hey y`all!
today was good. i didnt go to school b/c i didnt have an exam today, so i went to my brothers awards ceremony and then to target & starbucks with my mom & nana & then i did yard work which was the bad part. haha. so i did my devotion on truth last night. trust is something we should all have, and we cant have it without truth. b/c who wants to trust someone who never tells the truth?? so anyway, John 14:6 says, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way the truth and the life. Noone comes to the father except through me" which means Jesus is the truth. he is pure and we can ALWAYS trust him. the only way to get to heaven, is to accept Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly divinding the word of truth" in other words, the Bible IS the truth. everything it says is the truth, and we should not be ashamed to study it. Ephesians 4:25 says, "Wherefore putting away lying, speak everyman truth with his neighboor; for we are members one of another" which means, we need to speak truth to our friends. we shouldnt lie to eachother because we have to live around eachother, lying gets you nowhere but into trouble, and Jesus looks down on it. We should always be truthful to the poeple we are around. 3 John 1:4 says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" in other words, God is pleased with us when we walk in his word, following the plan he has for us, and witnessing to others about him. Colossians 1:5-6 says, "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which is come unto you as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day ye heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth" which is telling us again, the word of God, is the truth. and we should walk in truth every day of our life, and always trust in God and everything he says and tells us to do.
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Discipleship :]
hey y`all!
okay well ill jump right into the devotion, and ill tell you about my day in the blog i post later tonight from my devotion last night instead of two nights ago. haha. i did my devotion on Discipleship. John 15:16 says, "Ye have not chosen me, but i have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit shall remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name he may give it to you" which we should go and tell others about the teachings of Jesus so others can know too. Ephesians 5:1 says, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" which means we must follow God at all times, and we must follow him with the mind and heart of a child :] Ephesians 6:6-7 says, "Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men" so this tells us the most important thing. we need not to do things to please men, we need to do things tha will please God. theres alot of things in this world that are accepted by men, and not by God. 1 John 2:5-6 says, "But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." so we must act like Jesus. and we must obey God's word.
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
okay well ill jump right into the devotion, and ill tell you about my day in the blog i post later tonight from my devotion last night instead of two nights ago. haha. i did my devotion on Discipleship. John 15:16 says, "Ye have not chosen me, but i have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit shall remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name he may give it to you" which we should go and tell others about the teachings of Jesus so others can know too. Ephesians 5:1 says, "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" which means we must follow God at all times, and we must follow him with the mind and heart of a child :] Ephesians 6:6-7 says, "Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men" so this tells us the most important thing. we need not to do things to please men, we need to do things tha will please God. theres alot of things in this world that are accepted by men, and not by God. 1 John 2:5-6 says, "But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." so we must act like Jesus. and we must obey God's word.
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
school is almost out!
hey y`all!
im in second period because we have an exam in here today, but we're not taking it yet so i figured i'd post. i just read Pastor Chad's blog and i thought it was hilarious, i started laughing in the middle of class, i probably got some weird looks. so anyway, school is almost out for the summer, i have to stay until 1 today and then i dont have to go tomorrow because i dont have an exam and then i get to leave at 10:30 friday!! im pretty excited. haha.
i just finished my multimedia exam. i think i did pretty good :] we dont have lunch today. im pretty depressed. haha. i love me some food. anyway i have something to tell y`all! i was upset yesterday and i really needed to talk to someone about something and she just, got online! & she like never gets online, it was great, and Jesus is amazing. i love it when he does that. its one of those things that pastor chads been talkin about, that makes you go wow.
pray for me, i think i have to do yard work when i get home, i dont like yardwork. haha. im pretty excited though b/c we have church tonightt:]
its so funny how the guys in this class drive my teacher insane. she gets so frustrated with them. haha.
well im gunna go ill post about my devotion when i get home!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
im in second period because we have an exam in here today, but we're not taking it yet so i figured i'd post. i just read Pastor Chad's blog and i thought it was hilarious, i started laughing in the middle of class, i probably got some weird looks. so anyway, school is almost out for the summer, i have to stay until 1 today and then i dont have to go tomorrow because i dont have an exam and then i get to leave at 10:30 friday!! im pretty excited. haha.
i just finished my multimedia exam. i think i did pretty good :] we dont have lunch today. im pretty depressed. haha. i love me some food. anyway i have something to tell y`all! i was upset yesterday and i really needed to talk to someone about something and she just, got online! & she like never gets online, it was great, and Jesus is amazing. i love it when he does that. its one of those things that pastor chads been talkin about, that makes you go wow.
pray for me, i think i have to do yard work when i get home, i dont like yardwork. haha. im pretty excited though b/c we have church tonightt:]
its so funny how the guys in this class drive my teacher insane. she gets so frustrated with them. haha.
well im gunna go ill post about my devotion when i get home!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
praying :]
hey y`all.
so i told a friend of mine, who was struggling with an issue on prayer, that i would do a devotion on it, so i looked back through my blog entries, and found it, and so ill post it again to help him out :] i really think prayer partners is a neat idea. maybe we should do that at youth group, just have one person that you can call & tell to pray for you & talk to about stuff :] anyway, here is that devotion:
prayer is the most powerful tool we have as Christians, its how we communicate with God! So, Matthew 21:22 says, "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall recieve" which tells us that God will answer all of our prayers, but we have to believe in him. James 5:16 says, "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" which tells us to pray for our friends and that the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful and effective. we should always be in prayer for our friends, and we've decided that me & ashley & candace & rachel are prayer partners so we get together and tell eachother what we need prayed for :]] i really like it. One more verse i read on prayer was Romans 12:12 which says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" which is about more than prayer, but its a reallyyy good verse. we really do need to be joyful and not pessimistic. And even though we go through afflictions, we have to be patient, and God will get us through them:]]. and most importantly, we must be faithful in prayer. we have to believe with all our hearts that God will answer our prayers! try it :] get a prayer group together like we did, it really helps :]]
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
so i told a friend of mine, who was struggling with an issue on prayer, that i would do a devotion on it, so i looked back through my blog entries, and found it, and so ill post it again to help him out :] i really think prayer partners is a neat idea. maybe we should do that at youth group, just have one person that you can call & tell to pray for you & talk to about stuff :] anyway, here is that devotion:
prayer is the most powerful tool we have as Christians, its how we communicate with God! So, Matthew 21:22 says, "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall recieve" which tells us that God will answer all of our prayers, but we have to believe in him. James 5:16 says, "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" which tells us to pray for our friends and that the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful and effective. we should always be in prayer for our friends, and we've decided that me & ashley & candace & rachel are prayer partners so we get together and tell eachother what we need prayed for :]] i really like it. One more verse i read on prayer was Romans 12:12 which says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" which is about more than prayer, but its a reallyyy good verse. we really do need to be joyful and not pessimistic. And even though we go through afflictions, we have to be patient, and God will get us through them:]]. and most importantly, we must be faithful in prayer. we have to believe with all our hearts that God will answer our prayers! try it :] get a prayer group together like we did, it really helps :]]
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Monday, May 28, 2007
consumed - week 2
hey y`all!
mk so yesterday was one of the best days ever. Pastor Chad- great sermon. i really loved the Consumed series. and while im talking about that, thats what im going to talk about tonight, is the second sermon in the series, so i dont leave y`all hanging on the last one i talked about. but first, about yesterday! it was great. i got to hang out with the best people ever at new hope, the youth band did a really good job [the adult band did too fo course i loved the songs y`all] and then i went swimming with ashely and rachel and brad & steven that night! & then i slept over at ashleys and we talked until like 2:30 in the morning haha. it was a blast. i lovers my best friend. soo anyway, Consumed, week 2. John 4:23 says, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." so, God seeks truthful worshipers.
so how do we be a worshiper that God seeks? heres what Pastor Chad told us:
1. Worship Him in amazement. if we're consumed by God, God will show us amazing things, and then we will worship Him in amazement.
