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YW e-devo: God's heart for you is freedom!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:31:44 GMT

Hi there!

Welcome to November and to the JESUS issue of YW! Yup, this entire issue is about Jesus!! Sooo . . . . why did we write an entire issue about Jesus? Here’s a roundabout answer. In A. W. Tozer’s incredible book, The Knowledge of the Holy, he wrote that “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What we think about God is a massive, massive part of how we view ourselves and our world. Of course, God knew that. And of course, He wanted us to have an accurate understanding of who He is. So He came to earth to show us. Jesus was a personal tour guide of God—of Himself. Jesus is a BIG part of what should come into our minds when we think about God. That was God’s intention. That’s a lot of why He came.

Sometimes we don’t make the connection that Jesus is God. We don’t connect that His responses in situations are the way that God responds in those situations, that what He said is what God said. We don’t make the connection that although God is invisible, Jesus made Him visible.

But we so need to!! The reality is this: Because Jesus came, we don’t have to wonder what God is like anymore. This month, be really intentional about making the connection that how Jesus acted and responded in the situations we’re going to read about is how He responds to similar situations in your life.

This week, we’re looking at how Jesus wants to set you free. What areas do you want freedom in? Trust and know that He wants to set you free!

Have a great week, child of the King!

Laurin

Here's this week's devo:

JESUS—GOD—WANTED PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE FREEDOM. HE HATED ANYTHING THAT ROBBED THEM OF THE PEACE AND JOY OF LIVING FREE. THINGS LIKE DISEASE. GUILT. SIN. DEATH. PEOPLE WERE ENSLAVED. JESUS KNEW THAT. SO HE CAME TO BREAK THEIR CHAINS.

[READ] One day at the temple, Jesus was called upon to read the Scriptures. In Jesus’ day, and still today, Jews read Scripture on a set yearly schedule—so the Scripture passages that Jesus read in the temple that day were no coincidence. He opened the scroll of Isaiah that had been handed to Him and read: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). The scene was probably pretty normal until Jesus sat down and said this: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

[THINK] Jesus declared that He was the Freer of prisoners, the Sight-Giver of the blind, and the Releaser of the oppressed. But He also said a phrase that we might miss, but it would have caught the ear of the Jews in the temple. It’s the phrase that He would “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus was referring to the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25. God had told His people that they were to rest and be refreshed every seventh day on the Sabbath. More than that, every seventh year they were to take a sabbatical and let their land rest from planting crops. That seventh year they wouldn’t plant or harvest, but would eat from the plenty God had given them from the previous six years. God wanted His people to receive refreshment from Him every seven years. And then, even beyond that, after seven cycles of years, or 49 years, God wanted His people to declare a Year of Jubilee. “Sanctify the fiftieth year; make it a holy year. Proclaim freedom all over the land to everyone who lives in it—a Jubilee for you” (Leviticus 25:10 MSG).

During the Year of Jubilee, God’s people were to release all captives, they were to forgive all debts, they were to return all property to its original owner, and they were not to plant or harvest. They were to rest. It was a full year of ultimate celebration. Family members returned home; the burden of debts were removed, never to be brought back again.

But the Israelites were never able to practice the Year of Jubilee. The people just couldn’t bring themselves to release their slaves, to release their land, or to release their debtors. Sadly, Israel never once celebrated a Year of Jubilee.

[LIVE] Isaiah had foretold that God would send Someone to declare a Year of Jubilee—a year of celebration and freedom. But it would involve an even better celebration than just freeing a slave or releasing land. It would involve freeing people from fear, from guilt, from captivity to Satan, and from the stain of sin.

To the paralytic, Jesus said: “Get up, take your mat and go home” (Mark 2:11).

To the blind man, He said: “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you” (Luke 18:42).

To the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, He said: “Take heart, daughter . . . your faith has healed you” (Matthew 9:22).

To the sinful woman who anointed His feet with perfume: “Your sins are forgiven. . . . Go in peace” (Luke 7:48. 50).

Jesus gave sight to the blind. He released the oppressed. He freed the captives. Declare the Year of Jubilee—freedom has come!

[NXT LVL] Read more about the Year of Jubilee that God gave to His people in Leviticus 25.

