FAITH UNITED CHURCH YOUTH NEWSLETTER

1.  MARCH 2ND —4TH
A NNUAL Y OUTH MEETING
ISSUE 1
 I PLEDGE MY V OW .....
2
20 12
FAITH IN ACTION!
2
 DANCING W ITH G OD ...
VO LU ME 2
Spiritual
focus
F AIT H UNIT ED CHURCH APOSTO LIC YO UT H DEPART MENT
JANUARY 15, 2012
“We as a youth body promise to make a difference in 2012”
President’s Word
By Devon Griffiths
Welcome to 2012! It's a new
year, and it can be a new beginning for all of us. This time of
year you hear a lot of people
talking about making positive
changes in their lives, "new
year’s resolution". I‘m going go
on a diet, I’m going stop doing
this, I’m going to start doing
that. How many of us actually
accomplish these goals? For
this year we should strive to
make realistic goals and push
through the obstacles that may
come our way so that when we
look back at 2012 we can be
proud of our accomplishments.
Please remember that there is
a difference between making a
promise to yourself and making a promise to God. When
you make a promise to God, it
is A COVENANT. God will
keep his end of the commitment you just have to make
sure you do the same. We as a
youth body promise to make a
difference in 2012. Please
pray for us that we can put our
words into "Action". God
Bless, and Happy New Year!
A Vow so sure that it can be stood on. Do you know the title of this song?
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by loves strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God

2. I Pledge My
Vow by Marie Vaughan
T he year 2011 was a turbulent
year for many people; nevertheless, by
God’s grace and mercy we have
crossed over into a new year, 2012. As
the year ends, it is natural for many of
us to take spiritual inventory of our
lives, make note of the things we have
accomplished in God, and see where
we fall short. Many of us make promises to God to read our Bible more,
pray and fast some more, take a Bible
course, become more dedicated, learn
more about God or do other
spiritual disciplines. Although
with sincere intention we make
these pledges, many of us fail to
accomplish that which we
planned.
What is the basis of a
covenant? How does one maintain his/her covenant? These are
important questions we need to
answer when entering a New Year
resolution or spiritual covenant.
What is the basis of a Covenant? In the Bible, there are nine
covenants. The Hebrew word for
“covenant” is beriyth. A covenant binding agreement between two people,
which should not be taken slightly.
Covenants in the Old Testament demonstrate two things: they show how
God relates to man and how man in
turn should respond to God. For instance, the covenant of circumcision in
the Old Testament typifies baptism,
where a believer vows to follow Christ.
It should be noted when God makes a
covenant, God always signs the agreement with a symbol to remind the parties of the covenant they made with
each other. With Abraham, the symbol
of the covenant was the “foreskin,” with
Noah, the “rainbow,” was a symbol, and in
baptism the “water” is used as an outward
expression of a repentant heart and the infilling of the Holy Spirit is the sealing of the baptismal agreement (2 Corinthians 1:22).
How does one maintain his/her
covenant with God? Although the word
covenant is not mentioned, the concept and
principles exist. The first mention of a covenant was established in the Garden of Eden,
where God initiated the Adamic Covenant/
Creation Covenant between Himself and
Adam, “But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die” Genesis 2:17. A covenant
can be either conditional or unconditional.
Whereas a conditional covenant is an agreement between two individuals, an unconditional covenant is an agreement between two
people, but the fulfillment of the agreement
rests on one person doing something. The
covenant God made with Adam was conditional because the blessings that God promised to Adam was directly related to Adam’s
obedience to the agreement.
The promise God made with Abram
was unconditional, God was and is the one
who fulfills them and they are not dependent
on man and cannot be broken. God promised
that He would send a Savior (Genesis 3:15)
to redeem man from sin. To
fulfill that promise, God called
Abraham and from whom the
Messiah would come (Deut.
7:7-8). In order to maintain and
keep the promises we make to
grow in God, there are certain
employable strategies: 1.Make
attainable goals; commit
them to God. Proverbs 3:5-7.
For instance, you plan to read the entire Bible within one year. It is best to read a chapter or two a day, than to try to read an entire
book. Although most people begin in the gospel of Matthew or John, you should pray and
ask the Lord to direct you to the book of His
choice. One of the best motivation to reading
the Word is to have a certain topic you might
want to learn about
 Type or write the contract and use it as a
reminder of the promise you made to
God.
2. Be aware of setbacks. The moment you
plan to do anything for your spiritual growth
the enemy will do anything and send anyone
to hinder your progress (Nehemiah 2:10, 4).
3. Reward yourself. One way to keep yourself motivated is to reward yourself of every
progress you have made.
DANCING
WITH GOD
When I meditated on the word
Guidance, I kept seeing "dance"
at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God’s will
is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead,
nothing feels right. The movement doesn’t flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that,
and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps
with a nudge to the back or by
pressing lightly in one direction
or another.
It’s as if two become one body,
moving beautifully. The dance
takes surrender, willingness, and
attentiveness from one person
and gentle guidance and skill
from the other.
My eyes drew back to the word
Guidance. When I saw "G" I
thought of God, followed by "u"
and "i". "God," "u" and "i"
dance." God, you and I dance.
As I lowered my head, I became
willing to trust that I would get
guidance about my life. Once
again, I became willing to let
God lead.
My prayer for you today is that
God’s blessings and mercies be
upon you on this day and every
day.
May you abide in God as God
abides in you.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you
through each season of your life.
"You changed my mourning
into dancing…" Ps 30:12
Unknown Author