Do you wish you knew what it meant to be “called”?

Do you feel that God is leading you into ministry, but have no clue how to take the next step?

Do you want a mentor, but don’t know where to find one?

Check out Explore the Call, a site that offers podcasts where mentors share what it means to be called, how they started, and they answer questions from teens who want to make a difference.

It also offers links to sites that offer even more information, as well as interactive elements like a blog. It’s a great spiritual mentor site that is new and growing, and filled with content that will answer the big questions you’ve been asking about changing the world.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

I was watching a Marathon, sitting with friends, one of them a runner. A guy ran by. He was bent over crooked. It looked like a rubber band pulled him forward.

“What’s up with that guy,” I asked.

“He’s dehydrated,” my friend said. “He’s in danger and doesn’t even know it. His body has taken all the fluids and now it’s drawing from his muscles.”

A bystander ran to the man and handed him a Gatorade and the runner swigged it down.

I hope it’s not too little, too late, I thought.  

Marathon runners train for months to get in shape. They have to wear the right shoes. They eat lots of carbs and the right amount of protein. They work to stay dehydrated, not just during the race, but before and after.

They train on similar terrain to the marathon course. It’s a lot different running a straight 26. 2 miles than it is running hills or into the wind or by water.

They have to know how to partner with others. There’s a point in a marathon that every runner wants to give up. Their body is screaming in pain. Their feet are bleeding or their toenails are turning black. Every time they pound the pavement it jolts their hips or knees.

A good partner might be a running buddy who comes alongside in those times and helps them keep the pace. Not too fast. Not too slow. Just one step in front of the other.

It might be a group of friends who hold signs with your name on it, or who scream out your name as you pass by, and then drive to the next major point so they can do it all over again.

Following Christ is also a marathon. It’s not a sprint. It’s discouraging at times, and ecstatic at others. Paul warns believers to stay focused and not to get tripped up. Your daily prayer life (just talking to God) is your nourishment. It’s something that doesn’t go away. You can dig down deep and find what you need when you’re discouraged.

Your roadmap is your relationship with Christ. It helps you remember who you are and where you’re going. When you follow Him, it won’t always be the easiest routes, or that of the least resistance, but it’s in his footsteps so you’ll grow in the process.

It will be important who you allow to encourage you as you navigate life. Are they taking you down, or are you showing them how to run the race?

What about when you fall or get injured in the race? Get back up. Athletes often fall and are bruised. They gain strength by getting up and learning from their mistakes.

At the end of the race, there is a prize. But there are also prizes along the way: knowing God, discovering your destiny, getting to know the Creator of the Universe.

Are you running the race?

By Debra Weiss

“…He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5

I stood in the unfamiliar room looking out through old ruffled curtains. They smelled like they had never been washed but somehow I didn’t care. I inhaled and couldn’t smell anything familiar, not our family dog, not the dirty socks my younger sister always hides under the couch, not the food we’d had for dinner.

Nothing felt familiar. Not the scratchy curtains or the mud brown carpet. Not the wood paneling on the walls or the door that had been taken off its hinges.

It’s so unfamiliar, I thought to myself. Unfamiliar. The word kept echoing in the empty room. Behind me I could hear my family moving from room to room of the house, examining closets and bathrooms.

We were in a large house off the beaten path, deep in a part of Tennessee I couldn’t pronounce much less find on a map. Months ago, my dad’s job had transferred him from sunny South Carolina to this…nothingness.

There were no streetlights or large super centers open twenty-four hours all day everyday. There were no nearby malls or doctor’s offices or bookstores. There was only nothingness. Trees, grass and a house plopped in the middle.

I tried not to think about the question that had been plaguing me for weeks, months if I were to be honest. The question that played a hundred times a day in my head. The one I tried to squelch each weekend my dad wasn’t able to make it home to see our family.

But standing there that moment, I could hear my parents talking to the real estate agent. They were making a bid for this awful, unfamiliar house. Something in me broke as I heard the realtor penning the details.

I blinked but it didn’t matter. The tears came anyway.

“Where are you, God?” I whispered in the stillness of the dark room. I stood sobbing silently for several minutes, numbly repeating my question until I felt a presence behind me.

My grandfather wrapped an arm around my shoulder and said nothing. I sniffed and tried to pull myself together.

After a moment, my grandfather spoke. His words were soft in the darkness, like he was carefully auditioning each word for the part before he spoke them. “I know you felt like God has left you. When the plant in Bristol closed down and I had to move, I was mad at God. I didn’t understand how he could move me. I felt like God had abandoned me.”

I was quiet. Was it possible someone else understood everything I felt? As I pondered this my grandfather opened his mouth again, “God never forsakes us. Never. No matter where we go or what happens.”

