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    Life (Words From the Rock): A Teen Devotional
    Life (Words From the Rock): A Teen Devotional
    Life (Words From the Rock): A Teen Devotional
    Ebook226 pages3 hours

    Life (Words From the Rock): A Teen Devotional

    By Melody Carlson

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Teens are already devoted followers of Melody Carlson's fiction series. From the thousands of personal letters she's received, she knows teens want more. They're looking for substance and spiritual guidance that can make a difference in their lives.

    Life is the next devotional for teens from Melody Carlson. It offers readers a structured way to encounter Jesus's words for their own personal inspiration and practical application. Carlson shares with her faithful readers the life-changing message of Jesus, giving them something to lean on in the turbulent time of adolescence. This 90-day devotional will strengthen teens' faith and help them study the Bible for all it's worth.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBaker Publishing Group
    Release dateOct 1, 2009
    ISBN9781441233202
    Life (Words From the Rock): A Teen Devotional
    Author

    Melody Carlson

    Melody Carlson has written more than 200 books for teens, women, and children. Before publishing, Melody traveled around the world, volunteered in teen ministry, taught preschool, raised two sons, and worked briefly in interior design and later in international adoption. "I think real-life experiences inspire the best fiction," she says. Her wide variety of books seems to prove this theory.

    Read more from Melody Carlson

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      Book preview

      Life (Words From the Rock) - Melody Carlson

      LiFE

      LiFE

      A TEEN DEVOTIONAL

      Words from the Rock

      MELODY CARLSON

      © 2009 by Melody Carlson

      Published by Revell

      a division of Baker Publishing Group

      P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

      www.revellbooks.com

      E-book edition created 2011

      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—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

      ISBN 978-1-4412-3320-2

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

      Scripture marked CEV is taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.

      Scripture marked Message is taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

      Scripture marked NASB is taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

      Scripture marked NCV is taken from the New Century Version® Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

      Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      Scripture marked NLT is taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

      Scripture marked TLB is taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

      Contents

      Introduction

      1. Birdseed Faith

      2. Tumbleweed Faith

      3. Weedy Faith

      4. Amazing Faith!

      5. Puzzle Pieces

      6. Enemy Seeds

      7. In Due Time

      8. Small Beginnings

      9. Major Minors

      10. Secret Treasure

      11. What Cost?

      12. Finders Keepers

      13. Equipped and Ready

      14. Miracle Meal

      15. Fearless Faith

      16. Fake Faith

      17. Weight of Words

      18. Religious Traps

      19. Real Sign

      20. Who Is He?

      21. Kingdom Keys

      22. Followers

      23. Lost and Found

      24. How Much?

      25. Real Hunger

      26. Job Description

      27. Soul Food

      28. No Rejection

      29. Big Promise

      30. Living Bread

      31. Life Blood

      32. Life Bread

      33. Wrong Expectations

      34. Recognize Truth

      35. Learn to Discern

      36. The Connector

      37. Mountain Movers

      38. Three-Part Plan

      39. Taxes or Trust

      40. Small Examples

      41. Defending the Defenseless

      42. Trip Ups

      43. Just Lose It

      44. Persistent Love

      45. Work It Out

      46. Power Promise

      47. Forgive and Forgive

      48. Marriage Plan

      49. Hard Hearts

      50. Single Hearts

      51. Not Enough

      52. Stumbling Block

      53. Impossible Possibilities

      54. Great Benefits

      55. First and Last

      56. Headed to the Cross

      57. Who’s on Top?

      58. Sealed Fates

      59. Thirst Quencher

      60. Throwing Stones

      61. Life Light

      62. Earthbound Minds

      63. Seeing Jesus

      64. Who’s a Pharisee?

      65. Authorized by God

      66. Real Freedom

      67. A Slave to Sin

      68. God at Work

      69. Blinding Pride

      70. Attention!

      71. Our Entrance

      72. Good Shepherd

      73. All for Us

      74. Safety Zone

      75. Relationship Reflection

      76. Confidence

      77. Sneak Preview

      78. Priorities

      79. Total Trust

      80. Devoted Disciples

      81. Children of Light

      82. God’s Light

      83. Words of Life

      84. Servant Heart

      85. Full Disclosure

      86. Love’s Brand

      87. Second Chances

      88. Home Sweet Home

      89. Way, Truth, Life

      90. Promising Promise

      Introduction

      Ididn’t grow up in a traditional churchgoing home. In fact, I proclaimed myself an atheist at the ripe old age of twelve. For some reason it made sense to me—I saw no signs of God and therefore thought he couldn’t possibly exist. I think I secretly hoped he’d straighten me out. Thankfully, by the time I was fifteen, he did. In the course of one week, I did a 180-degree turnaround from a loud-mouthed atheist to a sold-out believer.

      I didn’t know a thing about the Bible, and I had no idea where to begin. So I just started reading and studying and memorizing Scripture. I must have been trying to make up for lost time, since my new Christian friends already seemed to know a lot about the Bible. My goal was to absorb as much Scripture as I possibly could. And for years that’s just what I did.

