Four Tips For Small Group Bible Study Leaders

Whether it's your first time as a Bible study group leader or it seems like you've always been the shepherd for a small flock, these basic tips may help you build a feeling of community and encourage active participation in your next meeting.
1: Be spontaneous
A great way to create a relaxed feeling in your small group Bible study is to break away from regimented schedules. While you should always try to begin and end the Bible study at its scheduled times, encourage your group members to share their insights and interpretations of the verses being studied, and a lively discussion will follow.
Some Bible study groups have found that having their meetings on weeknights rather than before Sunday services creates a looser, more relaxed environment and a feeling of community. Snacks don't hurt, either.
2: Be aware of language limitations
Words change meanings over a very short period of time, and English is a more fluid language than most. Many words in older Bible translations have changed their meaning since they were translated. Some words in the King James Bible now mean the opposite of what they did at the time of their translation. For example, the word "let" sometimes meant "to refrain or prevent" back in the 1600s.
Supplement your small group Bible study with lexicons and word study books in Hebrew and Greek that focus on the meaning of the original words.
3: Don't exclude other versions of the Bible
There are hundreds of different versions of the Christian Bible published today, from the King James and New International Versions to customized study Bibles geared toward different groups, from children or teenagers to alcoholics or business people. As a small group Bible study leader, you should be aware of the existence of these differences.
With the help of small group study guides, like those from Word Among Us Ministries, and by studying the original Hebrew and Greek meanings and comparing them with the modern translations, you can help your Bible study group gain a better understanding of the scripture.
4: Don't get too far away from the Word
Although study guides and lexicons can be helpful in understanding the meanings of the words in a verse, it is important to use scripture to interpret scripture. If you were interpreting ancient Babylonian texts, you wouldn't use the New York Times or Shakespeare as a reference guide.
Context is everything. Rather than taking a verse of scripture on its own, it is important to encourage your Bible study group to not only read the before-and-after verses, but also to read the verse in the context of the entire paragraph, chapter, book and Bible.
By following these few tips, you can make your Bible study fun and enlightening for everybody.

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Christian Education - 12 Keys of Effective Teaching

While there are many forms of teaching in the Christian education arena, there are a few basic tenets that are applicable across the board. We will focus on these tenets as they apply to "formal" teaching (classroom, discussion, lecture, discipling relationships), but they are just as important in informal settings.
1. Set goals. This is probably the biggest omission for teachers. We know and want to communicate a lot of "stuff," but we haven't clearly defined our goal and purpose. Without a goal and purpose, our teaching wanders and we won't see the fulfillment the Lord intends in our ministries.
It may be helpful to choose a verse or passage to be a guide for your teaching. Then, as you prepare a lesson or a series of lessons, ask yourself questions to see if you are meeting your goals. For example, if we were looking at Ephesians 4:11-16, we might ask ourselves:

• How am I equipping people to serve through this lesson?
• How am I building up the body of Christ?
• How am I succeeding as an example of Christ-like character? How am I failing?
• What doctrines am I teaching on? How can I better communicate them?
• What practical application will my hearers draw from my lesson?
• What sin or error am I confronting?
• What spiritual disciplines am I promoting? Am I demonstrating them in my own life?
• How am I encouraging intimacy with God?
• How am I exhorting people to love?
• Is Christ the beginning, ending, and focus of my teaching?

