Connected! Strengths, Purpose, Destiny...

Connect last night was insane. God gave a lot of revelation. I don't like coming on here and talking about what I talked about. So, I need your help. Help me recap what came out of the discussion on Strengths last night. It's your turn to talk - share the insights!

Strategies for Purity

This is our second session on purity this month. Wow, we really added to our strategies for purity! We received a purity checklist which we encouraged the youth to post somewhere where they could see it everyday. The checklist came from a program by Christine St. George. You can find it online. To paraphrase a few strategies:

• We will stay pure today & pray for our future husbands/wives. We learned to focus on inward qualities when praying for our future mates, not just physical characteristics :-)
• We will avoid putting ourselves in situations where we can be tempted. We learned to be in groups and/or have a chaperon.
  
• If we date, we will only date those who share a commitment to purity. The students decided that you should be friends first and discuss your commitment to purity. They decided if your friend couldn't honor your commitment that you show them the door to the relationship :-) These are some feisty students!
• We will be an example. We will be a light to other youth regarding purity. We will show the world what we stand for by our stand on purity. This may give other young people the courage to be pure!
• We will dress appropriately so that others won't lust. We decided that we didn't want to wear shirts that were too low cut, pants/skirts that showed our backside or bellies, or clothes that were too tight or short. We talked about how young men are sexually excited by what they see and young women are excited by feeling close to others.
  
• We will take impure thought and temptations to God in prayer. We talked about the images, lyrics that we may see/hear/read about on television, movies, songs, magazines, books and the internet.

It was a great session! Our youth are great leaders who are learning God's plan for their lives. Encourage them! We'd love to hear more from you!

Single's Strategy

We had a phenomenal time with the single people at Single's Strategy on Saturday. Prophetess Kelly Crews blessed us and we had a great discussion in the session led by Lady Camille and myself. So many topics were covered; so much was said. Now, I want to hear from you - what were your takeaways? What did you get out of the day? What would you like to continue to discuss?

Blessings,

Pastor Razel

Purity

Youth discussed purity this week. What a relevant issue for the pressures that our youth are faced with, including pressures to have sex before marriage, pornography and sexting to name a few. We talked about three Bible truths:

• God wants us to attain purity as a mark of his presence in us. 1 Thessalonians 4: 3, 7, 8
• Gaining purity is not a one-time event, but a process. 1 Thessalonians 4: 1, 2
• Purity keeps us from abusing one another. 1 Thessalonians 4: 4-6

We talked about strategies that help us in this process including:

• Avoiding being alone with members of the opposite sex.
  
• Surround yourself with other young people who value purity.
  
• Wait until you are old enough to date.
  
• Listen to your parents advice regarding your relationships.
  

Any other advice for our youth? Post so we can share with them!

Connect - In His Image, In His Strength

We had a great discussion at Connect last night. This month I'm talking about our strengths. We entered the month last night discussing the fact that we were created in the image of an omnipotent God. Each of us reflects God in some way. We have some traits, characteristics, mannerisms, abilities and strengths that reflect God and identify our connection to Him.

We learned that a strength is:

• a developed talent
• a recognized and appreciated gift
• an opportunity capitalized upon
• actualized potential

God gave us some great insight and revelation into Romans 8:28-37 (King James Version). Below I've listed 3 of the verses; tell me what you get out of these and how this relates to our Strengths!

²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

²⁹For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

³⁰Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.