      Then one day, I noticed that I felt totally satiated—like a person who’d sat at the table for too long on Thanksgiving. So I literally went on a Bible fast—I put my Bible in a drawer and didn’t open it. Not that I’d recommend this to everyone, but it seemed to be just what I needed.

      After a while, I knew it was it was time to read my Bible again, but I wanted to do something different. This time I decided to focus only on the words of Jesus. I got a red-letter Bible (in which all of Jesus’s words are printed in red) and read only the red words. And it was awesome. I realized that Jesus’s words truly were words of life—and they were just the words my life needed.

      My hope is that you’ll experience that same kind of life as you read these devotionals—the kind of life that comes straight from the only one who can give you real life, the one who wants to be your lifeline. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the LIFE.

      1 Birdseed Faith

      Words from the Rock

      A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

      Matthew 13:3–4 NIV

      Jesus told this parable to a crowd at the lake one day. Jesus often used parables, which are actually stories, to teach critical life lessons—probably because he knew we’d do better recalling a story than a boring twelve-part lecture. He also understood that most listeners wouldn’t fully grasp the meaning of the story the first time they heard it, but perhaps over time (as it’s told again and again), the truth would sink in.

      The soil in this story represents our hearts. In other words, Jesus compares our hearts to dirt. (Before you get offended, remember that God formed humans from the earth.) The seed in this story represents the gospel—the Good News that Jesus was God’s Son sent to earth to offer humankind a new and improved relationship with God. Unfortunately, not all who hear this Good News will take it seriously, and that explains this parable.

      The reaction of some listeners is like a tough old road. The seed lands on the hard-packed dirt and then just sits there because it can’t penetrate the hardened surface of a well-traveled road. It’s as if the road rejects it. Kind of like people with hardened hearts or heads. They’re unwilling to listen, simply rejecting the Good News as soon as it hits them. It almost seems that the seed is wasted. In fact, Jesus adds that the birds come and eat it—the precious Good News is nothing more than worthless birdseed to them.

      Maybe we don’t think we fall into this birdseed kind of faith category, but there are times when anyone can be a little hard-hearted— times when we might choose to disobey God or reject a truth he’s shown us. Jesus doesn’t want us to treat his words like birdseed. He wants hearts that are softened and ready to welcome his Good News, allow it to grow, and make strong roots.

      My Prayer

      Dear God,

      Please keep my heart plowed and tilled (with your Word and your truth) so that, unlike birdseed, my faith will root deeply into you.

      Amen.

      Stone

      for the Journey

      I won’t allow

      myself to

      become

      hard-hearted

      toward God.

      Final Word

      When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

      Matthew 13:19 NIV

      2 Tumbleweed Faith

      Words from the Rock

      Some [seed] fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

      Matthew 13:5–6 NIV

      Now Jesus is talking about another kind of farming challenge. This particular seed (still representing Jesus’s Good News) fell onto rocky places—ground that hasn’t been plowed, cultivated, or prepared for agriculture. It’s probably rough, uneven, full of stones, and basically not the kind of soil to grow much of anything (besides tumbleweed, which can be here one day and gone the next).

      This rocky ground represents those with a willingness to hear the Good News. They might even experience a positive reaction to it—initially—but that’s about all. They haven’t reached the place in life where they want to take God’s words and promises seriously, so they adopt a kind of fair-weather faith. Maybe they say, Yeah, I know Jesus is real and he cares about me, and that’s cool, but they don’t grasp the hugeness of a relationship with God. For them, faith is more like a fad—when temptations or tough times come, they let their faith slip away like last year’s fashion trends.

      These people are similar to a plant that grows up without a strong root system. Their seed gets wedged between a rock and a hard place with little real soil—following a gentle spring rain, the plant pops up and might even seem healthy for a while. But then a few hot, sunny days come along, and because the plant doesn’t have real roots, it simply dries up and blows away, kind of like tumbleweed. Those people who make a showy commitment to Christ but don’t really take it seriously can spiritually dry up and blow away too.

      Jesus wants us to have healthy and established roots that go deeply into him to strengthen our faith. Then we can grow and flourish even during drought times.

      My Prayer

      Dear God,

      Please help me to establish strong roots in you so I can withstand whatever storms or droughts life throws my way.

      Amen.

      Stone

      for the Journey

      I will root

      myself deeply

      into God.

      Final Word

      The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

      Matthew 13:20–21 NIV

      3 Weedy Faith

      Words from the Rock

      Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

      Matthew 13:7 NIV

      This third category in this seed parable is interesting. From what we can tell, this seed has fallen on some fairly good soil because it actually grows into a plant. The only problem is that there are weeds and thorns growing in this same patch of ground. The trouble with weeds and thorns is that they hog the water, the sun, and the nutrients in the soil, and they can eventually take over and choke out an otherwise healthy plant.

      This weed-infested garden represents those who hear Jesus’s Good News and willingly receive it. They happily plant the seed into their hearts, where the soil seems nicely plowed and ready for cultivation, and the seed develops roots and grows. Everything is cool, right? Except that the

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