why should I give my life???

I'd like to discuss a question that is sometimes asked to Christians:
"Why should I give my life to Christ?"

First off, God is the creator of life.
Most of everyone knows Genesis 1:1" In the beginning God created the heavens and earth." This is the first verse of the Holy Bible, which is an awesome statement in my opinion. God, our Father, created the heavens and earth. This verse alone proclaims His magnificant power because He creates living things. God is so powerful because in Genesis 1:3;" And God said, 'Let there be light ' and there was light." When I read these verses, I am reminded of His majestic presence over us. I know that God is great and omnipresent. Through my revelations of knowing who God is, I humbly give my life to Him. He is great and why wouldn't you give your life to Him. He created the heavens and earth. He created everything. I give my Life to Him because I know that He will guide me and help me in my walk on earth. He is always there. He is omnipresent and knows the Beginning and the end. He is perfect and I am not. Therefore, I give my life to the perfect Creator to perfect the imperfections and impurities in my life. God is here to help us, love us, guide us, teach us and much more. We should give our life to Him??? Because He knows what is best for us. He wants us to succeed in life and help others learn about Him and His everlasting love. So invite Him into your hearts.....

God is great and sometimes there are not enough words to describe Him. I give my life to Him because He is there when I need Him, which is all the time. Here at FSU, there are different challenges and temptations that I face everyday. When I feel alone, I know that I am not because God is here with me. With God, I know that all things are possible. When you feel defeated or discouraged, God is here to raise your spirits. He does not want to see His children be kick around by the devil. He wants us to defeat the devil. We can defeat the devil with God's help and instructions. His instructions are in the Holy Bible. Read the Bible because all you need to know is in His Holy Word (the Bible).
I give my life to God because He loves me so much.
I know He loves you so much because he gave His only son to save us from our sins. In John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

I give my life to Him because His Son gave his life to us.

When you get to know Him, you realize that all you need is Him. Give your life to God because it is well-worth it!! Trust me! Giving my life to Him has brought everlasting joy, love, happiness, strength to my life, which I need everyday.
And I didn't receive all of that, until I gave all of me....

-Brittany

~hard lesson~

It's a hard lesson, when you learn it too late
It's a cold feeling, just like a slap in the face

I knew you were waiting
I knew you wanted to see
I know you were wanting
I know you were needing me.

I should have hung around
I should have hung around
I could've moved some things
We could've chased some dreams
Its sad to reminece
And wonder what all I've missed
I should have hung around.

I didn't want call, I didn't wanna pretend
I didn't want to talk, after all the frustration had set in.
I didn't want to know, what you did again.

But now, what if it was what you needed
What if it was me
What if I could have changed it
Could we have escaped the tragedy.

And I don't want to think about that moment
I don't want know in grand detail
I remember you strong and vibrant
I don't want to think of you weak and frail.

I should have hung around
I should have hung around
I could've moved some things
We could've chased some dreams
Its sad to remanece
And wonder what all I've missed
I should have hung around.

Now I wish I could go back and appreciated you
I wish I knew then, what I'm feeling now
I wish I was there on all those birthdays
I could have seen that silly smile

My heart so wants to be close to you
More than it ever did back then
Its a hard lesson when you learn it too late
I missed the chance to make you my very close friend.

I'm sorry I let you down
Even if you didnt know it
I know what I should've done
I know that I should've have shown it.

I know you knew I loved you
That never was the question
I know you knew I cared for you
But I made a bad decision.

I wasn't really mad
I just allowed myself to be
I could've changed my mind
But you leaving, I just couldn't see

I took your presence for granted
Knowing you were just a phone call away to say hi.
I never thought in a million years
That I would be saying my tearful goodbyes.

Its a hard lesson, when you learn it too late
I missed my chance, to truly show you how I thought you were so great.
I could've have done more
and now my heart feels so sore.

// by Mellissa

Do you go to church?

I was the church kid. Everyone at school knew I went to church. There was no doubt about it. I tried to fit in with everyone else, but I always stood out, I could never quite blend in. I thought it was because I was weird, not normal. I hung out with strange friends (one of my friends was a self proclaimed atheist). Those closest to me did not share any of my beliefs. Though I believed in God and the Bible I was too busy trying to fit in to walk out what I believed. I had non-Christian boyfriends and non-Christian friends. I was not influencing them to seek God; they were influencing me away from God.

Do you go to Church or are you saved?

One of my hardest years in my life was the year I was in 9th grade. I fought with my mom constantly; I disrespected her all the time. I said things that I didn’t mean that kept me awake at night with regret but I was always too prideful to apologize. I lied and skipped school on a regular basis. Then about 4 months before summer vacation my mom announced we were moving to Florida. I told her I wouldn’t come that I would find someone to live with just to stay. Well, you can tell who lost that battle 14 years ago!

When I first came to my current church they were asking all these questions like: When did you get saved? Have you received the Holy Spirit? What are your gifts?

I was so scared. My response (in my head – of course I never said this out loud) was “WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I JUST GO TO CHURCH!” I wanted to run away and run away fast! I was being challenged. I was being held accountable for what I knew.

