Jesus Freak Teens

Jul. 14, 2008 - Sorry

Hi Everyone,

I'm really sorry I haven't been posting lately. I've been really bad about it. I promise I'll try to be more regular. But I need your comments and input! This is a place for discussion.

Right now I just wanted to let you know about a discussion Grace4God is having on her blog. Click here to check it out. This is definitely an issue a lot of teens deal with.

In Christ,

Emy

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Jun. 10, 2008 - Trust

By: Emma92

Do you ever feel like you're in a deep, dark pit? You're not sure what happened or how you got there, all you know is that you're surrounded on all sides, and the walls of the pit loom far above your head. Doubts and fears surround you. No matter how hard you try, you can't climb out. You can grope, and jump, and try to claw your way to the top but it never works. You can try to use other things to get out, you can pile dirt and rocks up and try to climb them but you never get high enough. It seems hopeless and depression overwhelms you.

Sometimes I think we are like this in our spiritual lives. Have you ever had a time when you're just down and you feel so overwhelmed? No matter how hard you try, you can't seem to get it right, can't get yourself out of the "pit". You can try piling up good works, friends, enjoyment, pleasure, etc., but it will never get you there. Maybe you confess your sis and try to get right with God. Try to read the Bible and spend time with Him. But it's tough, and you just can't get it right no matter what you do or how hard you try.

It's at this point that we have to collapse onto the floor of the pit, realize that we can't do it alone, and ask for help, then trust God. He is waiting for you to ask, and when you do, He'll reach down and pluck you out of the pit just like that.

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Jun. 2, 2008 - Sorry

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted, I've been really busy. I just wanted to let you all know that I'm leaving tomorrow morning for church camp with my youth group so I won't be back on until Saturday afternoon. I'm so excited! Please be in prayer for everyone going, that God will grow us and draw us closer to Him and that we'll never be the same.

Here is the link to the website for the camp I'm going to, if you're interested.

http://www.summitcamps.com/templates/System/default.asp?id=20970

Talk to you all when I get back!

~Emy

EDIT: Sorry this post didn't show up before.

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May. 17, 2008 - Discussion: Armor of God

Chickengirl gave me the idea for this discussion.

A lot of times, I don't think I really think about the armor of God as much as I should. It's something I've learned since I was young and used to have memorized, sadly, I don't anymore. But when she brought up this idea, I read the passage and realized there is a lot to think about and many areas there where I can grow.

Ephesians 6:10-18
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

Wow. That's a lot to think on. Here's some discussion questions to get us started, and please add more in the commentst if you think of them.

Why do we need the armor of God?
What are examples of how we struggle against the powers of this dark world?
How can we put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit?
Why should we pray "on all occasions"?

Can't wait to hear from you all.

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May. 12, 2008 - Please pray

I received this email from JocelynDixon:

Some of you may know Dixiefiddler, Ryansgirls, or Dixiebeauty on HSB. Something tragic happened to their family. Their father was killed in a car accident last night. They need lots of prayer. They are just devastated and lost. Please go check out this link We need prayer.

Also pass this email onto any prayer chains or Christian friends who can also pray.

Please pray for this family and leave them a comment to let them know you're praying, if you feel led. I cannot imagine how they feel and my heart goes out to them. As their Christian family I think the least we can do is lift them up to God in prayer.

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May. 8, 2008 - Update

Hello all,

I am so thrilled with the response I have had on this blog. I want to say thank you to everyone who has joined or visited. The object of this blog is for Christian teens to be able to have discussions and encourage each other. Therefore, I don't want this to be "my" blog, I want it to be "ours". I am just the moderator and poster. :) So, if any of you have posts, ideas for posts, poems, stories, suggestions for songs for the playlist, ideas, or anything else, please let me know. I was also thinking of doing one discussion a week, to keep the blog active and exciting. Please let me know if you think this is a good idea or if it would be to hard to keep up with. If you think that is too often, I could do one every two weeks. And I also need ideas for discussions!

I look forward to hearing from you all!

Thank you and God bless,

Emy

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May. 5, 2008 - 20 Days of Prayer Challenge

Miss Jocelyn started a 20 days of prayer challenge that I thought was a good idea. I'm going to be praying for our own country, because I think it is sad how America is God's country but that we have gotten so far from Him. I am praying for the leaders, the churches, the Christians, and the lost. Please join the challenge.

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Apr. 23, 2008 - Questions for the Heart

I found this onBeauty from the Heart. I read these questions and went "wow". I think they are very thought provoking and very true. Please take a moment to read them and share with us what you think. You don't have to share your answers, just give us some thoughts. I definitely think that it is something to think about and pray about. I know I do/don't do so many of these things way too often or spend too much time thinking about things other than God... and then it's time for my quiet time and I find I am too tired or don't feel like having that time with God. Grace4God(Sarah) wrote a great post about that.