Chocolate covered death . . . the new YW devo!

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:39:22 GMT

Hey there, child of the King!

Here’s a sobering thought about sin. Think of your biggest regrets that you have in your life . . . the event/decision that you wish you had an eraser to wipe out. Most likely, sin was involved there. Most likely you stepped outside of what God wanted for you and sin killed you in some way. Yeah. Sin is no good. No good at all.

Soooo . . . let’s roundkick sin in the face, sucker punch it in the gut, and give it a noogie. As citizens of God’s Kingdom, sin has no place here.

Have a great week, child of the King!

Laurin

Here’s this week’s devo:

Sin doesn’t always appear twisted or dark. In fact, it can deceptively seem like just the opposite.

[READ] Sin often looks appealing. That’s because Satan, also known as an angel of light, intentionally wraps sin in a pretty package.

Talking about someone with our friends may seem like harmless fun. We may think, “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.” But it does. Gossip can harm a person’s reputation, one of their most precious possessions. “What dainty morsels rumors are—but they sink deep into one’s heart” (Proverbs 18:8 NLT).

Speaking unkindly to someone—especially when we’re angry with them—can feel satisfying. But speaking hurtful words is like sticking a knife in someone’s soul. “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose” (Proverbs 18:21 MSG).

Sex and sexual acts outside of marriage may seem fun. But they cause distrust in relationships, put a barrier between us and God, and destroy our soul. “The man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own soul" (Proverbs 6:32 NLT). "Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18 NLT).

Pursuing money and possessions may seem like we’re moving up in the world, but it can shift our perspective from heavenly things, rob us of eternal treasures, and come between us and God. “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:13 NLT).

Like a fish chasing a shiny lure, Satan makes sin seem appealing, even though it’s deadly. And while sin seems fun, it actually steals life from us. Jesus said He came to give us life, but Satan’s intentions are sick and sinister. “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10 NLT).

[THINK] Think about your biggest regrets. Chances are you bought into what Satan was selling through sin, and it hurt you. You probably weren’t motivated by doing something wrong. You might’ve gossiped because you wanted to win the approval of others. You might’ve sinned sexually because you thought it would enhance a relationship. You might’ve started drinking to have fun. But the sin killed you. Or it killed a relationship. And it killed your connection with God. Our biggest regrets usually happen when we step outside of what God wants for us.

[LIVE] In the situations you regret the most, what did sin cost you? What did it steal from you? A relationship? Sexual purity? Confidence in yourself? What died in you? Your connection with God? Your trust in people?

Let the effects of sin cause you to hate it. Think of what you’ve lost and let it sicken you.

Hate sin. It is killing you. And be assured, God hates it too.

[NXT LVL] Jesus used some gory, grotesque words when He talked about sin because sin is sickening. Read Matthew 18:6-9.

For more devos like this, or to subscribe to YW Magazine, check out YW Magazine’s website: www.ywspace.org.

Sin’s Ripple Effect—the new YW devo

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:34:04 GMT

Hey there, child of the King!

This week is week 3 of our look at sin. And this week’s main point made me absolutely, physically sick. This week we talk about sin’s ripple effect—how it impacts so many people, especially the innocent. If you’ve ever been sinned against, you know how this works. It's absolutely awful!

In high school, I had someone break into my car in the parking lot. All they took was a box of animal crackers (go figure), but they tried to hot-wire my car, and when I first saw my car, all of these wires and stuff were hanging out of it. Seeing it sent chills up my spine. For months afterward it didn’t feel like my car anymore. My safe place, my car, had been made unsafe. Technically, all I lost was animal crackers and the mechanic bill to get my car put back together, but I lost more than that. I lost security. I lost safety. I know that sounds silly, but it’s true! Someone else’s sin stole from me. And sin does that every single time. It never affects just one person—and it’s the innocent that takes a lot of the heat from sin a lot of the time. Can you see how that has happened in your own life?

So, let’s continue our mission to roundkick sin in the face, shall we? (I really like that imagery. :o) No more of this sin bologna! Let’s fight against it in our lives—we are children of the King!

Have a great week, loved one!

