Don't Just Go Through the Motions

FBC Glenpool Youth Choir Tour Devotions

3-17-10

Don’t Just Go Through the Motions

Psalm 143:8

“Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.”

 

Trusting God with your daily life can easily be overlooked when you are wrapped up in a busy schedule of school, activities, friends, homework, facebook, cell phones, texting, jobs, family, church, and then of course everyone wants fun time, right?   Well here is your challenge, as well as your blessing from the Lord today. If you will seek Him in the morning, embrace His love letter to you, the Bible, and meditate on it, you will be able to trust Him and He will teach you His ways and show you how you are to live.  He will lift your soul and you will know clearly what His will is for your life.

 

As you go through this day, as well as the days to come, take God’s Love Letter and read it to remind you of His love for you.  We are growing closer to His return for us and we need to be waiting for Him when He arrives. When you are in love with the Savior you will have a passion for His will and His ways and you will develop a heart like His.

Challenge yourself to really focus on your relationship with Him.  Read His Word for what it is, His love letter to you, because God so loved you that He gave you His son to die for your sins and to give you everlasting life with Him.  He loves you.  Repeat that phrase out loud, He loves you. Now make it personal.  He loves me!!!

Say it over and over again, He loves me, He loves me, He loves me.  It isn’t hard to submit to someone who loves you.  So if you truly understand and believe He loves you won’t you want to obey Him and let Him teach you His ways?

 

We have had an amazing week, yet I feel that someone needs to be reminded today, Jesus loves you.  Jesus died for you and wants a relationship with you.  You are forgiven.  You may know Him, but are you embracing Him daily? Submitting to His will daily? Reading His love letter to you daily?  Let Him fill you up with His peace and joy.  Let Him fill those empty places in your life.  Let Him be, not just your Savior, but Your Lord. He loves you. Don’t just go through the motions; be real with God and yourself. Let your commitment to Him show through the way you live your life in every area of your life.

 

We, the sponsors have been praying for you to know God’s will and we are confident that you have learned a great deal about Him this week.  However, now that the trip is about over, all the singing is finished, and we are headed out to enjoy ourselves at Six Flags, take what you have learned with you.  Write “His” on your mind as you go out this morning so you can remember who you belong to and how you should act, talk, and respond to one another and to strangers. You are His child. Don’t let what you have done and heard and learned this week come across as just going through the motions of being a Christian, but let it be from within your heart, a real desire and passion to obey the Lord. Be a testimony of His love to the world. He is waiting for your reply to be; yes Lord I will obey Your word. He is with you. He will show you how to live. He trusts you with HIS name. He loves you.

 

Take a moment to write the verse at the top of this devotion.  Psalm 143:8.

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Think about that verse and what it means to you.  If you will apply that verse to your life you will have the confidence that you can face every day with an attitude of hope and praise. You will be His witness and others will come to know Him as their Savior because of you.

 

Write a letter to the Lord now.  Tell Him you are sorry for anything you have thought, said, or done, that may have been dishonoring to Him.  Then, ask Him to help you today while you are out having fun, to remember that you are HIS and that you need to act like, your are HIS.  Ask Him to remind you of how to act, talk, and respond to others. Ask Him to give you an opportunity to share Jesus with someone at the park. Thank Him for using you and for loving you.

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God bless you as you step out on today’s test of your faithfulness to Him.  Have fun but don’t forget who you are, a child of God who loves you with His life. We are praying for you and want to enjoy this day with you. We love you too.

He must increase, but I must decrease

Teens Awakening, Learning, Knowing

And Sharing God’s word!

3-16-10

FBC Glenpool Youth Choir Tour Devotions

God of Our Yesterdays

John 3:30

“He must increase, but I must decrease”

 

Here it is Tuesday, and you have had several days of devotions, singing, laughing, crying, and sharing the love of Christ through your personal lives.  You have seen children and adults who are in places where they feel alone, abandoned, forgotten and rejected. You have examined your own walk with the Lord and been challenged to look differently at your life.  You understand now that when you sing for the Lord you need to sing with your whole self, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  You have gained a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and what He did you for.  And hopefully, you have gone deeper in your desire for a closer and more personal relationship with your Savior, Jesus. However, in this devotion is your greatest challenge of all.  It is the call from God to put what you want behind you and what God wants in front of you.  He must increase in all you do and you must decrease.  What does that really mean?  What does it look like?  Let me show you through my yesterdays.

 

As a young girl I was not popular at school and most of the time the other girls just laughed at me and called me names.  The boys threw things at me and one even picked up a stick and poked it at me telling me he would not touch me with a ten foot poll.

Every day I went home crying and feeling so alone.  I hated going to school but I would rather be there than at home.  So every day I got up and went to school knowing I would be made fun of and sit by myself.

 

During the summer between eighth and ninth grade, there was a school picnic all the kids were going to.  I didn’t want to stay home so I went to the picnic.  I knew I would be alone but hoped some how I would enjoy myself. While at the picnic all the boys were playing football.  I watched the boys play and then suddenly one of the new boys in town was running to catch the football and stumbled over me, we both fell to the ground.  I was so embarrassed and knew the other kids must be laughing.  But to my surprise the boy who ran over me put out his hand to help me up.  He even said he was sorry.  Later, while everyone was eating hotdogs the boy came over to talk to me.  I didn’t know what to think.  No one had ever been so nice to me. I thought the other kids were putting him up to it just for a laugh.  Nevertheless I enjoyed the company.

