REFUGE
student ministries
Quiet time matters
I believe that it is crucial for every believer to spend time in the Word! I also understand that our culture is full of things that are constantly demanding your attention. I want to help you! My goal is to give you the option of coming to this page to find scripture. I don't want to teach a lesson here, but I do want to help you find some scripture to meditate on and possibly help you start a conversation with Jesus while you are taking in the word.
-DANA
If you don't have your Bible with you right now, feel free to use this box to look up scripture.
I'm Just Not Going To
By: Jake McCaw
We all know it is a lot easier to go with the flow and not against it right? Peer pressure is a very difficult thing to resist especially when it isn’t just one person
telling you that you should do something, but when it is a whole bunch of people. It is very easy to fall away from what you say you believe when the easy, fun choice is to just do it.
That can mean a lot of things.
One more hit. One more drink. One more kiss. One less good decision.
It doesn’t always start off that big though. Sometimes it's just as easy as cheating on a test or not doing what somebody asked you to do because your friends say it is stupid. This is something that we have all faced. And all failed at some point.
Throughout the years after Jesus went back to Heaven his closest friends, the disciples, were each faced with the decision to either stick with Jesus and keep teaching or go with what everybody wanted them to do and stop. Many of them were even killed for not relenting.
I’m not saying that you are going to be boiled in oil at your school if you decide not to smoke, but you will probably get laughed at. None of us like being looked at like we are weird and stupid, but when did that become what truly defines us? We are defined by what our Father says about us. Not our friends that may not even be with us in a few years.
Go look at Daniel Chapter 1, 3 and 6. These stories are of people who decided that they were just not going to do what everybody said they should. They were going to be loyal to God no matter what. Would you be willing to say that? Or is your popularity with people who don’t even know you more important.
One leads to happiness and Joy deep down. The other leads to an empty life. Trust me…I know.
I Touch the Sky
By: Jake McCaw
“I touch the sky when my knees hit the ground….”
This is a lyric from the chorus of Hillsong United’s song “Touch The Sky” and it has been speaking to me on an incredibly deep level lately. I was playing the song in my head-phones and when the song was over I realized that I pretty much belted it out in front of my friends and they were just like, “Dude! You’re yelling!” It made me laugh, but I didn’t apologize because my heart was in a true state of worship for a few moments.
Worship is very dear to my heart since I am a musician. I think a lot of times though we expect to have a great experience in worship and then when we don’t feel anything special during it we get a little bitter. Like, “Why do I not have a good time worshiping?” I think sometimes we get to a place where worship becomes three or four songs that we have to sit through before we can listen to the speaker.
Why is that?
I think it is because we aren’t on our knees. Not our physical knees, although doing that can be an outward expression of worship, but in our hearts and souls. Are we truly bowing down before the throne of God. Or are we just using worship as time to just sing something maybe and talk with people.
I would venture to say that if we aren’t bowing our hearts and if we aren’t sing to Jesus that we aren’t really worshiping. We just kind of showed up next to people who are. This is something that I’m guilty of too, don’t get me wrong.
I think that it is only once we hit the ground on our knees that we will finally touch the sky with our hands lifted high. Worship has to be genuine for us to praise God in this way.
The Psalms are a great place to read about worship. Feel free to look through them yourself. I looked at Psalm 61, 63, and 33. Have some time of personal worship.
Jesus, I Will Trust You
By: Jake McCaw
Is your life perfect? Everything is going exactly the way you want it to? Your friends are awesome and your boyfriend or girlfriend is attractive and your grades? Well, those are kinda whatever, you just go to school cuz you have to.
I remember those days. They were full of fun and laughter and smiles. But on the inside I wasn't happy at all. Turns out, you are lying to yourself if you say that your life is perfect. I know it shocked me too years ago when I learned that. It rocked my world and I learned something that made everything bearable.
I learned that even though my life was falling apart from the inside out…
…the truth was that I wasn’t alone and there was help just a surrender away.
Trusting Jesus isn’t always easy is it? We talk about it all the time in church and say, “Oh well just give it to Jesus! Just give it over to him and he will work it all out.” But how many of you have ever been like, “What the heck does that even mean?”
I think it comes from knowing who Jesus is and knowing that he is a mighty warrior as well as a hiding place. A strong tower and a comforting friend. A lion and a lamb.
You see it isn’t about just ignoring your problems and just hoping that things will just get better (like we tend to make it seem like). It isn’t about trying to fix everything yourself because you have been praying and it doesn’t seem like God is answering.
