of us were in there.  Just imagine being in the shower or on the toilet and the lights go off!  In the midst of the absolute darkness, I cracked up as the little voice in my head said “Praise Him! Praise Him!Praise Him!”  That was just a humorous reminder from God that He is our only light in this dark world.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Grandma's Got a Cool Car!

“I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  John 15:5

I remember the first time I saw it and really cared. I was about 10 years old when I realized my grandma had a really cool car.  There’s a sentence you don’t see very often!  Anyway, my grandma had this really sweet ’66 Chevy Impala.  Of course, being a grandma, she didn’t really know she had a cool car.  I remember every time I went with her to the grocery store and one of the teenage guys would carry out her groceries (yes, that was a long time ago!).   They would almost drool over the car.  She even got several rather decent offers to buy it.  But grandma didn’t want another car.  She liked this one and so did I. 

Now I imagined that, being in the family, I might have an inside track to the car.  After all I was her only grandson and she said she loved me.  Finally when I was eighteen I was allowed to drive this awesome car.  I remember taking off and cruising down the street.  It was amazing, cool, sweet and lots of other words . . . until I turned the corner.  It was liking trying to wrestle a 2,000 pound buffalo in a bathtub, or so I’m guessing.  You see her sweet car had no power steering.   You literally had to put both hands near the top of the steering wheel and pull all your weight out of the seat and hope that you made the turn.  I remember thinking, “I want a car that let’s me drive.”

You know our walk with God is a lot like that.  All God is wanting is for us to let him drive.  You see sometimes we mistakenly think our role in this thing called life is to drive, when in fact we are to be the car.   The verse above states how this relationship is to work.  We make ourselves available to God and he drives us where HE WANTS TO GO!  Did you catch that?  The emphasis is on HIM!!! 

The glory of the Christian life is learning that it’s all about Him.  A friend of mine used to have a quote on his wall that said something like this, “A willing man (or woman) is a mighty weapon in the hand of an awesome God!”   I don’t know about you, but I want God to use me.  Oh, and I never want to drive my grandma’s car again!

[Soldier4Christ]

  Feelings Fail

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

Your feelings may fail you. The psalmist is speaking from the perspective of a believer when he says "my heart may fail." He is not speaking about the actual heart. He already covered physical organs when he mentioned the "flesh." Rather, he is speaking of feelings. Mood. Confidence. Our sense of mental stability. If he were speaking of the actual heart, there would be no need for the verse, because when the heart stops we stand before God and our struggle is over.

For the Christian, our confidence and mood are not certain and we should not place our trust in how we feel. Ask anyone who has bipolar disorder how quickly their confidence can go from soaring to utterly destroyed. When our heart fails us, when our confidence fails us, when our mood, even our very thoughts fail us, we do not have an excuse to give up. Whether our heart fails us because of circumstance or because of chemical or mood disorder, we must let that mustard-seed faith become all that we have and all that we cling to. We must determine to trust God, because the bible says He is our true strength, not how good we happen to feel at the time. He is our strength and our portion forever; he never fails or changes. He is the only constant.

One key to clinging to our faith when our heart fails us is to speak to ourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Get out a pad and pen and write a praise, or even write about your struggles and your faith in God to deliver you. Expressing and verbalizing our belief is very important. Sing out loud to God, talk to yourself about the amazing stories of deliverance from the bible, or meditate on scripture. Remember to never stray from God, even if you should sin, or if your feelings and thoughts are not consistent with what you believe is acceptable to God. Tell him how you feel, and hide nothing from Him. The word says that we should not be anxious at all, but rather bring all our requests to God through prayer, with thanksgiving, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).

The word says that those who know God’s name will trust in Him, because he has NEVER forsaken anyone who seeks Him (Psalm 9:10), and I have found this to be true in all my years as a Christian. If we cling to God, even in the midst of our worst, most unfathomable struggles, our faith becomes real, and God will reward us with times of peace. The bible says "do not grow weary in well doing, for at the proper time you will receive a harvest. Remember that all our struggles are for our own good, and for the testing and refining of our faith. Do not be discouraged or without hope when everything, including your heart, fails you. As the saying goes, you know it is faith when it is all you have.

