Troubled Teen Camps that are centered on Jesus are options for parents of troubled teens. Parents who are looking for troubled teen camps that are Christ-based are looking in the right direction. The secular programs offer comfort, but the kind of comfort they offer are “humanistically” driven, meaning they teach troubled teens that they can solve all of their problems through behavioral modification and intellect. What troubled teens really need is to be taught that true comfort only comes through the only “comforter”, that being the Holy Spirit. The book of John tells us that Jesus promises to send the Comforter, meaning the Holy Spirit. Apart from the real comfort and peace that comes from the Holy Spirit, we can have no comfort. Again, parents seeking Troubled Teen Camps will do their troubled teen a great deal of good by seeking Christ-centered schools or programs for troubled teens. Red Rock Canyon School helps troubled teens that struggle with an array of issues. For more information please call 800-635-4441 today.
Please enjoy the teaching from Sandy Brunson regarding Intimacy with Jesus.
Mutual Love and Confidence: Keys to Intimacy with Jesus… by Sandy Brunson, July 2, 2005. Peter, James, and John: Were these three specially selected by the Lord? With Him there is no favoritism. Their relationship with Him was the result of their own choice, conscious or unconscious. It is a sobering thought that we, too, are as close to Christ as we really choose to be. The deepening intimacy of the three with Jesus was the result of the depth of their response to His love and training. They recognized that intimacy with Him involved responsibility as well as conferred privilege. The Master had told them that “whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother”, (Mark 3:35) There are some ties that are closer even than those of blood kinship.
What excluded some disciples from the inner circle? If perfection were the criterion, then Peter, the denier, and James and John, the place-seekers, would have been excluded. But they were included, If it were temperament, then surely the volatile Peter and James and John, the fire-eaters, would not have found entrance.
Why then did John have the primacy in the group? Because he alone appropriated the place of privilege that was available to all. It was love that drew John into a deeper intimacy with Jesus than the other apostles. Jesus loved them all, but John alone appropriated the title “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” If Jesus loved John more, it was because John loved Him more! Mutual love and confidence are the keys to intimacy.
It would seem that admission to the inner circle of deepening intimacy with God is the outcome of deep desire. Only those who count such intimacy a prize worth sacrificing anything else for are likely to attain it. If other intimacies are more desirable to us, we will not gain entry to that circle.
The place on Jesus’ breast is still vacant, and open to any who are willing to pay the price of deepening intimacy. We are now, and we will be in the future, only as intimate with God….as we really choose to be.
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I found this above article by an unknown writer to be full of “insight into the true nature of things.” It is some of God’s Wisdom.
I know that in walking with the Lord for 29 years and being in a position to “hear” His Voice for all those years, that there have been times I have been “closer” to the “sound” of His Voice than others. Sometime, we walk in “ear-shot” of what He is speaking…and sometimes in some seasons of life, we do not. It is our choice. We each have the same 24 hours in a day…and how we spend parts of those hours…IS up to each of us.
“They recognized that intimacy with Him involved responsibility as well as conferred privilege.”
I remember that the Lord once told me that being with Him was my “responsible priviledge”. With His words came the understanding that though it truly is a privilege to walk and talk with Him, personally…it is also MY responsibility to see to it that I “choose” that place of privilege by my willingness and obedience to “heed Him” when He calls. To prioritize Him…when He calls. To respond…when He calls.
If any of us lapses into the habit of not heeding or responding to His Voice when He speaks…the Voice grows more faint…until we move into a place that we can no longer “hear” Him when He calls.
We must seek Him to be found of Him. He also reminds us in 2 Chronicles 15:2-4 “The Lord is WITH YOU while you are WITH HIM. If you seek Him, He WILL be found by you; BUT if you forsake Him, He will forsake you…but when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and sought Him…He was found by them!”
It IS our responsibility to “see k Him early while He may be found!” He longs to be found by us…but do we go looking for Him in the places of His Spirit? Those realms of holiness, faithfulness, righteousness, stillness…the places He abides? We must seek Him…and He promises that we will find.
We ARE as close to Him as WE want to be. In essence…it all comes back to each of us.
He is always near. May each of us SEEK HIM!!!
Looking unto Jesus,
Sandy
