Too Much Music

How many hours a day do we listen to music (whether it be CDs, the radio, ipod, or mp3 player)? I recently added up all the hours that I listen to music during the day and it ended up being about 10 hours a day. I was shocked! Now, I’m not saying that the music I listen to is bad and not God honoring, but it’s the fact that I listen to so much of it in a day.

How much time do we spend a day in God’s Word? For me...not nearly enough.

So I’ve come to the conclusion that
1. I’m going to cut back on my “intake” of music.
2. If I find myself having nothing to do; I’m going to use the time wisely, and read my Bible or a Christian devotional.

I would appreciate it if you (my faith readers) would keep me accountable.

Fear Of Witnessing

I’m taking an evangelism course called Evangelism Explosion (EE), and this last Sunday was the first On-The-Job-Training (OJT). Basically, we go out and witness to people on the streets with our team, which usually consists of 3 or 4 people.

Well, I became extremely nervous when I got into the car to go on OJT with my team. Yet, I was excited to go out and witness to people.

So on our way to the hospital, I prayed to the Lord and asked Him to take away my fear of witnessing to someone I don’t know. Immediately, I felt a sense of relief, and my fear was gone.

Later on that night, when I got back from witnessing with my team; Scripture verses kept popping into my head.

Matthew 6:34- Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Proverbs 3:5-6- Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make you paths straight.

Hebrews 13:6- ...the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

We don’t need to be afraid of what someone might think, say, or do to you when you go out and share the Gospel with them. If it’s the Lord’s will that they be saved; He’ll soften their hearts, and they’ll hear and receive the Word of the Lord.

A Wise Saying And Then Some

2 of my best friends came over this weekend, and this morning while we were all reading our Bibles; Amy wrote something down on a piece of paper, and read it to us. I found it very encouraging and asked if I could post it on my blog.

Here’s what she said...

“Pain is a beautiful thing that is hidden in the midst of our suffering. It brings out the worst in us and the also the best in us which isn’t really the best. It sharpens us or deadens us. It is our choice in how it will influence us. We must choose to either ignore it our learn from it. Jesus promises me that “He will never leave me or forsake me.” He is so worthy of my love, but I am so unworthy of His. Oh God, please soften this hard heart of mine. Make me like You. Wash me and cleanse me from this double-minded life. Show me Your ways. Lead me in the way of salvation. Open my eyes so I may see wonderful words from Your law. Please take the tension and fear away and replace it with peace. “For You are my God and I will only serve You.’”
Your daughter,
Amy Lesh

Well, on another note, Today I’m officially 17. Yipee!

I’ve been looking over this past year, and I’ve seen how much God Almighty has changed me. In June, I fell away from the Lord, and got into some really bad things that I wish I hadn’t done. A few months later I asked God why those things had happened to me. I then remembered a wise saying that I had heard before. “Everything happens for a reason, and to the glory of God even when we don’t understand it.” (not exact quote)

Not that long after, a friend of mine emailed me and told me he had tried to commit suicide. Later on, 2 other friends either called or emailed me and told me they too had tried to commit suicide. I was able to encourage all three of those people in the Lord during their time pain and suffering. I did not do it on my own accord; the Lord helped me.

Sometimes things happen to us that we don’t understand, but God has a reason for all that does happen. And it’s to His Glory.

The Modesty Survey

The Modesty Survey written by the Rebelution is finally up. I’d encourage everyone reading this blog post to check it out.

What’s the Modesty Survey?

“The Modesty Survey is an exciting, anonymous discussion between Christian guys and girls who care about modesty. Hundreds of Christian girls contributed to the 148-question survey and over 1,600 Christian guys submitted 150,000+ answers, including 25,000 text responses, over a 20-day period in January 2007.” -The Rebelution

For the girls: I’d encourage you all to check out what the Christian guys from all over the world think about how we dress. Tell your friends and family to check it out too. (Especially if they’re Christians who want to please God with what they wear.)

To the guys: If you didn’t get a chance to be apart of the Modesty Survey don’t worry. The Rebelution has a petition that you can check out at the Rebelution. (scroll down till you see The Petition) I’d encourage you guys to tell your sisters in Christ to check out the Modesty Survey.

(I’ll be posting my regular blog posts starting tomorrow. Please check back later on for the next posting. Thanks!)

Oh! By the way, happy V-day from your sister in Christ!

God Is Closer Then You Think

At 8:00 this morning, I found myself sitting in a classroom full of teenagers.
I’m home schooled; so why was I in a class with a bunch of kids my age?

