by Ken Turner | Faith
How’s it going with your parents? Has it ever occurred to you that there are over 7 billion people on the earth and of all the billions of people you could have as family, God placed you right where you are for a purpose. According to the BBC Website’s calculator on “where do you fit in to human life” I was the 3,173,426,221st person alive on Earth and 76,947,364,311th person to have lived since history began.
When you think about where you fit in to God’s plan for eternity, don’t ignore the fact that God has a plan for you and part of that plan is for you to gain wisdom. Have you noticed that you know more today than you did three years ago? That’s because you are older, smarter and hopefully wiser. So let’s talk about the “wiser” part for a minute. Are you really getting wiser? I hope so. If you are going to become a wise person you need to understand where wisdom comes from.
One of the greatest sources of wisdom God puts into our life is the wisdom we gain from our parents.
Here is an interesting truth from Proverbs 1:8-9.
“My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.”
Here are three ways to be right with your parents and in doing so… be right with God.
- Hear The Instruction of Your Father. God placed your dad in your life to guide you and teach you and its God’s plan that you will become a wise person as a result of being teachable.
- Don’t Forsake the Teaching of Your Mother. Dad is the spiritual leader that God is using to guide you and your mother is a big part of teaching you about the life God wants you to live.
- Experience God’s Rewards and Blessings for Living an Obedient Life. Proverbs 1:9 says the choice to obey your parents will be like an ornament hanging around your neck. This phrase is actually describing something like an “Olympic medal” that is an illustration of God’s blessing of wisdom that comes to those who choose to have a teachable heart and an obedient life.
Families are “ordained of God’ and you really can’t be “right with God” and be “wrong with your parents.” Maybe it’s time to sit down with dad and mom and say you are sorry for not being obedient lately. You’ll enjoy the sense of peace and God’s blessing and you’ll be surprised how much wisdom will come your way as you open your heart to the parents God gave you.
Ken Turner
Learn more at https://kenturnerministries.org/walking-with-god/
Email me at kenturner@highimpactteens.org
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by Ken Turner | Faith
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]In the book of Daniel there’s a story about a King named Nebuchadnezzar who demanded everyone bow down daily and worship a golden image… a false god. The signal to drop down and bow to the golden image was connected to music.
Daniel 3:10 spells out the “decree” from the evil king, “Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.”
Have you heard the story about three men named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? These three men were among those who were under King Nebuchadnezzar’s rule but they were true God followers. When the music sounded they refused to bow down to a false god. Talk about standing strong under peer pressure!
When King Nebuchadnezzar heard about these three men and their refusal to obey him he called for them to be brought to him. He threatened them with a severe punishment. He told them they would be thrown into a furnace of fire if they didn’t bow down next time the music sounded. They immediately responded by making these things clear in Daniel 3:16-18…
- We will not bow down.
- Our God will deliver us.
- If He doesn’t deliver us… our legacy will be that we did not turn from God.
Read Daniel 3:20-30 to see the amazing finale to this story. In summary, they were thrown into the fire after the king turned up the heat seven times hotter. But these three God followers survived and within eight Bible verses… the evil king had a life-changing experience of his own.
The story of 14 year old Susan from Uganda is a more current illustration of the question, “How far will you go to follow God?” Her father threatened to kill her and her brother unless she was willing to deny Jesus.
Watch this video of her amazing determination to not deny the Jesus she loves dearly.
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Question, “How far will you go to follow God? Are you willing to give Him your all? Are you ready to stop yielding to peer pressure?”
Let your love for Jesus be stronger than the favor of your friends.
Verses to Read: Daniel 3:8-18
Daniel 3:17, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.”
Ken Turner
Learn more at https://kenturnerministries.org/walking-with-god/
Email me at kenturner@highimpactteens.org[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
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by Ken Turner | Faith
Nobody gets up in the morning hoping for a bad day.
Don’t you agree? I mean who jumps out of bed and gets excited about missing the bus, flunking a test or coming home to find out you are now GROUNDED because you um… I don’t know… missed the bus and flunked a test! =)
Of course there are a lot worse things that happen in life. Maybe you and your best friend had a “falling out” or maybe your parents decided not to stay together or someone you care about is battling with a terrible illness.
Did you know that God often takes these really tough moments in life and does the most amazing things? Maybe you’ve heard the verse, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28. Sometimes people don’t like to hear the “all things work together for good” stuff when they are really hurting. I understand. But let’s be open for a minute here and try to get a good Biblical perspective about how God uses trials.
There are Three Ways We Can Respond To Trials
And how you choose to respond will determine just how much good God can bring from the struggle. Here’s the good news about a bad day.
1. Despise It – This is the “I’m so mad” response. It’s the choice to focus on how unfair it is that something difficult happened to you.
2. Faint Under It – This is the “I give up” response. It’s the choice to focus on self… the “that’s it, I quit… I’ve had it” mindset.
3. Be Exercised By It – This is the “I choose too be better not bitter” response. It’s the choice to accept and trust in God’s perfect plan for you. It’s the realization that “there is a God… and I’m not Him.” It’s the willingness to be humble… not proud… and say to your loving heavenly Father that you trust Him and you are willing to let Him use the challenges of life to help you got and mature.
So if you’ve had some tough things going on in your life lately why not take a minute and pray about it and ask God to give you a new perspective. Tell Him you’ll choose to become better, not bitter.