I wrapped my arm around his waist and squeezed tight, whispering my thanks to him. He gave me a hug and left the room so I could compose myself. I paused, searching for the words to tell God how I’d needed that reminder tonight, but couldn’t find any.

God…thank you, thank you for never leaving me…even when my fickle emotions said you’ve left. Thank you for always being near.

By Lydia Rule, RTF Staff Writer

Two big brown eyes stared at me. One pink tongue hungrily licked its furry chops. I looked down at my dog, who was salivating in wonder at my cereal bowl.

“It’s empty,” I told him, “There’s nothing left for you. See? There’s isn’t any leftovers.”

He continued to stare, beg, and jump into the air trying to catch a glimpse of my cereal bowl. I walked away and headed into the kitchen to put away my dishes. I could hear his paws devotedly trailing behind me.

Why is he chasing after nothing? And then it hit me. I wasn’t much better than my wishful dog who thought that my empty cereal bowl contained something marvelous. I have often chased after empty things in life, only to find out that I had been chasing after trivial vanities.

As humans, we crave the empty, vain things of this world. And yet, God wants to give us his full and overflowing blessings in exchange for the empty vessels that the world gives us. He offers his gifts to us freely; all we have to do is realize that what we are chasing after is worthless in comparison to serving Jesus Christ. After all, God is the treasure that we need to be seeking after! Nothing else can compare to what He has to offer us!

Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way. ~ Psalm 119:37

Bio: Lydia Rule is a published author who is frequently found on her computer busily typing away. And on occasion, her poor unsuspecting dog provides the inspiration for her next devotional.

 

by Derek Hanisch, RTF staff writer

I’ve had a pet peeve for a long time. There are several popular worship songs that include the phrase “holy hands.” That’s always irked me. I’ve always been under the assumption that we don’t have holy hands. We’re sinful, we have dirty hands. I’ve always felt that the phrase of “lifting holy hands up to God” was impossible.

I was reading the book of Timothy the other day and came across the following verse:

“In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.” -1 Timothy 2:8

I was perplexed. So I turned to a friend and asked him a question. I asked how it was possible to have holy hands because we are sinful creatures.

His words shocked me with their simplicity. (more…)

 

Dear RTF,

I’ve been having a lot of trouble at my youth group..and with some adults at my church..sometimes it seems like people who aren’t saved can be nicer than those church people. Has this happened to you before?? Or is it just me?

And another thing. How do you know when God talks to you? Is it something you feel? Or just something that you ‘know’ when it happens? Anonymous

Dear A,

Sometimes people are still works in progress, even though they are believers. You look at the disciples and you see impulsive people (Peter), arguing people (James and John), doubting people (Thomas) and yet God used them to change a world.

I have been hurt before by someone from my church, but I realized I couldn’t change that person. I was only responsible for my response to the situation–and to that person. When people are a work in progress (just like I am sometimes) I ask God for grace and mercy. 

If this situation is really uncomfortable, it may be that you need a different church group or it may be that you ask God to give you such a heart of mercy that things roll off of you as you run after him.

Whatever you decide, ask God for wisdom, patience, and His peace as you make that decision. But keep your eyes focused on Him. Okay?

Your second question: How do I know when God talks to me? I know that He talks to me when I sense that deep peace, when I’m reading God’s word and something leaps off the page, when I feel that tug in my heart that says “wait” or “stop”.

Listening to that voice is the harder part, but I’ve learned to stop when I do and to fully hear what the Holy Spirit is trying to do in my life at that moment.

You’ve asked such great questions. I hope you come back to Real Teen Faith.

Suzie Eller
Real Teen Faith

Derek Hanisch, RTF Staff Writer

From the moment that I accepted Christ into my life, I was taught about Christianity. One of those teachings was the Trinity. We have the Father, who is the God of the Old Testament. We have the Son, who, of course, is Jesus. Finally, we have the Spirit. I was reading through Romans, and the scripture on the Spirit really spoke to me for the first time.

Depending on the denomination that you come from, it’s very possible that your church doesn’t talk about the Spirit of God much. I know mine doesn’t.

The Spirit has been with believers since the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Paul, in Romans, has a lot to say about the Holy Spirit.

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”-Romans 8:11

Wow, isn’t that cool? It was the Holy Spirit that was used to raise Jesus from the dead. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is now living within us!

Romans 8:26-27 are really eye opening for me. Did you know that the Holy Spirit prays for us? (more…)

Do you feel the call to change your generation? Do you sense that God wants to impact your friends and you don’t want to wait around for someone older to make it happen? Do you look in the Bible and see God reaching down and moving history by working through the lives of people like Timothy, Jonathan, David, Mary, Esther, and a lot of others in their teens? Catalyst is focused on a new generation of church leaders. They are helping teens and twentysomethings be the church instead of just going to church.

This October, over 10,000 young leaders will gather again to experience Catalyst up close. Will you be one of them?

Catalyst Space