2. Worship with abandoment- if we're consumed by God, we can worship without caring what man things, wouldnt you rather care what God thinks? and there will be an awesome sense of freedom.
and this really caught my attention, Pastor Chad asked us what freedom was and then he told us he believes this is Gods definition of freedom:
is not the ability of to do whatever we want to do, but the ability to do whatever GOD wants us to do. and i think thats pretty much amazing
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
mk so yesterday was one of the best days ever. Pastor Chad- great sermon. i really loved the Consumed series. and while im talking about that, thats what im going to talk about tonight, is the second sermon in the series, so i dont leave y`all hanging on the last one i talked about. but first, about yesterday! it was great. i got to hang out with the best people ever at new hope, the youth band did a really good job [the adult band did too fo course i loved the songs y`all] and then i went swimming with ashely and rachel and brad & steven that night! & then i slept over at ashleys and we talked until like 2:30 in the morning haha. it was a blast. i lovers my best friend. soo anyway, Consumed, week 2. John 4:23 says, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." so, God seeks truthful worshipers.
so how do we be a worshiper that God seeks? heres what Pastor Chad told us:
1. Worship Him in amazement. if we're consumed by God, God will show us amazing things, and then we will worship Him in amazement.
2. Worship with abandoment- if we're consumed by God, we can worship without caring what man things, wouldnt you rather care what God thinks? and there will be an awesome sense of freedom.
and this really caught my attention, Pastor Chad asked us what freedom was and then he told us he believes this is Gods definition of freedom:
is not the ability of to do whatever we want to do, but the ability to do whatever GOD wants us to do. and i think thats pretty much amazing
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Saturday, May 26, 2007
pleasing God
hey y`all
sorry it took me a couple days to do this. i've got another one to write & i'll tell you about my day yesterday then, for this one im just gunna jump right into the devotion, b/c i've got a lot of really good verses :] so i did my devotion on Pleasing God, because thats something every Christian wonders, what can i do to please God? so i found some verses on it:]
Galations 2:19-20 says, "for i through the law am dead to the law, that i might live unto God, i am crucified with Christ: nevertheless i live; yet not i, but Christ liveth in me: and the life of which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" i love those verses. they tell us we're dead with Christ, but now he lives in us. and we need to live our lives by faith...soo step 1 to pleasing God:
1. Live by faith.
Luke 16:15 says, "And he said unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves before me; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" this verse says us God knows our hearts, so things we hide from men, we cannot hide from God. also, things that men think are great, God, not so much. so this gives 2 more steps to pleasing God:
2. God knows our hearts, so we should think pure things and have good and caring hearts.
3. Follow God, not men. a lot of things that are acceptable and routine to men, God looks down upon.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 says, "Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. For we must all appera before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may recieve, the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad" in other words, we all must go before God, and he has seen everything we've done good and bad. so here is my 4th point:
4. we should think about what we do before we do it, we should think to ourselves, would this please God? or would it break his heart??
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
sorry it took me a couple days to do this. i've got another one to write & i'll tell you about my day yesterday then, for this one im just gunna jump right into the devotion, b/c i've got a lot of really good verses :] so i did my devotion on Pleasing God, because thats something every Christian wonders, what can i do to please God? so i found some verses on it:]
Galations 2:19-20 says, "for i through the law am dead to the law, that i might live unto God, i am crucified with Christ: nevertheless i live; yet not i, but Christ liveth in me: and the life of which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" i love those verses. they tell us we're dead with Christ, but now he lives in us. and we need to live our lives by faith...soo step 1 to pleasing God:
1. Live by faith.
Luke 16:15 says, "And he said unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves before me; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" this verse says us God knows our hearts, so things we hide from men, we cannot hide from God. also, things that men think are great, God, not so much. so this gives 2 more steps to pleasing God:
2. God knows our hearts, so we should think pure things and have good and caring hearts.
3. Follow God, not men. a lot of things that are acceptable and routine to men, God looks down upon.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 says, "Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. For we must all appera before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may recieve, the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad" in other words, we all must go before God, and he has seen everything we've done good and bad. so here is my 4th point:
4. we should think about what we do before we do it, we should think to ourselves, would this please God? or would it break his heart??
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Friday, May 25, 2007
a fifth point...
hey y`all!
today was good. i went to school, but we really didnt do anything, and then i went home with kelly and we went to the pool and went swimming. boyy have i missed summer. it was sooo great to be back in a pool. haha. i lovee pools. haha it was great. so last night for my devotion i was just readin around, and i found another verse on seeking God, so i figured that i'd share it with y`all! Psalm 9:10 says, "And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; for thou, Lord, has not forsaken them that seek thee" which brings me to a fifth point: [theres four more, scroll down and read my "seeking God" blog]
5. when we seek God, He will never forsake us. we just must have trust that He will do what we ask.
now He might not do it right away, and He might not do it exactly how we want, but he will ALWAYS answer us when we seek him.
well im sorry its a little short
but i have an enormus headache b/c of my cold
so im gunna go lay down
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
today was good. i went to school, but we really didnt do anything, and then i went home with kelly and we went to the pool and went swimming. boyy have i missed summer. it was sooo great to be back in a pool. haha. i lovee pools. haha it was great. so last night for my devotion i was just readin around, and i found another verse on seeking God, so i figured that i'd share it with y`all! Psalm 9:10 says, "And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; for thou, Lord, has not forsaken them that seek thee" which brings me to a fifth point: [theres four more, scroll down and read my "seeking God" blog]
5. when we seek God, He will never forsake us. we just must have trust that He will do what we ask.
now He might not do it right away, and He might not do it exactly how we want, but he will ALWAYS answer us when we seek him.
well im sorry its a little short
but i have an enormus headache b/c of my cold
so im gunna go lay down
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Thursday, May 24, 2007
thoughts. [this seems redundant, its not i promise]
hey y`all!
first off, please scroll down and read my blog on "seeking him" i finished it, and i like it :] haha. so please read it. anyway, i posted a bulliten on random thoughts earlier today, and it just so happens that i did my devotion last night on thoughts. 1 Peter 1:13, "Terefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" which is saying, we should control our thinking, and whne we think prepare our minds for action when Christ reveals himself to us. Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, bretheren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." which pretty much is a great verse. because it tells as all the things we should be thinking about. and when we praise, we should think of these things too of course, like the good things God has done for us and stuff...which hes done sooo many good things for me. so anyway, the point is, as christian, we should think about just and pure things and not evil and and unpure things. i think im gunna do some more research on this topic :]
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
first off, please scroll down and read my blog on "seeking him" i finished it, and i like it :] haha. so please read it. anyway, i posted a bulliten on random thoughts earlier today, and it just so happens that i did my devotion last night on thoughts. 1 Peter 1:13, "Terefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" which is saying, we should control our thinking, and whne we think prepare our minds for action when Christ reveals himself to us. Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, bretheren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." which pretty much is a great verse. because it tells as all the things we should be thinking about. and when we praise, we should think of these things too of course, like the good things God has done for us and stuff...which hes done sooo many good things for me. so anyway, the point is, as christian, we should think about just and pure things and not evil and and unpure things. i think im gunna do some more research on this topic :]
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
random thoughts :]
hey y`all!
