Y4J Blog

With all the parties and chaos of “what costume to put on?“ and “which parties to go to?“, we’re all just enjoying carnival. Carnival is, after all, the time for celebration and fooling around; acting like a jester. The time to stuff your face with good food, enjoy the company of your friends and to just have a good laugh. But there is a point to all of these festivities, even if the media and the people around us have forgotten it. So what is carnival really? And what is it really preparing us for?

Carnival is a celebration which preceds Lent. Lent is a time for repentance. It’s a time for fasting and preparing for Jesus’ death and ressurection. In other words Lent is not a time for celebration but a bit of the opposite. Carnival is basically “the explosion before the silence“, “the feast before the mourning“.

Take the time to really enjoy the festive season. Go out with your friends and just have fun, most importantly be yourself doing so. There is no one God loves more than you. Don’t be embarressed about your silly costume, it’s the time to be silly and look ridiculous. Embrace it!

There is a time for everything. At the moment it’s time to have fun. In a few days time it will be a time of repentance and fasting. More about that in the next blog…

God Bless you and hope to see you at Y4j’s next meeting

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ok so most of you are being all sad and gloomy because of Valentine’s Day tomorrow. Most of you are probably thinking, “What’s the point of going out tomorrow, there will only the couples out anyway?”. Well for a start there will be Y4J so you better go out =) Others might be trying to convince everyone that they thinking Valentine’s day is stupid and pointless or trying to make up every excuse in the world to show how pointless this holiday really is. But deep down inside you’re just sad that you have no one to share it with.

Well you’re wrong. I know this might sound silly but you do have a Valentine and He’s name is Jesus. I think he is the best Valentine one could ever wish for:
You want flowers? He’s given you fields of them.
Chocolates? If it weren’t for him there wouldn’t be coco beans to make chocolates.
A peom? Go read you’re Bible.

It is an absolute blessing to be single and I really hope that you understand that. God has given us this special gift to use it till the time is right. If he wanted us to never be single we would have found our soul mates when we were born! To be single is to grow in Christ personally, learn about who you really are and determine what God wants from you and I asure you - when the timing is right God will send you someone(unless of course He has something else in mind) until then, be patient and make sure that God is the centre of your life.

Try not to moan too much this Valentine’s and try make it about God’s love for you and share it with your friends. I’m sure some of them are feeling the same way.

In other news, don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Y4J Carnival Party. Take some time to just charish your friends and have a great laugh with them at the party. It really is a gift from God to be single and such a blessing to have friends to go with that gift =)

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Most of us have come by this question at least once in our lives. I am not nessecarily here to answer it but at least to help you out a bit and keep your head in the right direction. Most of us are in those horrible teen years where most things are encouraging us to be impure in what we do…but what is sexual purity all about anyway?

Sexual purity isn’t all about just “doing the deed”, its about our thoughts, our words and our actions too. One’s thoughts are where everything starts off, as illustrated in Matthew 5:28, which states that even looking at another person with lust can already be considered a sin. Also, thoughts tend to leak out verbally. This takes us to the next level - purity through our words.

By words, I’m naturally referring to obscenities and any vulgar language that might emerge from one’s mouth; and not simply the words used in everyday language. Your head is what controls what comes out of your mouth. The best way to control your language is to control what you let into your mind and you let your mind play with. If you are easily entertained by bad thoughts, then you’ve got to break that habit. Next thing on the list is your actions!

Actions can seem so pure sometimes, yet innocent flirting with a friend can go a long way. Try figure out what flirting means to you and prevent yourself from flirting with the people you are not actually attracted to or are trying to pursue a relationship with. Moving on to bigger actions-fornication. Most people don’t know the actual definition of this words…

Fornication is consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to eachother.

Some people might be thinking…ok, no sex-but it’s more than that. I looked up the definition of “intercourse” too.

Intercourse is physical sexual contact between individuals that involves the genitalia of at least one person.

Now that it is clear what fornication consists of, its safe to say that God prohibits it. If you are in a relationship, set boundaries-from the start. If the person doesn’t respect your boundaries than that person doesn’t respect you.

To help your mind’s purity, try to monitor your thoughts and try to only let good thoughts into your mind. It would be suggested to put a rubber band around your wrist and every time you have a bad thought, snap the band to help you stop thinking about it. This can also be useful for your words. A tip for your words is to wait a few seconds before you say something to think about what you are about to say.

We are temples of the Holy Spirit. We should be worshiping and honouring God through our bodies. Are you honouring God through your body?

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