Specific lessons and series of lessons will, of course, have additional specific goals particular to the topic at hand. These goals should be clearly delineated before teaching begins, and regular evaluations should take place to be certain that goals are being achieved.
2. Put forth effort. Give your preparation - and your delivery - the best of yourself. Don't expect fulfillment in ministry if you consistently "cobble something together" at the last minute, are rushing around the house to get out on time, and are tired when it's time to teach. You and your hearers will get the most out of your teaching if you put forth solid, concentrated effort into preparation time, and are rested and enthusiastic when it's time to speak.
3. Be orderly. Build a lesson as you would build a house. Lay a foundation and develop your points thoroughly and completely to a conclusion. You want your hearers to walk away with several things: facts, understanding, and application.
4. Avoid tangents. Whether they come from you or from one of your hearers, nip tangents in the bud (unless there is a distinct reason and the Spirit's leading to follow them and expand on them). Lessons should be tight, allowing no room for wandering or drifting. You will not accomplish your goals unless you stay focused.
5. Combine orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Each lesson should contain both right teaching (orthodoxy) and instruction on right practice (orthopraxy). Doctrine in a vacuum will not be remembered or be seen as applicable. Guidance on right practice will not become ingrained unless the reasons and doctrines behind it are understood. Instruction on the Word of God and the walk of God should go hand-in-hand whenever we teach.
6. Make it practical. Every lesson should be a "rubber-meets-the-road" lesson. If it's not practical, it won't be remembered. If it doesn't apply to life today, to my life today, then it's a waste of my time. Draw lessons from life today, and show how to apply lessons to life today.
7. Be dynamic. Whatever your teaching style, make it dynamic. Dynamic comes from the Greek word "dunamis," or power. Whether you lecture or lead discussions, whether you enjoy acting your lessons in front of a crowd or prefer quiet times in a circle, your teaching style should be power-filled through the Spirit. Be creative. Be compelling. Be challenging. Be excited. Be intense. However you speak, grab your hearers and hold them - only then will they hear what you're saying.
8. Encourage interaction. In almost all cases, people will learn more from a class that they participate in. Ask questions. Encourage responses and discussion. Be sure people are understanding what you're saying. Welcome input. Even a class that is predominantly lecture has room for learner participation. Frequently a question and answer time will serve to bring home the doctrines and lessons taught.
9. Repeat and review. You only remember a fraction of what you hear - so be sure your listeners hear what's most important many times. Review the key points of past lessons. Review points made earlier in a given lesson. Repeat truth until it becomes ingrained in your hearers.
10. Handouts and homework. Don't be afraid to ask your listeners to put forth effort on their own part. Give handouts with fill-ins and room for notes at each class - it encourages people to write down key points, therefore aiding the learning process (the more senses you engage in learning, the better you will remember). Give homework. Ask people to read and think and prepare for the next class, or to follow up on the one just given. Remind your hearers that Christian education does not happen for one hour on a Sunday - it must be a part of daily life.
11. Expect excellence. People will rise to your expectations of them. Never patronize or act condescendingly toward people. Don't give shallow or fluff-filled lessons. Dig deep into the truth and your listeners will fall in love with the truth, too.
12. Pray. Pray for yourself and your hearers. Pray for your preparation time, your sanctification, and your delivery. Pray for their attentiveness, understanding, and commitment to walk with the Lord. Pray for discernment, insight, and wisdom. Your ministry will only succeed if it is bathed in and founded on prayer.

The Importance of Christian Education in Today's World

Christianity has been of the greatest importance to the USA since the time when the first settlers stepped on the Plymouth Rock. Ever since the USA has upheld the Christian values teaching them as mandatory in schools and even conducting witch hunts. At present the church is separated from the State to assure the normal functioning of other religions, while being no longer mandatory, but rather optional for studying. In the following essay I am going to speak about the Christian education as always being the option for the citizens of the USA and to explain the importance of Christian education and the role it plays in our society.
Christianity has constantly played a great role in human education in Europe as well as in the USA. The first schools in both Europe were Catholic that taught high moral standards and compliance with the God's rules. After the Protestant reformation, the role of Catholicism was drastically reduced. When the first settlers arrived to the USA, the religion they were teaching in schools was Protestantism. Christianity educated people in schools while placing certain limits on the human development. Unlike Catholic and Orthodox churches that highly believed in God's dominance and written scrutiny and therefore rejected various sciences that are anti-religious (genetic engineering, nuclear sciences, etc.), protestant churches considered good deeds and helpful behavior to be of the ultimate importance to God. Protestant churches believed that God created any sciences possible; therefore it was a human duty to study as much as possible as well as proclaiming God and expressing God in all human achievements.
Christianity if taught at schools leaves a great stigma on the students. The statistics say that students who study Christianity and Christian values at school are much less likely to engage in illegal activities such as underage drinking, promiscuous sex, and carrying arms. In US schools from all students who engage in the illegal activities only 12% of them are students studying Christianity or are engaged in Christian schools.
On a more personal level I believe that Christian education is of great importance to the whole country. Students in their teens are only forming their future character and certainly need various people to take example from. It is no wonder that in poor schools and in what we call bad neighborhoods, the crime rates are much higher--children that grow up in violent environment are in my opinion are going to be violent. It is a common fact that boys that grew up in families where fathers beat up their wives are more likely to also beat up their future spouses like their fathers. All these examples indeed show us the importance of education in the early years of human life and make us understand that education should be of great value to the society. Christianity on the other hand discourages arms, sex before marriage, as well as drinking. When exposed to Christian morals, students are more likely to develop personal attitude that would allow them to resist the peer pressure, engage in profound studying and strong desire for excellence. This shows the important role of domestic security that the Christian education provides for the society that promulgates Christianity in schools.
At the same time, Christianity being only optional provides the necessary freedoms to students of other religions, or even atheists who do not want to be influenced by the religious thought. The freedom or choice, makes the Christian teachers compete for the students and therefore not to abuse the Christian moral as it happens in areas of the world where Christianity is dominant (e.g. in Serbia and Horvatia Christianity prompted the people to eradicate the Muslims from the Christian land).
In conclusion I would like to say that the Christian educational option in fact provides a wonderful complementary material to students in the USA. The statistics that show reduction in violence, loose behavior or engagement in illegal activities corroborate the practical importance of Christian education, while the separation of church and state assures that no single religious leader can take control of the political life in the USA. The role of being the crime reducer that the Christian education represents the true need of such education in the society.

