Wear Your Bible round your neck…
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Hope everyone’s fine and really getting into the spirit of Lent as we have entered the last week. I was thinking about the sadness of Lent and how it can really put us down, especially in the last week as we truly remember why Jesus died for us. Some of us may want to be close to God physically at this point as we are when a loved one is dying.
Basically, what I’m trying to put through is this. Personally, over the years, I’ve had those moments in my life were I’ve felt alone and just needed to be held and once something someone had told me just rang a bell. You see, Jesus is in each and every one of our Bibles. It’s God’s biography and there is a piece of Him in every one of them. So when we touch our Bibles, evidentally, we are touching God.
After I rememberd this, everytime I felt alone I would just hold my Bible tightly, close my eyes and be still. The protection of God just falls on you when you just let go and let God work and it is truly an amazing feeling. Recently, I was wondering to myself why we can’t keep our Bibles on us all the time. In a way we could buy a tiny Bible and wear it round our necks. But I came to realise that that is why we wear crosses.
I encourage you, if you are feeling lonely or lost or just want to hold Jesus during His time of death. Grab your Bible and just hold it and let God’s love and appreciation for you sink in. Also, if you’re feeling like me and just want that tangability on you at all times. I think its a good time to start wearing a cross round your neck.
If you don’t have a Bible yet, You’re in luck as Y4J have just started selling them after the weekly meetings. Get close to God during this Lenten period, in all aspects of your life. Let God work through you. I’m sure you won’t regret it.
read comments (3)The Walls Are Starting To Crumble..
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So, the Y4J Lenten talks are finally here! The kick off was yesterday and so far so good. Hope this blog finds you all well and your Lent and sacrifices are filled with prayer =)
There are times in our lives were we tend to feel alone and regected. Maybe someone in your life has mistreated you or has abandoned you. Due to these people we try to “protect” ourselves by building up walls against people in order to not get hurt in the same way. We think that this is the right thing to do because our nature tells us that this is the way we won’t get hurt but in actual fact, this can make things worse. Building up a wall and not letting anyone in isn’t the way to go.
Yes, people do hurt us but there are others who help us and keep us strong. Building up walls can make you feel even worse sometimes because you feel more alone. You won’t realise but you’re pushing everyone away.
Jesus can help you. He can tear any wall down. He can make you happy, feel loved. You’re never alone. God provides everything that we need in life. He’s made extra human beings just for you to have friends. It’s the reason that God made Eve; Adam needed a companion. Thou, God is a gentleman and He will not tear you’re walls down unless you ask Him to.
Y4J’s Lenten talks are all about letting down those walls and letting God help us up. If you’re feeling abandoned or anything I’ve mentioned above. I encourage you to go to the Lenten talks. They are running all week at St.Julian’s Parish Church from 8-9. Ask God to tear your walls down! It’s time!
Hope the moaning about sacrifices has gone down over the past week and everyone has actually managed to remain strong in prayer during this lenten period. Don’t forget - prayer is the foundation of our faith and it is essential in our everyday lives as well as during our fasting periods.
But what else is there to do during lent besides pray and fast. It’s time to get INVOLVED! During lent there will be a lot going on in the church; lenten sermons, talks, retreats..etc… Most schools have something animated for the students. It would be a good aid to take part in these things. It might just help you grow that little bit more. Let us seek His face through this time, get closer to God and truly learn what it means to be a servant of the Lord.
Another sacrifice you could maybe try is helping out with some lenten service that is going on in your school. Afterall helping others and volunteering is another way of praising God =)
Y4J’s Lenten talks are right around the corner, a week away to be exact. Try schedule some time to come and participate, grow in God and learn more about yourself as well as other important aspects during this lenten experience. For those of you who might not really know what these talks are about, here is a small promo of “Tear it Down”.
Hope to see you there…God bless.
Hope everyone’s been having a great week and not too much moanings been going on due to sacrifices. The thing about Lent is that we just automatically associate it with sacrifices. We find it a sort of ”burden”. But what really are sacrifices?
Are they really that big of a burden?
What is fasting really about?
