Are You a Superhero?
These days it's hard to stand up for what you believe.
So many people are quick to criticize or ridicule you.
But when you commit your life to God and trust Him to fight your battles for you, He will lead and guide you through the most difficult situations you can imagine.
You might be going through something right now that seems impossible to overcome.
Don't despair.
Help is just a prayer away.
But not just any prayer will do.
Your prayer must be one of genuine faith in God.
Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for all who come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
" All through the Bible we read about how powerful God is and also how compassionate he is.
He is worthy of our trust! In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we meet Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.
When they walked in the Garden of Eden, they had fellowship with God.
They were not afraid because they knew God was watching over them and providing for their every need.
Then the serpent came on the scene, and that's when Adam and Eve got into trouble.
In the Garden of Eden, God gave them all sorts of good things to eat.
He also placed there the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
This was the one tree from which they were not to eat or else they would die.
But the serpent was there to stir things up.
He was jealous of the happiness Adam and Eve had with God and wanted to see them disobey God.
The serpent told Eve that God didn't really mean what He said when they were not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
"You won't die! God only said that because He knows that when you eat from that tree, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like Him, knowing good and evil.
" Eve fell for that lie and ate the forbidden fruit.
Can you guess what happened next? Adam came over to see what was going on, and Eve persuaded him to eat some of that fruit too.
Their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked! This wasn't an issue before that serpent came along, but now Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness.
So they made fig leave coverings for their private parts.
And when God came walking through the Garden, Adam and Eve hid themselves.
"Where are you?" He asked.
Adam told God that he and his wife, Eve, were afraid to face Him because of their nakedness.
Immediately God knew what had happened, and He confronted them about the forbidden fruit they had eaten.
Gone was the joy that had been theirs before they disobeyed God.
Today we continue to disobey God by refusing to believe in Him.
And even when we believe in Him, we still have times when we just don't trust Him.
We think our problems are too big for Him to handle or that He doesn't really care about us.
These are lies too.
Nothing is too hard for God to help us with, and He cares for us more than anyone else in the entire world! The serpent who lied to Adam and Eve trouble and persuaded them to disobey God is actually Satan, the devil.
He used to be a beautiful angel in heaven named Lucifer, but he got overly impressed with himself and tried to be just like God.
In fact, he believed that he could become greater than God! (In Isaiah 14:12-14, we see just how ambitious the devil is.
) And he persuaded many other angels to worship him.
God deserves our worship and our trust.
Satan does not.
The devil hates God and those who love God.
He continues lying to people and persuading them to follow him instead of God.
How about you? Have you decided to follow God or Satan? Some people say that they don't do either one, but this also is a lie.
If you don't follow God, you follow Satan.
You might not pay any attention to him, but if you ignore God you're actually doing exactly what Satan wants you to do.
And he'll do whatever he can to keep you from trusting in God.
When you're in trouble, who do you turn to for help? A lot of young people join gangs to help them feel powerful.
They believe that if they're part of a gang, nobody will try to mess with them.
Others try to solve their problems by using drugs and committing acts of violence because of the rage they feel.
But God wants us to turn to Him.
He can help us get through any kind of trouble, no matter how difficult it may seem.
One of the biggest problems young people face today is bullying.
Bullies make some people so afraid that they either drop out of school or take their own lives.
God doesn't want us to do either of those things.
He wants us to stand firm in our faith and trust Him to be our strength and our shield (Psalm 18:1-3).
He is eager to step in and rescue us from danger, but He waits for us to turn to Him.
There is so much God is able to do for us.
Why do we struggle with our problems instead of giving them to Him? Because Satan continues to lie to us, making us think that God isn't real, that He is unable to handle our problem, or He simply doesn't care about what's happening to us.
We must stop believing these lies.
Once we learn the truth about God, that He does exist and that He does care about us, we will not be so easily frightened by bullies.
In fact, we'll become so brave that we actually begin telling others just how powerful and compassionate God is! When you see someone in trouble and you tell them about God, you're being a superhero.
Did you know that? You're actually coming to their rescue with the good news of salvation! You don't have to be Superman, Spider Man, or Iron Man in order to save the day for others.
All you have to do is share with them what the Bible says about God's power and compassion.
The next time you see bullies tormenting someone, pray for those bullies as well as the person being bullied.
God is able to do an amazing work in the hearts of others, just like He did in yours! Nothing is too hard for God.
And if you love God and trust Him with all of your heart, nothing is too hard for you either.
Every time we proclaim God's truth and trust Him to rescue us, Satan is defeated! He can't do anything but go away.
Yes, he does come back again and again and again.
But let's stand firm on the rock of our salvation, the Lord God Almighty, and let Him fight for us like Moses told the Israelites to do when their bullies, the Egyptians, were causing them serious trouble (Exodus 14:13-14).
Be a superhero and share your faith with those who are in trouble.
Together we can change the hearts of bullies and defeat Satan!