I was taking the ACT, and I was nervous as can be. I’ve never done well on tests before no matter how long I study. My mind seems to go blank every time.

So here I sat in chair 3. My heart was pounding as I look around the classroom till at last my eyes came upon a piece of paper on the tack board. It said this... “God is closer then you think.”
I smiled and let out a sigh of relief. Thanks, Lord! I thought.

So for the next 4 hours, I diligently worked on the test. Every time I felt a new wave of fear come over me; I just remembered that little saying on the wall, and thanked the Lord.

God is closer then you think.

What a very true statement! He is closer then we think and sometimes realize. In fact, He never leaves us. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” He’ll never leave us (even when we do wrong) because He loves us too much. (John 3:16)

Sin and God's Love

What is sin? That’s a question that many people ask in the world around us.

In one of my homeschool courses, there was a quote by Susannah Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley printed on one of the pages. She answers the question of what is sin very well. She said this, “Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of you conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes your relish for spiritual things – that is sin to you.”

Sin is not just things like murdering someone, lying, or stealing. Not to say those aren’t sins because they are definitely sins, but sin is anything that displeases God or is a transgression against His law.

When you do something that you know you aren’t supposed to do then it’s sin. There are many things we do in just one day that we know we shouldn’t do but we do it anyway. Maybe it’s watching a bad show on TV, or checking out a site on the internet that you shouldn’t. These are called sins of commission.

Sins of omission are things that we know we should do, but don’t. These can include things like failing to read our Bible and praying, not truly loving those around us (our neighbors), and so on.

So why do we sin? It’s nature. We were born that way. It all started about 6 thousand years ago when Adam and Eve first sinned. Their sin separated them from God, and since we are descendants of Adam and Eve; we also sin.

“...Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18) “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)

Praise the Lord that He loves us so much that He would die for us! All we have to do is freely accept His free gift of Salvation. For those of us who have already done this; are sins were once like scarlet, and now they are as white as snow.

Can I get a praise God to that?

Truly Needing God

I’ve heard many people over the years who have said that they don’t need God. That they can survive on their own. I know I’ve done this plenty of times, but you know something? We can’t survive on our own. If it weren’t for God keeping His hand on this little planet we call home, Earth would practically destroy itself.

Think about it. A few thousand years ago, God took His hand off of Earth for 40 days and 40 nights and what happened? A catastrophic Flood wiped out all but 8 people and a few animals that God saved.

We can do nothing without the Lord. If it weren’t for the Lord we mortal humans wouldn’t even remember to breathe.

Without the Lord; there would be no hope. If there was no God, then when we die that’s it. There would be no life after death. There would be no Heaven or Hell. We would just die and turn to dust. Everything we did on Earth would have no meaning.

But praise the Lord, there’s hope! Jesus Christ is our hope. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and purchased a place in Heaven for us. Unfortunately, though, not many people know of this hope that we have.

Why?

Because we who have it aren’t sharing it with others! That to me is a very sad situation. We have the best gift that anyone ever needs, and we just hide it. We all know someone who doesn’t have this free gift; whether it is a friend, family member, or just an acquaintance. How very sad it will be when your friends or family stand before God and they don’t have their name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

The truth of the whole matter is we can’t survive without the Lord, and neither can your friends or family.

So what are we going to do about it?

An Explanation And News

First off, I believe I owe you guys an explanation as to why I haven’t been posting any blogs on Revitalize Our Youth. Besides from the fact that I’ve been extremely busy; I tried to do things on my own without God concerning this blog.

I was reading in my Bible this morning when I got up, and I just couldn’t seem to get anything out of it. Nothing was sticking out to me. “What’s going on? Why am I not getting anything out of my Bible this morning?” A little voice in the back of my head said, “ You can do nothing without Me.”

I then realized that I had sinned. I wanted to do whatever I wanted. I wasn’t praying to God and asking for His guidance. I was in the wrong, and I need to ask you, my faithful readers, to forgive me.

Now, back on schedule...

Dakota Fanning....
Apparently, “Hound Dog” didn’t make as big a hit at the Sundance festival as was previously expected. In fact, it is being trashed by the early reviewers. Praise God!

I encourage all of you not to spend your money on this movie, if it gets out in theatres, and to continue to pray, and spread awareness. You can check out more about Dakota Fanning on Kingdom Advancer's blog. (Unfortunately, my computer won't let me put his link on my blog. Sorry about that Kingdom Advancer.) Here's his blog site... www.kingdomadvancing.blogspot.com.