Laurin

Here’s this week’s devo:

Sin’s impact is way bigger than we think it is.

[READ] Sin doesn’t just affect us—it affects the people around us too. That’s because we’re all connected. Like one tumbling domino that causes the rest to fall, sin can have a domino effect on people around us. Adam and Eve’s sin affected us all—putting us under a curse of death (Romans 5:12). In a similar way, a small group of men flew planes into the Twin Towers on 9/11. But they didn’t just kill themselves. Thousands of people lost their lives, and not only that—every person in our country lost a sense of security.

In the same way, a few greedy people made selfish decisions that caused our entire economy to collapse. A few people made sinful choices, but everyone suffered the consequences—even people who were leading honest and unselfish lives.

Sin affects relationships in the same way—sin affects way more than just the sinner. If we steal from someone, they not only lose their possession, they lose a sense of safety and security. When we lie to someone, we commit the sin, but the other person loses trust in us. Sin never impacts just one person.

[THINK] The community effects of sin can last longer than just the here and now. God shared that the consequences of sin can ripple through a family for generations—even the third and fourth generations (Numbers 14:18). It’s easy to see this effect in sins like divorce and adultery, where the emotional scars can be passed on for generations.

But what about other sins? Or those things we consider to be “smaller sins,” like white lies? Could there be long-term consequences with them too? God’s Word implies that all sin has a lasting effect. While people are only held accountable for the sins they themselves commit (Ezekiel 18:20), somehow the negative effects of sin echo into future generations. Even if we can’t see the consequences now, they may surface down the road.

[MORE] Scripture teaches that the spiritual condition of our nation affects how God interacts with us as a people—affecting even the weather. Israel’s sin caused curses like famine and drought (Deuteronomy 28:15-48). God had promised that if Israel obeyed Him, their crops would grow. He would send rain. They would have food to eat. But if they disobeyed Him, God would send famine, plagues, and diseases—all with the intention of drawing His people’s hearts back to Him. The nation’s well-being was affected by sin. Could it be that the same applies today?

[LIVE] Respect the power of sin. It’s costly and it’s far-reaching. It’s more far-reaching than we realize—affecting the people connected to us, the generations beyond us, and the way God interacts with us as a nation. We don’t completely understand how all of this works, but God has told us the truth about the effects of sin. We must live and act in light of the truth, even though we don’t fully understand it.

Your decisions echo beyond you. By your obedience to living God’s way you can choose to protect your children and grandchildren and be an umbrella of protection and blessing for generations to come. Today, ask God to help you set up the generations beyond you for a life of blessing and closeness with Him.

[NXT LVL] Sin can also rob you of eternal rewards. Read Revelation 22:12.

For more devos like this, or to subscribe to YW Magazine, check out YW’s website: www.ywspace.org.

What's killing you—the new YW devo!

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:03:19 GMT

Hey there, child of the King!

Stinky, stinky sin . . . That’s the topic of this month, and today’s topic too. A friend passed along a YouTube video that fits right in with this month’s theme. It’s pretty hilarious—poking fun at our perception of God and how He feels about us. But, sadly, it’s also pretty accurate. I think a lot of us think that God keeps a tally chart of our sins and is just waiting to get us for them. We act as though He’s all condemnation, all the time. And while we may not outwardly say that we believe that about Him, at least internally we act like we do. And we interact with Him a lot of times like we believe He’s just flat-out out to get us for sin.

This video was put together by a church doing a series on misconceptions about our view of God. And I’ve got a feeling that Jesus totally cracked up at His voice on it. Of course, there’s no irreverence to Jesus intended in this video. We’re poking fun at ourselves here—not Him. :o)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvMhXh1xH8E

This video’s a perfect fit for today’s devo on sin. Unlike the Jesus that’s portrayed in it, God hates sin not because He’s a killjoy, or because He just wants us to follow a bunch of rules, but because sin kills us. It literally kills our souls. And it kills our connection to Him. So we should hate it too.

Let’s sucker-punch sin in the gut, okay? And then, let’s resist it with every ounce of our strength.

Have a great week, child of the King!

Laurin

Here’s this week’s devo:

Sin is a thief—it robs us of God’s good things. More importantly, it robs us of intimacy and depth in our relationship with God.

