Their responses always amazed me! Most often, the visions they shared, would make the world a better place! When I ask them, “what would your life be like, if your vision could become reality’? “EXCITING”, most would say!

   Next, I would ask… “WHAT are YOU going to do about fulfilling that vision”? The initial response, for some, usually focused on the reasons why their vision could only be a dream. Others, the courageous ones, would get really excited, and start brain storming on what they could do to turn their vision into a reality! These were the ones, who trusted, that as they did their part, GOD would do his part!

   When you can vision something in your life that is beyond your ‘little world’, you are positioned to have a much better perspective on life. All of a sudden, your focus is not on what is wrong in your life, but rather how YOU can make a difference in the world around you! Life now becomes exciting!

   God has created you with a specific plan in mind; you are created to accomplish great things. The bible tells us… “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.” (Proverbs 29:18 MSG) The vision that you see when you ‘think outside of the box’, is a God given vision. A vision that is too big for you to fulfill without Him!

   I challenge you to begin to think outside of yourself and your life as it is now, and start seeking God’s will for your life. You will be amazed at how exciting life becomes! Be one of the few who have the courage to say … YES to God’s vision for your life, and start enjoying the wonderful life God has created for you! Decide to be “Courageous” and discover that your life can be EXCITING!

Be encouraged!!! God is aware of your circumstances. And He has created you for such a time as this. You are not here on this earth, at this time, by accident… but rather by divine appointment. God has equipped you with the necessary ‘weapons’ to fight in this battle of “life”. The world around us looks different today than it did in the past; however, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Heb.13:8) The same God that appointed young David to fight the giant Goliath, and gave him the victory with nothing more than a slingshot and 5 stones, is the same God that has appointed YOU to fight the ‘Goliath’s of this age’! (If you are not familiar with this story, read 1Samuel 17) Young David took his stand against the giant, trusting in the power of his God, and used what was in his hands to defeat the giant before him and won the battle.

What does the giant(s) in your life look like? Does it look like, depression, rejection, cutting, addictions, broken relationships, academic challenges, the list goes on… Whatever the enemy has placed before you is not too big for you to fight against when God is on your side. If God is for you, who can be against you! (Rms. 8:31) Take up your slingshot ~ the word of God, prayer, worship, and praise! Stand strong against the schemes of the enemy. God’s word tells you… “Do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

Be encouraged!!! You are more than a conqueror through Christ who strengthens you. (Rms 8:37) Your age is not a factor; Your God is the common denominator when it comes to winning the battle. Do not fear. Take up your slingshot and fight against the giants in your life, do not allow the giants to intimidate you. David was not intimidated, you need not be either! David was not in the battle field by accident, and neither are you… You are here by divine appointment…to defeat the giant and WIN the battle!

Fear can disguise itself in many ways. Making bad decisions to take drugs or drink alcohol is often made out of the ‘fear of not being accepted’. Agreeing to have sexual relationships before you are married is often rooted in the ‘fear of not being loved’. Rebelling against authority, (parents/teacher/law enforcement), is often rooted in the ‘fear of being controlled’. Staying in relationships with girlfriends who disrespect you is often rooted in the ‘fear of being alone’.

If  ‘fear’ is controlling how you are making decisions, the only effective weapon you have to overcome this is “FAITH”. Faith in God and his love for you. Faith in God’s perfect plan for your life. If you keep your eyes on Jesus and not on your emotions your faith will become stronger than your fears.

The benefits to living a life of  faith and not fear are many! First you will experience God’s peace in your life, and you will avoid the pitfalls that fear will eventually lead you into. God’s word says, “I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind”. (2 Tim. 1:7) Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be trouble and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Take time to be honest with yourself and ask yourself this question… “Am I making decisions because I am fearful”? A life based on faith is powerful, a life based in fear is destructive…YOU choose!

It’s a new year, a time to think about the year ahead and all the opportunities it holds for you. Be challenged this year to put the temptation to focus on ‘yourself’ and ‘your needs’ aside, and instead, direct your focus on God and the things that are dear to His heart.

Focus on the needs of those around you. There are people at your school and in your neighborhood who do not know the love of Jesus. How might you demonstrate God’s love to those around you? Perhaps you can be a friend to someone who is not so popular, perhaps you can help someone in need, volunteer to babysit for a mom who needs a few hours to herself. Look for opportunities to serve others and by doing so you will be demonstrating God’s love in practical ways.

Ask God to help you be more sensitive to the needs of others this year. Ask God to give you the boldness and the desire to serve others and not just focus all your attention on YOU! As you seek to help others, you are “being about the Fathers’ business” and this pleases God. As you focus on others you are giving God opportunity to work in your life and in your behalf. God knows what is best for you and how to bring that to pass in your life. As you focus on God he will focus His love and attention on YOU!

What  is in your ‘heart’ matters to God! The bible tells us; “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) The ‘heart’ ~ that place deep within your being that is the center of who you are. This is where you connect with God, and it is top priority for God to connect with you!

God tells us in his word, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23) Why do you think God is so concerned with you ‘heart’?

It is with your ‘heart’ that you ‘connect’ with God. Your relationship with God begins with believing in him in your ‘heart’, and it is with your ‘heart’ that you continue to develop a strong relationship with God.

There are so many things in life that are tugging for the attention of your ‘heart’. Why do you think this is? If other things can get the attention of your ‘heart’; you will soon find that it is difficult to connect with God. You can be certain, the enemy wants you distracted and disconnected from God.

Things that may be tugging at your heart are; hurt, fear, offense, anxiety, mistrust, unbelief, jealousy, unforgiveness, and anger, just to mention a few. Involvement in sin will also clutter your heart. Things such as these will cause you to be disconnected from God.