[Soldier4Christ]

  This Too is Meaningless

Ecclesiastes 8:14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.

Growing up as the youngest of three girls it was easy for my sisters to pass the blame on me, even when I wasn’t guilty. I remember my sister Krissy used to get mad at me and hit me, so in defense I would hit her back. When she went crying to my mother, can you guess who got in trouble? If you said me, you're very right. However when I told them I was innocent, they would basically shrug it off.

An old saying says, ‘Stand up for what you believe in, even when your standing alone.’ It’s easy to just go along with the crowd, more so when they can get away with doing things that are wrong. I know that from personal experience it’s very hard to fess up to people that you lied about something, especially when you’ve held the lie for awhile. So to just go on living in it seems like the better escape route then suffering the consequences.

As Christians following God we usually expect things to be easy, the road to not have any bumps, the pathway to be lit with candles. We fail to realize that God never promised us riches and fine things on this earth. He never once said that it would be easy. In fact, He specifically told us that because we follow Him people will hate us, but to not lose faith, He has already conquered the world and everything in it.
Ecclesiastes 8:14 could describe my mothers whole life. She has had to go through three children having cancer, one having appendicitis, being in a major car accident and becoming pregnant then having a miscarriage, another having a staff infection, and myself overdosing many years ago. Yet through it all not once has she blamed God and turned her back on Him. If anything, her faith has grown in Him, and her testimony became more powerful through everything that has happened. Our treasures are to not be counted on this earth, but to be stored up in the next.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Open Your Spiritual Eyes

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
2 Kings 6:15-18 (NIV)

Have you ever felt overwhelmed in your life?  Have you ever felt like the odds were too big?  Have you ever felt like running and hiding?  I've got some great news for you.  God's forces are greater than anything that can come against you.  No matter what the circumstances are, no matter how hard something seems to be, NOTHING is too big of a deal for God.  When we look at the situation with spiritual eyes, we can see that our God is much bigger.

In this story, the Arameans are some pretty selfish and hardened people.  They kept making war with Israel.  They would find the perfect place to hide and attack the Israelites, but God would tell Elisha and he would tell the Israelite army so that they could avoid being attacked.  The Arameans got really sick of this so they decided they were going to get Elisha.  Doesn't this sound a little like something that happens in our lives today?  We try to do the right thing and then all of a sudden people come after us or something bad happens to us.  If we are looking at things with human eyes (like Elisha's servant) we can get really scared and worked up, but if we look at things with spiritual eyes like Elisha did, we start to see a bigger picture.  And realize that no matter how crazy things can seem to us, God is still in control and He still has our backs even when it doesn't seem like it.

Two weeks ago, I gave a challenge to all the readers of TDDM.  I challenged you to read the bible for 30 days straight.  I'm willing to bet that those of you who tried to do this found out that all of a sudden, your life got really busy or something else happened and you haven't been able to keep up with it.  I got a boat load of e-mails asking for reading plans and I actually haven't made it through all of them yet.  I posted a reading plan in the forums under "The Next Level", in the topic called "The Challenge".  Look at this challenge with spiritual eyes and stick to it.  Realize that God has a greater plan in this and know that He is bigger than the forces that are coming against you as you try to do the right thing.

I am about to post the rest of the reading plan up and hope that you follow along.  Satan is not very happy about this and so he is going to do whatever he can to stop you.  He does that when we make any steps ahead in our faith.  No matter what the devil brings against you in your life, I want you to know and be reassured that God is much, much greater and has a much bigger plan.  If you are facing troubles in your life today, pray that God will open your spiritual eyes so that you can see His army and so that you can see the bigger picture.  God is with you and will never leave or forsake you, even when you have armies sneaking up on you.  Put yourself in the story above and I want you to notice how lonely it must have looked to the servant before his eyes were opened.  The battles can look lonely to us too unless we are looking at things with our spiritual eyes.  As a matter of fact, read the rest of this story on your own and see how great is the God that we serve!  Don't be afraid.  Don't give up.  God is with you always, even until the end of the age.

[Soldier4Christ]

  The Bond

Ecclesiastes 4:9 "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor."