[READ] “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18 NLT). Those are the words of David—whom God called a “man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22). Since David was so close with God, he knew that a sinful heart would damage his relationship with God. David knew that sin would come between them.

Sin puts distance between God and us. It’s not that God steps away from us—Hebrews 13:5 promises that He’ll always be with us. Instead, sin builds a barrier between us.

Think of being at odds with your best friend. When there’s something between you and your best friend, things feel “off.” The love and acceptance they offer you is missing or lessened in some way. And they’re just a person in your life—your best friend doesn’t define who you are, but their love and support hold you up in some way. Distance from God—the true Source of our identity, our love, and our acceptance—is disaster.

Sin cuts us off from God, from the Source of every good thing (James 1:17). It is a mini-rehearsal of what will sadly happen to people who choose to live cut off from God forever: “The subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12).

[THINK] If we choose to pursue God above everything else, He’ll take us up on that invitation, working in us and through us. But when we choose to distance ourselves from God, He will respect our decision. He is a gentleman.

If our choices show that we’re chasing other things more than Him, God will slow His work in our lives. He’ll allow us to experience the natural results of our decisions. He won’t give us deep spiritual insight because we’re demonstrating that that’s not what we’re looking for. He’ll slow the growth of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives because growth of the fruit of the Spirit comes from staying close to Him. We won’t experience the blessings we normally would because we’re stepping away from Him. God doesn’t work in our lives without our permission.

[MORE] Since sin keeps us from God, sin keeps us from hearing the Holy Spirit. Like a spiritual earplug, sin mutes and dulls our ability to hear His voice.

When we’ve sinned, God won’t stop communicating with us. He loves us too much to do that. But His voice will shift from guidance mode into conviction mode. That’s because the most important thing we can do is get right with Him again, so He’ll continue to urge us to come back to Him through conviction. Most likely, He won’t share anything new with us—like guidance, direction, discernment, or a fresh outpouring of His love—until we’ve responded to the conviction that He has already given.

[LIVE] In the Old Testament, God used very personal words when referring to His people’s sin—He called it adultery (Ezekiel 23:37). In God’s eyes, sin isn’t a mistake; it isn’t a bad choice. It is cheating on Him. It is choosing another love. Ask Him to help you view sin that seriously.

[NXT LVL] Read Psalm 51—David’s conversation with God after his sin with Bathsheba. Pay attention to how mournful he is—he realized that his sin had damaged his relationship with God.

For more devos like this, or to subscribe to YW Magazine, check out YW’s website: www.ywspace.org.

The most awful-est thing in the whole, wide world—the new YW devo

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:15:37 GMT

Hey there, child of the King!

It’s me (Laurin) again! Liz, our YW intern had to go back to school!! Ahh! I miss her—and I’m sure you do too. So, it’s back to little ol’ me again. :o)

So, this month’s topic isn’t the most fun topic. I’ll admit it. But it’s an IMPORTANT topic, one I think we overlook. It’s important because it’s killing us. It's SIN.

I know, I know, we have all of these pushbacks against sin. Something inside of us coils up when we read that word because of the condemnation we’ve grown to associate with it. But this month, let’s try to ditch all those, okay? Let’s just look at sin and what it does and why God abhors it so much.

If we saw how gross sin is, we’d hate it with every fiber of our beings. Let’s take a head-on look at this putrid, foul thing, okay? And then let’s give it a roundkick to the face—fighting against it with all of our might. Because it’s killing us.

Let’s continue to claim our lives for God’s Kingdom!

Have a great week, child of the King!

Laurin

Here’s this week’s devo:

WE ALL REALIZE THAT SIN IS BAD. WE’VE HEARD THAT TRUTH OUR ENTIRE LIVES. BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS SIN? AND WHAT DOES IT DO TO US?

[READ] Sin is anything that hinders the goodness God wants you to live in and experience. God wants to give us real, true life. But sin—stepping outside of what God wants—brings the opposite: death. Sin kills and destroys our dreams, our hopes, and our relationships. Instead of life, sin ushers in death. It’s the most sinister bait-and-switch.