I challenge you today to examine your ‘heart’. What are the things in your life that you are giving your ‘heart’ too? What things are cluttering up your ‘heart’? A cluttered ‘heart’ has no room for the love of God. Is connecting with God your top priority?

God wants all of your heart, not just the ‘left overs’. The bible tells us, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”(Mathew 22:37) God wants your ‘heart’ so he can fill you with his joy and his love. Ask God to search your ‘heart’ and reveal anything that is a barrier between you and him. Ask God to send his love to cleanse your ‘heart’ and make you whole.

It is never too late to turn your ‘heart’ back towards God. Give God all of your ‘heart’ and watch him do amazing things in your life.

After speaking with many girls and hearing their stories, I have sensed a common thread. Can you guess what the common link is? If you guessed “self-confidence” you are correct!

Many girls struggle with “who they are” and “who they think they should be”; therefore they are looking for acceptance among friends, and especially among boyfriends. This is where the struggle takes place. Until you decide to be confident in yourself, you will always be looking for approval from others. The trouble here is that those you are seeking approval from, are struggling with their own issues of self-confidence. Oh…it may not appear that way to you, however, hidden under their outward appearance are teenagers who are struggling with low self-esteem.

The way to improve your relationships is to build your self-confidence. The way to do this, is to stop seeking approval from others and seek to be the best at “being you”. God designed you perfectly, with unique gifts and talents. When you seek to “be like others” you are going against the natural intelligence built into you! Seek to please God, not others and watch things around you change. At best you will be happier “being yourself” than you will ever be trying to “be who others want you to be”.

Seek after God’s approval, allow yourself to follow your own desires and watch and see that you will attract great friends, both girls and boys, to yourself. You will attract other confident young people who accept you and don’t want to change you. Then in these relationships you are free to be yourself; without worrying about the approval of others. I challenge you to put aside thoughts that “you have to be like the other girls”, and dare to be “yourself”. Dare to set the example of a “self-confident” young woman. Will you take the challenge?

This time of year for teenagers, is often filled with anxiety of things ‘unknown’. New teachers, new friends, new schedules, new cities, new jobs, the list is endless. However, none of these things surprise God.

God is aware of all the changes taking place in the natural realm, as well as in your life. Just as nature yields itself to God’s wisdom, be encouraged and yield yourself to God’s perfect plan for you this season.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”(Jeremiah 29:11)

Be encouraged as you enter into this next season, be expecting God to show you new things, give you a fresh start; perhaps at school, with friends and family, with a job. Be encouraged to be yourself, don’t take hold of pressures others may be holding out there for you. Walk your journey, and watch yourself be transformed as God works in you and through you.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

God is with you where ever you are. Be expecting great things; what happened last year is over, what happened yesterday is over. “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”(Luke 18:27)… Today is a “Fresh Start.”

Ever get the feeling that today is nothing more than a repeat of yesterday? Day after day, I hear young people who talk about their day as if it is nothing special. Often when asked the question, “what are your plans for today”, a common response is “nothing new, same old, same old”.  When I think about what a “gift” each day is, I am troubled when I hear young people react with such a response.

Jesus died that you might have life and have life abundantly! Each day is a day of new beginnings. Each day is a gift, which when opened with anticipation, is full of surprises. I challenge you to look at today with a new awareness. God has hidden treasures in store for you. Only those that are diligently seeking after those treasures will find them.

Look at today as an adventure. Many of you, at one time or other have gone out on a “hidden treasure hunt”; remember how much fun that was! Just the anticipation that you would find new things as you searched around for them, was so much fun, and being the first to find them made it even more exciting!

Just think how different your day would be, if you looked at each moment as part of a “treasure hunt”. God knows the plans he has for you today!  God’s blessings are new every morning!

Take the challenge, start today as part of a new adventure and see what is hidden around the corner for you to discover! Keep your eyes opened, expect to find hidden treasures. They are hidden that you may discover them; see each day as a journey of discovery. Most of all, take someone along on the journey with you. See the wonders God has hidden just for you!

Often we are expecting certain levels of love and respect from others in our life towards us; however, when was the last time you evaluated your life to see if you have been demonstrating love to others?

Have you recently reached out to someone with an act of kindness with no expectations in return? Have you recently reached out to be kind to someone who everyone else ignores? Or perhaps when was the last time you were kind to someone who has hurt you?

Love is not just a ‘feeling’, it is a decision!

Decide today to be loving towards others, regardless of their behavior towards you, and watch God do amazing things through you. When we take the focus off ourselves and direct our thinking towards the needs of others, our own lives improve.

Jesus demonstrated the ultimate sacrifice of love. He died, so that we may have eternal life. He loved us before we ever loved him. Let’s share our blessing of the love of God with those around us. Dare to be different, step out of your comfort zone, and love others just because God loves you!

hiddendoorways.blogspot.com

I watched a movie recently that prompted this blog posting. The movie was about a race horse being trained as a champion competitor. The race horse was valuable and respected because of his “blood line”. His owner was convinced that because of his heritage he would be great!

I got to thinking…how much more valuable are we as the descendants of God!!! We have royal blood flowing through our veins. God is our ‘daddy’, we were destined for greatest.

Just stop and think about it, we are children of God, the almighty, all powerful. There is nothing that can stop us from becoming all we were destined to be.

Just like in the story, the race horse developed into a champion! You too can be a champion when you train with Jesus. He will teach you all you need to know to win your race called “life”. God’s word says Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart…” God believes in you…Do you believe in yourself?

You are a champion on the inside. Do not let anyone or anything stop you from becoming all you can be. Run your race; follow the path God puts before you. Do not compare yourself with others, because no one is designed exactly like you.

Keep your eyes on the finish line, and not on those along side of you. Be who God designed you to be, and you will become a champion. You are special God is convinced of this!