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Christian Home Education - A Few Tips

The standards and motivation for a Christlike homeschool is dominated by the juvenile's work that is based from the Testament, wherein the course of study of the lad should be left in the moms' control.
As seen in all Christlike homeschools, parents educate the word of the lord, to cultivate their young people for favorable Christianly understanding, and impart values that are critical in their traditional affairs as well as when they establish age of consent. This facet of teaching is not found in the course of study at most every public school.
Christian like homeschools are particular for each house. Some perfectly prepare their homeschooling environment and curriculum to look very similar a "junior high school", definitive with textbooks, desks, flag salute, and yes, recess.
Others create homeschooling in their everyday activities, concluding not so much in employing workbooks, essential texts and schedules. Here, both kids and dads grasp through experiences; teaching, intellectual acquirement and being trained is part of their prevailing schedule by choice of a closely regulated public school session.
Whatever is each families homeschool style, their ground is all uniform, that of giving their children eminent pointers while at the same time instructing in them how to arise to become significant thinkers and individualistic persons that are observant and conscious of the choices they formulate.
Families that homeschool cut down its atmosphere to fit both their viewpoints and style; there is no inapt or precisely way to define and formulate an encompassment for their home sweet home Christianlike method of schooling.
Christian homeschoolers give the go-ahead to the moms to express God's word to their adolescent children. It is a setting of religious and upstanding positive reinforcement through which youngsters are being taught seriously in the testament of God, above all to statute and think as Christly followers.
Typically, the course of study in a Christian homeschool invests a considerable amount of time in the study of the God's word, wherein the focus is the Lord's good book.
Christians opt for to school at home in order to broaden the mind of their young people. It could be said that they predominantly do this because of their good faith that the Almighty God's schedule is revealed through moms raising and coaching their own youngsters. In fact, Christians firmly respect that it is the way of the Bible; there is no other academic organization than this. Christ followers without doubt affirm that the Almighty God did not even hint at schools to be attended by His congregation; that schools were a product of the individual.

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7 Ways a Christian Education Can Make a Difference