The bond that pulls us all together
Comes from God above
It never fails its everlasting love
Its Godly love.

You cannot break the bond we have
No matter what you do
Relationships with one another
Come from friendship true.

I pray everyday and night
For all of the friends I know.
Jesus will protect us all
No matter where we go.

As you leave remember this-
God gave you all your friends.
Thank Him for the life you have.
For their love that never ends.

[Soldier4Christ]

  The Spirit of Father Abraham

Now I know that you honor and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him. – Genesis 22:12

God has just instructed Abraham to take his only son Isaac to the land of Moriah.  There, Abraham will be shown a mountain, on which he will offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God.  It’s at this point in the Bible that you just want to yell out – But God! That’s his only son!  Abraham waited so many years for this son and soon after, he is asked to give him up.

I’m taken aback reading this chapter of Genesis.  But after reading it many times, something astounding stands out.  Abraham has no fear, no hesitation.  There are no questions asked, no attempts to analyze what God is up to.  Abraham’s spirit is simply awesome.  His trust is entirely in the Lord.  He goes to Moriah expecting to lose his beloved son.  But he doesn’t worry, he doesn’t panic, he doesn’t wonder where his happiness will come from next.  He is confident that the Lord will provide.  His faith is not affected but his happiness lies in the Lord’s will being done.

But it often bothers us that His will is not our will.  We want it our way.  We want to be comfortable and we want to set the parameters for our own happiness.  We forget that the Lord’s plan is greater than ours.  Though difficult, we must train ourselves to accept our circumstances for what they are.  Do not attempt to change periods of trials, tribulation, and loneliness.  Do not attempt to go through windows when God shuts doors.  But rather, seek the Lord and His unending love.  Through disasters, losses and heartaches, we must wholeheartedly thank the Lord for the circumstance.  When you can find happiness in what you think is the worst of times, you know your heart has been given to the Lord.  Cast your everything, your joys and your burdens, upon Jesus.  And remember, He never promised the walk would be easy.  But He did promise to walk with us all the way.

[Soldier4Christ]

  Rules to Live by

“…I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” Matthew 5:17

So many Christians believe that that the Ten Commandments are not a relevant part of Christianity since the resurrection of Jesus. Some Christians sum up this claim in Colossians 2:14 which says “having cancelled the written code, with it’s regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross.” First of all, this most likely does include the Ten Commandments. Second, a written code can also be described as any law we are to follow according to our government. Our government can’t see our hearts so they make assessments that may not even be accurate, based on what they see. Third of all, sometimes people make laws to fit a particular time or event. Fourthly, sometimes people make ridiculous rules. Maybe they mean well and maybe they think they’re doing the right thing by making the rule but they’re just dumb and unrealistic rules.

The Bible doesn’t contradict itself but these two passages do until we reconcile them.
So maybe we should think of that verse in Colossians a little differently… from Jesus’ point of view and not our own. Colossians 2 is labeled “freedom from human regulations through life with Christ”. This freedom is the Holy Spirit. So the last point I want to get to is why the verse in Colossians says what it does.

When I see something that needs to be done, I like to get it done. I get bogged down by untidiness. Some people, on the other hand, won’t notice anything needs to be done until they look at the to-do list on the fridge. That to-do list is like the Ten Commandments. When Jesus cancelled the written code He was saying that He wanted us to rely on Him, not a piece of paper. It’s the difference between a cheat sheet and actually studying for a test and being confident in knowing the material because it’s ingrained in you. The reason He nailed it all to the cross is because He said that when He ascends He’ll send us the Spirit. We won’t need a cheat sheet to get through life.

All ten of the commandments are a part of who God is and He wants them to be part of us, too. Not 8 or 9 of them, but all of them. Sure, sometimes we’ll have a hard time just knowing what God wants out of us and we’ll have to look at His commands for reference. But when we do that we should ask God to give us His Spirit instead so in the future living for Him will be an automatic knee jerk reaction. Jesus doesn’t want to be your to-do list, He wants to be ingrained in your heart. He wants His commands to be something you just do, not something you don’t notice until you look on the fridge.

Are His commands a part of you? Look them up and see.