Verses to Read: Hebrews 12:5, “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:” Hebrews 12:11, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
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by Ken Turner | Faith, Family, Spiritual Growth
I’ll never forget the lesson I learned on my first trip to Mexico as a youth pastor. I slept on a wooden bench which sat on a dirt floor in a back room of a church on top of a mountain in a village with no running water. We took baths in the river each day and the pastor would walk for miles to preach to his people. I brought nearly thirty teenagers from, let’s be honest here… an affluent church in 
Indiana. None of us lived in these conditions at home but we were sure immersed in it now! And I noticed the youth from the village… and the differences between us. The local youth came to church services early… sang loud… smiled big… and dressed nice. It was convicting to us all. They were so happy and seemed to have something we didn’t. I remember spending a lot of time that week trying to figure it all out and to be honest… trying to keep our teens, well… uh… happy.
Over the years I’ve met others who seem to have this “happiness thing” figured out a lot better than others. Here is what I see in happy people…
Peace
It’s hard to be happy when you don’t have peace. Peace comes when your conscience is clear and you know you are “right with God and right with others.” To be at peace you need to do some “soul-searching” and be honest about where you are in your relationships. Did you lose your peace along the way when you chose to hold on to something hurtful or maybe just choose to do life your way instead of God’s way?
Perspective
It’s really hard to be thankful for what you think you deserve. If your perspective is that you deserve so much more than you have… you are going to really struggle to be happy. But when you put it in perspective… there is always so much to be thankful for and in that place of gratitude you will find so much joy.
Forgiveness
Hurt people hurt people. Think about that for a moment. There are so many things in life that “offend” and it is not always an easy task to completely forgive others… but you just won’t find true happiness while living in bitterness… you must accept this truth. In Psalm 51:10 David asked God to “renew a right spirit within him.” If you are really struggling with anger and bitterness toward someone who hurt you… please start the journey today toward forgiveness. Your happiness depends on it!
Those kids in Mexico taught me a lot. The smiles, the laughter, the genuine joy of God in their heart was amazing. During one “testimony time” with our youth group I’ll never forget one of our teenage boys putting it this way when he said, “I’ve met people that helped me see that I am so rich materially, but so poor spiritually… and they are so poor materially… yet so rich spiritually.” So guess what? You may be richer than you think… but you won’t be happy without peace, perspective and forgiveness.
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by Ken Turner | Faith, Family, Spiritual Growth
Experiencing intimacy with God. Part 3 of 4
Psalm 139 speaks volumes to us on the intimacy of God. We learn that:
1. He Knows Us, 2. He’s With Us, 3. He Made Us and 4. He Leads Us.
According to the BBC Website’s calculator on “where do you fit in to human life” I was the 3,173,426,221st person alive on Earth and 76,947,364,311th person to have lived since history began.
God made you. Let the thought of that sink in for a moment.
Psalm 139:14, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
Of the 7 billion+ human beings living on the planet we call earth, you are masterfully created by God.
He Has A Plan For You. – And He Still Does
He said of you, “My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.” When you were still an unformed substance that looked more like a peanut, God was at work shaping and creating you in to the person He intended you to be. While you were still “a secret” and your own mother didn’t know you existed… God had you in His grip. Psalm 139:15
He Made You This Way For A Reason
God was shaping the “members” or the parts of your body from the very beginning. He was making decisions about the color of your eyes, the shape of your nose and just exactly how tall you would be. “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16
He Is Fully Aware of Your Circumstances and He Wants To Help
And He was thinking about you. As a matter of fact, He’s still doing that. If He tried to count how many times He thought about you the number would be greater than the number of grains of sand on the sea shore. “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.” Psalm 139:17-18
So take time to meditate on just how intimately God is involved in your life and your current situation. He desires to help you and He has the power to change your life. It’s time to start trusting Him.
If you are curious about the numbers… check out the World Population Clock here.
If you want to see where you fit in to the 7 billion people God has created and are living on earth today, check out this calculator… you can enter your date of birth and see where you “fit in.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15391515
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by Ken Turner | Faith, Family, Spiritual Growth
Experiencing intimacy with God. Part 2 of 4
Read Part 1 here.
Don’t ever think that God has forsaken you! If you have accepted Christ as your personal savior, you have a promise that will never be broken. The promise of God’s presence means He will never leave you.
It’s easy to forget that God is with us and to slip in to a place that feels like He has stopped listening, stopped caring and stopped loving.
When a friend forsakes you, when the money isn’t there to make ends meet, when the doctors give you a bad diagnosis, when you lose your job or even when you know you have miserably failed Him yet once again… surely He can’t still be near. But He is.
Psalm 139:7, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”
Psalm 139 is a powerful chapter in the Bible and if you will let it’s truth sink in, it will change your life.
Truth – God’s With You
Psalm 139:7, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
In The Highest and Lowest Places of Life – He’s With You
Psalm 139:8, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” Figuratively, if I find myself on the mountain top of life, a place of incredible success, God is there. If I find myself in the lowest place of life as if “I’ve experienced hell on this earth” God is still with me.
When You Feel You’ve Drifted So Far Away – He’s With You
Psalm 139:9-10, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” Even when it seems you’ve allowed the cares of life to distract you away from Him, He’s still near.
When Life Has Grown Strangely Dark – He’s With You
Psalm 139:11-12, “If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” When you pass through extremely dark periods of life, God is as much with you as He was in the brightest days.
It’s true… God is with you.
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