There's no question that a Christian education is special. It doesn't matter if you're in a primary school, seminary, or somewhere in between. To be able to spend your time around people who love God and want to obey Him is a joy that is almost unequalled by anything else in this life. We are to be in the world, rather than of it; but spending more time in a Christian environment, especially when you're young, can encourage you to maintain your witness when you do find yourself in it full-time.
Although there are probably others, here are seven ways that a Christian education can make a difference in the lives of your kids.
1. It will provide daily spiritual food.
Some schools will have worship services as part of their daily or weekly schedules. Teachers may open their classes with prayer and Bible reading. That alone can set the tone for the rest of the session.
2. It can help students to establish lifetime values.
Studies have shown that students who attend any faith-based school come away with a clear idea of what their values are. Those who are left to their own devices seldom know what they believe in. Like all children, they need to know what the boundaries are and, if they don't, then they tend to drift from one set of values to another, often for their entire lives.
In today's world, it's especially important for students to be grounded in Christian values, not least because they will be challenged to compromise them in almost every area of life once they leave school and start to make their own way.
One value that is essential is learning what the Bible says is the difference between right and wrong. The world makes no such distinction, preferring instead to leave it up to the individual. The Bible clearly teaches, however, that men and women will naturally choose evil over good. This is one reason why parents are exhorted to "train up a child in the way he should go."
3. It can reinforce Christian values.
It's not enough to be taught Christian values. There also needs to be reinforcement.
Think of a Christian retreat, for example. If you've ever been on one, then you know how easy it is to come away from that experience on a spiritual high, all pumped up for service to God. But a few months down the road, it all seems like a distant memory. You find that you're back to the same old routine and have the same bad habits.
If you continued to meet with other Christians for the purpose of reminding yourself of what you learned and discussing how to put those principles into practice, then your life would more closely reflect the good intentions you had when you left.
The same thing is true in a school. Listening to one or a handful of Bible-based lecturers on the necessity of Christian values may generate some enthusiasm; but it won't be lasting. In order for that to happen, those values need to be reinforced.
4. It provides Biblical role models
Teachers in any institution are role models to their students. In a Christian school, however, those people will have a vibrant relationship with God.
Think for a moment of the impact that Christ had on the eleven disciples who spent three years with him day after day. It's easy for us to sit on the sidelines and criticize the impulsiveness of Peter, for example; but he wrote two letters that are included in the New Testament, and his experiences recorded in the Acts of the Apostles exemplify the influence that Christ had on him.��Christ was the ultimate role model. His modern day disciples should be worth copying, too.
5. It gives students the opportunity to make the right friends.
We all know how cruel children can be to one another, as the playground will testify. While Christian schools are not immune to this, their emphasis on glorifying God and teaching children to do the same can help students to recognize the characteristics that their friends should have. Because many of them will try to practice the behaviors that are consistent with what they're taught, they will learn to identify who their friends should be outside of a Christian environment as well.
6. It teaches students to respect authority
This is a biggy.
Since the 1960s, society has encouraged everyone to challenge authority. While it's true that not everyone who is placed such positions fulfills them responsibly, it is nevertheless proper for young people to learn to respect those who hold them.
God has placed these people over us to protect us, and so when we rebel against them, we're ultimately rejecting Him.
7. It teaches kids that education is a privilege
A Christian education also teaches kids the privilege of being able to study at all.
There's no question that a Bible-based environment is special for a lot of reasons, but few people in the United States realize just how privileged they are to be able to live where they do.
Children especially, need to know that there are millions of people in the world today who can't read or write in their own language. And kids need to cherish their education because it frees them to do so much more than they could do without it.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Christian Education

