TAKING OUR THOUGHTS CAPTIVE

April 10th, 2013 | By admin

by An Anonymous Teen

There are three myths that plague teenage girl’s minds. No girl can control these thoughts, they come naturally. Maybe they were told to you by a best friend, or maybe you came to your own sudden realizations. These three thoughts have the potential to destroy your life, if you believe in them. These thoughts make you have a low self esteem, dress immodestly, and become dependent on worldly things. You know what they are, you’ve had them. But, in case you can’t quite pin down the three, I’ll tell them to you.

I will never be good enough for anyone to love me. I need a boyfriend to make me happy, without a boyfriend. I am not worth anything. My identity is in who I am dating, or how good I look.

I’ve talked to middle schoolers about their dating lives, or their self esteem, and these three thoughts are always the same ones that keep popping up. All I do is think to myself, “Why would you think that way?” But, then I remember. I’ve thought that way, too. Everyone has. Then I asked myself: how did I get over that? How did I finally come to realize that those thoughts were lies? It wasn’t easy, but I did it by renewing my mind.

Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is– his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

So what does renewing your mind mean? It means tell yourself everyday the truth: which is what God thinks about you! The three thoughts are lies, told to us by the world, and believing in them is conforming to the ways of the world. You may be thinking: but the world doesn’t encourage thinking discouraging thoughts. Look at the world around you. Everyone thinks that having a boyfriend is a necessity, every girl needs to look perfect, and everyone needs to be the best in everything. That is the world, telling you that you are not good enough. All the time you are listening to those lies, your Father is heaven is shaking his head, saying, “Don’t you know that you are good enough for me?”

See, what God thinks about us is different than what the world thinks about us. God looks at us and says, “Do you know everything I have done for you?” God, our Father in heaven, the creator of everything beautiful, never leaves you. Thinks you are beautiful. Chooses you. Watches over you. Sought after you. Listens to you. Knows you. Treasures you. Is on your side. Made you in His image. The truth is, you were created by God, in the image of God. You were purchased by God, to do the will of God.

Think about that for a minute. Read over that last paragraph again; let the words fully sink in. Everything you’ve ever looked for, in a boy, in a parent, in a friend, you can find in God. Every time you think “I’m so ugly” you can take your thought captive, and say to yourself “No, God made me in His image, and thinks I am beautiful.”  Every time you think “I need a boyfriend to make me happy” you can think “God treasures me, that makes me happy.”

By taking every thought that is a lie captive, and then renewing your mind with the truth about how your God thinks about you, you will discover true joy and fulfillment in life. You’ll stop searching for a boyfriend, stop thinking you’re ugly. All of these thoughts will be replaced with the truth of how much your God loves you. If you try this, you will never be the same. I challenge you, just for this week, every time you think something negative about yourself, take that thought captive, and say the truth about how God thinks about you. You’ll be glad you did.

Written by a 15 year old teenage girl in Georgia

PERILOUS TIMES

March 4th, 2013 | By admin

by Katt Anderson

Today we live in perilous times. Turn on the television news and all you see is bad things happening. This is no different than in Jesus’ time and the apostles time. The same things happened then, only they did not have the media to blast them into every home.

In 2 Timothy 3:1-9 we read. “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! ⁶ For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; ⁹ but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.”

This isn’t much different from today. It would take too long a post to notice each item listed here. Look around in the neighborhood around you. There are people like those mentioned above everywhere. They are in our government, our schools, our workplace, and worse of all in our churches. Why do people put importance on the wrong thing?

So many people are wanting importance, and they are willing to hurt someone in order to get what they want. People even come into our homes and try to persuade us to do something that is not right. I suspect God is very displeased with what some people do.

What ever happened to honesty, love of people, helpfulness, and being grateful for each day? It is not good for us to stab people in the back. In the long run this hurts the person who does the stabbing. People remember the bad things you do to them. Someone who tells lies to get their way will be caught one day. It all comes back to you in the long run.

Be careful who your friends are. Make good friends. Friends who love you and appreciate you. Learn from you mistakes. We all sometime or other, have made friends with the wrong people. Don’t make the mistake twice. Teenage girls want to be popular, but that is not the most important thing in life. Live a life that shows your love for God. Remember God always and be faithful to Him.

GOD, HORSES, COWBOYS, AND US

December 26th, 2011 | By admin

By an anonymous teen
About a year ago, a new member of our family arrived. No, it’s not a baby, or a dog. It’s a horse. Ever since I was old enough to have an interest in something, it’s always been around horses.