im in second period, and so i figured i'd post since we're pretty much done with our work for the school year. i still have a nastay cold, but its getting better, i can somewhat breathe today, haha. i just hope my nose isnt so icky Sunday because i have to sing! haha. so anyway, im really excited about the discipleship class the girls are doing with Kim this summer. i think shes gunna be a great teacher! im really excited about this summer with New Hope period, its gunna be a ton of fun. i cant wait until GodStock and the Lockin! im SOO excited. haha.
also, i talked to mitchell last night about the praiseband, and i know the songs are getting pretty old and i talked to ashley, and then me & mitch came up with a list of some new songs we hope to do soon :] so i hope y`all enjoy that.
another random thing, the park is fun. haha. it'll be fun when we go to the park with the whole youth group this summer, alot of wednesdays after church me & ash & rach & a bunch of other people go to the park to hang out haha.
im happy, because i get to do my dances for this nursing home, so i really hope that the people at the nursing home like it. haha.
also, i had the chance to help a fellow Christian through a little big of a problem yesterday, or rather, God had the chance to use me to help this person, but i was pretty happy Jesus spoke through me to help :]
okay so i will totally post about my devotion when i get home :]
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
im in second period, and so i figured i'd post since we're pretty much done with our work for the school year. i still have a nastay cold, but its getting better, i can somewhat breathe today, haha. i just hope my nose isnt so icky Sunday because i have to sing! haha. so anyway, im really excited about the discipleship class the girls are doing with Kim this summer. i think shes gunna be a great teacher! im really excited about this summer with New Hope period, its gunna be a ton of fun. i cant wait until GodStock and the Lockin! im SOO excited. haha.
also, i talked to mitchell last night about the praiseband, and i know the songs are getting pretty old and i talked to ashley, and then me & mitch came up with a list of some new songs we hope to do soon :] so i hope y`all enjoy that.
another random thing, the park is fun. haha. it'll be fun when we go to the park with the whole youth group this summer, alot of wednesdays after church me & ash & rach & a bunch of other people go to the park to hang out haha.
im happy, because i get to do my dances for this nursing home, so i really hope that the people at the nursing home like it. haha.
also, i had the chance to help a fellow Christian through a little big of a problem yesterday, or rather, God had the chance to use me to help this person, but i was pretty happy Jesus spoke through me to help :]
okay so i will totally post about my devotion when i get home :]
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
seeking God :]
hey y`all!
so today was great. went to church and saw my favorite people :] learned about the new class the girls are doin with Kim this summer and went to the park and hung out. so i did my devotion last night on seeking God! And so ill start off with one of my favorite verses. Hebrew 11:6, which says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that dilligently seek him." this is probably the best verse about seeking God that i wrote down. it tells us alot. it tells us:
1. it is impossible to please God if we do not have complete faith.
2. when we go to God we have to believe that he'll do what he says
3. we must dilligently seek him.
so, when seeking God, we need to do these 3 things :] also, Jerimiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" which makes another point:
4. we must seek him with our whole heart.
Lamentations 3:25 says, "The Lord is good to those whos hope is in him, to the one who seeks him" so, that reinforces the faith thing. we must have hope when we seek him. he answers us, and is good to us. 1 Chronicles 16:10-11 says, "Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always" so basically, this leaves us with another question: when do we seek God? Answer: whenever we need him. when we have a problem, we need to look to him, and to realize that he is stronger than us, and it is only through him that we are strong.
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
so today was great. went to church and saw my favorite people :] learned about the new class the girls are doin with Kim this summer and went to the park and hung out. so i did my devotion last night on seeking God! And so ill start off with one of my favorite verses. Hebrew 11:6, which says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that dilligently seek him." this is probably the best verse about seeking God that i wrote down. it tells us alot. it tells us:
1. it is impossible to please God if we do not have complete faith.
2. when we go to God we have to believe that he'll do what he says
3. we must dilligently seek him.
so, when seeking God, we need to do these 3 things :] also, Jerimiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" which makes another point:
4. we must seek him with our whole heart.
Lamentations 3:25 says, "The Lord is good to those whos hope is in him, to the one who seeks him" so, that reinforces the faith thing. we must have hope when we seek him. he answers us, and is good to us. 1 Chronicles 16:10-11 says, "Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always" so basically, this leaves us with another question: when do we seek God? Answer: whenever we need him. when we have a problem, we need to look to him, and to realize that he is stronger than us, and it is only through him that we are strong.
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
His guidance
hey y`all!
today was pretty good. except im sick. ughh. i have a horrible cold. its just sicknasty. haha. but i feel okay, i just cant breathe real well. haha. so y`all pray for me & that my cold goes away quickly. also, pray for my friend kelly, shes goin through a hard time right now, and pray that she realizes shes gotta turn to Jesus b/c he can help her. anywho, onto the devotion from last night :]] i did it on God's guidance. b/c without Gods light showing us the way, we'd pretty much be really lost. Psalm 18:28 says, "For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness" so when theres darkness, and we're not sure where to go, God will be a light and guide us down the right path :] Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God" which means, as God's children, he leads us. Psalm 32:8 says, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with my eye" which means God will tell us and teach us which path we should take, He'll guide us through His eyes, which are wayyy better than our own anyway. and then theres my favorite, Proverbs 3:6 which says "In all thy ways awknoweldge him and he shall direct thy paths." i love that verse. i know more than one person that it has helped and i just love it. if we awknoweldge and listen to God, he will tell us where to go. Any path God has for us has to be better, bigger, than the one we have for ourselves. without God's guidance we may stumble down the wrong path, and get into bad things. so we def. should pray before we make decisions that way we know we've got God's guidance on the path we chose to take. its pretty amazing, dont ya think?
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
today was pretty good. except im sick. ughh. i have a horrible cold. its just sicknasty. haha. but i feel okay, i just cant breathe real well. haha. so y`all pray for me & that my cold goes away quickly. also, pray for my friend kelly, shes goin through a hard time right now, and pray that she realizes shes gotta turn to Jesus b/c he can help her. anywho, onto the devotion from last night :]] i did it on God's guidance. b/c without Gods light showing us the way, we'd pretty much be really lost. Psalm 18:28 says, "For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness" so when theres darkness, and we're not sure where to go, God will be a light and guide us down the right path :] Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God" which means, as God's children, he leads us. Psalm 32:8 says, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with my eye" which means God will tell us and teach us which path we should take, He'll guide us through His eyes, which are wayyy better than our own anyway. and then theres my favorite, Proverbs 3:6 which says "In all thy ways awknoweldge him and he shall direct thy paths." i love that verse. i know more than one person that it has helped and i just love it. if we awknoweldge and listen to God, he will tell us where to go. Any path God has for us has to be better, bigger, than the one we have for ourselves. without God's guidance we may stumble down the wrong path, and get into bad things. so we def. should pray before we make decisions that way we know we've got God's guidance on the path we chose to take. its pretty amazing, dont ya think?
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Monday, May 21, 2007
consumed
hey y`all!
today was great. im in a really good mood. and today i want to talk about Pastor Chad's sermon yesterday. lemme tell you it was a great one :] he was talking about how we should be consumed by God. i encourage you to listen to it when it is up on his blog. anyway i want to tell everyone who reads this [who didnt hear the sermon] some of the key points that Pastor Chad hit :] first off, Hebrew 12:29 says, "For our God is a consuming fire" so, what is a consuming fire? it cannot be stopped, it engulfs everything in its path. well God wants to do that to us! sometimes being consumed by God could be a little scary, but it would be amazing, dont you think? well Pastor Chad was talking about worship, and what it takes to worship, and he said something i truly believe, he said we have to be consumed by God to have true worship. something else he said, most Christians are consumed sometimes, but not all the time. we should realize that worship starts on the inside. okay so, how do you know if your consumed by God? Heres what Pastor Chad told us:
1. We're consumed by God if our mind is consumed with Gods thoughts. for instance, do you think about Gods plans, or what God wants to change in us
2. Is my time consumed by Godly activity? do we do things for God? do we listen to God when he tells us to do something, do we read our bibles, do we pray?
