Youthwave 2010

Renewing our thoughts!

Picture this — you come home from a long day at school/college — you walk into your living room — plop down on the couch in exhaustion — and there in the corner of the room — your eyes are drawn to something moving — it’s a cobra snake! Do you say to yourself, “Oh, I’m too tired to worry about that now, I’ll deal with it later?” Of course not! You’d jump up right away, find a bat or something of the like, alert your family, call the neighbors, call the fire department and who knows what else! It’s a life-threatening situation!

In the same way, we need to consider it an emergency when a negative thought enters our minds! We immediately need to jump up, put our armor on, alert others and ask for help if needed and take cover in the promises of God! When those unrighteous thoughts enter our minds, we must deal with them immediately — lest they linger and fester — and before we know it, poison our entirety. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says - The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Sadly this is a battle that continuously rages on. We must renew our minds daily — and even hourly in order to remain in a place of peace. Let’s not wait ’till the enemy has us in his grip! Let’s put him in his place at the first sign of attack!

Youthwave 2010

Thinking.....thinking....thinking.....

Philippians 4:8-9 says "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

One evening an old Red Indian man told his grandson about a battle that goes on in every person. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’. One is evil — it is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good — it is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grand son thought for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Red Indian simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Need I say any more?

Let’s start feeding the good wolf, that we might flourish for the Lord and do great things for Him! There’s so much work to be done!!

Character Counts!

Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.

Bobby Jones was one of the greatest golfers to ever compete, uniquely known for winning the “Grand Slam” of golf winning all four major tournaments in the U.S. and Britain in a single year. In 1925, early in his career, having reached the final playoff in the U.S. Open, at a certain point in the match, Jones was setting up to strike his ball which was in the rough just off the fairway. His iron accidentally touched the ball. He immediately became angry with himself, turned to the marshals, and called a penalty on himself.

But the marshals had not seen the ball move, so they left the decision to Jones, whether to invoke the penalty — a two-stroke penalty. Bobby called the penalty on himself, not knowing that he would lose the tournament by a single stroke.

When praised for his honesty, he replied, “You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank!” Jones may have lost the tournament, but his character was legendary and today the United States Golf Association’s award for sportsmanship is known as the “Bobby Jones Award.”

It’s been said, “Character is what you do when nobody is watching. Character is how you treat people who can do absolutely nothing for you. Character is how you react when the pressure is on. Character is deciding beforehand that you are going to do the right thing.”

Every day we’re faced with decisions — many of which are made when no one is watching, at least no one we can see. But let’s purpose in our hearts to do the right thing — because character truly counts. We may not see the dividends immediately — but be assured that God is keeping track of our decisions, and He will make good on every one