If I Could Ask God Just One Question: 80 Answers to Teens' Most-Asked Questions
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If I Could Ask God Just One Question: 80 Answers to Teens' Most-Asked Questions
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781634098304 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Barbour Publishing, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 04/01/2016 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 192 |
| File size: | 897 KB |
Read an Excerpt
If I Could Ask God Just One Question
80 Answers to Teens' Most-Asked Questions
By Greg Johnson
Barbour Publishing Inc.
Copyright © 2016 Back to the BibleAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63409-830-4
CHAPTER 1
SO MANY THINGS TRY TO CROWD GOD OUT OF MY LIFE. I'VE GOT SCHOOL, HOMEWORK, VOLLEYBALL, AND A JOB AT BURGER KING. EVEN CHURCH ACTIVITIES KEEP ME BUSY. HOW MUCH OF ME DOES GOD WANT?
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights."
1 Samuel 8:4–9
The answer is, God wants all of you. God does not want to be just another addition to your life — he wants everything you do to revolve around him!
Bike tires are only as strong as the hub of the wheel. If a tire were made up only of rim and spokes, the wheel would soon collapse under the constant pounding and pressure.
The spokes in our lives are those things you mentioned that are important to us, like family, friends, school, sports, and entertainment. If our lives revolve around any one of these "spokes," eventually the constant pounding and pressures of our world will wear us down and possibly cause us to collapse.
God knows this and has provided the strong center that will hold us together. By ignoring God and trying to run our own lives, we will be living as though we believe the spokes are strong enough to carry us.
For centuries the Jewish people complained to God and asked him for a king to rule over them. What they were actually saying was, "God, since we can't see you, we can't trust you to take care of us. Give us someone we can see who will rule over us." Eventually God gave in to their request. The results, however, were devastating. Because they put their focus on what a man could do for them (a weak "spoke"), their enemies soon overpowered the entire nation until all of the people of Israel were forced to live away from the Promised Land.
The Old Testament graphically describes what happened when God's people rejected him from being their leader (the hub). Jesus Christ should be the hub of our lives. This means that we should consult him and his Word first, especially as we start adding "spokes" to our lives.
Let me first talk about formal times with God. Really, the only way to stay consistent is accountability — that is, having someone ask you about how things are going. Without those gentle reminders, we simply forget or our time with God gets pushed aside. Can your mom do that in a gentle way? I'm sure she doesn't need something else to remind you about, but it might even help her, too. Maybe you could challenge each other. If not her, how about your youth leader or the wife of your youth leader, or one of the sponsors at your church? Maybe you have a close friend who has the same struggle to whom you could be accountable.
I have had the most success by placing my formal time of Bible reading and prayer between two things I do every day: shower and breakfast, or breakfast and leaving for work.
But there is a bigger question here. Does God just want five or ten minutes of our day, or does he want us to think about him and talk with him throughout the day?
God wants our whole day, not a small portion. I have come to realize that spending ten minutes with God does not make me spiritual. Though spending time with God is essential for Christians, it is just as important that we recognize him all day. And that is not as hard as it might seem. I find myself thanking him all day long, asking him for help with things, or just remembering that God who made the whole universe lives inside me. That has revolutionized my relationship with him. I really have felt that he is with me.
When things begin to crowd out your relationship with God, try writing down all of your priorities. Ask a trusted Christian friend if any one of these "spokes" is taking the place of God in your life.
CHAPTER 2I'VE BEEN A CHRISTIAN FOR ABOUT TWO MONTHS, AND I FEEL SO FAR BEHIND SPIRITUALLY, ESPECIALLY COMPARED TO FRIENDS WHO HAVE BEEN CHRISTIANS FOR A LOT LONGER. SOMETIMES IT GETS PRETTY DISCOURAGING. THEY KNOW ALL OF THE RIGHT WORDS, THEY PRAY BETTER, AND THEY CAN FIND THINGS IN THEIR BIBLE. HOW DO I CATCH UP?
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6–7
We live in a world that makes it nearly impossible not to compare ourselves with others. Whether it's looks, clothes, athletic abilities, or other talents, it seems everyone's goal is to be up to, or beyond, someone else's level.
Sometimes we even compare our lives as Christians to others' lives. You must, however, fight this urge and recognize two essential facts. First, receiving forgiveness for our sins and asking Christ to come into our lives is like having a seed planted in our hearts (see 1 Corinthians 3:6). Any seed planted must first take root before it grows and blossoms.
Do you remember in first grade when you planted a seed in a clear plastic cup? If the seed was planted close enough to the edge, you would see that the roots would grow downward first; then a few days later a plant would appear above the dirt. It was miraculous!
The only difference between you and your friends is that they have had more time to spread their roots down deep. They have lived longer in "vital union with him" and have "draw[n] up nourishment from him" for a longer period of time (Colossians 2:6–7 TLB).
When you took the first step of faith to trust Christ with your life, that was like the seed being planted. From that point on, it's up to you and God to nourish the seed. Rooting your new relationship with Christ nourishes your faith. This means getting to know God better through reading and obeying his Word — the Bible (see Romans 10:17).
Second, God doesn't compare one Christian to another. So don't you try. That would be like a father wanting his two-year-old son to throw a baseball as well as his nine-year-old. He can't. As Christians, we never get to a point where we have reached perfection and are totally mature. But our love and appreciation for God can always grow deeper as he shows us new areas in our lives to trust him with.
Enjoy these beginning stages of your faith by taking in all of the spiritual nourishment you can handle. Remember, the stronger and deeper your roots grow below the surface, the more beautiful and fruitful you will be as a Christian (see John 15:4–5).