The pursuit of a Christian education for children typically involves a number of questions and concerns. At the forefront, you may want to ascertain that your children will receive a well-rounded and high-quality learning experience while they also receive ongoing exposure to spiritual ideals and a Biblical view of the world.
Definition of Christian Education
Students enrolled in a Christian school receive academic and extracurricular instruction from a religious perspective and with a faith-based foundation. While some private schools focus on other areas such as a specific vocation or fine arts, this type of instruction focuses on instilling Christian values and developing a spiritual perspective in students. The environment of the institution is different from public schools because the focus is centered on God. Teachers working at a faith-based institution typically share the same faith, enabling them to work with students from the same perspective.
The Pursuit of Quality
The combination of a Christian education and rigorous academic instruction should be a priority. An ideal institution will offer both faith-based guidance for students and academic instruction that meets or surpasses state requirements. Small class sizes, a supportive academic environment, and certified teachers with experience will ensure a quality experience for students.
Concerns about Sheltering
Pursuing a Christian education for children is not a matter of sheltering them from the harsh realities of the world. Students experience many of the same peer issues when attending a religious academy that they would face in a public school, including teasing and selfishness from other students on occasion. Unfortunately, unsavory influences from the media will follow children everywhere as well, including private faith-based institutions. However, schools instilling a Biblical perspective in students will continually work to supplant negative influences with positive, spiritual influences.
Extracurricular Opportunities
Faith-based institutions can offer extracurricular opportunities for students, not unlike public schools. Art, drama, and sports are three of the main extracurricular options that children may wish to pursue in conjunction with a well-rounded spiritual education.
Timing of Enrollment
Shaping students' perspectives about the world and the issues that arise begins at the beginning of life. As children grow and begin learning, instruction should include a religious perspective to ensure that they incorporate this mindset into their overall attitude. Optimally, Christian education should begin when a child enters school. However, it's never too late to make a positive change and teach a Biblical viewpoint to students.
Differing Perspectives
The viewpoint imparted to students attending a faith-based institution will be significantly different from the perspective taught to students in public school. Students will focus on service, helping others, outgoing concern for others, pleasing God, pursuing truth and Godly wisdom, and using the Word of God to decode issues and challenges in life. In a secular education, instruction typically focuses on independence, personal rights, competition, personal gain, comparison to others, random chance, and identity based on performance.
Finding a faith-based institution that will partner with you in teaching your children a Biblical worldview will enable to you to ensure that your kids receive the instruction you want them to have to prepare them for a full and rewarding life.

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Sources of Theology in Africa