God tells us clearly in His Word that when we make decisions about the way we’re going to live, we face a literal choice between life and death. Following God’s ways brings life. Sin brings death. After Moses had reviewed God’s Law with the generation of Israelites who were about to enter the Promised Land, he had this to say: “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Choosing between life and death sounds extreme. It is—because the consequences are extreme.

[THINK] Life is about relationships, and God wants our relationships to be good. He wants us to trust people, share our hearts, and be close with each other. He longs for relationships where love and affirmation freely flow between people—where we receive love and affirmation from other people, and they receive the same from us.

Sin shatters that.

Take honesty. When we’re honest in relationships, we share our hearts. We can fully trust the other person, knowing they’ll protect our secrets and speak truth to us from a place of genuine love. Honesty allows for relationships that are deep, safe, and secure—relationships that are whole.

But has someone ever gossiped about you? Has a close friend shared one of your secrets? Do you remember the pain you felt when that happened? The sinking feeling in your stomach when you realized that someone betrayed your trust? Sin causes those feelings. Because when someone gossips about you and breaks a confidence, the security and trust in your relationship dies. Your freedom to be vulnerable is gone because that person isn’t a safe place anymore. You hold back. You aren’t yourself because you’re afraid—you’re afraid of being hurt.

God wants us to experience wholeness in our relationships. Yet sin breeds insecurity. It sows distrust. It inspires fear. Insecurity, distrust, and fear are all footprints of death.

[LIVE] Sin kills. Sin is the reason we don’t experience the incredible, amazing plans God has for us. It is an agonizing suffocation of life. Instead of ushering in God’s Kingdom of life and wholeness, sin ushers in hell. It introduces our lives to things like suspicion, insecurity, fear, hatred, injustice, heartache, dissension, impurity, greed, lust, sickness, pain, terror, and loneliness. Sin is a thief, a robber, and a rapist.

Avoid sin. Do whatever it takes. Don’t let it claim territory in your life—it robs you and it kills you.

[NXT LVL] God absolutely hates sin because He knows how much it robs us. That’s a lot of the reason why God seems so incredibly angry for much of the Old Testament—during the time covered in the OT, the people He loved were living in ways that were ushering in death. But He’s not an angry God—He’s merciful and loving. He wants what’s best for us more than we want it for ourselves sometimes.

For more devos like this, or to subscribe to YW Magazine, check out YW’s website: www.ywspace.org.

When it is hard to have faith—the new YW devo

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:51:40 GMT

Hey there!

What are you supposed to do when you feel like even having faith the size of a mustard seed seems like a huge task? That’s what we’re looking at this week, because we all have those days. Days when believing the truth seems like God is asking us to jump over the moon. And sometimes it's not days—it's an entire season where having faith is hard.

Lord, grow our faith! We want so badly to believe deeply in You and in Your promises!

Have an amazing week, Child of God!

Liz
YW Intern

Here’s this week’s devo:

“God, You feel really far away today, like You’ve walked off and abandoned me. But You say that You’re here—right here with me right now. And although I can’t feel You or see You, I’m going to trust that. You are right here with me, walking with me through this day.”

[MORE] Having faith in God will be one of the biggest battlefields in your life, if not the biggest battlefield. Your faith is attacked on all fronts. Satan and his demonic followers constantly undermine God’s goodness, His Word, and His promises, shooting lies at you. The powers of darkness don’t want us close to God so they attack our faith every opportunity they get. And since they’re purely evil, they don’t abide by any rules. They always take cheap shots.

Plus, having faith is just tough by definition. It’s hard to believe in things that we can’t see. Faith must be fought for. And a lot of times, faith is a choice. We choose to trust God.

[THINK] Have you ever heard these thoughts running through your mind?

“You’re on your own—God has bigger things that He’s concerned about.” “God is going to pull the rug out from under you.” “God’s will is always the hardest thing and probably the last thing you want.” “Look at all of these other people who don’t have any problems. You must not really be God’s.” “God may love you, but He loves everyone. You’re not special to Him.” “God doesn’t have your best at heart—He’s concerned about His overall plan, but not with the details of your life.” “God doesn’t care about what you want. So don’t bother praying about it.” “The chances of your prayer lining up with God’s will are slim to none, so give it a shot and pray about it but don’t hold your breath that it will happen.”

