Blog of the Week

What is \"truth\"? How do you believe most people would answer that question?

Voices: What Voices Are In Your Head?

This is going to sound weird, but every one of us hears voices in our heads. It's the voices that say, "Life would be easier if only I could or had . . . " It's the voices that whisper when we look in the mirror or compare ourselves to someone else. These voices are trying to lead each one of us somewhere, but is it somewhere we really want to go? Or is there a better voice to follow? Yes, there is a voice that has our best in mind. A voice that knew us before we uttered our first cry. A voice that is designed not to bring out the worst in us, but the best.
There are voices in your head. Whispers when you look in the mirror or at people around you. Words luring you to find something better than where you are. In fact, it is the pull of these voices that get us off track. Behind the voices is an Enemy, Satan. His mission is your destruction. His whispers and words can completely mess with how we see ourselves and our world-unless we start listening to a better voice, God\'s, and work with Him to silence the voice of the Enemy. So do you find it easier to listen to the voice of Satan with his lies or the voice of God with truth? Why?

Different

Ok, so i was listening to a song called \"The Difference\" and it talks about how Jesus is the difference in my life. I felt led to look up the word different in the dictionary/concordance in the back of my bible. One of the verses it had was 1 Samuel 10:6-7. It says, \"The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a Different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.\" And it made me think about myself and if i was being different for God and doing what he commands. If you think about it, you can think back and see times when you \"followed the crowd\". That verse made me challenge myself to be different, because i know it\'s hard. In school, at the mall, in a sport, Anything. But everytime i catch myself doing what everyone else wants me to do i just think of those verses and it reminds me to do things where God would be shown glory
through.
I just thought those verses were cool because it\'s a challenge I think that everyone should take.

how come....???

what I have seen latley in youth group and during normal sunday nobody wants to talk to me. it seems like only your
\"friends\" wil talk to you. i know some people dont like me, and i don\'t care about that. It just makes me sad that this is what it came to. When i first came everyone seemed so nice and caring, but latley we don\'t even realise that new people come,and when they never come back then we notice,me and friends try to talk to them but it never works. I feel so bad when i do that because, i know what its like to ignored and nobaody wanting to talk to you. And it hurts! What i have done in my past,and peoples faces when they find out, hurts bad!! I wish that everything could just go back to the old way when poeple wanted to be your firnds,kinda like 1st grade........ but not quite that. And when my 8th grade friends go to high school, i will be forced to get out of my comfort zone,which will be good, so i can be more open to others...

A Thought For Everyone To Ponder..

Lately in the youth group i have been noticing a division.People have created groups and it seems like if your not in a group you dont seem to matter for much, and you cant talk to them or do much of anything without them talking or snickering behind your back. They only allow who they want in the group. They will ignore you make snide comments are look at you like your an idiot if you say anything to them they dont like, or even if you just say a simple hello. It seems that some of the most \"godly\" people there are a part of this. I thought we werent suppossed to be judging and im not judging any of the people who are a part of this but it seems as if they are to me and everyone else. Why is it that it has to be like this? Cant everyone be each others friends? Most of the time people at school treat me nicer than people at church. If it werent for a few people and the fact that i am learning about Gods awesome new wonders everyday i wouldnt come. No wonder new people
dont wana come. I wouldnt want to come either if i knew people wouldnt except me for who i am. Im not trying to point fingers at anyone or judge anyone with this but i think it should be brought to everyones attention. Why all be friends and love each other as Christ loves us?

Forgiveness

It is so hard to forgive, due to pride. We let our pride get into the way. thinking wow..they did this thing that was so bad to me. It is hard to get out of that box and be like...Christ endured so much more and he still forgave.

Why it\'s hard to forgive

I think some of the reasons forgiving is hard are because the memories are still there, and it\'s in the past and it\'s unchangeable. You or another person has already messed up, and you can\'t go back and fix it, and you can\'t forget about at as far as wiping it from your memory. So sometimes people just want to hold onto that bitterness and those memories, either thinking that they\'ll be able to get the person back someday, or they just don\'t feel like letting it go, or they just think it\'s easier to hold onto them. I guess bitterness and unforgiveness is the easy way to deal with it (or rather, not deal with it). It\'s easier to get mad than to be loving.

forgiveness

There area several factors that contribute to why it is so hard to forgive. One is that we associate forgiveness with forgetting... we use the phrase forgive and forget, we even say sometimes that forgiving IS forgetting. However, God never told us that forgiving is forgetting, and He doesn\'t ask us to forget as He knows it is literally impossible to... He created us that way.
Another reason it is so hard to forgive is because the person you are forgiving might not necessarily be asking for forgiveness, or they might not even think that they did anything wrong. It is so hard to go beyond yourself and forgive someone anyway.
We all have memories. Mannerisms and moments bring them back to us. Sometimes our memories of someone are aweful and we remember how we were wronged all over again. In those moments it is very important to forgive again. This is for our own sakes, so we don\'t build up a wall of bitterness within ourselves which hurts our relationship with the person we can\'t forgive, then stems out and hurts other people connected to you or them in a certain way, and most importantly hurts your relationship with our all-loving God who harbors no bitterness and wants the same for us.

Why is it hard to forgive?

It always seems easier to say I\'ve forgiven someone, but it\'s hard to truly forgive. Why is that? For me, I think it comes down to whether I trust God or not. If I really trusted that God was in control, I think I would be more able to forgive.

But I want them to pay for what they did to me. I don\'t really think God knows what He\'s doing. I like to say things like, \"I forgive them BUT...\" which isn\'t really forgiveness. Real forgiveness is, \"I forgive you, and I\'m going to let God decide what consequences are appropriate.\"

What is it so hard to forgive?

Hey everybody I would love to hear your thoughts and reaction to this question of, \"Why is it so hard to forgive?\" I am speaking on this on Sunday April 26th and I would love to use your posts as part of the message.

It's worth it to forgive

It is worth it to forgive.  For a long time, I hated my birth mother for the terrible things that she did to me and my family.  At one point, I thought that if she died, I didn't think I would even care.  It was a horrible way to live, and it affected the way I lived certain parts of my life and some of the decisions that I made.  Because of holding in this unforgiveness, I was unable to let go and take hold of the blessings God had in store for me and my life.  I have since completely forgiven her, and instead I now have compassion for her.  Forgiving her was worth the freedom that it gave.  Holding it against her wasn't worth the pain it caused.