Teens with Faith!

📖   Isaiah 40:8-31 "The grass may wither and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:10 (NIV) Wow, Lord! There is absolutely no one like you! These verses in Isaiah speak to me in such a beautiful way. It just amazes me beyond comprehension that the Lord who, "held the oceans in His hand," the One who, "knows the weight of the Earth," This amazing, all-powerful Creator is the One we get to call our Heavenly Father. He's the One we get to turn to and communicate in prayer with when things aren't going so well. He's the One that protects us, fights for us, and us His own.   "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who brought you out of darkness and into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV) This new year, let's take the time to proclaim His praises, let's take the time to let people know

Oof, that's a tough one! It's probably safe to say that all of us at one point have, "Been there, done that." But seriously, it's rough to obey when He says no. Especially when our way seems better! However, as it is written in Isaiah 55:8-9, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord, 'As the heavens are higher than the earth , so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" (KJV) In that verse we see that God's plan for us and our lives is far greater than anything we can image. Our ways, cannot possibly compare with His! So why do we keep wasting our time trying to do things our way, when His is so much better to begin with? Think of it this way!  It's like a little kid in a candy store. He wants one specific candy on the display. To the kiddo, it seems like the best, brightest, most yummy candy not only in the store but probably the whole world! The lit

In many ways, we're much like a sponge. This sounds crazy, I know, but hear me out! Us humans absorb a lot of our characteristics and traits based on the things, places, and people we surround ourselves with. Much like a sponge, if we absorb clean water, what's going to come out of us? That's right, clean water. But what happens if we absorb dirty water? You know the answer to that one. A sponge can only give one type of water, either clean or dirty, but it can't do both. This reminds me of a verse in James 3: 11-12 which reads, "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." (NIV)  You might see where this is going. We are like the sponge, the spring (fountain), or the tree. You see, we can't live as Christians when we're constantly dirtying ourselves up with the world. We can't pretend to speak eloq

Sometimes life throws us a curveball and we find ourselves staring blankly at what's to come ahead. We grow anxious, we grow weary, we grow tired and we lack that peace that only God can bring. I can speak from personal experience when I say that sometimes things happen and the only thing you can do is pray, but even so you still wish you could do more and it breaks your heart that you can’t. In one particular occasion, not too long ago actually, I was praying for someone but felt this terrible uneasiness about the situation I was praying for. After a while, decided to open my Bible and look for verses that speak about peace, because only God and His Word could bring me the peace I needed in that moment. Interestingly enough, I stumbled across a verse in Philippians that reads, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 That's when it hit me, through this verse, G

It's that time of the year again! We're saying goodbye to 2018 and looking expectantly at what looms ahead in 2019. By God's grace, I can testify that 2018 has been a wonderful year, with its trying moments, as well as its wonderful victories. This year I have laughed until my sides hurt, and wept sadly, I've felt anger and fear strike through me, but through all of this the Lord never left my side. Like many others I can tell you that God has been working on me through the years and I am very excited to see what He has planned in this coming year (even if I don't like it at first!) This Christmas and holiday season I've had the great pleasure of being able to spend quality time with friends and family, and I hope that you've had that joy as well! The beginning of a brand new year is a wonderful time, with the opportunity to look back at how wonderful the Lord has been, and to remember all those resolutions from the past year which may or may not be the

In all honesty, only you can answer that question. I'll go straight to the point,  I've already made my choice (no, thanks) , but in the end, it's up to you. Let's go! The first thing we're going to do is look at the history behind Halloween. Before we do, I want you to be aware that the reason why we're looking at the history is not to bore you or creep you out! It's to see what events inspired the 'holiday' many celebrate. The word "Halloween" is a shortened version of "All Hallows Eve." Many rituals from "All Hallows Eve" come from the a Celtic celebration known as the Samhain. In a nutshell, the Celts believed that during this time the evil spirits would come out into the world along with the souls of the dead. As Christians we know that once people die, they either go to Heaven or Hell after the judgement. We can rest assured knowing that Jesus is protecting us every step of the way, but unfortunately the Cel