That is not the voice of God. It could be your own doubts or it could be demonic, but those thoughts definitely aren’t from God.

[LIVE] When the lies come, don’t listen to them. Trust in God, not in the lies. Stand firm. Reject the lies and believe the truth. To do that, ask Jesus: “What truth about You is being attacked here? What lie am I believing, agreeing with, or listening to?” And when He answers, choose to believe the truth.

It’s important to tell yourself the truth—the right things to think and believe. The psalmists did this all of the time. Notice the “I will” statements in the following verses.

“I will thank you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High” (Psalm 9:1-2 NLT).

“Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!” (Psalm 42:5-6 NLT).

The authors of these verses were choosing and willing themselves to focus on the truth. It’s almost like they were commanding their own souls: “This is what you’re going to believe.”

Like the psalmists, command your heart to believe the truth. Trust in what God says is real and true, no matter what you see or hear. Faith is a choice.

[NXT LVL] Memorize Psalm 42:5-6.

For more devos like this, or to subscribe to YW Magazine, check out YW’s website: www.ywspace.org.

What does God want you to put your faith in? The new YW devo!

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:57:44 GMT

Hey!

God, through His Word, has taught us that there is more to life than just what we see. And if we really have faith in what God has said to be true, our view of life changes. This week’s devo takes a look at what God has told us to be true—what He wants us to have faith in.

Lord, teach us to see life the way You do!

Have a great week, child of the King!

Liz
YW Intern

Here’s this week’s devo:

What does God want us to have faith in?

[READ] God wants us to have faith in what He tells us is true and real in:

• His Word. He wants us to have faith in everything that He says in His Word. He wants us to trust what His Word says about who He is, who Jesus is, and what Jesus said and did. He wants us to have faith that He came to earth in the person of Jesus, that He died for our sins and was raised to life again, defeating the curse of death for us for all time.

• The invisible world. God tells us that He Himself is real and He wants us to have faith in that truth (Exodus 3:14). He tells us that the Holy Spirit is real and lives inside of us (Romans 5:5). He tells us that angels and demons and spiritual forces are real (Ephesians 6:12). He wants us to know the truth about all of these things that He tells us are realities, even though they’re out of our range of sight.

• Big-picture promises about the future. God has told us that Jesus is coming back (Revelation 22:7), that He will hold us accountable for how we’ve lived our lives (Revelation 22:12), that He will restore the earth (Revelation 21:1-2, 5), and that we will live forever with Him (Revelation 21:3-4). God wants us to have faith in those things and live as though they are true, even though they haven’t happened yet.

• The truths of what happened at your salvation. He wants you to trust and believe in what He has said in His Word about who you became after you decided to follow Jesus. He wants you to believe that you have been completely forgiven for your sins (Ephesians 1:7-8), that you are seen as righteous as Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30; Galatians 3:27), that you have been raised to live a new life in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17), that you were transferred from the kingdom of darkness into Jesus’ kingdom (Colossians 1:13), and that Satan has no authority over you anymore because you belong to Jesus (Colossians 2:15).

[THINK] A lot of the things that God wants us to have faith in are things that we can’t see. It’s as if we’re blindfolded and God is behind us, whispering into our ear about what reality is—even though everything is pitch-black in front of us. God wants us to believe—to have faith in—what He tells us to be true, even though we can’t always see it.

God wants what He tells us to be our lens through which we see the world. Despite our circumstances, despite our doubts, despite what culture tells us, God wants us to view our lives and the world the way He has told us to in His Word.

[LIVE] So when you read God’s Word, take everything said there as rock-solid truth. When you pray, know for certain that God is listening and that He will answer. Since God tells you that you will have to monitor your thoughts to make sure you’re believing the truth, when thoughts come into your head that you know aren’t of God, fight against them and choose to believe the truth of God’s Word. When you’re going through hard times, hang on to God’s promises regardless of how dark and difficult things get. When you need help, don’t act like you’re in it alone; cry out to God for help because He really is there.

[NXT LVL] Read Hebrews 11 to learn about how the heroes of the faith believed in God and His Word even though they couldn’t see Him.