You've gotta ask God to consume your heart. but yeah i thought that was a pretty much amazingg sermon and i felt the need to share it with y`all :]
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
today was great. im in a really good mood. and today i want to talk about Pastor Chad's sermon yesterday. lemme tell you it was a great one :] he was talking about how we should be consumed by God. i encourage you to listen to it when it is up on his blog. anyway i want to tell everyone who reads this [who didnt hear the sermon] some of the key points that Pastor Chad hit :] first off, Hebrew 12:29 says, "For our God is a consuming fire" so, what is a consuming fire? it cannot be stopped, it engulfs everything in its path. well God wants to do that to us! sometimes being consumed by God could be a little scary, but it would be amazing, dont you think? well Pastor Chad was talking about worship, and what it takes to worship, and he said something i truly believe, he said we have to be consumed by God to have true worship. something else he said, most Christians are consumed sometimes, but not all the time. we should realize that worship starts on the inside. okay so, how do you know if your consumed by God? Heres what Pastor Chad told us:
1. We're consumed by God if our mind is consumed with Gods thoughts. for instance, do you think about Gods plans, or what God wants to change in us
2. Is my time consumed by Godly activity? do we do things for God? do we listen to God when he tells us to do something, do we read our bibles, do we pray?
You've gotta ask God to consume your heart. but yeah i thought that was a pretty much amazingg sermon and i felt the need to share it with y`all :]
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Sunday, May 20, 2007
God brings us happiness :]
hey y`all
today was just one of those great days :] i got to spend most of it at church, which was great. and i think the praiseband sounded pretty good after me ashley & candace went and practiced the keys haha...in the stairwell, where people kept walking in on us and hitting us in the door...so a peice of advice...dont practice singing in the stairwell. haha. i also finished my seven page essay on Jesus, and it was fun! i loved learning all this stuff about Jesus life and now maybe osmeon else will read it and they`ll get to learn too :] mk so my devotion, i read on happiness :] because Jesus makes me happier than anyone or anything!! Philippians 4:11-12 says, "Not that i speak in respect of want; for i have learned in what so ever stat i am, there with to be content. I know both how to be abased and i know how to abound: everywhere and in all things i am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to stuffer need." in other words, the secret to being happy is Jesus. he makes us happy and we should realize no matter how bad things get we should be happy because we've got Jesus to bring us back up! 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" God wants us to always be happy and we will be if we pray to him and give thanks to him for all he has given us! Psalm 112:1 says, "Praise ye the Lord, blessed is man that delighteth greatly in his commandments" which means if we follow Gods commandments happily we will be blessed. We need to do things for God with joy :] Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" which means God will give us what we want, if he wants it for us, if we listen to him and if we are happy about it :] so basically, we need to be happy to serve God. i know im thrilled when he speaks through me, i think its the greatest thing ever :]]
i love y`all
God Bless!!
- crystal jade
today was just one of those great days :] i got to spend most of it at church, which was great. and i think the praiseband sounded pretty good after me ashley & candace went and practiced the keys haha...in the stairwell, where people kept walking in on us and hitting us in the door...so a peice of advice...dont practice singing in the stairwell. haha. i also finished my seven page essay on Jesus, and it was fun! i loved learning all this stuff about Jesus life and now maybe osmeon else will read it and they`ll get to learn too :] mk so my devotion, i read on happiness :] because Jesus makes me happier than anyone or anything!! Philippians 4:11-12 says, "Not that i speak in respect of want; for i have learned in what so ever stat i am, there with to be content. I know both how to be abased and i know how to abound: everywhere and in all things i am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to stuffer need." in other words, the secret to being happy is Jesus. he makes us happy and we should realize no matter how bad things get we should be happy because we've got Jesus to bring us back up! 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" God wants us to always be happy and we will be if we pray to him and give thanks to him for all he has given us! Psalm 112:1 says, "Praise ye the Lord, blessed is man that delighteth greatly in his commandments" which means if we follow Gods commandments happily we will be blessed. We need to do things for God with joy :] Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" which means God will give us what we want, if he wants it for us, if we listen to him and if we are happy about it :] so basically, we need to be happy to serve God. i know im thrilled when he speaks through me, i think its the greatest thing ever :]]
i love y`all
God Bless!!
- crystal jade
Saturday, May 19, 2007
His plan :]
hey y`all!
again, i just got home from recital. 2 days in a row, bleh. haha. we did well tonight also. but the season is finally over [so i wont miss any more of your sermons for it pastor chad!] until next season. i also went swimming with my friend kelly today, it was fun! church tomorrow :] which makes me excited. i cant wait to go worship my Jesus! anyway, last night i did my devotion on God's plan for us :] Proverbs 16:9 says, "A mans heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps" which means our hearts decide where we go but the Lord will lead us there, because we can have good intentions but do wrong things to get there, but with God that wont happen, as long as we listen to him :] Jerimiah 29:11 says, "For i know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil to give you an expected end" which means God knows His plan for us, and its not one of evil or one that will hurt us, its a good path. Philippians 2:13 says, "It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose" God works in us to will us to follow His plan for us. Any plan god can have for us has to be better than the one we have for ourselves because God only wants what is best for us! and sometimes we may think what we want is better, but we'll soon realize that it isnt when it fails. Also, Proverbs 21:30 says, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord" which is saying nothing can go against the Lords plan. which backs up the whole, our plan will fail us. we've got to learn to quit trying to do things our way and do things Gods way.
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
again, i just got home from recital. 2 days in a row, bleh. haha. we did well tonight also. but the season is finally over [so i wont miss any more of your sermons for it pastor chad!] until next season. i also went swimming with my friend kelly today, it was fun! church tomorrow :] which makes me excited. i cant wait to go worship my Jesus! anyway, last night i did my devotion on God's plan for us :] Proverbs 16:9 says, "A mans heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps" which means our hearts decide where we go but the Lord will lead us there, because we can have good intentions but do wrong things to get there, but with God that wont happen, as long as we listen to him :] Jerimiah 29:11 says, "For i know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil to give you an expected end" which means God knows His plan for us, and its not one of evil or one that will hurt us, its a good path. Philippians 2:13 says, "It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose" God works in us to will us to follow His plan for us. Any plan god can have for us has to be better than the one we have for ourselves because God only wants what is best for us! and sometimes we may think what we want is better, but we'll soon realize that it isnt when it fails. Also, Proverbs 21:30 says, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord" which is saying nothing can go against the Lords plan. which backs up the whole, our plan will fail us. we've got to learn to quit trying to do things our way and do things Gods way.