CHAPTER 3SINCE BECOMING A CHRISTIAN, IT SEEMS LIKE I'M ALWAYS FIGHTING CERTAIN THOUGHTS AND HABITS THAT I NEVER USED TO GIVE A SECOND THOUGHT.
I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can't. I do what I don't want to — what I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking. But I can't help myself, because I'm no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can't make myself do right. I want to but I can't. When I want to do good, I don't; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. Now if I am doing what I don't want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
Romans 7:15–21 TLB
Picture your life as a door. Before you became a Christian, your sins were like nails pounded into the door and left there. When you asked Christ to forgive you, all of the nails you had collected were removed. Unfortunately, what was left was a door full of holes, not very pleasant to look at and not very useful.
But God began patching up the holes. More accurately, he began to heal the scars left by sin so the door looked unscarred even after years of constant pounding. We can truly become a new creation (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).
That is why it is so important for people to come to know Christ's forgiveness early in life. Because we inherited a sinful nature from Adam (see Romans 5:12), time and wrong choices can pound some pretty large nails into our lives. And those scars may take longer to heal.
What you are experiencing is a new sensitivity to sin. Since sin wants to "drive a hole" in you, and Christ wants to keep you unscarred by the effects of sin, ignoring the constant pounding is no longer comfortable. Confessing your sin, I hope you are aware, will always remove the nail (see 1 John 1:9).
This new sensitivity to sin means two things. First, it's a definite sign that God's Holy Spirit has truly entered your life (see Romans 8:9). It's likely you would still be numb to the nails (sin) if you had rejected Christ's forgiveness.
Second, it means that God is reminding you of his great love (see Romans 8:38–39). God is now using your conscience to advise you where you could stray off course. He doesn't want you to be left scarred by the consequences of your sin, so he begins at the source of it — your thought life.
CHAPTER 4I LIKE THE IDEA OF HAVING A PERSONAL FAITH IN GOD. WHAT I DON'T LIKE IS HAVING TO GO TO CHURCH WITH A BUNCH OF OLDER PEOPLE. WHY CAN'T THERE BE A CHURCH WITH JUST KIDS MY OWN AGE?
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:23–25
Imagine growing up without a family. It's tough to think of life without at least one parent who really cares.
Now imagine growing up with just brothers and sisters in the house and no parents at all. For a day or two, it may seem like heaven, but very soon you would see it's chaos. Eventually you would miss having someone to take care of your basic needs like laundry, meals, cable and cell phone bills, perhaps an occasional hug or listening ear.
Families are designed to take care of your daily needs and to give you the continual love and guidance you need as you are growing up. Plus, because they have been around longer, your mom or dad often know what to do when a tough circumstance comes up (as much as you may hate to admit it).
Jude 21 (TLB) says to "stay always within the boundaries where God's love can reach and bless you."
Church is our spiritual family that provides that safe boundary where God's love can reach us. If we stay away, we are left to try to survive by ourselves. If all we had around were other kids, church would be like a house with no adults. Pretty soon we would recognize that many of our needs were not getting met.
The church, like the family, can often be underappreciated for the role it plays in our spiritual growth. Some Christians don't recognize its influence until years later, when they realize they would still be spiritual babies without the church's influence and love.
Many years ago I entered a ministry where I had to raise my own support. God had laid it on my heart to reach non-Christian teens and provided an organization to work with to accomplish this important mission. I had only been in my home church a few years when God put this call on my life, so I didn't know how they would respond. The church was more traditional, and it had a lot of older people whom I didn't know. But when the pastor told the congregation I was giving my life to the ministry, people came from everywhere to support my ministry faithfully for years. Many became close friends. They prayed, they gave, they sent encouraging letters.
The point is, God uses the local church family in ways you won't believe. He knows what your needs are not only today but also in the future. If you are plugged into a church, then God has a way to meet your needs.
CHAPTER 5PRAYER IS CONFUSING. WITH SO MANY THINGS OUT THERE THAT I WANT AND SO MANY THINGS I KNOW I NEED, HOW DO I KNOW WHAT TO ASK GOD FOR?
Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for — both wealth and honor — so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings."
1 Kings 3:3–13
Do you realize your mom is faced with the same issue every time she goes to the grocery store? She knows what you want to eat, but she buys (mostly) what you need to eat. Her experience as a "home engineer" keeps you healthy!
God also wants you to be healthy. He knows exactly what to give you and when to give it to you. Jesus said, "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:9–11).
Your mother was probably very glad when you asked for an apple for a snack instead of ice cream (has that day come?). It shows that you are becoming aware of what it will take to keep yourself healthy. Though ice cream tastes better, apples are far better for you.
Our requests to God can sometimes be very selfish, centered only on what we want and not on what we need. God the Father longs for the day when we ask him for what we really need or, better yet, what others need.
Solomon had the privilege of asking for anything he wanted from God. Of all of the choices available to him, Solomon made the one that was most pleasing to God. He asked for wisdom. God responded by giving Solomon more wisdom than any other man, and God gave him riches and honor as well so that others could benefit from the wisdom God gave him.
Selfish prayers are rarely answered yes by God because he loves us too much. Although a child whines for candy an hour before dinner, a wise parent will always say no. The best things to pray for are those that will ultimately help other people. A perfect example is to ask for the health of someone who is sick. While it may not be God's will to heal everyone immediately, God is still in the business of healing body and soul.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from If I Could Ask God Just One Question by Greg Johnson. Copyright © 2016 Back to the Bible. Excerpted by permission of Barbour Publishing Inc..
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