Prayer... Personal Prayer...

Are you guys in the habit of personal prayer?

Is personal prayer a part of your life?

If we're going to be followers of Jesus we need to talk to God right? We can talk to God in a variety of different ways but one of these ways is personal prayer. Ever heard of 'quiet time' or 'devotions', well that's what some people call personal prayer. It's basically the time you spend with God alone, some people even call it 'meditation' with God.

Think about these questions;
How many hours a week do you watch TV?
How many hours a week are you online?
How many hours a week do you spend with friends?
How many hours a week do you spend on the toilet? (!)
How many hours a week do you spend in personal prayer?

This week pay really close attention to what do you spend the most time on and who do you spend the most time with... How does this reflect what is the most important part of your life?

This exercise is not intended to make you feel guilty but just to have a really good think about where you spend the most time and energy on any given week. Dedicating a portion of your time to personal prayer isn't easy for anyone, it's something we've gotta learn. We're going to explore this over the next few weeks.

Think about it, PRAY about it.

Fun Friday...

To take you into the weekend watch this fun YouTube clip from Kung Fu Panda here.
If you haven't seen Kung Fu Panda before (rated G, came out in 2008) I highly recommend you try and watch it this weekend!
Pay special attention to how the main character learns from his teacher or his Master.
Kinda like the way we gotta learn some sweet skills from our teacher Jesus...


Let's review the thoughts from last week;

Jesus asked people to leave things behind and follow Him. What do you think you are to leave behind to become a disciple?

What do you think 'taking up your cross' looks like in your own life?

Do you consider yourself to be a disciple of Jesus all the time, even at school or with your non-christian friends?

What is the sign of a true disciple of Jesus?

Here's a challenge for the weekend;
Pray about this stuff and listen to the answers that God gives you...

If you want to know more look up what Wikipedia says about being a disciple here.
Also, ask your Corps Officer or Youth Leader to get their hands on an OLD SCHOOL book called 'The Imitation of Christ', it's written in old language like the bible but it helps people become disciples through prayer and reading.
Get ready for next week's theme of personal prayer...

Come, Follow Me...

How much pressure have you been under this week?
Been the victim of peer presure?

Matthew 4:18-22 says;

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” ²⁰ At once they left their nets and followed him.
²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 

and Matthew 9:9 says;

The Calling of Matthew

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John and Matthew all immediately left what they were doing to follow Jesus. Like they literally left their work where it was and got up and followed Him. Didn't even log out of Facebook or shut down their computers...
How do you think they felt about that? How would you feel about that?

Luke 14:27 says;

  ²⁷ And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 

What are these guys supposed to carry as disciples of Jesus? Their cross? What does that mean?

John 13:34-35 says;
  ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

Does that give us any ideas? What then is a true sign of a disciple?

How will the world recognise followers of Jesus i.e christians? How will the world recognise that you are a follower of Jesus? What does that mean for you?

You know some of that peer pressure you might be under right now to fit in and do what the crowd is doing, whatever that might be? Jesus felt that kind of pressure. Jesus was not the kind of guy people thought He was going to be. Early in His life Jesus quit his job, didn't get married and died as a criminal without a cent to His name.
The world tells us we need to have money, be beautiful and famous but Jesus trumped all that and instead put value on love, being humble and acting in service to others. In order to be a disciple of Jesus we need to do the same, stand out from the crowd and go against the grain. Stand up for what we believe and stop trying to be another sheep.

In a world where everyone strives to follow the crowd, Jesus is the best role model for our lives.
He asks us to leave the unimportant things of our lives behind, just like he did for the first disciples of the bible and follow Him. It's totally not an easy thing to do, it is going to be a struggle, ask anyone that's been trying to follow Jesus for a long time, it's a struggle each and every single day. It's also guaranteed to involve pain too, not gonna lie...
But as a result our lives will be known for their love...

Think about it, pray about it. 

Follow the Leader

Have you ever noticed when you hang out with someone a lot you start to take on some of the same characteristics?
Maybe you start sounding the same on the phone?
People might get you mixed up because you hang out so much together, or you might have the same profile pic on Facebook as your bestie (you know the rare one where you both look awesome)...

You might watch the same movies or read the same books. Hello Hunger Games?!
You might play computer games together and even when you're not together you're still playing together online. You're constantly communicating with each other and taking on each others characteristics. You're learning from each other which can totally be a great thing but you can also pick up some of their bad habits too...
Like everytime you catch up you eat junk food.
Or the words that you use, like using 'like' in your sentences all the time. Or sometimes using bad language. That one's a little too easy to pickup...
Maybe you start smoking or drinking because your bestie did? Or maybe your bestie started sleeping with their boyfriend or girlfriend so you thought it would be ok for you to start too..?

Who do you follow? Is there a person that you imitate?
It might be the Queen Bee at your school or it might be a favourite sports star or musician.

Who do you look up to? Who do you want to be like?

<----------- This guy? LOL!

If you're brave enough, post up the names of some of the people you follow and imitate...