Teenage christian, in need of advice.

Hello fellow users of sermonindex, I have a burden and a concern that has been resting on my heart. I am 17 years old and a follower of Jesus Christ. Is there anyone else in this community who has been a christian since a young age? Or know of anybody who has? My greatest fear is turning from the faith and forgetting God, I have a long life ahead of me, and sometimes I feel I am already getting weary. I know im all over the place here, but does anybody get what im trying to say? Godbless. ~ Key

Hello Key and welcome to Sermonindex. What an encouragement it is to see a young person seeking after God. I would encourage you to honestly ask the Lord every day something like this, "Lord, whatever it takes, don't let love grow cold or let faith fail" I've been praying that for years and He has been faithful to keep me close to Him.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9)

In Christ,

by seagullterror9
Is there anyone else in this community who has been a christian since a young age? Or know of anybody who has? My greatest fear is turning from the faith and forgetting God, I have a long life ahead of me, and sometimes I feel I am already getting weary.

I gave my life to Christ at 18 and this year I have walked with him for 40 years. When I just now added it up, I was like, wow, it seems like yesterday but it wasn't!

Don't live with your eyes on your long life, live with your eye on each day and being faithful for that day. When we get wrapped up in the journey as a whole, then sometimes it might be hard not to trip over the pebbles in our path.

Love is the greatest of these, try to out love God, we can't but I love trying though!

God bless you Key, you can do this, with Christ all things are possible!
Lisa

Amen. Yes! Thanks for the encouragement and the help, the Lord will finish what he started in me.

Wow! That's awesome, Lysa, I pray that Christ will do the same for me, which I know he will. Amen, yes that is true, take each day at a time. Thanks for the response, I really appreciate it. Godbless! :)

Key I was 17 when I was saved, I'm 59 now, Jesus has been faithful all my life and his love towards me has never gotten cold.
I'm going to make a couple of assumptions here so if I'm wrong please correct me. I suppose you are a male and if you joined this kind of group you are probably serious.
A few things.
1. Seek out a strong men's bible study, find one that is Christ-centered, values scripture highly and the men themselves are seeking Jesus as you are. If not, find some place else, if you need to go outside your own Church do so.
2. Find a good mentor, someone who loves Jesus and will take the time to invest in you. Learn how to live out your faith from godly older men their counsel and wisdom will be of great help to you.
3. Stay away from lukewarm, biblically illiterate people, refuse idle chatter, or those who name Christ but find their real pleasure in gaming, sports, girls, partying etc. The very thing you need to mature you...they do not have.
4. Invest your time in learning the word of God, study, pray, compare scripture with scripture. Become a good student of scripture, learn to take delight in God's word, his wisdom and from that word he will begin to reveal himself to you.
5. Invest your time in prayer, learn to spend hours in prayer, how? It starts by giving God 5 minutes, then 10, then 30 and so on. Do not rush yourself and do not go from prayer to idle chatter or immature boyish talk with your friends. If you do, you will find it draws you away from spiritual realities into the bustle and hustle of worldly thinking again.
6. Be filled with the Spirit of God, seek God to empower you for his work, speaking, sharing your faith. Be a doer of the word. Do not learn then be silent, do not seek compassion for others and not go out and express it.
7. Refuse all cowardice, timidity, shyness be bold in your faith, allow no one old or young to intimidate you so as to quench the Spirit of God within you.

You have one great commission and that is to make disciples while you are being disciple-d. The commission of Jesus is your commission and its my commission as well.

Weakness, hypocrisy, cowardice, lack of confidence all find their strength in learning the bible and not practicing what you read. Including... hearing sermons and not applying them immediately to your own self. Feeling compassion and mercies and shutting up those godly impulses over some fear or some perceived inadequacy.

A new Christian can be greatly helped by older wiser men who are zealous for God's word and their own holiness. Find one, pray the Lord Jesus provides you one.

Let us know specifics if you are willing.

Hello,

I repented and believed when I was 17 (1 day before my 18th birthday), I'm now 32. In our church there are many youth and some at the age of 13/14/15 had already a deep fellowship with the Lord. Yes they had to mature in every aspect of life, but they grew in Christ more and more. How? Because there where older people around them that build them up, watched over them.

I think the biggest problem of todays youth could be that they don't listen to the older people. With listen I don't mean "100% obedience to every older person" but what I mean is: make sure you have multiple older persons (who are on fire for the Lord) that can help you in your growth. Listen to what they say to you, take it serieously, pray for it, study the scripture in everything they say. Then the Lord will help you.