So many people are quick to criticize or ridicule you.
But when you commit your life to God and trust Him to fight your battles for you, He will lead and guide you through the most difficult situations you can imagine.
You might be going through something right now that seems impossible to overcome.
Don't despair.
Help is just a prayer away.
But not just any prayer will do.
Your prayer must be one of genuine faith in God.
Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for all who come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
" All through the Bible we read about how powerful God is and also how compassionate he is.
He is worthy of our trust! In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we meet Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.
When they walked in the Garden of Eden, they had fellowship with God.
They were not afraid because they knew God was watching over them and providing for their every need.
Then the serpent came on the scene, and that's when Adam and Eve got into trouble.
In the Garden of Eden, God gave them all sorts of good things to eat.
He also placed there the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
This was the one tree from which they were not to eat or else they would die.
But the serpent was there to stir things up.
He was jealous of the happiness Adam and Eve had with God and wanted to see them disobey God.
The serpent told Eve that God didn't really mean what He said when they were not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
"You won't die! God only said that because He knows that when you eat from that tree, your eyes will be opened and you'll be like Him, knowing good and evil.
" Eve fell for that lie and ate the forbidden fruit.
Can you guess what happened next? Adam came over to see what was going on, and Eve persuaded him to eat some of that fruit too.
Their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked! This wasn't an issue before that serpent came along, but now Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness.
So they made fig leave coverings for their private parts.
And when God came walking through the Garden, Adam and Eve hid themselves.
"Where are you?" He asked.
Adam told God that he and his wife, Eve, were afraid to face Him because of their nakedness.
Immediately God knew what had happened, and He confronted them about the forbidden fruit they had eaten.
Gone was the joy that had been theirs before they disobeyed God.
Today we continue to disobey God by refusing to believe in Him.
And even when we believe in Him, we still have times when we just don't trust Him.
We think our problems are too big for Him to handle or that He doesn't really care about us.
These are lies too.
Nothing is too hard for God to help us with, and He cares for us more than anyone else in the entire world! The serpent who lied to Adam and Eve trouble and persuaded them to disobey God is actually Satan, the devil.
He used to be a beautiful angel in heaven named Lucifer, but he got overly impressed with himself and tried to be just like God.
In fact, he believed that he could become greater than God! (In Isaiah 14:12-14, we see just how ambitious the devil is.
) And he persuaded many other angels to worship him.
God deserves our worship and our trust.
Satan does not.
The devil hates God and those who love God.
He continues lying to people and persuading them to follow him instead of God.
How about you? Have you decided to follow God or Satan? Some people say that they don't do either one, but this also is a lie.
If you don't follow God, you follow Satan.
You might not pay any attention to him, but if you ignore God you're actually doing exactly what Satan wants you to do.
And he'll do whatever he can to keep you from trusting in God.
When you're in trouble, who do you turn to for help? A lot of young people join gangs to help them feel powerful.
They believe that if they're part of a gang, nobody will try to mess with them.
Others try to solve their problems by using drugs and committing acts of violence because of the rage they feel.
But God wants us to turn to Him.
He can help us get through any kind of trouble, no matter how difficult it may seem.
One of the biggest problems young people face today is bullying.
Bullies make some people so afraid that they either drop out of school or take their own lives.
God doesn't want us to do either of those things.
He wants us to stand firm in our faith and trust Him to be our strength and our shield (Psalm 18:1-3).
He is eager to step in and rescue us from danger, but He waits for us to turn to Him.
There is so much God is able to do for us.
Why do we struggle with our problems instead of giving them to Him? Because Satan continues to lie to us, making us think that God isn't real, that He is unable to handle our problem, or He simply doesn't care about what's happening to us.
We must stop believing these lies.
Once we learn the truth about God, that He does exist and that He does care about us, we will not be so easily frightened by bullies.
In fact, we'll become so brave that we actually begin telling others just how powerful and compassionate God is! When you see someone in trouble and you tell them about God, you're being a superhero.
Did you know that? You're actually coming to their rescue with the good news of salvation! You don't have to be Superman, Spider Man, or Iron Man in order to save the day for others.
All you have to do is share with them what the Bible says about God's power and compassion.
The next time you see bullies tormenting someone, pray for those bullies as well as the person being bullied.
God is able to do an amazing work in the hearts of others, just like He did in yours! Nothing is too hard for God.
And if you love God and trust Him with all of your heart, nothing is too hard for you either.
Every time we proclaim God's truth and trust Him to rescue us, Satan is defeated! He can't do anything but go away.
Yes, he does come back again and again and again.
But let's stand firm on the rock of our salvation, the Lord God Almighty, and let Him fight for us like Moses told the Israelites to do when their bullies, the Egyptians, were causing them serious trouble (Exodus 14:13-14).
Be a superhero and share your faith with those who are in trouble.
Together we can change the hearts of bullies and defeat Satan!