It’s about understanding that sometimes the problem isn’t going to go away for a while. It’s about coming to the end of what we think we can do to fix stuff ourselves. It’s about being willing to give up the position of who runs our lives.
Most importantly, it’s about leaning back and letting go of the pride we have in being the victim. It isn’t a good thing to hold on to. So think about these things the next time you realize that your life may be cool on the outside, but on the inside you’re hurting more than ever.
Take a look at Psalm 56 and 57 and reflect for a while. I think it’ll bring you some peace.
The Maker Loves Me
By: Jake McCaw
I recently heard a song by Chris August and the line that stood out to me the most was, “I love the Maker and the Maker loves me.” I was in the car with a friend of mine and when this song played I just kind of fell silent and took in everything from the song that I could. I got to really thinking about it and re-realized how crazy it is that the Maker of everything loves me.
But he doesn’t just love me…He likes me!
He doesn’t just want to save me and provide for me…He wants to hang out with me. He wants to talk to me. He wants me to desire to be with him. And he is willing to go to great lengths to get my attention.
This may sound a little weird to some of you, but it is like He and I are caught up in this romance where he is constantly pursuing me and I am in awe of his love for me. You may have heard the Church called “The Bride of Christ” before and that pretty much sums it up.
Jesus came to earth and died for us all. Then he went back up into Heaven to prepare a place for us. When everything is ready, we don’t know exactly the day, he will come back again to get us and take us there if we truly love him and accept him. It is no coincidence that back in the Bible times, the groom would leave the fiancé to build their house and become stable to support her and then he would come back to get her and they would be together until the end.
It’s a beautiful picture isn’t it?
The Creator of the Earth and the Moon and the Stars…loves you. The all powerful and wonderful God…wants you to be with him forever in heaven.
Read Genesis Chapter 1 to see the beauty of His creation.
Then go read Revelation 22:12-13 to hear it from Jesus himself that he plans to return.
And lastly go read Matthew 27:24-66 and 28:1-10.
It may be a lot of reading, but hey! This stuff is important.
I pray that Jesus speaks to you as you pray and think about what you have read.
Do You Love Me?
By: Jake McCaw
Do you actually love God? Think about it for a second. When you think about God do you picture some guy up in space that we sing about on Sundays and Wednesdays or do you picture a heavenly father that is all-powerful and merciful and forgiving? Do you even think about God ever?
Do you come to a Wednesday Youth Group service and just hang out with people the whole time? Do you truly worship God during the music or just talk to people while you listen? Is church just another place for you to escape the crowd with your girlfriend? Or go off and smoke weed? Or talk about sexual things and make dirty jokes? Is your phone more important than what the teacher is trying to tell you?
I guess what I am getting at is do you really want to have a life that has been changed by the savior Jesus? I realize that every sentence so far has been a question, but these are all questions that I have been thinking about and praying about for the last few years. These are things that are on the hearts of the adults who truly care about you and want to see young people come to a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
Let’s talk for a bit about one of the people that was closest to Jesus in the Bible. Turn to Mark 14:66 and read through until the end of chapter 14.
It’s not very long .
Peter was a pretty tough dude! He had a sword even and he knew how to use it. Peter was a bro that’s for sure. Jesus and he were close over the three years that Jesus taught the disciples how to live and minister. Peter did have a
tendency to put his foot in his mouth, but he was still devoted to following Jesus. He was kinda like the kid who is always at church when the doors are open or the preacher’s kid who has all the answers.
But Peter still freaked out and denied even knowing who Jesus was when the heat was on. He actually told people that he wasn’t a follower of Jesus three times! Think about your life for a bit. Have you been asked before if you know Jesus and said no? I have before and I have regretted it ever since.
The good news is that after Jesus comes back from the dead he talks to Peter again and this time, the conversation goes a bit differently.
Look at John 21:15-17.
See here Peter confirms that he does, in fact, love Jesus even though he screwed up and Jesus tells him that since he does love him he should do the work Jesus asks of him.
Jesus knew that Peter had denied knowing him after three years of continuous hanging out. But Jesus still loved Peter and forgave him. Peter had to
know that what he did was wrong and that something needed to change in his life. That is why Jesus kept telling him to feed his sheep.
Does something need to change in your life? Commitments? Habits? This is what I think Jesus is asking all of us today. Do you love me? Well then show me. Do you love me? Well then show other people. Do you love me? Well then show yourself. Do you love me? Well I love you.