You see, both my parents were Pastor’s kids. I have literally been in church since I was born. Then my parents stopped going to church and living out their faith and our family was broken by divorce. When I was 12 my mom took all of us to a New Year’s church service. It was about to turn 1990 and right before midnight she went up to the altar to receive Jesus back into her life. We all went up with her at my uncle's insistence ( my siblings and I). But I hadn’t done it by choice but because someone told me to.

So I played church for years until my junior year of high school our church hosted an awesome youth conference and I was so touched by God that I decided that I wanted to live for Jesus with all of heart. That youth conference is something that will stay with me forever. I had had experiences with God before, but this was the 'big one' - the life changing experience that caused me too choose to live for Him. It was not at anyone else’s request. It was God gently reaching out to me asking me if I would choose Him and I did.

So this is especially for all you church kids out there. For anyone who’s ever gone to church or had some type of church background. Your time will come to choose for yourself. Have you given your life to God?

an expected end>

Whats up everybody,

I don't know how your new year is going but I hope that you took to heart what we said last week about making a decision to make a fresh start. It doesn't matter what you have been through, it doesn't matter who hurt you, it doesn't matter how mean somebody was to you... I want you to forget those things which are behind you and start reaching forward to whats before you. The bible says that God..."knows the thoughts that He has towards you, thoughts of good and not of evil,...thoughts of hope and an expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11). That means that you better expect for your end to be off the chain if you follow God. The reward for you following God is something I can't even explain to you. If you follow God now that means that you will have reward here on earth and you will have treasures stored in heaven. You get double for all your trouble. Thats what I am talking about!!! Anyway I hope you make a decision to start fresh this year following God and forgetting your past. Why do you make a big deal about following God? Whats the point? What has God ever done for me? You can't even see Him. I would rather chill and hang out just get through school and do my own thing. This is just something that you believe. There is so much stuff out there to believe I don't know what to believe. Good for you. To each his own, right? I will do what I want and then I will worry about important stuff as it comes. How do you know who is telling the truth anyway?...I am glad you spoke your mind. Thats good, you need to let it out sometimes. The reason I made a big deal about telling you about the birth of Jesus during the month of December is because it is something that really happened. It is not a myth or a fairy tale. It is cold hard truth. And to be real with you... it is actually good news. It kind of makes me mad that they don't teach it to you in history class at your school. The single greatest event and turning point for the human race and they leave it out of our schools. They teach you about everything else but they leave the details of the greatest moment of our lives out. It stinks but I want to give you a little history lesson right now. Jesus is as real as the oxygen you breath, the ground you walk on, and the clothes on your back. You can't see oxygen, right? But you know its real. How do you know? Because they tell you in a science book? Then why do most of us choose to live like Jesus never died for us and rose from the dead for our sins? Because our education system, that takes prayer out of school, chooses not to teach it to you because they don't want to offend anyone. And you live in a society that tells you its okay to believe what you want. As long as you are not hurting anyone. I want to make a confession. That is a bunch of crap. Just like it is the truth that the sun sets and rises everyday it is the truth that God sent Jesus to die for the sins of the world. I can't help it that God did it that way, but He did and it is for our good. Let me give some background as to why Jesus died and why it is of major importance to accept Him into our lives. God created Adam (represents all of the people in the world) to rule the earth. He was doing great. The bible says Adam..."walked with God". Then Adam ate of the fruit that God told Him not to. After this, Adam lost his right to rule on earth, sin entered the world, and he died spiritually. He was supposed to live forever but now he had an expiration date on his life on earth. Now that there was sin on earth we could no longer "walk with God" because God and sin don't mix. In order to come to God you had to bring something that was acceptable to Him (the bible goes into great detail about this, its pretty sweet). God's desire was that everyone would be able to come to Him. So he had to send something to earth that was acceptable to Him. It had to be perfect. He sent his son who lived as a man for 33 years on earth and he never did a bad thing in His life. He never sinned. This was the only acceptable thing that could be presented to God because it was perfect. It so happened to be God's only Son. So Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. Three days later He rose again and restored everything we lost when Adam ate the fruit. We can now walk with Him and come to Him anytime we want but only under one condition. As long as you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior God will see Jesus inside of you and see you as perfect. WOW!!! I used to be off the chain. I would drink, smoke weed like it was nothing, and a whole bunch of other drugs including ecstasy. One of my friends who had given his life to Jesus told me that a guy who when he accepted Jesus into his heart felt ecstasy all over his body. I was like, DANG!!!! I have to find out if this is real. That night I went into my room, got on my knees, and prayed..."God if you are real, show me"....The moment I said that I felt a charge of electricity run straight through my body and I began to shake to where I could not control myself. Ever since then I have vowed to live for Christ all the days of my life. He is real. And it is true that He died for us so that we could "walk with God" again. I encourage you to give your life to Jesus. It might not be the easiest decision but it sure is worth it. If you don't know how to give your life to him I will leave my email so that you can hit me back. And if you do give your life to Him please let us know.
Stay tuned for our next devotional...

