Conversations with Jesus. Getting in on God's Story

146 Pages·2009·1.74 MB·English

by  Youth For Christ

ZONDERVAN
Conversations with Jesus: Getting in on God’s Story
Copyright ©2006 by Youth for Christ
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-
exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-
screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded,
decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information
storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or
mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written
permission of Zondervan.
ePub Edition July 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-85148-6
Youth Specialties products, 300 South Pierce Street, El Cajon, CA 92020 are
published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, MI
49530.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Conversations with Jesus : connecting my story with God’s story / by Youth for
Christ.
p. cm.
“A 3story devotional.”
ISBN-10: 0-310-27346-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-27346-2
1. Youth—Prayer-books and devotions—English. I. Youth for Christ/USA.
BV4531.3.C66 2006
242’.63—dc22
2006014796
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy
Bible: New International Version (North American Edition), copyright ©1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic,
mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—(except for brief quotations in
printed reviews) without the prior permission of the publisher.
Any Web site addresses listed in this book were current at the time of
publication. Please contact Youth Specialties via e-mail
([email protected]) to report URLs that are no longer operational and
replacement URLs if available.
Creative Team: Dave Urbanski, Kristi Robison, Heather Haggerty, Janie
Wilkerson, and Mark Novelli, IMAGO MEDIA
Cover design by Gearbox
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Page
Welcome to Our Story, from One of the “Group of Listeners”
Devotional 1: You Are Never Alone
Devotional 2: Leaving the Past Where It Belongs
Devotional 3: Note to Self
Devotional 4: Happiness Is Overrated
Devotional 5: Abide Is an Action Word
Devotional 6: Experiencing God’s Peace in the Middle of Worry
Devotional 7: Risk the Relationship
Devotional 8: Contentment Only Comes from Christ
Devotional 9: No Fear of Failure
Devotional 10: Picking Up the Pieces of a Broken Heart
Devotional 11: Receiving Encouragement Instead of Despair
Devotional 12: Be Who You Are
Devotional 13: No Reason to Quit
Devotional 14: Why Is God Smiling?
Devotional 15: Someone in Heaven Loves You
Devotional 16: You Are…
Devotional 17: No Junk
Devotional 18: Never Enough
Devotional 19: Live Free
Devotional 20: What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?
Devotional 21: Unlikely Heroes
Devotional 22: The Greatest Power
Devotional 23: God Speaks through You
Devotional 24: The Best Feeling in the World
Devotional 25: Fearing for Your Life
Devotional 26: Life in Exile
Devotional 27: Overcoming the Beast Within
Devotional 28: The Power of Presence
Devotional 29: Love Wins
Devotional 30: Your Reservations Are Confirmed
Devotional 31: Life Outside the Bubble
Devotional 32: Suffering Can Serve You
Devotional 33: The Opposition
Devotional 34: Jesus Has Faith in Us
Devotional 35: The Benefits of Brokenness
Devotional 36: Are You for Real?
Devotional 37: Love Doesn’t Come Easily
Devotional 38: For a High-Mileage Heart
Devotional 39: Stay Tuned
Devotional 40: The Story You Live In
Devotional 41: Walk in the Truth
Devotional 42: Looking in the Mirror and Seeing Jesus
Devotional 43: Don’t Just Know It…Live It
Devotional 44: Protection from Temptation
Devotional 45: It’s All about Him
Devotional 46: Your Only Weapon
Devotional 47: Dance with Me
Devotional 48: Praying 24/7
Devotional 49: Make Peace with Your Past
Devotional 50: Be the Friend You’d Want to Have
Devotional 51: Too Soon to Quit
Devotional 52: Wiped Clean
Devotional 53: It Goes Beyond Love
Devotional 54: The Rumor of Jesus
Devotional 55: True Satisfaction
Devotional 56: Whom Can I Count On?
Devotional 57: Rescue from Depression
Devotional 58: Yes, You’re a Failure—but You’re in Good Company!
Devotional 59: Safe Sex
Devotional 60: How Can I Know That Heaven and Hell Are Real?
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Our Story,from One of the “Group of
Listeners”
This little book is not an ordinary book. We believe God speaks clearly
through his Word and through his Spirit. Are you listening? Join us on a great
adventure. The living Christ speaks today. He still guides the humble. No
detail of our stories escapes his concern. He is lovingly attentive to his
creation, even you and me!
Last fall we decided to listen better to the One who speaks quiet words of
love. We wondered if it was okay to put those words in writing for others to
read. We weren’t sure if we’d be offending God by making it look like we
thought we could speak for him. (Who can actually speak for God? Only God,
right?) After lots of prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit, we decided to take
the risk.
My friend Kate listens to Jesus much more carefully than anyone I know.
She’s teaching me to listen better. She’s humble in her listening. Kate thinks we
can all hear from God’s Spirit on a regular basis. I’m starting to believe her. I’m
hearing his voice more. Our group of listeners is hearing his voice more, too.
Since I’m still a beginner in the listening process, the idea of messages that
might come from Jesus seems wild, heroic, even scary. When you consider that
God Almighty might really want to say something important to you right now,
today—WOW! That is freaky! And thrilling.
Our group of listeners decided to take the plunge into God’s Word and
urgently seek him by listening and waiting before we put anything to pen and
paper. It’s not been easy. Some of us struggled with spiritual battles and attacks
on our souls and in the lives of our families. We felt the weight of listening to
God on behalf of others like you. We hope God will be honored by the work of
our ears, our hearts, and our words.
Certainly we aren’t in any advanced state of spiritual growth, but we have
made progress toward Jesus individually and together. The idea we pursued was
abiding in Jesus and in his love. We wanted to connect our stories more
intimately with God’s story. That’s abiding. Listening to God is one powerful
way of abiding in Christ. Check out what Jesus says in John 15 about abiding:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself,
unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I
am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If
you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you. As the Father has loved me, so have I
loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will
abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and
abide in his love. (4-5, 7, 9-10, ESV)
The tender understanding and compassion of Jesus Christ is filling our hearts
in new ways; his loving conviction is correcting us every day; his joy and his
sorrow are enabling us to receive his love. He is causing his love to overflow
from him to us and then into a broken world where our friends and family
members need him as much as we do.
We thank you for seeking Jesus Christ with us. We are in God’s good hands
together.
Our group of listeners was Tara Posen, Mike Klassen, Jack Crabtree, Dan
Wolgemuth, Don Talley, Jennifer Morgan, Julie Conner, and Greg Boyer. The
listeners relied on God’s holy writ-ten Word for the content of the messages and
the guidance of the Holy Spirit to hear his voice clearly.
Youth editors: Jay Alsdorf, Lauren Conner, Trevor Conner, Emily Donder,
Brandon Harrigan, Julie Krogh, Gina Krogh, Alex Krohn, Brittany Poyer,
Corinn Rotter, and Daniel Schlereth.