Young People’s Blog

The Power of Love

“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost” (Romans 5:5).

Here is a story of how the love of Christ can change lives:

Japanese Commander Mitsuo Fuchida led the deadly attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He hated the Americans.

Jake DeShazer, from Salem Oregon, hated the Japanese, and was chosen to be part of the Doolittle Raid, a reprisal attack on Japan on April 18, 1942. His plane went down, he was captured, and spent 40 months as a prisoner of war. Most of that time was in solitary confinement. He survived beatings, torture, and a starvation diet. However, he also got saved through the reading of a Bible that became available while a prisoner.

After Word War II ended he was released, and later returned to Japan to preach the gospel to the people he now loved. Mitsuo Fuchida, through the reading of a pamphlet about the salvation of DeShazer, his experience as a POW and his return to Japan as a missionary, got saved as well. They became brothers in Christ, and often preached together from the same platform.

 

Why

“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea…These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:10-11).

Here is an interesting question to ponder, whether we are young or old…Why is it that we can read a three hundred page novel with ease, but we find it hard sometimes to schedule time each day to read a chapter from the Bible?

I suppose there are many reasons why we find it difficult to make Bible reading a part of our daily routine, and perhaps there are different issues for different people. Overall I believe the main reason it is so difficult is, that the forces of Satan are at work to keep us from the Living Word. The Devil doesn’t want us to feed on the food of heaven. He knows if we do we will grow in the Lord and lose our appetite for the worldly and fleshly things of the world. He knows too that we will be a testimony to those around us, and desire to share Christ with others. Don’t neglect your Bible!

 

The Twelve Apostles – Part 5

Andrew

Andrew is one of the apostles we know very little about. The brother of Simon Peter, and a fisherman by trade, he was originally a disciple of John the Baptist, and heard John declare, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:36)! As a result we read further of him, “One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus” (John 1:40-42). I take him to be more of a personal, behind-the-scenes worker than his brother Peter, who took a more prominent place. This is indicated when we read: “There were certain Greeks…that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus” (John 12:20-22). Tradition says that he later labored in Scythia, Greece, and Asia Minor, and that he was martyred at Patras in Achaia, on a cross the shape of an X.

 

Read It

Last week we took up the importance of reading our Bibles. Here is some more on the subject…

One great reason for the failure of so many Christians is they do not read their Bible. They seem to have no appetite for it. A chapter, morning and evening, seems to be all they think needful. If they treated their bodies to such scant nourishment, they would soon be in a state of collapse. The great thing is to cultivate an appetite for the Word of God. Read it a lot, and mingle your reading with lots of prayer for light and help, and for grace to make it good to your soul.

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).

Carry a pocket edition or portion constantly with you. Don’t be ashamed to be seen reading it. Let it be your counsel. Wisdom is there, Light is there — EVERYTHING you need is there. It is the voice of God in the power of the Holy Spirit, to guide you each day.

 

Dear Young Christian:

Yesterday we noticed that the Lord Jesus gave Himself for us, body, soul and spirit. As a result we have been brought into eternal blessing, and this should motivate us to give ourselves to Him in the same way.

The Apostle Paul’s prayer for the Christians at Thessalonica was, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). This is a good prayer for all of us. To be preserved in the three parts of our being means that we can give ourselves wholly and without hindrance to the one who gave Himself wholly for us.

The Lord, in death, gave His life in sacrifice for us, and we are, in life, to give ourselves as a sacrifice to Him. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Your Christian Friend,

Jim Hyland

We would love to hear from you. Send your comments or questions to jhyland@primus.ca

What He Gave

“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

“He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).

“Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46).

What did the Lord Jesus give on our behalf? The Lord Jesus gave Himself for us in nothing less than His body, His soul and His spirit. He suffered as no one else has ever suffered, in all three aspects of His being, all at once, and for all time.

The realization of this should, and will, fill our hearts with praise and worship for Him today.

Worship Him for who He is,

Praise Him for the work;

Thank Him for the blessing given,

Through that finished work.

 

Righteousnesses

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

Very simply put this verse tells us that the very best things we can do, before we are saved, are nothing to God but a pile of old, rotten, filthy rags.

Tomorrow, being Sunday, many people will do many things in the name of God, the Lord Jesus, and religion. But to the unsaved person, those things avail nothing but to insult a holy God. What would you think if someone came to you on your birthday or other occasion and offered you a nicely wrapped gift, only to find when opened that it contained a pile of dirty rags? You too would be insulted, offended, maybe even incensed and indignant.

But what about God? How does He feel? Especially when He has the desire and means to cleanse us and make us fit for heaven and for His service. For those who are saved there is a day coming when they will “be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness(es) of saints” (Revelation 19:8).

 

Reading Daily – Part 3

“They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11).

I earnestly urge you to make Bible reading your daily habit. Let it be a fixed principle with you that you need the WORDS OF HIS MOUTH for your soul’s nourishment and health.

If you have no food you will have no strength. You will hunger, and the hungry will eat anything.

If you do not go on, applying yourself to the daily reading of your Bible, your famished soul will readily eat of the world’s dainties. But if you are nourished by the hidden manna of Revelation 2:17, you will have no taste, no heart for what the world offers.

Young Christians, if you would walk humbly and happily with your God, if you would be useful in the Lord’s vineyard, SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES daily and diligently.

John Ruskin once wrote: “Whatever merit there is in anything that I have written is simply due to the fact that when I was a child my mother daily read the Bible and daily made me learn a part of it by heart.”

Continued…

 

Reading Daily – Part 2

“I rejoice at Thy word, as one that findeth great spoil” (Psalm 119:162).

When it comes to reading the Bible, it is quite true that some are much more occupied and pressed with work, school, or business than others; but let us remember that it is not a question of the quantity we read; even a few verses read with earnest desire to profit by them and feed upon them, are more helpful than whole chapters gone over in a formal way. What characterizes the godly man in Psalm 1 is that he meditates upon the law of the Lord day and night, and the result is that he is “like a tree planted by the rivers of water,” he is kept fresh and fruitful even in times of trial and difficulty.

We may depend upon it, this is what we need. Not cold intellectual knowledge, but meditating daily on God’s Word, seeking the Spirit’s teaching and guidance, and practically living out what we do know. Then God will give more.

Study the Bible with prayer. Seek the Lord there, and not knowledge — that will come too; but the heart is well directed in seeking the Lord — the eye is single, and then the whole body is full of light.

Continued…

 

Reading Daily – Part 1

“Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).

There is a tendency among Christians in the present day of neglecting the reading of God’s Word. This is an important subject, and one which we need to take to heart. We can never neglect the Word of God without loss to ourselves, and no doubt it is one of the causes of the spiritual weakness which abounds on every hand. If a magazine or book — even a good book — takes the place of the Scripture, it is so far more of a hindrance than a help to the believer.

The Word of God and prayer are two things absolutely necessary if we are to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). What would have happened to the Israelite had he neglected to go out of the camp in the morning and gather manna daily? He would have been without food and therefore weak and unfit for the rigours of the wilderness journey.

Continued…