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Friday, May 18, 2007
l o v e <3
hey y`all
i just got home from recital and we did really good. deanna was there soo, y`all can ask her how i did. haha. well anyway, i did my devotion on love. my favorite love passage in the bible would have to be 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always preserves." this passage tells us what love truly is. If we love someone, we should act this way towards them. 1 Peter 4:8 says, "Above all love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins" which means we need to love everyone because love can triumph over sin :] "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." the most important things in our live are faith hope and love. but as this verse says, the greatest of these IS love. without love, we have nothing. and hatred will surely get us no where. 1 John 4:11 says, "Beloved if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" which means we are to love one another as God loves us. Yes, we should even love our enemies. Ephesians 3:17-19 says, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knoweldge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" which means our faith, is rooted in love, and without love we cannot understand what Jesus is trying to teach us. and on that note...
i love y`all!!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
i just got home from recital and we did really good. deanna was there soo, y`all can ask her how i did. haha. well anyway, i did my devotion on love. my favorite love passage in the bible would have to be 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast. It is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always preserves." this passage tells us what love truly is. If we love someone, we should act this way towards them. 1 Peter 4:8 says, "Above all love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins" which means we need to love everyone because love can triumph over sin :] "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." the most important things in our live are faith hope and love. but as this verse says, the greatest of these IS love. without love, we have nothing. and hatred will surely get us no where. 1 John 4:11 says, "Beloved if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" which means we are to love one another as God loves us. Yes, we should even love our enemies. Ephesians 3:17-19 says, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knoweldge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" which means our faith, is rooted in love, and without love we cannot understand what Jesus is trying to teach us. and on that note...
i love y`all!!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Thursday, May 17, 2007
have compassion!
hey everyone!
sorry my blogs have been so late recently, i've been soo busy with dance lately because its the end of the season. sorry i've yet to finish my 'strength' blog, i'll finish it as soon as i can i promise. so today was a busy day. i had to be at school at 7:30 am for AP exam and then after that i went and visited weston in his 4th period & then it was off to applebees with the girls after that i came home and relaxed for a little bit then i had to run off to dance rehersal and i JUST got home. i dont understand why company has to do rehersal, we've done these dances 5 million times and we've done 4 competitions, which are much more important than recital anyway, but oh well. sorry, i'll stop complaning. Jesus really calmed me before the AP exam today, thanks Jesus:] hes pretty amazing. so anyway, last night my devotion was on compassion. Hebrew 10:24 says, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works" which means we should consider others and love others when we do things. 1 Peter 3:8 says, "Finally, be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another, love as bretheren, be pitiful, be curteous" which means as Christians we should have compassion for one another, and love eachother as family. We need to be curteous and caring and not rude. Colossians 3:12 says, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, honly and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindess, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering" which is telling us we need to be kind to one another, as Christians we should show the world our compassion so they can see God through us. and know that he is real. like many at church say, sometimes our most powerful witnessing tool is our actions. lastly, Micah 6:8 says, "He hath shown thee, o man, what is good and waht doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God" which is saying that God requires us to be compassionate, to be just, and to be humble. As Christians we should live these lives, and i know that it is sometimes hard, but think ab out it, what did Jesus do?
well i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
sorry my blogs have been so late recently, i've been soo busy with dance lately because its the end of the season. sorry i've yet to finish my 'strength' blog, i'll finish it as soon as i can i promise. so today was a busy day. i had to be at school at 7:30 am for AP exam and then after that i went and visited weston in his 4th period & then it was off to applebees with the girls after that i came home and relaxed for a little bit then i had to run off to dance rehersal and i JUST got home. i dont understand why company has to do rehersal, we've done these dances 5 million times and we've done 4 competitions, which are much more important than recital anyway, but oh well. sorry, i'll stop complaning. Jesus really calmed me before the AP exam today, thanks Jesus:] hes pretty amazing. so anyway, last night my devotion was on compassion. Hebrew 10:24 says, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works" which means we should consider others and love others when we do things. 1 Peter 3:8 says, "Finally, be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another, love as bretheren, be pitiful, be curteous" which means as Christians we should have compassion for one another, and love eachother as family. We need to be curteous and caring and not rude. Colossians 3:12 says, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, honly and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindess, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering" which is telling us we need to be kind to one another, as Christians we should show the world our compassion so they can see God through us. and know that he is real. like many at church say, sometimes our most powerful witnessing tool is our actions. lastly, Micah 6:8 says, "He hath shown thee, o man, what is good and waht doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God" which is saying that God requires us to be compassionate, to be just, and to be humble. As Christians we should live these lives, and i know that it is sometimes hard, but think ab out it, what did Jesus do?
well i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
His presence
hey y`all!
today was good. b/c its wednesday and i got to hang out with my fav people at new hope :] & then a bunch of us went and hung out at heritage park. well anyway, im gunna go ahead on to my devotion because mother doesnt want me on long so anyway, i read on God's presence last night....Jerimiah 29:13 says, "And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" which is telling us whenever we need God, and we look for him with all our hearts, he will be there :] James 4:8 says, "Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts ye double minded" James is telling us that if we draw close to God, he'll draw close to us, and to do that we need to repent and not be hypocritical. John 14:18-19 says, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but ye see me because I live ye shall live also" which is telling us Jesus will never leave us and even though he does not walk this earth as a man any longer he is with us in living spirit. and that we can ONLY live through Jesus Christ. Psalm 145:18-19 says, "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him to all that call upon Him in truth He will fufill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry and will save them" which is telling us God is close to all of us that call him in truth and he will always answer our prayers and he will save us :] heres a one everyone knows, Psalm 23:6, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and i will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" which means that if we're saved God will show us goodness and mercy and we also need to be good and show mercy and that we will be in his presence forever! which is a pretty amazing thing when you think about it, being right there with God for all enternity. it certainly is going to be amazing. so basically, God is ALWAYS there. we just have to call upon him. I remember mr allen i think it was saying, Jesus never moves, we often pull ourselves away from him. we should always stay close to Jesus, he makes everything better.
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
today was good. b/c its wednesday and i got to hang out with my fav people at new hope :] & then a bunch of us went and hung out at heritage park. well anyway, im gunna go ahead on to my devotion because mother doesnt want me on long so anyway, i read on God's presence last night....Jerimiah 29:13 says, "And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" which is telling us whenever we need God, and we look for him with all our hearts, he will be there :] James 4:8 says, "Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts ye double minded" James is telling us that if we draw close to God, he'll draw close to us, and to do that we need to repent and not be hypocritical. John 14:18-19 says, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but ye see me because I live ye shall live also" which is telling us Jesus will never leave us and even though he does not walk this earth as a man any longer he is with us in living spirit. and that we can ONLY live through Jesus Christ. Psalm 145:18-19 says, "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him to all that call upon Him in truth He will fufill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry and will save them" which is telling us God is close to all of us that call him in truth and he will always answer our prayers and he will save us :] heres a one everyone knows, Psalm 23:6, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and i will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" which means that if we're saved God will show us goodness and mercy and we also need to be good and show mercy and that we will be in his presence forever! which is a pretty amazing thing when you think about it, being right there with God for all enternity. it certainly is going to be amazing. so basically, God is ALWAYS there. we just have to call upon him. I remember mr allen i think it was saying, Jesus never moves, we often pull ourselves away from him. we should always stay close to Jesus, he makes everything better.
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
through God we are strong!
hey y`all! so today turned out to be pretty icky, but i prayed about stuff, and God showed up :] hes always there. its amazing. i've finally finsihed my huge english project after hours of working on it today. and im super busy for the rest of the week. tomorrow i've got to go shopping for a dance costume, dance, and then church which is def. the best thing of course. and then thursday i have dress rehersal at dance from like 5 until late that night and then friday & saturday i have recital. now- my devotion last night, i typed it all up and then the computer messed up so ill type it up tomorrow because my mother wants me off now, sometimes computers are a pain haha. sorry y`all.