Do you act out of obedience to Christ and a passion for His glory--or your own?
How do you spend your time?
How much of your time per day is spent chatting with friends (online, on the phone or in person)?
How much of your time per day is spent daily in conversation with family members?
How much of your time is spent daily speaking to God?
How often do you meditate on the Cross? (Once a day? Once a week? Once a year?)
Do you set time aside every day for prayer and Bible study?
Do you try to faithfully obey God in public and at home?
Do you ask God for the grace to help you obey consistently?
What people, books, movies, etc. influence you the most?
Do you read books, watch movies, or listen to music that does not encourage your walk with Christ? Do you think this is wise?
Are your friends fellow Christians who are seeking after godliness? Or do they encourage you in gossip and ungodly thoughts?
If so, do you also join in that gossip and allow those thoughts to dominate your mind?
What are your main spheres of influence?
What steps could you take to become a stronger influence of a Christ-like attitude to friends, siblings, neighbors, relatives, etc.?
Do you actively serve in your community?
When making decisions, do you consider how they affect others?

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Apr. 19, 2008 - What will you do with the time that's left?

Written by croctoria

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." ~Romans 12:10

We all hate doing this. We never like raising someone else up to make them look better than us. We don't like going into the shadows so the light falls on someone else. We don't like stooping low to do something else for someone. We like the world revolving around us, not around others. Didn't they just see that we already ran upstairs to get something once, and now they're asking us to do it again? Can't they see we're running late, and we don't want to stop? Let's face it, no one likes being the servant.

But when we do serve, it's showing honor. It's showing brotherly love. It's showing you care. It's showing that you think the needs of others are more important that you and what you want to do.

We can show honor in our actions, in our words, in our attitudes, and in our time. We can show honor in our actions by going the extra mile to help our younger siblings. We can show honor in our words by not speaking badly of our parents or raising up the kid at school that everyone picks on. We can show honor in our attitudes by having a smile and a cheerful heart when doing things for others. We can show honor with our time by giving it for the service of others. We can show honor in many ways...it's just a matter of will we show it or if we'll just ignore it.

We don't want to be remembered for not helping others or not honoring others. We don't want to be remembered for always wanting the world to revolve around us of for speaking badly of others. Wouldn't you rather want to be remembered for giving your all for others and doing it with a smile?

We don't know how long we're here for. What will you do with the time that's left? Will you give honor to others and live so that you will have no regrets with the time that slips and fades, never to return again? Love, honor, and cherish to your final breath. We have a legacy that we're leaving...what will it be? Good or bad? Full of honor or selfishness?

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Apr. 10, 2008 - Please Pray

Hey everyone,

I am so excited about the response I have seen! I love how many of you have joined us and how many of you have added to our discussion! It is so awesome!! You can keep commenting on the previous post to keep the discussion going, but I wanted to ask you all to pray for one of our fellow Jesus Freak Teens. As Meggy said, "Yesterday in the GINORMOUS storms of AR, two trees fell on Lady's family's house and wrecked it all up. Please pray very hard for them. Here's the link to the news video. Skip ahead to the the 16th minute past all the smashed windows on the cars. Tell your friends to pray for them too. Mom told me some of their stuff got covered in plastic and saved, but they don't have a house. It stinks to be TV stars for a bad reason. And moving really hurts, no matter where you're moving." So please be praying for her and her family, I'm sure it's pretty hard on them, but we know that God works everything together for the good of those who love Him and that His grace is sufficient for us, His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.

~Emy

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Apr. 2, 2008 - What is God doing in your life discussion

Okay for our first discussion and to get things started and get everyone used to commenting and discussing things, let's talk about what God is doing in our lives. Here are some questions to get us started.

What is God doing in your life right now?
What do you want God to do in your life?
What are some ways you can see God working?
Sometimes we can't see how what we're going through could be right or be God's will until we're past it and we can look back on it, then we see how everything worked out just right, even if it wasn't the way we wanted it to work out. Have you been through one of those times? Or maybe you're going through that right now? Hold to His promise, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

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Apr. 1, 2008 - Daniel 9:12-14