Much love,
Mickey Santiago

mickeyspassion@hotmail.com

'08 guide to making New Year's resolutions

Ello Ello,

So, whether it's for "New Year's Resolutions or not, having goals are a great thing to... well, have. It's on purpose, thinking about the kind of person you want to be, the kind of life you want to live, and doing it. Check out below for help to make your own.

Okay- I'll give you 7 categories, and you write 2 to 3 goals for each. Sound fun???
WHATEVER!! Do it anyways!

herewego:

//friends/family- [can't live with em, can't live without em]
1. 2. 3.

//finances- [cold hard ca$h]
1. 2. 3.

//health- [look good & live long]
1. 2. 3.

//community- ["heal the world, make it a better place" -Michael Jackson ;-) ]
1. 2. 3.

//life maintenance- [home work, chores, washing your freakin face!]
1. 2. 3.

//personal- [up the wardrobe, hobbies, stuff for the fun of it]
1. 2. 3.

{{{saved the best for last}}}
//God- [read a chapter of the bible a day, pray daily, start going to church regulary]
1. 2. 3.


Good Job!!!
Now, copy the 7 with your answers and post it as a blog (&/or bulletin), so your friends can see where you're at and it'll help them think about what they want to do. Also, letting them know will keep you accountable to want to actually accomplish your stuff!
Then, just remind yourself every once and again of your goals and you'll feel soo accomplished by this time next year.

God Bless,
Deacon Danger

Baby Bella

here's my babe...

coming
soon
to a
hospital
near
you

My God

MY G-O-D
By Manny Mendez Jr.

I can't imagine a Day without my G-O-D
Whose grace, falls all over me. That makes my spirit leap in the air knowing we are joint heirs With Christ, who is precise on his word, making the enemy think " this isabsurd" watching him scramble and flee at the sight of what lives inside of me.
My G-O-D.
The one who cleansed me with the Washing of the blood of the lambFrom the souls of my feet to the back of my handRaising them in the air praising his holy name never to be used out of spiteor in vein.You see this world is about to change, So it's time to rearrange are life to the things that
My G-O-D
Sees fit, not for my will but for his will, his glory Let me tell you a story about my life, it wasn't all hunky dory; I lived a life with parents arguing all the time about the WhoWhat WhereAnd Why type of life, rather focusing on the one who made us right.
My G-O-D
The ruler of all things, who made kings and lords. To serve the king of kings and lord of lords.
My G-O-D
The one who knew me before I knew him.Counted every hair on body, created the stars and the heavens. The birds andthe bees.I can go on and on about
My G-O-D
So I ask you.Who can we call on when things go wrong?
My G-O-D
Who is it that sent his only son to Die for us?
My G-O-D
Who's there all the time when we feel lost?
My G-O-D
I can't ever imagine a Day without My G-O-D.
Because there is no one better than Him, for me.

a fresh start...

Whats going on everyone,

I hope you have a better understanding of why we celebrate Christmas from reading our last devotional. We explained how Jesus is the reason for the season and how God caused Him to be born for our salvation. And you know what makes it so crucial...accepting His salvation is FREE!!! How many things can you say are free. Are you kidding me. In America that would be hard to find. But the greatest thing you could ever have, which is salvation, is a free gift from Jesus to us. What a Christmas present!!! I will take that any day of the week. I will say one more thing before my next thought. It is free to accept salvation but it is not free to live in. You have to pay a price to keep your salvation and retain your ticket to heaven. The bible says..."work out your salvation with fear and trembling". I know this might be hard for some of you out there but we don't sugar coat anything on these devotionals. We keep it real. It is hard living for Jesus but it is hard to live without Him also. He gives us all a choice and He is an absolute gentleman about it. Well, this is actually the official last devotional of the year before we begin the new year of devotionals next week. If you had a great 2007 then I encourage you to have an even better 2008. Don't ever stay or be happy with being at a certain place. Always strive to be growing. Anything that stops growing is usually a sign that its dead. The bible talks about going from..."glory to glory being conformed to the image of His son" This pretty much is saying that we go from step to step or from level to level becoming more and more like Jesus. Who better to become like than Jesus Himself? You can do it. The bible says you can. If you didn't have such a great 2007 I want you to forget your past and tell yourself that you will have a fresh start in 2008. Out of all the miracles and signs that one of the great men of the bible performed there was one thing that he said he was really good at. Pay attention because this will change your life. This man built many churches, traveled the world telling many people about Jesus, and he wrote more than half of the new testament that we read in the bible today. And he said that he was expert at one thing and it was this, "...forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus". What he meant by this statement was that he was good at forgetting his past and he also became good at reaching for the good that was in the future. He had to learn how to forget his past because his past was horrible. He killed many Christians in the past and he said many bad things about the church. Can you imagine having a past like that and then having a real experience with Jesus Christ that caused him to want to promote the very thing that he tried to kill? Man, I think thats kind of crazy. Anyway, I encourage you to forget your past and declare that 2008 will be a fresh start. A start that will begin an awesome future for you. I also suggest that you go and buy yourself maybe about 4 new pair of sunglasses because your future is that bright. Not because your cool (just kidding you guys are pretty cool) but because your future is brighter than you could ever imagine. Until next time have a happy new year.

Chow.
Mickey Santiago