Africa with its diverse cultures and unique worldviews has its own sources in discussing God. Any guide to the pursuit of an African Theology in the Christian tradition needs be surveyed from God's perspective with an underlying African worldview.
Biblical Christian theology has its base in the Bible and to some extent, systematic theology takes some its influence from the accepted ecclesiastical traditions during the immediate post resurrection age. The Bible and church tradition form the two principal sources for accepted Christian theologies in the different sects and denominations.
The discourse on God regarding African tradition has long been a mix of oral tradition and experience passed on through ages. In addition the influence of the two major religions of the world plus cultural factors also contribute to this discourse and of vast influence is traditional religion itself.
The lack of documentation of any form of religious literary corpus has made African traditional religion to be subjected to a lot of criticism, doubt and descriptions. Some refer to traditional religious practices as animism or heathenism. But it should be noted the religious practices of pre Christian Africa should be accepted as a reflection of past experiences, which have been inherited.
The call for an African theology should ignore these factors. Additionally, the sources; from which Africans have experienced the phenomenon of the deity will contribute a lot to the expression of any theology that may ensue. There is always the impossibility of an "out of the blues" theology because Christianity in its essence is a historical religion. The sources of African Theology though not acceptable in some Christian quarters are very important in doing theology.
Nature
Omasogie says, prior to and including the medieval period when Christian came into its own in Europe, there was no serious problem in accepting the reality of the spiritual realm. Under such an atmosphere it was easy to sense the presence of God in nature and to symbolize that presence in the use of material elements, which were regarded as concrete tokens of his presence.1
In simple terms, nature served as a revelatory factor in comprehending to some extent the Supreme being. There is no different thought in this perspective with regards pre Christian Africa. Whatever discussions or evaluations were made of the Supreme being, were by virtue of observing nature and its activities in the absence of any written scripture about God and creation. Therefore, there are a variety of stories in African traditional religion about God, creation, man, etc.
For instance, rain is regarded as one of the greatest blessings of God. Whereas the Bantu speaking groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ewe in Togo, Ghana and Benin regard thunder as the voice of God, the Gikuyu of Kenya regard thunder as the movement of God. On the other hand, the Yoruba in Nigeria regard thunder as an indication of God's anger.2
The general belief concerning the divinities is that they were created by God to fulfill specific functions. As creatures some West African societies regard them as children oar messengers of God. These divinities may be made to look like male or female beings and are given places of abode such as hills, rivers, trees, rocks, the seas or even certain animals.3
In consequence, some of these natural elements in some African communities are venerated and held in high esteem as factors, which are inhabited by spirits who relate to the Supreme being in one way or the other. For instance, in some communities, women may not go to a village well with their slippers on or with their head uncovered.
Traditional Cultures
Religion and culture in Africa are interwoven and sometimes it becomes very difficult to distinguish between what is purely religious and what is just part of the cultural complex. Most cultural activities have some religious activities in them. They may involve pouring libation to spirits oar ancestors or making some incantation to one spirit or another.
Byang Kato says religion is the heart of culture. A change in religion necessitates a re-adjustment in culture.4 There are some cultural activities that have no religious bearing. For instance, polygamy in Africa is more of a cultural value performance than religious. The aspect of kinship, which controls social relationship between people in a given community, is very significant in African culture. It determines the behavior of one individual to another.5 So, a crime of adultery in a typical Mende culture in Sierra Leone is more a sin against the community than against God.
But it is quite plain to see that even though there may be no connection between culture and religion, in some; instances many cultural performances provide the basis from which truths about God may b e deduced. In such a case, sacrifices to Spirits are cultural practices with a religious significance.
The Influence of Islam
Islam has had more influence on traditional religion and culture in Africa than Christianity. To some extent, Islam has accommodated influenced or ignored many traditional practices in contrast to what Christianity has been to traditional practices. Consequently, many; a discourse about God in African theology may have a taint of Islamic theology. According to Islamic teaching, anything that happens in this world is within God's will because that particular happening has God's stamp of approval. Thus, fatalistic belief of this kind is held by a large percentage of Muslims and Christians alike.
African Traditional Religion
African Traditional Religion forms the largest fountain from which African theology is drawn. Since it is a religion without any written codes or special revelations, all of its teaching about God and creation are drawn largely from observations in nature and assumptions. Consequently, while most African traditionalists would suggest that the religion proposes monotheism, the multiplicity of objects of worship and veneration may suggest a shift from the monotheistic position held strongly by both Christians and Muslims.
African traditional religion is a powerful influence and a large number of nationalistic Africans would want to maintain the cultural value of most practices without regard for the religious implications. For instance, some African theologians; have attempted to design a Christian theology based on the traditional mode of African religion. Harry Sawyerr and E. Fashole-Luke, former Professors of the University of Sierra Leone, argue that African ancestors have a role in the doctrine of the communion of Saints as presented in the ecclesiastical.6
Nyamiti and Bujo, both African Christian Theologians are quoted by John Parrat, in using the African ancestor concept to elucidate Christology. In Nyamity's opinion, Christ may be regarded as Ancestor because just as the human ancestor; establishes a link between the spirit world and that of the living, so Jesus by His crucifixion establishes a mystical link between God and the Christian community. Bujo on the other hand, believes that Jesus is the first ancestor, but transcends all others.7
Society
Society as a source of theology includes all forms of human activity and interaction: politically, economically, socially, ethnically, etc. These factors have become complex everyday to the point that certain features in them are easily addressed by any religion. These aspects or features have become points of debates and arguments from which atheoloagies are built.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I must reiterate here that all these sources of theology seek to present concepts of God based on what has been handed or experienced. It may be argued that they are not enough for arriving at a universally accepted African Christian theology since there are so many features in them that are totally unacceptable to orthodox and even Evangelical Christianity. But African theology away from the Christian domain draws a lot of inspiration from these sources and they are no doubt issues to be grappled with as we move ahead to see how far we can do theology in Africa.

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Spiritual Duty

When it comes to a spiritual duty what is the first thing that comes to mind? For me, the first thing that comes to mind is a job and way of life or way of living. So what is our Divine duty as spiritual beings? One of our spiritual duties is to learn from our life experiences and secondly we are to express Love in all the many forms. Believe it or not, we are here to learn, aid, and Love each other no matter the form of experiences that we are faced with.
Every experience that happened to you up to this point in life has created the individual that you are today. There are different types of experiences that lead us to this point that we may find ourselves at. There are experiences in: forgiveness, compassion, kindness, generosity, empathy, etc. It is these life themes that help to create a space for learning about our inner-selves beneath the surface. It is our spiritual duty to learn these life themes inside and out, so that we can aid others who find themselves going through the same life themes that we have been through. Wouldn't you like to aid a friend, co-worker, or family member in understanding some of their life themes that are embedded within their experiences?
Love comes in many forms; there is not just romantic-Love. Forgiveness, compassion, empathy, are all forms of Love. You see, when we are learning some of the life themes embedded within our experiences we are actually learning about Love. So if this is the case then why is it hard for some to express Love always and in all ways? Failure to learn from the life themes that are within our experiences is why it's hard for some. Some of us have been beaten up inside from having rough experiences. Shift your perspective with me for just a moment while we look at the life theme of forgiveness. When the life theme of forgiveness is presented to us within an experience it usually takes the form of an individual being emotionally, mentally, or physically hurt by someone else; thus, forgiveness being the answer to properly heal from the emotional and/or mental and/or physical pain. So once you forgive the other person and forgive yourself from having gone through the experience, you end up being in a position where you can aid someone else. And to me this is one of the best positions that you could find yourself in.
So as you walk your path remember that you are not just walking it for yourself, you are walking the path so others that you help along the way can prosper too. Your spiritual duty is to express Love always and in all ways by first helping yourself so you can ultimately aid others.