By Emma92/Emma4Jesus

Daniel 9:12-14 says, "And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done in Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice."
I realize, of course, that this is talking about Jerusalem and those people... but do you not think this can be applied to America? "...by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done in Jerusalem." I remember two times for sure that our nation has been in a sort of panic because of a "natural" disaster or tragedy. How about 9/11?? Or hurricane Katrina? And those are just two that I remember very clearly because they've been recently... there have been a number of things that have happened in the past that we would consider to be a "great disaster", don't you think? "...all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. Therefore the LORD has... brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice." It's true that when a disaster or tragedy happens, we turn to God all of the sudden, is it not? But then what happens? Everything is restored, we go back to our daily, normal life, and we forget about God. Sure, during the time of panic, we pray that everything will be okay, "yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth." Maybe God does things to get our attention, and it does get our attention, for a little while, yet we never turn from our iniquities, we just go right back to them. Sometimes we would probably say, "Why would God allow these things to happen?", or, "Why would God send a disaster or something bad to us?" But this Scripture is clear, "...for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice." Could it be that He is trying to get our attention, and to do so He must send tragedy? If so, we know it is a righteous doing. And isn't it awesome that even though we refuse to turn to Him, and have "not obeyed His voice", He continues to try to get our attention? The question is, will we listen to Him? When will we change? How can we help change our country? Prayer.

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Mar. 31, 2008 - Love test

Go here to take a cool test:

http://www.wayofthemaster.com/lovetest.shtml

Also check out the rest of the site, and the other sites I have under Links.

Other reminders:

Sign the map!
Pray for each other and for our country
Think of things you would like to discuss
Tell your friends about this site
Tell everyone about Jesus!
Come back soon!

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Mar. 30, 2008 - Discussions

I am here to discuss discussions. I think if we could come up with some interesting topics that it would be fly to get some discussions going on on here. Warrior suggested a message board, but since I've never really used one and aren't familiar with them, and for the sake of staying on one webpage to keep it less confusing, I thought we would just post the topic and use the comment section for discussion, for now at least. If any of you have an idea for a discussion, comment and let me know! I'd love to hear your ideas. Thanks!
~Emy

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Mar. 29, 2008 - Avatar

I would love for you to put this link on your blog to let others know about this site. If you would like to, please comment me or message me for the code.
Thanks!!
~Emy

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Mar. 29, 2008 - LOST

LOST

By Meggy T

No, not the TV show. When you think about people who are lost, what do you imagine? Is it those people so addicted to their sin, they just can't -- and have no desire to -- quit? You've shared Jesus with them, but they roll their eyes, scoff, and otherwise make fun of you and Him. You just throw up your hands and say, "Welp, they're just LOST!" Those kind of people are lost, but they've heard about Jesus. They have a seed planted in their hearts. Whether that seed is going to grow into anything is up to God, You've just gotta keep watering with your life. But those people are not who I'm talking about. I'm talking about the people that live well; people would think they were a Christian if they saw them. They don't go to bars, they're humble, they don't swear or shoot anybody. Whoo! But they have never heard the name JESUS. They wonder, "Is this it? We just be good and die and that's all? Is there something more to this life?" They want to know. They've never been to church - never been invited. You think, "If somebody would tell them JUST ONCE they would listen! They would know that there is more and act accordingly! God would love to have them for his kingdom!" Here's the thing...PEOPLE LIKE THAT DIE EVERY SINGLE DAY! And not just death. It's DEATH. The death of being tortured forever and spending eternity under God's frown - that's AWAY from God. And why is that? Why do they go to hell? BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T KNOW. It talks about it in Ezekiel 33:2-7

"Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: 'When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.' Son of man, I have made YOU a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning for me."

So whose fault is it that that person, never being told that the sword was coming got slain? YOURS. MINE. Imagine you are a watchman on a big city wall, looking out, enjoying the view, eating your Crispy Cremes, and lookin good in your armor. *Oh, boy! This is the life* Then... wait a minute? What's that over there? Thousands of soldiers with weapons and scary stuff headed right for the city! What do you do? Say "Whoa! Check THAT out! Hey looky there! There's a guy going out of the city, what's HE doing? Whoops, they got him. Guess he didn't know they were out there." Uhh...no. What we do today with our cowardice and chickeness about sharing Christ with people is a thousand times worse. Watchman, you're supposed to leap up (forget about your Crispy Cremes:P), start blowing the little trumpet, and make a lot of noise. "The Sword is coming!!!! Save yourselves!!!" A LOT of noise:O THE SWORD IS COMING!!!! What are you doing about it? God said very clearly to give them warning. You gonna let that awesome chance to share pass by? We need to GET LOUD!!!

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Mar. 28, 2008 - Welcome to Jesus Freak Teens!

Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by!

I know what you're probably thinking, "oh, look, yet another blog that thinks they're starting something new, but there's so many like it"... well, I hope that's not the case. Right now I'm just starting out and I still have ideas forming in my head, but I think that this could be something pretty cool. Here's what I want to do. I want this to be a place where we, as Christian teens, can encourage each other and be inspired to go out there and change the world for Jesus! If you would like to be part of this, let me know and I'll add you to the friends list. And if you have something you've written or read somewhere that you'd like to see posted on here, please contact me, I'd love to look at it! Check back often to read more articles and maybe get into some contests and such.

~Emma

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