For more devos like this, or to subscribe to YW Magazine, check out YW Magazine’s website: www.ywspace.org.

How can we get more faith? —The new YW devo!

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:59:23 GMT

Hi there!

So, last week we learned that faith is important. That it makes stuff happen spiritually. So we know we need more faith—but how do we grow it? Can we grow our faith ourselves? And if we do have faith in God, what does He say He’ll do?

May your faith in Him grow stronger each day, Child of God! Have a great week!

Liz
YW Intern

Here’s this week’s devo:

Where do I get faith?

[READ] A lot of times we treat faith like it’s something that we can muster up and grow on our own. We think, “If I could just believe enough . . .” or “If I could just trust God a little bit more . . .” then we’d be able to master this whole faith thing.

But Scripture teaches that we can’t get faith on our own. It’s a gift from God. Paul wrote: “Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you” (Romans 12:3 NLT).

So how does God give us faith? A lot of the details are a mystery, but hearing His Word has something to do with it. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17 NKJV).

So the more we get in God’s Word, reading what God has revealed about who He is, and reading the stories of the people who have believed and experienced Him, the more He will grow our faith.

As we read God’s Word and His Spirit works in our lives, we become convinced of God’s goodness, His utter reliability, His power, and His love. We have faith in Him because He is faithful. He grows our faith.

Spend time in God’s Word, and ask God for more faith. He will grow it.

[THINK] So, God is the One who gives us faith, but do we have a role in the process? The word for faith is defined as “to rely on, to cling to, to trust in, to hang on to.” And so your role in faith is to do those things—to grab hold of what God says, to depend on it again and again. It’s almost like being a tenacious pit bull—grabbing onto God and what He says and not letting go.

[LIVE] Why is faith in God so important? The reality is that we all have faith in something. We believe that something makes life work. Most of us believe in ourselves—we believe that through our own abilities we can get through life. Others believe that random chance and cruel fate makes the world go round. Others believe if they could just get enough power or money they could control life enough to get by. Whatever it is, we all have a foundational belief in something that will get us through life.

God wants your foundation to be Him—His ways, His abilities, and His truth. He wants us to trust in Him instead of in our own abilities—or in money, power, and fate. Why? Because when we have faith in Him—when we trust in what He says more than in what our eyes can see—He can lead us places and do things that are above and beyond anything that we could ever imagine. We really, really want God to give us more faith.

[NXT LVL] We’ve mentioned that faith is important to God. And Jesus teaches that God has a special kind of love for us when we believe: “The Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God” (John 16:27 NLT). The word love in that passage is phileo love. God has agape love for everybody—that’s the “for-God-so-loved-the-world” love. But He has a special kind of love—a more personal and friendship kind of love—for people who believe in Him and in what He says in His Word.

For more devos like this, or to subscribe to YW Magazine, check out YW’s website: www.ywspace.org.

Fear Not, For I Am With You Always by Max Lucado

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:24:26 GMT

"This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).

"This is the day" includes every day. Divorce days, final-exam days, surgery days, tax days. Sending-your-firstborn-off-to-college days.

God made this day, ordained this hard hour, designed the details of this wrenching moment. He isn't on holiday. He still holds the conductor's baton, sits in the cockpit, and occupies the universe's only throne. Each day emerges from God's drawing room. Including this one.

From Fear Not Promise Book
Originally printed in Every Day Deserves a Chance

Fearless - Chapter 1

by Max Lucado

You would have liked my brother. Everyone did. Dee made friends the way bakers make bread: daily, easily, warmly. Handshake--big and eager; laughter--contagious and volcanic. He permitted no stranger to remain one for long. I, the shy younger brother, relied on him to make introductions for us both. When a family moved onto the street or a newcomer walked onto the playground, Dee was the ambassador.

But in his midteen years, he made one acquaintance he should have avoided--a bootlegger who would sell beer to underage drinkers. Alcohol made a play for us both, but although it entwined me, it enchained him. Over the next four decades my brother drank away health, relation- ships, jobs, money, and all but the last two years of his life.