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Monday, May 14, 2007
be enthusiastic!
hey y`all! today was pretty good. first of all, good luck to the guys who are fixin to play softball in 30 mins! i wish i coulda come, but its late. haha. so me & chelsea totally went to the library for like 2 hours after school today, haha. we're such nerds. actually, it felt really awkward. because like, thats totally out of our element. haha. anyways, i did my devotion on enthusiasm! because at church pastor chad, mr allen, everyone really stresses to be enthusastic at worship, b/c thats exactly what God wants!! Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" which says, in other words, whenever we do things we should do things with enthusiasm because were not doing it for other people, we're doing it for Jesus!! and we want to show others what we can do through Jesus and do it to glorify God!! Romans 12:11 says, "Not slothful in buisness; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord" which means we dont need to do things dully and slowly, we need to do them with excitement because we're doing something to serve our living God!! lastly, Ephesians 6:7 which says the exact same thing Colossians 3:23 almost, "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men" which goes back to my first point, we need to do things for God, not for men, and that means doing it enthusiastically with our whole hearts!! because i know it totally excites me when God uses me! i love itt. well ill keep this one short because yesterdays was sooo long haha.
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Sunday, May 13, 2007
i'm home from the beach!!
hey everyone.this blog is going to be a long one, so sit tight, because i've got 3 devotions to write about, anndd my beach trip! first off, the beach was a blast. i got somewhat of a tan, and more so of a sunburn. haha. friday i layed on the beach all day, water was tooo cold. and then we went to broadway at the beach and i got the COOLEST shirt. it says "its all about Jesus" on the back. i cant wait to show it to y`all wednesday! and then after that we went and ate at hardrock cafe which was amazing because theres guitars everywhere. haha. saturday i was on the beach all day again, runnin around with some girls from my team and then we went and ate at the sea captain's house, which is one of the bestt restruants, and its really pretty because out back is the beach so you can go and run around on the beach. i must say though i missed my guitar. anyway, sunday i got up early, and was sore & burnt and got ready & went to compete. we got gold firstplace score [which is like a high gold] in both dances, but we didnt do to hott competitively, 6th place in hiphop & 8th place in contemporary...bleh. anyway, our lyrical team which dances to "how great thou art" did great and i was super excited to see the respons the Christian song got. even the MC said "beautiful music choice" so, you want to see beach pics? heres some:
Broadway at the beach on Friday night. really pretty dont you think??
the dinosaur was pretty terrifying.
Me out on the beach around sunset :]
Me && Eric Claptons guitar at hardrock cafe!
yep now you know im pretty much a dork. anyway, on to my 3 devotions. Thursday night i read about hope. i found a ton of verses, and since this is going to be long already, im just going to listen them and then do an explination, so y`all can look them up so this thing isnt a novel. Colossians 1:5, Psalm 38:15, 1 Corinthians 13:7, 1 Peter 3:15, Jerimiah 17:7, and the last one i am going to type out because it is my favorite. Hebrew 11:1 which says "Faith is the substance of all things hoped for, the evidance of things not seen." anyway, we need to hope in God and we can get through anything. NOTHING is impossible with God. Friday night, i read about optimisim. i have a problem with optimism sometimes, because theres been instances when i've been optimistic about something and been let down, eveyrone has. but i also realized many of those instances i didnt have my faith in Jesus. Psalms says a lot about optimism. again i wont type them all out because that'll make this too long, so, Read Psalm 51:8, Psalm 23:6, and my favorite Psalm 31:24 says, "Be of good courage and, ye shall strengthen your heart, all he that hope in the Lord" which i think is one of my new favorite verses. i think i used it the other day to help my friend Alex out, or one similar too it. if your down, remember, be optimistic. if we have courage that God will help us, our heart will strengthen, and i know teenagers get broken hearts, but if we put our hope in God and are optimistic about things then our hearts will be strong, less easy to break. Dont look at the bad side of things, hear the joy and gladness of it, dont dwell on pessimistic situations and ideas. We need to have optimisim about our lives, that Jesus will be there for us through it all and he'll give us goodness and mercy in our lives. okay now this thing is getting to be extremely long, so ill try to elaborate more tomorrow if i dont think this is sufficent. anyway, Saturday night i read about setting an example. heres the verses i read, look them up, i'd type them all out but then this will be entirely too long. Hebrew 12:1, Titus 2:7, 1 Corinthians 4:20, and my favorite, which i will type out, Matthew 5 verses 14 and 16. Matt. 5:14 says, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid" and Matt. 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they make see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven" which pretty much sums up this whole example thing. We should not juts say we're Christians, but act the part. Like many of the preachers at new hope have said, sometimes the best way to witness is through our actions. We need to show others good works that glorify God, and show others we dont do things for ourselves, but for the glory of God so that they may do things that glorify God too :] im really sorry i couldnt type all these verses out but this is really long haha. i hope y`all enjoyed it and if you have any questions leave me a comment or im me at love x guitar on AIM and i`ll answer:]
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Thursday, May 10, 2007
have a problem? turn it to Jesus!
hey y`all! today was good. just the usual day. i just listened to Pastor Chad's sermon from the week i missed a few weeks ago for that dance competition the one called "the begining of the end" it was really good! im leaving for the beach tomorrow morning so pray for me :] i'll miss y`all sunday morningg but ill def. be back wednesday to go to Sonic! haha. again mr allen-dont leave me!! haha. so anyway, i havent had that many problems lately, thanks to Jesus, but i got to thinking about how everytime i have one that Jesus helps me through it, so i did my devotion on problems in hopes that someone going through a problem can read this and that it will help them :] Psalm 34:19 says, "Many are the afflictions of the rigtheous: but the Lord deliverieth him out of them all" which says, yes, we have many afflictions, but the Lord will get us through them all. so we just need to put our faith in Jesus, and know that everything will turn out okay! Isaiah 43:2-3 says, "When thou passest through the fire, thou shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For i am the Lord thy God the Holy one of Isreal thy Savior i gave egypt for thy ransom, etheopiea, and seba for thee." which means when we go through problems dont it wont scar us, and we shouldnt let it bother us because Jesus is there. and then Matthew 11:28-30, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rexst unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" which is telling us to turn to God, and he will give us rest. so basically, in any problem turn to God and he will help you through it. with God you can get through anything, and alot easier than you can get yourself through it :]
i dont know if i'll be able to post tomorrow, but ill try to when i get up!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
i dont know if i'll be able to post tomorrow, but ill try to when i get up!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
spiritual growth!
hey y`all! today was a good day! b/c its wednesday and i got to go to church and learn about Jesus calming storms! though i kindah wondered where some people were! it was nice to see thomas brought his sister, shes really nice! anyway, i did my devotion last night about spiritual growth because i've grown in God a lot lately. 2 Timothy 2:22 says, "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" which is telling us that if we want to grow with God we need to let go of lusts and follow righteousness, faith, love, and peace. It also says we need to surround ourselves with people that also have grown or are growing in God, which goes back to the fellowship thing i wrote about yesterday. Hebrews 6:1 also says, "Therefore leaving the priniciples of the doctrine of Christ let us go on unto perfectionl not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God" which is telling us that we need to continute to grow in Christ and to learn new things not just keep repenting for the same things that became dead when we accepted Christ anyway. We need to work toward being more Christlike. Also, Ephesians 3:19 says, "And to know the love of Christ which passeth knoweldge, that ye might be filled with the fullness of God" which means if we know about Christ and know how much he loves us we will grow and be "filled with the fullness of God" spritual growth is a wonderful thing and its def. happening to me as i speak, its amazing to see myself becomming closer & closer to God and i love to watch others grow to see what God is doing in there lives!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
fellowship
hey y`all!
today was the usual day, except savannah cotton, a girl on our dance team hurt her knee really bad so i sat in the doctors office with her for like an hour, please pray for her because we really need her Sunday at Showstopper, and because shes in a lot of pain...thanks! so my devotion...i read on fellowship last night, because its one of my favorite things to do & i wanted to see what the bible had to say about it! 1 John 2:10 says, "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbiling in him." which means if we love others we will be in the light and they cant make us stumble, we should hang around other Christians for they will not tempt us to do unchristlike things. 1 Corinthinas 1:10 says, "Now I beseech you bretheren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" which tells that as fellow Christians in the church we should agree with one another and not be divided so we can think alike and do a better job of spreading Gods word! The next one is one of my favorites. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, "But ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what comminion hath light with darkness?" which is telling us not to surround ourselves with people that dont believe in God, not that we shouldnt talk to non-Christians we just should not adopt their ways and we shouldnt hang around them to where they could influence us, we should hang around those who are righteous and love God as we do. We shouldnt become partners with those who reject God just like light is not best friends with darkness. but we should always tell non-believers about Jesus. and one more, 1 Peter 3:8 says, "Finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as bretheren, be pitiful, be courteous" which tells us that we should live in harmony with one another, we should get along and not argue, and we should love eachother and have sympathy towards one another!
