Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts

Friday, August 13, 2021

Are You a Slave to the Lie?

Hey, Awesome Teen!

Did you know that you are a slave to whatever you believe? That's right. Whatever you believe will guide your life and draw you in its direction.

This makes believing the truth pretty important, doesn't it? Why? Because if you believe a lie--or more than one--you will go more deeply into slavery.  But if you believe the truth, you will be set free.

























In fact, Jesus Himself said this: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).  So, the next question is, What is the truth? 

The Truth is a Person, and His Name is Jesus Christ.  When Thomas asked Jesus where He was going and how to get there, Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14: 6). 

Jesus is also the Word of God, which means that when you study the Bible, you are actually studying Jesus and getting to know Him. He and His Word are one and the same.

 As you study the Bible, you will discover truth.  The truth will reveal the lies you are believing.  Anything that does not agree with the Bible is a lie.

For example, let's say you believe that you are here by chance and have no purpose in life. Then you read Psalm 139 in the Bible that tells you you are awesomely made and are here for a purpose. At that moment, you recognize that you have been believing a lie. 

So, what you should do? You should renounce the lie, repent of it, and embrace the truth you just read in the Bible.

As you study God's Word, He will show you the lies you are believing. As you recognize each lie, renounce it, repent of it, and embrace the truth that revealed the lie to you.  The more you do this, the freer you will be.

Now, it's YOUR TURN: What lies have you been believing? Chances are good that others reading this have been believing the same lies. So, let's share with your fellow Gabriel Girls and encourage them to be set free, too!  You can post your comments in the box below. Thanks! We're eagerly waiting to hear from you. Your opinion matters!

TWEETABLES:
"You are a slave to whatever you believe." ~ Dr. MaryAnn Diorio (CLICK TO TWEET)

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." ~ John 8: 32 (CLICK TO TWEET)

______________________________________________________

Copyright 2016-2021 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved
____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Blog: https://www.maryanndiorio.com/blog
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/drmaryanndiorio/
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Wednesday, August 16, 2017

5 Ways to Grow in Christ

Hey, Gabriel Girls!

 I trust you’re having a great summer! No matter what you do this summer, don’t forget to spend time with Jesus.

 Of all your relationships, your relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important relationship you will ever have. It will last forever, into eternity. So don’t you agree it’s vital that you keep working on that relationship?

 If you don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I urge you to establish one. Click here to learn how to do so. 

 Okay, now let’s talk about five ways to grow your relationship in Christ:
1) Dig deep into God’s Word. God’s Word is the Bible. The Bible and Jesus are actually one and the same, so if you dig deep into the Bible, you will be digging deep into Jesus. Why is this important? Because the better you get to know Jesus, the more you will be like Him, and the more like Him you are, the better your life will be.

 Check out Psalm 119: 1-3: Happy are all who perfectly follow the laws of God. Happy are all who search for God and always do his will, rejecting compromise with evil and walking only in his paths. 

 If you want to be truly happy, follow Jesus! 

 2) Pray.  Prayer is a two-way conversation with God. He talks to you, and you talk to Him. Be sure to do twice as much listening as you do talking, however, because God is far smarter than you are. :)

 I keep a Prayer Journal of my conversations with God. It’s really cool to go back and read over the things God has spoken to me over the years. Most of all, keeping a Prayer Journal will remind you of how much God cares, especially when you’re going through tough times.
3) Obey what God tells you to do. How do you know what God tells you to do? The best place to find that answer is in the Bible. God has written down all that He wants you to do. It can be summed up in two commands found in Luke 10: 27: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  Obey these two commands and you’ll be just fine. :)  

4) Meet with other Christ-Followers. We all need the support of others on our journey with Jesus. Fellow believers lift us up when we are down, and vice versa. The Bible says this about meeting with fellow believers: Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near (Hebrews 10: 25). We do not necessarily have to meet in church buildings, because we are the Church. But we should meet regularly with other Christ-Followers, especially during these dangerous times right before Christ’s return.

5) Tell others about Jesus. I am so thankful for the young woman who told me about Jesus and about my need to be born again. Even though I thought she was crazy at first, I eventually realized that she was telling me the truth. Were it not for her courage, I would not be writing this blog post today. 

So, be bold in your witness for Jesus Christ. You have the truth, and by sharing the truth with others, you will prevent many from spending eternity in Hell.

There you have it: 5 Ways to Grow in Christ. Now all you have to do is put these 5 ways into practice. You will be amazed at how much your life will change for the better!

Now, it's YOUR TURN: What ways do you practice to grow in Christ? Please share with our fellow Gabriel Girls!

You can post your comments in the box below. Thanks! We're eagerly waiting to hear from you. Your opinion matters!

TWEETABLE:


______________________________________________________
Copyright 2016 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
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Thursday, June 30, 2016

5 Ways to Grow in Christ

Hey, Gabriel Girls!

 I trust you’re having a great summer! No matter what you do this summer, don’t forget to spend time with Jesus.

 Of all your relationships, your relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important relationship you will ever have. It will last forever, into eternity. So don’t you agree it’s vital that you keep working on that relationship?

 If you don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I urge you to establish one. Click here to learn how to do so. 

 Okay, now let’s talk about five ways to grow your relationship in Christ:
1) Dig deep into God’s Word. God’s Word is the Bible. The Bible and Jesus are actually one and the same, so if you dig deep into the Bible, you will be digging deep into Jesus. Why is this important? Because the better you get to know Jesus, the more you will be like Him, and the more like Him you are, the better your life will be.

 Check out Psalm 119: 1-3: Happy are all who perfectly follow the laws of God. Happy are all who search for God and always do his will, rejecting compromise with evil and walking only in his paths. 

