Welcome back to writing 365 podcast committed to inspiring and supporting others to embrace
the opportunity to rise with each new day.
You know, rising daily can be a challenge for many, including myself.
It is my hope that what you hear in these episodes will assist you in rising every day
of the year.
I'm Mike Pena and it's a good to be back with you again for another episode.
This one is called What are you tying your life to?
We're still going to continue from last week's episode of it's okay to do hard things.
And if you listened to that when I spent my family and I spent a week at a teen training
called Christian Youth in Action, which is a part of the ministry that my family and
I are missionaries for a child evangelism fellowship and Christian Youth in Action.
It helps teens grow in their faith by training them on how to share the gospel through biblical
stories and through this training at the conclusion, they get commissioned to go out and do another
ministry that CEF has for the summer called Five Day Clubs or here in Nebraska.
They are called summer Good News Clubs.
These are clubs that go out throughout the community.
They partner with churches and families and faith believers who want to share the gospel
in their community.
And they put on these clubs for elementary age students.
So Christian Youth in Action, one of those settings that is undescribable.
It's my intention year round to share with youth groups and youth pastors and parents
and Christian schools that have students that are in middle school and high schoolers the
opportunity that Christian Youth in Action presents for their students.
Because it's so different from any other Christian camp that is out there.
It's really not a camp.
It's definitely a training for these young students, these young adults to strengthen
their faith.
And it's a tough week of training.
It is one that challenges their faith.
They're in a different setting.
They're meeting new people, which is all things that we as those who struggle with rising
and see as too daunting to be a part of.
Knowing that Christian Youth in Action is challenging is what deters many people from
coming year after year.
But those who see the importance of strengthening their faith, what they endeavor year after
year and the growth that they see, they see it's worth it.
It just helps carry through everything that the previous episodes of Rising 365 share
about everything we've talked about.
That it's okay to do hard things that you know, learning to be creative, learning to
get out of your comfort zone, setting a routine.
Those previous episodes, these young people are experiencing it a week long of CYA and
it encourages them.
Then they have an encouragement because what they're going to do is bigger than themselves.
Last week I shared about Lesson One and the first lesson was Naaman that these young people
will be sharing the summer at the clubs.
How Naaman had really no hope, even though he had everything at his disposal.
He's the richest guy.
He's had so much power.
But his sin and the cure that he was seeking for his leprosy was what was separating him.
He was running out of hope because he knew if he didn't get a cure for it, that the leprosy
would kill him.
And when he went and he sought help for it, at first his pride almost got a hold of him
and that can be us.
We want a certain outcome in our life and if we don't get that outcome, it can paralyze
us and our pride can overtake us.
But if we humble ourselves, like Naaman finally did, and it wasn't because of his own doing,
it was actually because he listened to his servants who said, hey, what have you got
to lose?
Maybe put your hope in God and see what God will do.
Because if you don't, Naaman, you're going to die.
And when we put our hope in God like Naaman did, we see that God has something great for
us and he can renew us.
The next lesson that these teens were taught and is so pivotal is the lesson of Rahab.
The lesson of Rahab comes from the book of Joshua.
If you're not familiar with biblical stories, you can go look it up.
Joshua chapter 2 is where it starts.
And this lesson of Rahab is so important because what these teens learn and what we all learn
in this lesson is that we have a choice to make.
You know, Rahab was a part of a culture that was extremely sinful.
They did everything that God found plorable, so much so that God was ready to destroy the
city of Jericho because they were the way they were acting and treating each other and
the flippantness of the way they live their lives.
Then we're introduced in Joshua chapter 2 to Rahab.
And Rahab, she's no different than them.
The lifestyle she lives in this community is full of sin and what she did was sinful.
So as she's encountering this, she encounters two spies from the Israelites that come into
Jericho because they're looking to see, okay, what are the forces?
What's in this town?
And the city of the men of Jericho find out that these spies are there.
But Rahab has a choice there.
He could even just let the spy be found.
But she's like, you know what?
I've heard of this God of Israel and what he's capable of.
Maybe if I put my faith in him, I tie myself to the God of Israel and help these spies
out, something great will happen.
I can be spared from what these spies tell Rahab is going to conspire that God has seen
the wickedness of Jericho and because of that, he's going to destroy it.
And they say to Rahab, if you help us, the king's men who are hunting us down, when
we destroy the city, when God destroys the city, we will spare not only you, Rahab, but
also your entire family.
So she has no choice here.
She can either die with the crowd or she can put her faith and tie herself to the words
of God, to God's faithfulness.
Because she does that, she she lowers these men down outside the walls so they can escape.
And before doing that, they say, tie this yellow, not this yellow, but this scarlet
red rope outside your window so we know not to attack your home and your family and your
family will be saved.
So she just had to trust their word.
She had to trust that God was faithful.
She did just that.
She tied outside of her home that scarlet thread.
And the rest is history if you continue to see that.
The Israelite army comes for seven days, they march around and on the seventh day, the walls
and finally fall in Jericho and the Israelite army goes in and destroys and takes Jericho.
But they spare Rahab's home and Rahab and her family.
So the lesson that we have for us here on Rising 365 is what are we tying our lives
to?
Are we getting caught up in the community and our culture and our world?
And when people look at us, they don't see us any different.
Because of that, it makes it difficult to meet the new day.
Or are we, is that draining you?
Maybe it's time for you to do as Rahab did and tie yourself to a relationship with God,
to a relationship of who Jesus is and what he came to do to say, hey, you know what,
you've tied yourself to the things of this world and the things of this world will always
leave you in despair, hopeless, fearful, overwhelmed, making facing each new day more difficult
and challenging, sometimes impossible.
But Jesus, a relationship with Jesus is different.
It says, if you tie yourself to me, you will have peace, joy, love, thankfulness, patience
and endurance, strength for ever, for an all for eternity.
Knowing that we're tied to the source of all goodness makes rising all that more possible.
Not only possible, but enjoyable.
We do it with a joyful heart because we know we have a message to go out and share the
possibility for others to untie themselves from the world and tie themselves to Jesus.
That's what these teens learned at Christian Youth in Action.
That's what I wanted to share with you.
We all can learn from the story of Rahab.
What are you tying your life to?
What is your life currently tied to?
How is it going for you?
Maybe it's time for you to cut that tie and tie it to a relationship with Jesus.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed this episode.
Thank you for tuning in.
I hope each episode brings you inspiration to embrace every new day.
To support this podcast, consider booking me as a speaker for your next conference,
school assembly, youth event, Bible study, or any special occasion where I can share
the message of Rising 365.
To arrange this, simply send me a message or email at rising247365 at gmail.com.
Additionally, you can support by liking, sharing, and rating the podcast on your preferred listening
platform.
Until we meet again, I am Mike Pena reminding you to rise and seize the gift of a new day.
You are destined for this moment.
And to learn more about Child Evangelism Fellowship and CEF of Central Nebraska, you can do that
by visiting our website.
And that's another way you can support Rising 365 is by supporting the ministry that we
are a part of.
Well, it's been a joy.
May you go and share these episodes and this podcast with those who can be encouraged with
the possibility to rise each new day.