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
today was the usual day, except savannah cotton, a girl on our dance team hurt her knee really bad so i sat in the doctors office with her for like an hour, please pray for her because we really need her Sunday at Showstopper, and because shes in a lot of pain...thanks! so my devotion...i read on fellowship last night, because its one of my favorite things to do & i wanted to see what the bible had to say about it! 1 John 2:10 says, "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbiling in him." which means if we love others we will be in the light and they cant make us stumble, we should hang around other Christians for they will not tempt us to do unchristlike things. 1 Corinthinas 1:10 says, "Now I beseech you bretheren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" which tells that as fellow Christians in the church we should agree with one another and not be divided so we can think alike and do a better job of spreading Gods word! The next one is one of my favorites. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, "But ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what comminion hath light with darkness?" which is telling us not to surround ourselves with people that dont believe in God, not that we shouldnt talk to non-Christians we just should not adopt their ways and we shouldnt hang around them to where they could influence us, we should hang around those who are righteous and love God as we do. We shouldnt become partners with those who reject God just like light is not best friends with darkness. but we should always tell non-believers about Jesus. and one more, 1 Peter 3:8 says, "Finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as bretheren, be pitiful, be courteous" which tells us that we should live in harmony with one another, we should get along and not argue, and we should love eachother and have sympathy towards one another!
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Monday, May 7, 2007
forgiveness
hey y`all!!
today was pretty good. sorry i didnt make it to the softball game. omgosh weston buzzed his head, needless to say, i about had a cow at lunch. haha. i couldnt even walk up to him b/c i didnt know what to say, i just turned around & walked away before i got to him. haha. i cant believe he did that. since most of you dont know weston, lets just say he used to have really great hair. and well its all gone now. anyway, onto my devotion from last night. i did it on forgiveness, which David preached on a couple weeks ago. anyway, Matthew 6:14-15 says, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses" which is telling us if we cant forgive others, then God cant forgive us. Also, we need to realize, everyone makes mistakes, and if we dont forgive others for their mistakes, then how can God forgive us for ours?? Also, Colossians 3:13-14 says, "For bearing one another, and forgiving one aonother if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgaive you also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." which means when we fight with others we should forgive them as Christ has forgiven us for all the times we disobey him and we not only need to forgive them, we need to love them. think about it, is it better to hold a grudge or to just forgive and move on?? it goes back to the age-old question...What Would Jesus Do?? which we need to ask ourselves in all sitations. Ephesians 4:32 says, "And be ye kind one to another tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hat forgiven you" we need to be kind to everyone and forgive eachother. now i've struggled greatly with forgivness in the past, its extremely hard to forgive someone who has greatly wronged you, but think about it, we greatly wrong Jesus everyday, but when we ask for forgiveness, and really mean it, he forgives us no matter what we do. It took me a long time to forgive some people...but i have finally forgiven them, after Davids sermon, it really helped me. so, forgive those who wrong you, because its like a ton more stress to hold a grudge!!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
today was pretty good. sorry i didnt make it to the softball game. omgosh weston buzzed his head, needless to say, i about had a cow at lunch. haha. i couldnt even walk up to him b/c i didnt know what to say, i just turned around & walked away before i got to him. haha. i cant believe he did that. since most of you dont know weston, lets just say he used to have really great hair. and well its all gone now. anyway, onto my devotion from last night. i did it on forgiveness, which David preached on a couple weeks ago. anyway, Matthew 6:14-15 says, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses" which is telling us if we cant forgive others, then God cant forgive us. Also, we need to realize, everyone makes mistakes, and if we dont forgive others for their mistakes, then how can God forgive us for ours?? Also, Colossians 3:13-14 says, "For bearing one another, and forgiving one aonother if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgaive you also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." which means when we fight with others we should forgive them as Christ has forgiven us for all the times we disobey him and we not only need to forgive them, we need to love them. think about it, is it better to hold a grudge or to just forgive and move on?? it goes back to the age-old question...What Would Jesus Do?? which we need to ask ourselves in all sitations. Ephesians 4:32 says, "And be ye kind one to another tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hat forgiven you" we need to be kind to everyone and forgive eachother. now i've struggled greatly with forgivness in the past, its extremely hard to forgive someone who has greatly wronged you, but think about it, we greatly wrong Jesus everyday, but when we ask for forgiveness, and really mean it, he forgives us no matter what we do. It took me a long time to forgive some people...but i have finally forgiven them, after Davids sermon, it really helped me. so, forgive those who wrong you, because its like a ton more stress to hold a grudge!!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
good morning!
hey everyone. i havent posted in second period in awhile, and i had nothing to do today, so i figured i'd post :] i did my devotion on forgiveness last night, but i dont have my book with me, as usual, so y`all will hear about it when i get home:]] me and chelsea were late to first period this morning haha b/c we ran to the bathroom with 4 minutes until the bell rang so chelsea could change and i could call someone back...haha, we have the dumbest ideas sometimes. if y`all havent been to the NHBC website lately, rachel updated the youth page! theres a picture of mitchell on there that makes me laugh because his expression is like "why in the world are you taking a picture of me? stop." haha. and then theres like pics from meltdown of the girls in the youth group and the guys in the youth group except joey is in the girls picture. haha. i apologize for the praiseband last night, the band did great, sorry about the singing, Noone Like You is a hard song to sing for us because its really loud and we cant hear ourselves, and then we didnt get a chance to practice Breathe, soo, sorry y`all!! oh btw, thanks mr allen, david, willie, && kim for signing my yearbook!! i might be commin to watch the guys play softball tonight, but i dont know yet. i wont be here this sunday because ill be in myrtle beach because i have a dance competition soo...sorry y`all! i was gunna bring ashley but she cant go so idk who im gunna bring now...probably nobody since its such short notice. sorry i wont be posting in my blog saturday for sure, i might get one in friday morning if i wake up early enough, and ill def. update y`all sunday night! btw, dont you just love it when you hear from Jesus? i know i do :]
well ill post when i get home!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
well ill post when i get home!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Sunday, May 6, 2007
his timing
hey y`all! todays been a good day of course :] i spent it all day at church!! Pastor Chad's sermon was greatt. and it was kindah cool to go into the small groups and decide on new things to do for worship! well anyway, my devotion was on God's Timing last night. Psalm 27:14, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." which tells us, good thigns will come to those to wait :] we have to realize that things dont happen on our time, they happen on God's time. Also, Isaiah 49:8, "Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I hard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages" which means he hears us but on his time. And lastly, 1 Peter 5:6 says, "Humble youreslves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time" if we humble ourselves to God he will exalt us, but we have to wait on his time, not on our own time. The thing is, when we pray to God, he WILL answer us, we just have to wait on his time, because he'll answer us when it is best for us, even if we dont always think so. Good things come to those who wait :]] sometimes its hard to wait on his time, i know its been hard for me many times when i've wanted something right away and i've had to wait, but everything was all the better when i did wait, and you realize Gods time is ALWAYS the best time!