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Prepare to Be Shocked By God's Kingdom Reversal

Paradoxes of the Kingdom abound to confuse the 'righteous' and encourage the broken. Don't believe me? Read the Old Testament. Then read Jesus.
Isaiah 61:1-10 in the Septuagint (LXX) links the message of salvation and those who are broken with the concept that it is the broken person who leads other broken people to their salvation.
God's key Kingdom reversal is this: He wants to use the broken to bind up the wounds of the broken. He uses the broken with power, but those who are proud toil fruitlessly for years. If life has smashed you up, prepare to be part of God's Kingdom reversal; and be used greatly (which is measured in the eternal realm; certainly, not by numbers).
God has no role for the self-righteous priest. The priest is necessarily from the broken. If the priest is not from the broken, they will be ineffective for they haven't borne witness to the power of the Spirit in the realities of Isaiah 61:1-3 in their own lives. They cannot take persons through places they themselves have not gone. And they have insufficient empathy and compassion. God cannot use them who do their ministry for their own kudos. And be careful, for it is difficult to discern the right minister from the self-righteous minister.
But God will use the one who has been smashed and dashed on the rocks of life.
It is the broken person that God has predestined to work great deeds for His glory. Not just the person once broken and caused to be prideful, but the person who remains broken.
The Holy Spirit works maximally through broken people who lead as if they don't.

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Christian Youth - God Has a Bright Future For You

We live in a confusing and changing world. With so much discord and unhappiness swirling around it can sometimes feel impossible to lead a truly Christian life. When our political and social leaders are making great missteps and failing to succeed as being an example of good Christian living, it is easy to get discouraged. Despair not though, as a Christian you need not look to those around you to feel God's love or for a good example. Know that your heavenly father wants only the best for you as a Christian youth, and that He provides you with all that you will ever need to succeed.
"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.
They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a
future and a hope."
-- Jeremiah 29:11
The times that Jesus Christ lived in were no less tumultuous than the times we live in now. Through his actions and great love for man, God showed the people of that time what it meant to be a Christian. God sacrificed his only begotten son, so that we would be able to love one another as God loves us and that we would fulfill his wishes by leading a good Christian life. The Christian youth of today is blessed with the opportunity to live in a time that you can do so much good in sharing God's word. Know that you are blessed and have the power to help others by setting a good example of Christian living.
"I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
-- Philippians 4:13
Living your life as a good Christian means accepting others even though they may be different. The Christian youth of today can make a radical and lasting difference in the world by living their lives as God would want; by leading by example and by demonstrating that a good Christian life is a full one. Family, friends and God's word are the greatest gifts that one can ever share and are all the rewards that come from Christian living. We are so blessed to have God's great love in our lives. How better to honor that love than to share it with others who may be living in darkness?
"Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord
your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you."
--Deuteronomy 31:6
Armed with the great love of God, there is no obstacle that you cannot overcome. Being a Christian offers you so many opportunities to share God's word and God's love. Don't be afraid to be overjoyed at the great gift you have as a Christian youth. Know that, no matter what trial you are facing, God's love will see you through. Stick to your beliefs, and live your life as God has commanded and you will reap the rewards of a good Christian life. Even in your darkest hour your great faith and Christian living will light your soul and fill you with a great peace, knowing that you are never alone.
"The Lord will guide you continually."
-- Isaiah 58:11

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