Most of us just think that sacrifices are just giving up chocolate and fasting is just eating bread and water. But it isn’t just about that. Sometimes not even at all about that. The first and most imporant thing about fasting and making sacrifices is prayer. Without prayer during fasting is like painting without paint - it doesn’t make sense. The whole reason for doing this fasting season is to get more in-tune with God.
During this time we must pray that God helps us in this time of sacrifice to remain strong and manage these 40days. It is a time to pray for courage and perseverance. Also, sacrifices aren’t about just not eating chocolate. Why don’t you try something else for a change? Maybe try fighting off a bad habbit. Some examples would be no TV or internet or just facebook. Cutting down on habbits like biting your nails or swearing, even smoking or maybe only listening to christian music.
It’s good to change and try new thing. Remember this is a time to purify ourselves and get in-tune with God. Another way which could help you is by joining us at Y4J’s Lenten Talks week called “Tear It Down”. The Lenten Talks are running from the 23rd to the 29th March, every night from 8-9 pm at St.Julian’s Parish.
Hope to see you there. Happy fasting and don’t forget - try not to moan too much..hmm…maybe that could be your sacrifice?
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
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 =)
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?
When your stomach is telling you that it’s hungry your mind tends to think of nothing but food until your stomach is fulfilled and nourished. You can try doing other things but you won’t have full concentration, everything in your body will be telling you to go eat.
A few days ago I was trying to think of ways in which one could have that extra yearning for God. It finally hit….pray for hunger….just as the physical part of your body won’t let you be until you feed it, this should count for the spiritual part of your body too. If you are starving your soul, it is going to tell you- just as your stomach would.
Basically, praying for hunger in our lives should help us think about God more often as well as pray more often as the hungrier you are for God the more you want to spend time with Him and the more we will be thinking about Him, just like with food. I know this might sound like I’m comparing God to food but I’m just trying to give out a tip on how to yearn for God more.
God bless you and I hope this works for you as it did for me =)
During last weeks meeting, as many meeting before that, the song “You Never Let Go” by Matt Redman was played. Since this song isn’t very recent I didn’t expect it make any unusual difference to me but for some reasn, last week it did. As I was worshipping the Lord, a part of the song struck me:
I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You!
You see, when we build our relationship with God it reflects our outter being. Normally it makes us more caring and all round more of an image of Christ. I’ve also heard of cases where after a really powerful quiet time the person actually glows with the spirit physically. Basically what I’m initially trying to explain is that the more we hold onto God, the more we reflect Him.
Unfortunately or fortunately (depends on how you see it) the more we hold on, the more we get attaked. This leades us to the second part of the paragraph. Basically the song explains how with holding on we have hope for a better life in the long run. Thus, we must keep our eye on the prize and remember that the suffering and pain we are feeling now is all worth it for in the end as we will be with Jesus. A humourous way of putting it through a saying would be;
“The first hundred years are the worst ones of our lives, it’s all uphill from there.”
To conclude, I’m leaving a video of the song, just in case you might want to listen to it. My last words to you are to not give up, there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel, don’t let anyone fool you otherwise.
Lately I decided to have a real heart to heart conversation with God and I asked him a question,
“Why is it that sometimes I find it so hard to have a daily quiet time?”
And I felt a word come to my mind: relationships.
You see, once you have a boyfriend/girlfriend or a new best friend, you just natuarally want to spend all your time with them. You always want to talk to them and you just want to get to know them more till you’ve known them enough to love them. After that it just becomes so natural to think about them all the time and to talk to them about everything and just to be with them. Their presence just makes you feel better and when life is taking its toll on you it becomes really easy to lean on them.
I then realised that it’s completely like that with God. If we truly make God our best friend and we start trusting and leaning on Him more, it becomes so much easier and natural to have a daily quiet time. Even to think about Him more and to pray more. The more we love Him, the more we want to spend time with Him and the more we grow and depend on Him. With God, as with any human best friend, we have to get to know Him before this process starts working. So let’s all pick up our bibles and start reading a little everyday for afterall I think the best way to get to know God is through His biography. Don’t you think?