Grace

I keep coming back to this word Grace.

Grace is undeserved Faith.  It is by our Faith that we receive Gods Grace which was given by the blood of his one and only son, Jesus Christ.

What gift have you given back for being thankful for his Grace.

Grace is something that is free and can be given to anyone who believes.  Help a teen receive Grace today and make an impact on their lives.

A point to ponder on my friends...

Free

What does the word free mean?

Free = Not under the control or in the power of another
          
            Able to act or be done as one wishes

            Not held as a slave or prisoner

            Not physically held by something

If you stop and think about the meaning of this word, you have to wonder if all teens know this is something that they already have.  

Free to Not be controlled by an unhealthy habit, an unhealthy addiction, an abusive home or an unhealthy relationship.

It is something God gives each and everyone of us if we truly have faith and believe it is ours.  But if you don't have a positive role model around, how does one know this is true? 

In a world where there are so many teens desperate to find themselves, why not take the time to look for just one and offer them a little positive advise.  They're in our neighborhoods, our schools and our churches just waiting to be found.  It takes so little of our time.

We all have to take a step if we want to better the future of the young adults that will one day soon enter into our society as young adults.  Do we want to see them positive with positive behaviors or to continue to see them with negativity and making bad choices.  Why not reach out and look around and see if we can touch just one life this week and share the meaning of what free is.

A point to ponder on my friends...


             

The Power of Choice

What is the one single factor that can change the direction of one's life?

If your thinking The Power Of Choice then you've guessed correctly. It is our decisions that determine the outcome NOT our conditions.

So how do you teach a teen about choice so they no longer blame others for their future outcome. In a society today that tends to lead teens to believing it is the economy, their parents, their living conditions or lack of "whatever" which  lead them to believe they live in a world that is hopeless.

We should be showing and demonstrating that if they choose to make the right choices then they can determine their future success.

If they can change their negative thought pattern into a positive thought pattern then the positive thoughts can create a positive outcome by that choice.   

Positive Thoughts = A Positive Attitude and Positive Behavior..

Here’s another way to look at it: Success is a result of positive judgment; positive judgment is a result of experience, in most cases. And what about experience? Yes, experience is most often a result of bad judgment.

So here’s the good news: The experience gained from negative judgment and bad decisions is unbelievably valuable—it’s priceless! It gives us a reason to want to chose correctly

So don’t waste time beating yourself up over poor decisions you’ve made; learn from the experiences. Failure is actually one of the ways we learn.  Teach them to stop and think, What happened here? What could I have done differently? It’s only through self-evaluation that they learn how to make better decisions.

Place your  priorities in teaching a teen about the Power of Choice.  The power of the right choice!

Something to ponder on my friends...

Self-Control

Wow, this is a big one. It's one of the fruits of the spirit. A bookend with the other end being Love

So what does this word mean?  It seems pretty straight forward but is it really?

The Greek definition of self-control = one who masters his desires.

So I ask myself...how many teens know the way to master their desires when they may not have anyone in their life to teach them how to master their sinful flesh.

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17] For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Now this may sound like it needs some clarification. But if you have no one to clarify this then how are you to understand?  What we need to teach this upcoming generation who will eventually be taking care of us and making decisions in the far future that will affect us is how to avoid the temptations of the flesh (sin) and make a choice based on the spirit. By praying and thinking about our choice  based on the answers to our prayer. This is why we must reach out to these young adults and help them in their struggling lives. Offer to take them to church or to spend some positive time with them. It's our responsibility to help change and mold them. If we all just avoid this responsibility then nothing gets accomplished and nothing gets changed and the world continues the way it is allowing God to be removed from every thing that evil can remove it from. 

Reach out and touch a struggling teen today. It just takes 5 minutes to let someone know you care

A point to ponder on my friends...

Courage

When you hear or think of this word, what thoughts go through your mind?

Courage is defined as:

"The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery"

 

But then the word "desponding" comes to mind for a lot of young adults these days.

Desponding is defined as:

"To be depressed by loss of hope, confidence, or courage" 

 

How often in today's society do young adults have the fear, worry or anxiety of not being able to move forward.  To believe that their past mistakes control their future.  Not knowing how to let go of the past and look forward to what lies ahead. 

 

How often do we not take the time to notice these young adults who feel hopeless.  What can be done?  Who should help?  Where do these young adults go for help?  Who should they turn to in desperate times when no one is there for them.

 

Are we so busy in our lives that we can't take 10 minutes to give a compliment or offer Godly advise to someone who looks lost.  If we all just wait for "someone" else to do it then nothing gets done.

A point to ponder on my friends...

Meek

So what do you think about when you think of this word?

So many of us think of weak, not standing up for yourself, powerless or submissive.  But do you know the Greek meaning of this word?

Meek=Exercising God's strength under His control.  

How many of our teens today know or understand the meaning of this word?  This is a word we should be teaching our young adults today.  Teaching them to curb their natural desires to rebel or fight or to have their own way. 

I had my son look up this word and his first response was "I don't think I like this word"  However, he didn't look at the actual Greek meaning of this word, he just saw that this word contained the word  "weak" in one of the definitions and decided he didn't like it.

It's up to us as adults, as parents and as mentors to teach them the true meaning of this.  That if they draw their strength in God then all things are possible.  Careers, college, continuing eduction and trade schools are in each and everyone of them who want to better themselves by trying.  It just takes encouragement on our part.  It takes our time which requires nothing except our time.  

So I ask, who has ten minutes to encourage one of our young adults today?  Who is willing to go the extra step.

A point to ponder on my friends... 

Hope

So I've been thinking about this word HOPE and what it may or may not mean to our young adults getting ready to make their way into the working / college world.  

There are so many ways you can think about what this means.  The greek definition of HOPE means "expectation of what is sure (certain)".

With that said how many teens out there are uncertain or hopeless?  Not having any HOPE for the future or even tomorrow.  

A pastor the other day talked about taking risks and how after failures we quit taking risks because we're afraid of another failure.  How true that is for more than just teens.  How we've become so afraid of the loss that we stop focusing on the success or the "effort" we put forth on trying to move our lives forward.

We get so focused on looking in the rear view mirror that we forget that the front windshield is so much bigger than that mirror.  The rear view mirror was intended to see behind us not what lies in front of us

Philippians 3:12-14  I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made.  But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me.  Friends, don't get me wrong; by no means do I count myself and expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus.
I'm off and running and I'm not turning (looking) back

Can we offer some young adult a little HOPE today.  It's takes nothing but your time.  It's a free gift if you would just give it.

A point to ponder on my friends...