 

When school started the boy passed me in the hall and said hello.  Every day he took time to talk to me and be nice to me.  He didn’t seem to care what the other kids thought.  He had become my friend even if the kids told him to stay away and made fun of him for talking to me, he kept being my friend.  He had decided that my feelings were more important than his.  He hated seeing me mistreated and he wasn’t going to give in to the pressure of his peers.  What this boy did for this me was he showed me God’s love by putting aside any concern for himself as he reached out and make me feel welcome and cared about. This boy was God in my yesterdays. Later in life as I grew up I never forgot this boy.  His selfless kindness caused others to start treating me better and I began believing I was worthy of friendships.

 

You see, he decreased so I could increase.  Do you understand how that works now?  You give up your fleshly ideas and desires to embrace God’s ideas and desires. When you do, it not only helps you but it helps others as well. Now my todays are filled with love and joy.

 

So let me ask you this question, how much do you love the Lord? __________________

 

Do you love Him enough to give up something you want for something He wants? _____

 

Do you love Him enough to stop laughing at people that don’t dress like you, talk like you, act like you, or do what you do? _______________________________________

 

Do you love Him enough to give up the money you were given for your birthday to a child who doesn’t have a coat for winter? ____________________________________

 

Do you love the Lord enough to not cheat on a test, lie to your parents, skip school, or clean your room? _____________________________________________________

 

You may be wondering how all those things have anything to do with loving God, well it’s like this, if you love the Lord with all your heart, then your heart will love others just like God’s does.  That means you will not laugh at others or make fun of them.  It means that if you love the Lord with your wallet, you will be happy to give to others in need. It means that if you love the Lord with your actions you will not cheat on a test, skip school and you will clean your room.  You will obey your parents and speak with respect toward them, your teachers and others in authority. It means you will show respect to all people.

 

It may not seem too easy to do what God wants you to, but He will help you. God is always with you, He was with you yesterday, He is with you right now, and He will be with you tomorrow to help you remember His ways are the best.   

Write a letter to the Lord and ask Him to help you put your wants aside and ask Him to reveal His wants for your life.  He’ll do it because He is the God of yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever. Remember that when you sing.

Love The Lord

This week will be devotions I wrote for our youth as we go on our youth choir tour to minister to those in Retirement Homes, Girl Homes, Churches and Juvenile Lock ups in Ok and TX.  I wanted to share them with you so that you could see how the Lord will be speaking to them / us this week.  I want you to read them as if they are written for you as well, even though it talks to youth, they can apply to all of us because God's word is for all of us.

 

Please be in prayer for the youth and the sponsors as we travel, sing, minister to others and to one another. I am confident we will see many great blessings through this ministry both in those we sing to and those of us going.  I pray the blessings will also be in you as you do the devotions with us and pray for us.

 

 

Teens Awakening, Learning, Knowing

And Sharing God’s word!

FBC Glenpool Youth Choir Tour Devotions

3-15-10

 

Love the Lord

Mark 12:30
AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'

 

There was a boy who lived in the darkness of rejection and abuse. His broken spirit cried for help, but only found the raw and unfriendly streets of loneliness and hunger. His days and nights lost their definition and slipped into a foggy haze. He was a wandering soul, lost and forgotten by the very people that should have protected and loved him.  Yet, he kept on searching.

 

Fear and hopelessness tossed him around like a rag doll. Survival for him seemed worse than death itself and yet death seemed dark and scary. What would happen to this torn and tattered boy whose heart beat with the blood of bitterness and pain?  What was he searching for?

 

Who is this boy?  What really happen to him?  Where is he now?  Did anyone ever love him? Did he ever find hope for his future and peace from his past?  Does he sound like someone you know? Does his life reflect your own life? Are you searching?

 

It doesn’t matter what background we come from, what has been done to us or what we have done to others that may not have been very nice or something we are not proud of, the Lord is still waiting in the quietness of the night to meet with us, to tell us the truth, and provide us hope.

 

You may know someone that seems hopeless, wandering in a world of darkness, anger, bitterness and pain.  You know that if something doesn’t change in their life, they will either become like the very thing they hate or they will die lost, separated from God. 

Just like the boy in the story, God takes us right where we are in life and shows us His love and hope through the offer of accepting Jesus, wiping away our sins and giving us a new life as His child.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.  That whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

 

Jesus changes lives for all those who will seek Him.  He changed the man in the story.  I know, because the man was my father. Dad grew up with bitterness and hate for those who hurt him as a boy.  He passed his pain on to me through physical, emotional and sexual abuse.  However, two years before dad died, he met Jesus. He was searching for love and found Him.  Now one day we will meet in the heaven and worship our Lord together.  My dad was born again, his old life was dead and buried, and he received a new life in Christ because he finally went searching for Truth and found Him. He came to understand what it means to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He understood that he was forgiven and had been given a new life in Christ. Through God’s forgiveness he was able to know love and to love the Lord with his whole life.

What about you?  Are you searching?  Do you know Jesus? Have you accepted Him as your Savior?  Do you love Him with your whole self?

 

It is ok to search for answers because it helps you find the Truth.  With your heart you can love God.  With your soul you can trust God.  With your mind you can know God, and with your strength you can serve God.

 

We have an opportunity to touch someone’s life tomorrow in a big way.  Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and show that love as you sing.

 

 

Look up Mark 12:30 and write it down. 

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What does this verse mean to you? Have you given your whole self to God?

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As you write your prayer to the Lord tonight, think about those who are locked up behind bars, think of the young people who are like my dad was when he was young, rejected, alone, hurt, and unloved, will you pray for them?  Will you be positive and loving toward them when you sing?

 

Now write your letter to the Father, express your love for Him and your concern for those that are hurting and need His love.  Ask Him to use you tomorrow to be an example of His love.  Oh and by the way, let your prayer also be about praying for each other, understand one another, and helping each other.  After all someone singing with you may need a touch of God’s love right now too.  Love the Lord with all you heart, soul, mind and spirit by loving the unlovely.

 

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In Jesus name, Amen