For around 12 years, I’ve been dreaming to get that horse, and he came into my life a short time ago. It’s been a great year. In my year of riding out on the trails, or just sitting in the field watching them, I’ve come to notice how these creatures can often be like humans in comparison to God. (more…)

MODESTY

December 12th, 2011 | By admin

I Had No Choice

October 3rd, 2011 | By admin

I Had No Choice

How many times have we heard that statement? How many times have we said, “I had no choice?” We always have a choice! The only question to be answered is: Are we willing to accept personal responsibility for the choices we make no matter what? It is those mind-numbing, life changing consequences of our choices that are sometimes almost impossible for us to face and bear!

When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in Eden, He gave them freedom of choice. Since that time the human race has been confronted with making choices between right and wrong, and discerning between good and evil. God gave us that freedom out of love for us because that is who He is. Everything God does originates from His love. “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” (I John 4:9)

We make choices every day God gives us. Some of the choices we made when we were younger are affecting our lives to this day! Some of the choices we are presently making will impact us until our lives end.

We make the choice to graduate from high school or college. We make the choice to struggle through those years of high school and college, or we make the choice to drop out of high school or college and struggle, in many instances, for the rest of our lives. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 7:8; “The end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”

We make the choice to move to another area, state, or country or stay where we were brought up from childhood. That choice alone will many times dictate our employment opportunities and possibilities of advancement. That choice many times also dictates whether we will move from that location or if we end up living and working there until retirement.

We make the choice to marry or to stay single. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. After God created Eve, Genesis 2:23-24 says; “And Adam said, `This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.” Our choice of a lifelong mate will most definitely affect our future in a way we cannot begin to appreciably comprehend at the time of the marriage!

We make the choice to have children or not to have children. Psalm 127:3-4 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.” Children who are brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord are a blessing indeed to their parents. Children left to rear and guide themselves will ultimately bring shame and disgrace to their parents.

We make the choice to earn money through a job/career, or to live off the government, or live from another’s financial means, or go into a life of crime or unlawful activity. From the beginning, God’s expectation has been for us to w-o-r-k for a living! Genesis 2:15 says, “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” God’s expectation for us to work is further emphasized in II Thessalonians 3:10; “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.”

We make the choice to be health conscious or not to be conscientious about our physical and dental health. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” As one good sister stated, “God wants a temple, not a rundown shack!”

We make the choice to follow God or Satan. Sin is the debt we owe; God has given us two choices in making payment. We can all understand debt, especially in the current economic atmosphere! What we must understand about our sin debt is that it will be paid! Our first choice is to accept the payment Jesus Christ made when He died on Calvary. We accept this payment for our sin debt when we obey the gospel.

Our other choice, if we reject the Lord’s sacrificial payment, is to pay for our own sins in hell forever! These are our only two choices because God cannot and will not allow sin to go unpunished or dwell in His presence! Acts 17:30 Paul said, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” Our choice to obey and serve God will permeate and direct every other choice we make if we expect to live with Him.

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WHAT ARE YOU FISHING FOR?

August 15th, 2011 | By admin

by a Teenage Christian Girl

As Christian teenagers there are many temptations that we go through. High school is a tough environment to be in every day. It is full of worldly people, and it is hard not to want to fit it with everyone. Christ tells us that we are to be in the world but not of the world. One way we can not be “of” the world is by the way we dress. (more…)

THE PERFECT LOVE

August 2nd, 2011 | By admin

By An Anonymous Teen

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

New International Version

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

New Revised Standard Version

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

New American Standard

“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

King James Version

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

New King James

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

New Living Translation

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/51253326-80/love-truth-patient-rejoices.html.csp?page=1 (more…)

June 20th, 2011 | By admin

By an anonymous Christian Teen

I recently played a softball game for another team in my league. There is a girl on that team that doesn’t get along with me very well. We’ll just say, we’re not the best of friends. Anyway, while we play, we lay our bats up against the fence on each side of home plate so that they will be easy to access when we get up to bat. During this game, I had my bat laying up against the fence and for some reason, everyone seemed to be hitting my bat when they were getting up to bat and throwing the last persons bat over by the fence. My bat was not cheap and could possibly be ruined if it continued to be hit by the other bats. My mom had said something to me and my dad about my bat getting hit and told me to bring my bat in next time so it would not continue to be hit by the other bats. Apparently this girl heard my mom say something about it.

So, the next time she walked by the fence on the outside, she purposefully pushed my bat head so that it would fall down right in front of my parents and grandparents. I had not known this happened until after the game and we were all in the car. I, not knowing this had just happened, turned and smiled at this girl as we walked off. Once my mom told me what she had done, I was furious. It was behavior that I could have expected from her, but I was still appalled at how disrespectful she had acted. (more…)