I didn't do this when I was young in the faith because there were no older people that where 'on fire' for the Lord. But because of that I had many many many mighty struggles that could be prevented if I had. Another reason was that I didn't listen to some of the people, that I should have listen to. So I wasn't humble enough to allow them to help me grow.

So that would by my suggestion. And know this: the One that changed your life is able to keep it... that is our Lord Jesus Christ! Look to Him and you shall be safe and you will grow in Him!

Key,

Please consider; https://youtu.be/eBwkNMn5VGI

Key: I was born again when I was 8 years old, and encountered God in a very real way. I had such a knowledge of sin forgiven and of righteousness with God at that time. I served God faithfully throughout high school. I know exactly where you are at and when I have a few more minutes later today, I will try to answer your question.

I think the first thing you need to do is press into your relationship with God. Let Him become your everything. When you think you are standing alone, you are not standing alone. I remember that Jesus became my everything. I often stood alone, in fact most of the time, but I spent time with Him and developed a relationship with Him that carried me through.

Second, make the most of every relationship you have with believers, both in your school and outside of your school. I remember attending a Youth For Christ meeting every other week at the local town hall. A teacher in my school was a strong believer and sponsored the club. I drew a great deal of strength from this club. I also met about once every other week with a very small group of Christian students and prayed together during lunch. God also provided a strong Christian friend for me during my junior and senior years. We would hang out with a small group of believers outside of school. Some of my best memories are Friday or Saturday night prayer meetings in a little church that my buddy's parents attended. It was just four or five guys seeking God with everything we had. I honestly had no youth in my church that were seeking God, so I drove 20 miles every other week or so to another youth meeting, and I developed relationship with adults in my church.

I also determined that whatever came, my relationship with God was more important than anything else. I determined to stand, and then I stood, even when I stood alone. I have been teased because of my stand for Christ. But I have also had friends who were totally lost that came to respect me. I witnessed to them, and unfortunately they did not turn their own lives over to God. But they knew very clearly where I stood and respected me for it. They would actually warn me at lunch that they were about to tell a dirty joke, I would move away from them for a few minutes, and then they would signal that they were done and I would move back.

I pray right now that you would have the strength to stand and the desire to seek after God with all you have.

Stand strong. It can be done. He will give you the strength.

Hi Key,
I am actually 20, met the Lord when I was about 12. As I look back - I think that my parents and my home church had most influence on my spiritual life so far. It is very good to have your parents as your councelors and friends!

As I left home to study in university, I was more or less "forced" to press into Him, to know Him more personally, to trust Him, to pray, to put into practice the things I only knew as a theory, to hold fast on the doctrine of Christ - not just because I've learned it so, but because the Word of God said so. (Edit: "forced" - because I had just to decide whether I am going to continue to follow Jesus or will just join the flood, and I have no godly friend in the city I live in)

One of the verses I thought of in the last days was: "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matthew 24:12) ... the love of many shall wax cold... I have too been discouraged, just as you said. Also when I see other people calling themselves Christians but living like the world. But don't give up! There are people who really seek Christ, deny themselfes, take up the Cross and follow Jesus! It will always cost us something, but it is nothing in comparison to Him and what He has prepared for us!

A song goes: "Count the cost, take up your cross and follow Him!" That's it! Count the cost! Even Jesus said it! I personally put myself in the place of the three lepers before the gates of Samaria (2 Kings 7). I mean there is no better place to go than God. If we stay in sin - we will die, even if one would join hands with Satan - he will still die, and the only way to life (and meaningful life) is God, Jesus Christ!

So my advice: Don't give up! Pray that God will give you godly friends! (but remember "If no one joins me, still I will follow!) Listen to mature godly people! Meditate on the Word of God, pray. "Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." And trust Him!

God bless you!

My daughter's 13 year old friend said to me this week, "My dream is to die for Jesus if I can't die naturally."

I don't know if she was genuinely saying so or if she was repeating what she heard people she admired say. But it was refreshing either way.

Love Him. Be WITH Him privately as often as you will, but also as often as you must make yourself. Think about Him. Don't worry that the newness of loving Him will fade. It will, but it will renew, too. He does that.

Hold Him for all you are worth. But don't try to live a whole life's worth of holding Him in a day. You can't . Walk with Him by the minute. By the breath even. He will keep you in love with Him as He matures your love for Him.