Even a young man is known by his actions – if his behavior is pure and upright. – Proverbs 20:11

How are your actions? Its easy to say the ‘right thing’ when you’re around your parents or at church. But what’s the real you like? How do you act when no one is around? Do you slack off? Do you only do the minimum of what is expected? How you act when no one is looking shows your true character.

Your actions are what you’re known by, so if your actions aren’t uplifting and helping others, decide today to make any changes that are necessary. Its not always easy to change, but its always worth it. Its worth it to put the effort in to be a person of character. Choose to not compromise, even in the smallest area. Be a person of excellence and always do your best. Its the small choices you make every day that will set you apart from others. Choose to be someone who is known by good actions!

The small choices you make every day are what sets you apart from others. 

Pray: Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I ask you to show me if there are things I’m doing that aren’t uplifting and helping others. I desire to be a person that is pure and upright. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. – Phil 4:6 (NLT)

Worry is such an easy habit to fall into. Its so easy to start looking at what is going on around you and begin to worry. You might worry that you won’t make it into the right college. Or that you’ll never meet the right person and you’ll end up alone. There are so many things that are uncertain in life, and its easy to fall into the trap of worry.

However, today’s Bible verse tells us what we should be doing when we’re tempted to worry. It says that we should not worry, but pray about everything. We should be giving those worries to God and telling Him what we need. When we begin doing this, it helps us because we don’t have to carry those worries and fears any longer.

A final thing this verse tells us to do is to thank God for what He has done. So instead of spending all your time getting worried and worked up over a problem, choose to spend some time thanking God for all He has done in your life. If you do this, worry doesn’t stand a chance in your life!

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  – Philippians 4:6

We all are faced with difficult situations in life. Often we feel that if it’s tough, it’s probably because we out of God’s will. Sometimes this isn’t the case. Often God calls us to do things that will require us to trust Him to accomplish it. While in the process it can be challenging but God will give you the strength to get through it victorious.
Remember that never having problems isn’t victory. Trusting God to help you through difficult situations is.
Today, lean on God’s strength. Trust in Him to help you in whatever you might be going through.
 

Today’s Bible Verse and Daily Devotion is on Ephesians 1:3

Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. – Eph 1:3

Being a student at school can be challenging. Whether you struggle with school work, with friendships, or what to wear this verse is encouragement for you today.

This verse tells us that we are blessed. That means we can expect good things to happen to us. We don’t have to walk the halls of our school with our heads down, feeling bad about ourselves. Instead we can hold our head up high because we are blessed.

Don’t let the back to school blues get you down, choose to focus on the fact that you’re blessed which means you’re able to conquer everything that comes your way today!

With God on our side, we can overcome everything we face today!

DAILY BIBLE VERSE AND DEVOTION – SEPTEMBER 30

DAILY BIBLE VERSE AND DEVOTION – SEPTEMBER 30

What do you think of when you think about trust? Do you think of someone always having your back? Do you think about someone who does what they say? What does trust mean to you?

When it comes to relationships, most of the time trust comes with time. As time passes, you see the person in a variety of different situations and you begin to see who they really are. You begin to see how they think and respond to situations. And over time, you begin to trust that person. You begin to know if what they say is true and if they’ll follow through.

Today’s Bible verse is all about trust. Can you say that God is who you trust? Have you spent time getting to know Him, getting to see how He responds in different situations, and building trust with Him? God is someone you can rely on and trust in, but to build that trust, you’ve got to spend time reading your Bible. That’s one of the best ways you can get to know God. You begin to see in the Bible how God responded to different people throughout history. You can see that God always comes through and is faithful. To build trust in God, you’ve got to spend time reading the Bible.

So challenge yourself today to spend time getting to know the God of the Bible. Take some time out of your day to read some of the great stories in the Old Testament of how God came through for His people. As you do, you begin to realize that He will do the same for you!

WHAT LEGOS TEACH ABOUT WORSHIP

Playing with Lego as a little kid was always one of my favorite things to do. I loved to build anything I could get my hands on. I liked building houses, towns, cars and pretty much anything else I could dream up.

I remember one year at Christmas, I got a new Lego set. It was a train station, and I just loved building it. I opened up the instruction booklet that came with the set and began following each step to construct the train station. In all the excitement to build the set, however, I began to realize that I had missed a step somewhere in the building process. Things began to look a little strange, and the train station just wasn’t looking right. Because I missed a step along the way, things began to not look right.

That reminds me of how its like for us to worship God. Much of the time we try to get the end result of worship, singing, eyes closed, hands clapping and whatever else worship looks like, but we often forget a step.

The Missing Step

Often when we worship, we forget why it is that we worship. And sometimes, we forget why we even can worship. We’re able to worship because of our relationship with God.

You wouldn’t be able to talk about how good food is at a restaurant if you didn’t eat there. It’s after you’ve tried the food that you’re able to talk about how good it is. That’s how we are with God.  To really enjoy praising him, we’ve got to get to know Him. We’ve got to develop a relationship with Him.

God wants nothing more than a relationship with you. He loves you and wants to know you in a deeper and more real way. This relationship enables us to worship God and enjoy him in a deeper way.

This verse gives us lots of good examples of what praise is. It’s a sacrifice, that it may take some work and effort and stepping out of what feels comfortable to give praise. It also tells us that our lips should be giving thanks. That we should be producing thanks to God.

Worship Starts With the Heart

There are so many things that you can thank God for. Whether it’s simply the fact that you’re breathing, or for the food you got to eat, the clothes you wear, or the friends that you have. It could be taking time to think about all that God provided for you in Christ.

You can thank God that you’re not a sinner any longer, but a child of God. You can thank God for His faithfulness and goodness. There are so many things to thank God for.

Worship isn’t complicated. It’s not hard or something that you’ve got to go to Bible school to learn how to do effectively. Worship starts by simply taking time to thank God for what He’s done in your life. So don’t be like I was with my train station Lego set as a kid. Don’t forget a step when it comes to worship. Don’t forget that worship isn’t about actions only, it’s about your heart. It’s about taking time to focus on who God is and what He’s done for you. Worship starts with the heart.

Challenge yourself today to not let your worship become stale, but to refocus your attention on Jesus. Focus on who He is and what He’s done for you.

DAILY BIBLE VERSE – SEPTEMBER 29

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

One of the hardest things to do is to be kind and forgiving to people. Especially when those people have done you wrong. When someone mistreats you, the normal response is to get back at them. To hurt them like they’ve hurt you, to give them the silent treatment, or just do something to teach them a lesson. That’s what is considered normal. That’s how most people live their lives.

The Bible stands that on its head and tells us as Christians to be different. We’re challenged to not get back at someone, but to forgive them, just like God forgave us. Doing this isn’t normal, and it isn’t easy, but its what’s right.

So challenge yourself today to push past what’s easy and choose to be kind and forgive others.