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Saturday, May 5, 2007
and i will lift my hands and pray
hey y`all. today has been pretty much uneventful, i've just talked on the phone this morning. haha. idk what im doin later, and then i think im going to my friend Jennifers partay. im going to the beach on friday, so i wont be in church that sunday, and ashley might be commin with me so...we're sorry youth bandd!! anyway, i did my devotion on prayer last night :]] prayer is the most powerful tool we have as Christians, its how we communicate with God! So, Matthew 21:22 says, "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall recieve" which tells us that God will answer all of our prayers, but we have to believe in him. James 5:16 says, "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" which tells us to pray for our friends and that the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful and effective. we should always be in prayer for our friends, and we've decided that me & ashley & candace & rachel are prayer partners so we get together and tell eachother what we need prayed for :]] i really like it. One more verse i read on prayer was Romans 12:12 which says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" which is about more than prayer, but its a reallyyy good verse. we really do need to be joyful and not pessimistic. And even though we go through afflictions, we have to be patient, and God will get us through them:]]. and most importantly, we must be faithful in prayer. we have to believe with all our hearts that God will answer our prayers! try it :] get a prayer group together like we did, it really helps :]]
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
i love y`all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Friday, May 4, 2007
doubts...
hey y`all!
today was pretty awesome...it was yearbook day and so we didnt do anything in class all day long, but the only thing that wasnt cool is that i didnt get any of my bestest friends to sign my year book yet, but i'll get 'em to on monday!! so anyway, pray that chelsea & kelly are safe at the beach y`all :]] so anyway, on to my devotion, i read on doubts last night, so i could stay strong through trials, and not doubt my God. I read Psalm 94:19, "In the multitude of my throughts within me thy comforts delight my soul." which means whenever we have alot of thoughts or doubts running through our mind that God can comfort us. i also read about the story where Peter walked on water which is in Matthew 14:29-32, "And he said, come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the wather, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterious, he was afraid; and begining to sink, he cried saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased." so basically, through Jesus you can accomplish the impossible, until you doubt him. once we doubt him, we will start to sink like Peter did. and i dont want that. it helped me to realize that everythings gunna be okay just as long as i dont doubt Jesus, and as long as i know he'll always be there and he'll get me through any trial i am going through. Pastor Chad i really enjoyed your blog today!! and Mr allen, yours was really good too!
well i will talk to y`all tomorrow
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
today was pretty awesome...it was yearbook day and so we didnt do anything in class all day long, but the only thing that wasnt cool is that i didnt get any of my bestest friends to sign my year book yet, but i'll get 'em to on monday!! so anyway, pray that chelsea & kelly are safe at the beach y`all :]] so anyway, on to my devotion, i read on doubts last night, so i could stay strong through trials, and not doubt my God. I read Psalm 94:19, "In the multitude of my throughts within me thy comforts delight my soul." which means whenever we have alot of thoughts or doubts running through our mind that God can comfort us. i also read about the story where Peter walked on water which is in Matthew 14:29-32, "And he said, come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the wather, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterious, he was afraid; and begining to sink, he cried saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased." so basically, through Jesus you can accomplish the impossible, until you doubt him. once we doubt him, we will start to sink like Peter did. and i dont want that. it helped me to realize that everythings gunna be okay just as long as i dont doubt Jesus, and as long as i know he'll always be there and he'll get me through any trial i am going through. Pastor Chad i really enjoyed your blog today!! and Mr allen, yours was really good too!
well i will talk to y`all tomorrow
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Thursday, May 3, 2007
trust in Jesus :]
hey everyone. today was alot better than yesterday. well i gotta hurry up and write about my devotion because i have to get off soon, so last night i read about trusting God. and heres what i found, Psalm 125:1, which says, "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever" if we trust in God, we will be forever:] i also read, Romans 1:17 which says, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written the just shall live by faith" which says that if we have faith in God he will reveal things to us and if we wan to be Just we should live by faith. Our relgion really has nothing without trust in God because we cant see him, but we have to have faith that he is there. Also, John 14:1-2, which says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." Which Jesus is telling us dont let our hearts be troubled, we should trust in God when we have hard times and trust that he'll get us through them. God is absolutely amazing and if you put all your trust in him, he can get you through anything. We also have to trust that NOTHING is impossible with God. He wouldnt ask us to do things that we can accomplish on our own. Face it, we need God to make it through life, and the sooner we realize it, the better :]]
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
decisions
hey everyone! i just got home from church, there was a little drama, but its resovled...thanks willie. i love my girls even if we fight sometimes. ashley rachel candace katie- i love y`all, y`all are the best ever. there was also other drama, the usual, but im praying about it and i know that Jesus will get me through it. so im not worried. hes already given me someone who always shows up when i need him, kody davis, i dont know what i'd do without that kid sometimes. anyway, i did my devotion on decisions last night because of that girl that talked to me last night, and her problem with a decision, so i wanted to see what the bible had to say about it. this is what i found: James 1:5-6 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." which basically tells us that if we ask God for guidance, he will give it to us, but we have to have complete faith in him and it will happen, but if we waver and loose faith, then he cant help us with our decisions. so when we have a difficult decision we need to go to God and have faith in him completely and he will give us the wisdom we need to make the right decision. I also read Matthew 6:33 which says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" so this one says if we have a decision we have to make seek God first, not as a last resort, and we will gain what we want, if God wants it for us!
well ill ttyl
i love you all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
well ill ttyl
i love you all
God Bless!
- crystal jade
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
we know Jesus...but do they?
hey y`all!! today was pretty good, but just the normal, boring day at school. i did wear one of my new dresses though, i love it :] i miss everyone at church and cant wait to go back tomorrow :]. not to enthused about having dance tomorrow though, its entirely tooo hott. haha. well anyway i read John 15:26-16:4 last night. it says, "But when the comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the father, he shall testify of me. And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the begining. These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yeah the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service And these things will they have not known have I told you that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you all of them. And these things I said not unto you at the begining, because I was with you." these verses talk about how Jesus's follows wouldnt have it easy. they'd be persecuted by those who do not know Jesus Christ, and do not recognize his voice like we do. People who dont know Jesus may be uncomfortable or have something against us, i have been in that situation. and even though some people may call us weird, or Jesus freaks, im happy to say, i am proud to be labeled a Jesus freak. i figure if they're gunna label me a freak, might as well be after the one who died for me :]] so the fact is, that we have to hold on to our faith and not deny God even when we're persecuted by others, because they cant take our faith from us. and we need to pray for those who persecute us, and hope that they one day too will hear Jesus's voice. OH! and i'll tell y`all about this now. something great just happened to me, this girl that my friend alex knows came to me asking me about this guy shes talking to, now i dont know her, but i know the guy and so she wanted to see what i thought of him as a boyfriend for her, and God totally spoke through me. She was really confused about which guy she wanted and i really wanted to help her out, so i told her to pray about it, but she had to listen to what God tells her, and she asked me about listening to God, and told me she never understood how to listen, so i was able to read her Proverbs 3:5-6 and explain them, which helped her a great deal and she thanked me and she says shes gunna start reading her bible everynight now!! so i wanna thank Jesus for using me to speak through, and i told her it was all him haha im just the messenger, so hopefully this girl will grow in her relationship with God, shes a fairly young Christian. so all of you, pray for her, okay?
well ill talk to y`all tomorrow!
i love you all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
well ill talk to y`all tomorrow!
i love you all!
God Bless!
- crystal jade
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