Where have you been?

First off, I'd like to apologize about how this has not been kept up to date at all lately.

I'd also like to ask a simple question. Where have you been?

You're all probably thinking "What? What does she mean?" I mean exactly what I'm asking. Where have you been with God lately? Have you drawn closer to Him than you ever have before? Or are you so far gone you haven't even realized you are?

In the past few weeks I've been distracted by the difficult things in life we're all faced with.

Distracted.

That's all it is. What all my problems are, they're distractions.

They're woven into my life in such an intricate way that I don't even notice them, not until they've been pulled so tightly that they're cutting off circulation to my relationship with God.

But then there also times where I literally sit there watching the sin enter my life. I know it isn't something beneficial, but I don't view it as detrimental either. It couldn't cause that many problems, right?

Nope. Wrong.
The things that start off as little distractions are often the thing that pulls us away from God the most. Maybe it's a relationship that doesn't seem too bad. You guys make bad jokes every now and then, so it isn't thaaaat bad. You only do physical things with each other every now and then. It's not like it's allllll the time.
Maybe it's an addiction to video games, or an addiction to anything really. Something that you find yourself craving to do. You crave doing whatever it is more than you crave to spend time with God.

"I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. " 1 Corinthians 7:35

I'm not saying that you can't do fun things. God wants us to have fun. Definitely! But if those fun things are distracting us from God, and preventing us from drawing closer to Him, there needs to be some time of serious thought and reflection.

So, where have you been?

In Him,

Meg

Lift Me Up

I was looking around on YouTube just now, and came across this video by The Afters. It just touched me, and I felt like I should share it. I'm going to try to make it show up in the post, but if for some reason you can't watch it, click on this link.

This reminded me of God's love, and that even though we make mistakes and even when we think we're ugly or alone, He is always there and He will ALWAYS love us. ALWAYS.

<3 Rachel

Blessings in the Storm

Hello everybody,


I hope all is well and everyone has their power back from the snow storm! God's put on my heart to share something that I realized this weekend...

There are people who are suffering from the cold because they don't have a home. When I lost power I realized just how much I take advantage of electricity and heat. There are people right here in Manchester who could die this winter because they're homeless, and here I am worried about being just a little cold? Honestly, I had a generator! I am blessed! I live in a beautiful house that has heat and running water and electricity. I should be thanking God every day for the blessings He has showered upon my family, and yet most of the time I don't even realize how blessed we are. This weekend was a revelation for me. I can be so selfish, and it sickens me. There may not be much I can do for those that are homeless, but I can donate food to a food pantry for them. Most of all, I can pray. I encourage all of you to pray for the homeless too, as well as those who are still without power or who are recovering from the storm.

I just felt like God wanted me to share that with you. I don't think I'm the only one who has had to contemplate the way they live in regards to the rest of the world, or even the rest of the city. Just, don't take what you have for granted.

<3 Rachel

1 Timothy 4:12

Hi guys,

I shared this verse on Tuesday, but I really wanted to go into it with a little more detail. I want to share both the NIV and NLT versions, because I like both of them:

"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12 NIV

"Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." 1 Timothy 4:12 NLT

I came across this verse while doing extra credit for my 20th Century History class. This really struck me, because we, as teenagers, are constantly looked at by adults in society as not being mature, being stupid, or always getting into trouble. But as God's children, we can show the world that not all teens are druggies, or idiots, or like getting drunk. We stand out to everyone in the world because we are so different from everyone else our age. And we are different because we have something the teens of society don't -- Jesus.

But we have to stay strong and not fall into the ways of the world. We have to set the example for how believers live, like the verse said. But I think it goes beyond that. As Christians, we set an example for how all of our fellow Christians act too. People that see one Christian acting hypocritical think that all of us are. And we're not all that way. So we have to be an example to the world for how God's people act and think.

So to start, we are to set an example through our speech. I focused on this at lunch on Tuesday, when we talked about how saying anything negative to someone could be taken in a hurtful way, either by the person we said it to or another person sitting around us. In the class I had after it, I realized that watching what I say is WAY harder than I thought it was going to be. Within the first 20 minutes of class, I jokingly told my friend, "I hate you so much!" He knew I was kidding, and I apologized when I realized that I had said it, but that doesn't make it okay. It's still a hurtful comment, and I should never have said it. I have started a really bad habit of jokingly making fun of friends, and being sarcastic. And that needs to stop, because none of that brings glory to the Kingdom. Meg actually has a post about this (it's the post right before this one!)

The second part of 1 Timothy 4:12 talks about our conduct, or the way we live. Look at your life: do you do impulsive things that you regret later? do you push your little sibling a little too roughly (or push them at all) when they bother you? I know I do, and that's not how I am supposed to act. I should pray before I do anything, and I absolutely shouldn't be pushing my sister, even if I don't do it often. So as much for me as for you, I challenge you to think and pray before you act, because that will make all the difference.