Something that's really been hitting me recently is the necessity we have to pray and read the Bible everyday. Soon after we become new Christians we have this longing feeling to find out more. Surely there's more to this, isn't there? The answer to that question is yes, there is so much more. The thing is, to have a personal relationship with Jesus, you need to get to know him just as you would with any other person. Prayer and Bible reading go together like shampoo and conditioner. You can't have one without having the other. What happens if you only put shampoo on your hair? It cleans it, but it leaves it feeling dry and brittle. And if you only put conditioner on your hair, it leaves it feeling soft and smooth but it isn't truly clean. The same thing happens with Bible reading and prayer, like I stated before, "You can't have one without having the other." 📖  "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being

Sometimes it's big decisions, other times it's just small things like, "Should I get the Meatball sub or the salad? Maybe I should go with a hamburger..." Been there, done that (chose the salad). I gotta admit, making big decisions is tough business. There's too much stress involved, too many "What-if's" So what do we do? The best answer is to pray .  But what if He doesn't answer right away? What if it's not the answer I want to hear? What if it changes all the plans I had? What if I think it's the answer God's giving me but it's just my thinking? Oh Lord, what if.... You see my point here?  As people, especially teenagers, we have a tendency to sometimes overthink things or "What-if" everything. Some of us don't really like to look that far ahead, but others enjoy having every single step of the way planned out. I'm gonna be really honest here, I like to have a feeling of security knowing that e

We've all been there. At some point or another we've probably stood in front of a mirror gazing at ourselves. Some of us were confident in our looks, and others just found flaws in what they looked like. Well, I've got news for you: You are fearfully and wonderfully made!  No kidding, you've got it right here in Psalms 139:14, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: wonderful are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." Did you know that more than 40% of boys and 75% of girls in high school suffer from low self esteem? Yeah, it's a pretty alarming number. But what can we do about it? First of all, we can't change the world if we don't begin with ourselves. Next time you look in the mirror, give yourself a compliment instead of a negative comment, it will make you feel way better. But sometimes just telling ourselves we're pretty doesn't necessary patch up the hole, now does it? Some of us have been th

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R !  Happy New Year from Teens With Faith, may you have a blessed year and may you guys grow spiritually and learn more in this new coming year. God Bless you!  "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord raise up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace" Numbers 6:24-26

Recently in the country where I live there was a terrible power outage. The central electrical system that supplied light to basically everyone caught on fire and more than half of the population didn't have light in their homes. Shortly afterward, the water started to become filthy and well, when things of this sort happen we realize just how much we overlook things.  Thankfully, my family's house had a generator and we were able to have light and use the our stove (which had runs on gas, not electricity) but that's not really the point. See, it was very hot and I mean really, really hot. Since we're using a generator and almost no one has electricity we couldn't expect the WiFi service to be working either. Long story short, the power came back late the following day. I know other people have undergone worser things than this for longer periods of time but I personally felt the need to bring this into the post I have for all of you guys today. Most of the ti

Being a Christian is somewhat like walking in a single-file line. You've got a person in front of you and a person behind you. Now, it isn't a race, if you try to look like you're the finest-walking person in the line you just might trip over a rock called pride. But the thing is, you have to keep walking here's why:  1: If you stop the person behind you might also stop as well causing a whole lot of ruckus amongst the rest of the people in the line.  2: The only way you can keep going is just walking. If you stop walking you have to get out of the line or you're going to hinder the rest of the people (Not to mention yourself)  Don't stop walking! Sometimes the way might seem rough but here's what awaits you in the finish line:  7  Whoever has ears, let them hear  what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious,  I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,  which is in the paradise  of God. Revelation 2:7  Wouldn'

Forgiveness.  This 10-letter word can have a lot of power when you think about it. Forgiving comes easily to some, meanwhile to others...not so much. Here I listed the Top 5 benefits and joys of forgiving, go ahead and check it out!  1 : You'll feel Better I know, I know, this one's a 'classic' but it just so happens to be quite true. Forgiving someone can help take that awful wight you've been feeling lately off your shoulders. It really helps to spend some time in the Bible and speaking to God through prayer, it will shed a LOT of light to help you through whatever situation you're facing. Plus,  "...let not the sun go down upon your wrath:"  Ephesians 4:26 You also might want to solve problems before they get worse. After all, there's nothing better than going to bed with a clear conscious and a guilt-free mind!  2: It'll help you move on Most of the time when bad situations happen and we don't forgive the people wh