Who can say why resolve sometimes wins and sometimes loses, but at the age of fifty-four my brother discovered an aquifer of willpower, drilled deep, and enjoyed a season of sobriety.He emptied his bottles, stabilized his marriage, reached out to his children, and exchanged the liquor store for the local AA. But the hard living had taken its toll. Three decades of three-packs-a-day smoking had turned his big heart into ground meat.

On a January night during the week I began writing this book, he told Donna, his wife, that he couldn't breathe well. He already had a doctor's appointment for a related concern, so he decided to try to sleep. Little success. He awoke at 4:00 a.m. with chest pains severe enough to warrant a call to the emergency room...

Continue reading by downloading Chapter 1.

What is faith? And why does it matter? The new YW devo!

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:51:50 GMT

Hey there!

Happy September! (And happy FOOTBALL SEASON!! Woot! Woot!)

As believers, we toss the word “faith” around a lot. But what exactly does it mean to have faith? How do we have faith? And why do we need to have faith?

God puts an extremely high value on faith—faith actually causes stuff to happen, like gravity causes things to be anchored to the ground. So let’s dive in and see why it’s so important, shall we?

And for fun… I’ve included the YouTube video for Switchfoot’s music video Dare You to Move. It’s one of my favorites! Enjoy! Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONbX3dQTi7w&feature=channel.

Have an amazing week, Child of God!

Liz
YW Intern

Here’s this week’s devo:

What is faith? And why is it so important?

[READ] Faith is believing what God has said. And a lot of what God has said involves things that we can’t see. So, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

Faith is kind of a tricky concept to get our minds around. We treat faith like it’s just mentally agreeing with an idea. But it’s more than that. Picture this familiar illustration. A tightrope walker was performing in front of a crowd. Before he crossed the tightrope, which was suspended 20 feet above the ground, he asked how many people thought he could walk across and back without falling. A few people raised their hands—after all, he was a tightrope walker. The tightrope walker walked to the other side and back without any problem. Then he asked, “Now, how many of you think I can push this wheelbarrow across?” Because everyone had just seen him walk across with no problem, everyone raised their hands. Then he asked, “So who wants to volunteer to sit in the wheelbarrow while I push it across the tightrope?” Nobody raised their hand.

The point is that you can think you believe something in your mind without really having faith that it’s definitely true. The people in the story agreed with the idea that the tightrope walker could make it across the rope, but they didn’t believe enough to take action and get in the wheelbarrow.

Faith is firmly and completely trusting God and what He says to the point that it becomes more real and true to you than what you see.

[THINK] Why does God tell us to have faith so often? Because there is something about faith that causes things to happen spiritually. In God’s Kingdom, faith makes things happen.

All kinds of things happened in the spiritual realm, just because we had faith. God saved us and cleansed us from our sins because we had faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our citizenship in heaven, which will last for all eternity, was sealed because we had faith. We were raised to live a new life in Jesus because we believed (Romans 6:4). Jesus shared His authority with us over the spiritual realm because we believed (Luke 10:19; Matthew 28:18-19; Ephesians 2:6). Our unity with Jesus as we walk throughout our daily life happens because we believe (John 15:4-5). God sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of us as a result of our faith (Ephesians 1:13). Every bit of all of those incredible spiritual realities happened because we had faith.

[LIVE] Throughout the Bible, people’s faith made things happen. Abraham believed in God’s promises of descendants, and God gave him right standing with Him (Genesis 15:6). People’s faith in Jesus caused them to be healed of diseases. Jesus often said: “Your faith has made you well.”

People missed out on some things in the Bible because they didn’t have faith. Jesus wouldn’t do miracles in His hometown because the people didn’t believe (Matthew 13:57-58). Caleb and Joshua believed that God could give them victory in the Promised Land, and they were the only two of their entire generation who got to see that happen.

Faith matters. And it’s not just agreeing with a thought. It’s not just mentally saying something is true. Faith is believing what God has said is true about life over and above anything else, so that whatever He says becomes your deep-down-in-your-heart reality—whether or not you can see it. It’s “I’ll get in the wheelbarrow” belief. And when faith happens, God responds.

[NXT LVL] Memorize Hebrews 11:6.

For more devos like this, or to subscribe to YW Magazine, check out YW’s website: www.ywspace.org.