The third part of the verse says that we are to be an example through our love. I think that's a pretty straight-forward command. We are to love God and love people. The loving people thing is what gets hard sometimes. Have you ever met someone who's just so mean that you can't ever imagine being within 3 feet of them, let alone being friends with them? Well the bible tells us that we are to love and pray for our enemies. It's hard, yeah, but in the end, it's so worth it. And just think, when other people see us loving the ones who are so rotten to everyone else, they'll question us. And we'll be able to tell them that God loves that person, so we should too. We can bring people into the Kingdom by showing them God's love. Isn't that cool?

To set an example through faith I took as meaning evangelizing. Going out into the world and sharing the Good News of Jesus. It's really easy to think, "Oh yeah, that's no big deal, how hard can that be?" Well it's a HUGE deal. What if God calls you to go to China and evangelize there? Would you go? You could DIE following what God tells you to do. Are you ready for that? Because that is what we are called to do. We have to take up our cross and follow Him wherever He leads us. We have to be strong enough in our faith that we can do that.

The last part of the verse mentions being an example through purity. This is possibly the hardest one on the list to follow. Society tells us that it's okay to have sex before marriage. And God tells us that is absolutely not okay. So which side are we going to follow? Temptation is going to come, if it hasn't already. I know that I'm not the only one who struggles to make the right choice, and sometimes don't. Our relationships need to be free of anything that should be saved for marriage, whether it be touching, or messing around, or going all the way. This is something I am slowly but surely learning. And let me tell you, it is HARD to follow what God wants us to do when situations come up. But think about it, when we are married, it will be blessed by God. Isn't that 100% better in the long run? I don't want to make this into a huge purity talk, but at the same time, it kind of needs to be.

I would like to say that I am NOT saying that I don't struggle with all of these things that I've talked about. Because I do. I'm just learning how to do things right, for a change.

Well, I think that's really all I have to say for now, but I will definitely post more in the future. My parting challenge is that we focus on these things: speech, conduct, love, life, and purity, and try to change how we live our lives on a day to day basis. We are the example to a lot of people on how Christians act.

<3 Rachel

John 13:34-35

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up." 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Okay, Meg here. I know I've been super annoying with this concept lately, but it's only because of our family atmosphere at Mount Zion. One that can quickly and easily change if the concept of encouragement is neglected.

I think the soccer team has noticed this the most recently. We think it's okay to sarcastically say something mean to each other, as long as afterward we say we're just kidding. And our society agrees. Sarcasm is part of most people's every day lives. Unfortunately, the idea of being mean to each other is accepted. However, the Bible is definitely on the other side of this fence.

“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” Ephesians 4:29

I think we could agree that sarcasm is abusive language, and neither good nor helpful. In fact, most of the time it's just hurtful. I often hurt the people I care about with my facetious words. There was even someone this year who thought I didn't like him, because I joked around with him way too often, and he didn't take it that way. How embarrassing it was to explain that I was being a jerk... in a joking way?

So, if we were to follow the first part of that verse, it would not only take away swearing, but also sarcasm. If we say that we believe in God, and that He sent His Son to die for us, but also say that we believe that the Bible is God's word, and being such means it is truth, then we can agree that sarcasm is not of God... Right?

But now, let's not forget the second part of that verse. Let everything we say be good and helpful... So then, it isn't enough to just refrain from cruel jokes or cussing, but we also need to make sure everything we say is helpful. Yikes. Who would have thought that one verse could be so difficult to follow. I mean... following the commandment about not killing people is easy enough to follow, but following a verse telling us not to do something society teaches us is okay, that's a bit tougher. I've never heard someone say that killing people is okay. Sarcasm is encouraged. In fact, people are made fun of if they don't understand it. How bizarre.

For me I've realized, that my words are much sharper to those who annoy me... There's a verse for that, too! ;)

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7

Being sarcastic to those around us, is not a good way of showing acceptance, or God's love. Which if I remember correctly, is one of the theme verses this year. John 13:34-35
As mentioned in prayer group, I doubt that Jesus would talk to us the way we speak to each other. And that means we aren't demonstrating God's love to each other.


We all came out of MRO with a family attitude. Families love each other, and encourage each other. And while I've come from a family that isn't too great at demonstrating that, I know this because of God's love.
So, I would absolutely love to see you guys working on this with me, because if just one of us stops being sarcastic, that still leaves 28 kids in the high school who are.
Changes start in prayer. And if we are the prayer group, changes will also start through us.
We are an example to the rest of the school guys, let's be a good one :)


In Him,
Meg Delaney

Introduction

Hi everyone,

So this is the first post of the MZCS Prayer Group blog. The purpose of doing this blog is to share with anyone from the school or internet community a verse or a prayer request that our group wants to share. We won't have a set schedule for posting; any one of us can post at any time. We'll start this off really soon, so until then,

Praise Him,
Rachel