📖 Read 1 John 4: 7-21 We've constantly heard of fairytale love but today, we're going to learn about another kind of love, God's love. 1 John 4:8 states, "He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." So much for the idea of an old dude in the sky that's totally heartless and enjoys blasting people with lighting. 1 John 4:8 destroyed that mindset entirely in just a mere eleven words. But what about us? How about that lady that's always up in my business, I can just ignore her right? Wrong. You can't ignore her, you have to love her. 1 John 4:20 says, "If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" Ouch. That's a lot of tough words to swallow. In this verse John is not just talking about our siblings from our parents but also about our brothers (and sisters!) in Christ. That includes your awesome friend fr

People often say that you can go though life as an optimistic person or a pessimistic person. Today I want to talk about the benefits of being an optimistic person. What is optimism anyway? Good question. A book I once read described it as "Learning to meditate upon the most hopeful aspects of any situation" I'm not telling you that if your dog dies you're going to smile and go, "I'm so happy this situation doesn't affect me at all!" but you could see the bright side in the situation instead of look at every single thing wrong with it.  For example, instead of being all grumpy think about this, "Well... my dog was really sick. And if she hadn't passed on she might've been feeling worse! I wouldn't want her to suffer." No matter the situation your facing, there's always a way to overcome it. It all depends on your view on life. The very best way to be optimistic through you life is by remembering this very key verse

Teens With Faith now has an Instagram!  Sharing inspirational images, funny memes, and lots more,  teenswith_faith   is the place to go!   Just search our name on Instagram or click the link  here   God Bless You!

If you're like me, you've been patiently (or  impatiently ) waiting for the release of God's Not Dead 2 from the minute you heard about it. When the wait was finally over, my family and I jumped straight in to watch it. I personally give this movie 5 stars. What I found most interesting was that in the credits it showed you how many Christians have been in situations such as the one our main character in the movie, Grace Wesley, went going through. People are being persecuted for teaching or simply speaking about God's Word. I often thought that this type of persecution only happened in foreign countries where Christianity is prohibited, but even in a country that was established on the Word of God and freedom of speech, these things are becoming more and more common every day. In the movie, Grace Wesley is accused of preaching to her students by answering a question with some Biblical references, seeing as she quoted the Scriptures some students felt insulted. One

Today I want to talk about the principle of ownership. Do you know those times when we get all stingy? Maybe because we have new 'cool' items such as Beats headphones, an iPhone 6s, a brand new laptop, a skateboard, an awesome new shirt, etc. Sometimes we even go to extremes just to 'Fit in with everybody else'. But let's hear what the Bible says about all this. Luke 12:21 states "... he that layeth up treasure for himself, ... is not rich toward God." KJV.  It's impressive how we spend so much time planning and saving up so we can buy the coolest brand of anything really and God is not even interested in that! God looks at the heart, not the car. Now, I said I would talk about the principle of ownership, right? Here it is: " All  that I have belongs to God." We were placed in this Earth as stewards of the things God has given us for a specific amount of time that He has determined. What we do with those talents, gifts, and other things

2016 Has just begun!  Today I would like to talk about how to start our New Year and some things to focus on this 2016. 1) Leave the past behind. It's a brand NEW year! Things that happened in 2015 stay there. 2) Get closer to God in this New Year.  Each year is filled with plenty of opportunities to get closer to Him (Some Ideas and tips at the bottom.)  3) Begin a New cycle. Remember, things don't always turn out the way they did before. Do something different this year, try something new. Find something that inspires you and  pursue it!   *** You can make your own list of expectations, hopes, dreams, and things that you want to accomplish this New Year. But don't forget to add God to your plans!  *** Now, I said that I would write some helpful tips and ideas about how to get closer to God but I just want to put something out there before I begin, no blog, or book, or speaker,  person, or anyone can give you exact ideas to get closer to God a

Hi there to all of my awesome readers!   Yesterday was Christmas day and how exciting it was right? Well, what I want to talk about today is that sometimes during the holiday season we get so caught up in what we're doing (Be it holiday shopping, planning, anxiously waiting to open presents...) that, we forget the real REASON for the SEASON. Let's freeze everything for a minute now, and take a few moments to think. I want to tell all of you what the greatest Christmas present is in this holiday season. The fact that OUR Savior came down to earth as a tiny little helpless baby to die on a cross many years later to save US from OUR sins. Now, as for me and I think as for you guys too, that's the greatest gift anyone could ever give. That's when we change focus, when we realize that what we thought was important was actually keeping us from seeing the big picture, the Christ in CHRISTmas. But this season is not over yet and now is your chance to spread the joy and love of