 If you want to be truly happy, follow Jesus! 

 2) Pray.  Prayer is a two-way conversation with God. He talks to you, and you talk to Him. Be sure to do twice as much listening as you do talking, however, because God is far smarter than you are. :)

 I keep a Prayer Journal of my conversations with God. It’s really cool to go back and read over the things God has spoken to me over the years. Most of all, keeping a Prayer Journal will remind you of how much God cares, especially when you’re going through tough times.
3) Obey what God tells you to do. How do you know what God tells you to do? The best place to find that answer is in the Bible. God has written down all that He wants you to do. It can be summed up in two commands found in Luke 10: 27: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  Obey these two commands and you’ll be just fine. :)  

4) Meet with other Christ-Followers. We all need the support of others on our journey with Jesus. Fellow believers lift us up when we are down, and vice versa. The Bible says this about meeting with fellow believers: Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near (Hebrews 10: 25). We do not necessarily have to meet in church buildings, because we are the Church. But we should meet regularly with other Christ-Followers, especially during these dangerous times right before Christ’s return.

5) Tell others about Jesus. I am so thankful for the young woman who told me about Jesus and about my need to be born again. Even though I thought she was crazy at first, I eventually realized that she was telling me the truth. Were it not for her courage, I would not be writing this blog post today. 

So, be bold in your witness for Jesus Christ. You have the truth, and by sharing the truth with others, you will prevent many from spending eternity in Hell.

There you have it: 5 Ways to Grow in Christ. Now all you have to do is put these 5 ways into practice. You will be amazed at how much your life will change for the better!

Now, it's YOUR TURN: What ways do you practice to grow in Christ? Please share with our fellow Gabriel Girls!

You can post your comments in the box below. Thanks! We're eagerly waiting to hear from you. Your opinion matters!

TWEETABLE:


______________________________________________________
Copyright 2016 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

How Can I Know If Something Is True or Not?

Hey, Gabriel Girls!

 Do you ever get confused by the many differing opinions about things like abortion, sex before marriage, homosexuality, transgenderism, etc.?  Do you ever wonder who’s right and who’s wrong? Or even what’s right and what’s wrong?

 If so, you are not alone.


We live in a world where a philosophy (a way of thinking) called relativism prevails. What is relativism? Relativism is a way of thinking that says that the truth and morality about something is decided by the individual person not by a common standard.

 For example, you’ve probably heard someone say, “Abortion may be right for you, but it’s not right for me.”  Or maybe you’ve heard, “What’s wrong with sleeping with my boyfriend if I love him?”

 The problem with relativism is that it is based on a lie. The lie is that each of us is our own god, and each of us can decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong.

 But there is only one God, and He has already decided what is right and what is wrong. His decisions about right and wrong are found in the Bible, the only standard of truth.

 God’s truth is called Absolute Truth. That means it never changes.  It is the same for everyone, everywhere, all the time.  It is the standard of measure by which we determine whether an action is moral or immoral.

 Let me give you an example. When my husband hangs pictures for me, we don’t always agree on whether or not a picture is hanging straight. So, in order to determine the truth about the straightness or crookedness of a picture, my husband gets out his trusty level. A level is an instrument that tells you if something is straight or not.

The level is always right. The picture may look crooked to me, but the level tells me the truth.

 It is the same with a way of thinking. We may think it is true, but if it doesn’t agree with what God says in His Word, it is not true.

 So the next time you are wondering if something is right to do or not, check with God. Find out what He says about it in the Bible. Then do what He says!
_______________________________
If you enjoyed this post, please tell your teenage girlfriends about the Gabriel Girls. Thanks!
_______________________________________________
Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio
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Friday, October 9, 2015

Fences


Hey, Gabriel Girls!

 Today we’re going to talk about fences. Weird, right? Just bear with me. I’m going somewhere important with this.


When you were a little girl, did your parents put a fence around your play area? If your house had a little backyard, there was probably a fence around it. If you didn’t have a backyard, your parents protected you in some way from a nearby street or dangerous area.

 Was that fence a good thing or a bad thing? I think you would agree it was a good thing. Why? Because it kept you safe and alive.

 Well, did you know that God has a fence, too? That fence is the Bible. It is His Word on what is safe and what is not safe. It is His Book of Fences for your life.

 Wouldn’t it make sense, then, to stay within God’s fences, wherever He places them in your life?

 For example, one fence God has built around your life is the sexual fence. That fence warns you against having sex before marriage. Why? It is that God doesn’t want you to enjoy sex? No. Not at all. The reason is that God created sex only for marriage, and He knows that if you cross over the sexual fence before marriage, your life will be destroyed.

 Do you think God knows what He’s talking about? I would say so! After all, He is the one who created sex in the first place. He certainly knows how it works. 

 What other fences has God built around your life to protect you? Ask Him to show you. You will come away with one conclusion: God loves you so much that He has put fences in your life to protect you from Satan and his demons. Respect those fences and your life will be filled with joy and blessings instead of turmoil and sorrow.
_______________________________________________
Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio
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Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Are You Level-Headed?


In the 45 years that my husband and I have been married, he has hung pictures for me hundreds of times.  Whenever he hangs a picture, we both look at it to determine if it is straight.  My husband may think it’s leaning to the left, while I may think it’s leaning to the right.  In order for us to determine the truth, my husband gets out his trusty level.


Fotolia:  File #12211283

For those of you who may not know what a level is, it is a rectangular device with a little tube in it that contains a liquid with a bubble in it (See the photo above).  When you’re trying to figure out if a picture is straight or not, you place the level right under the picture frame or right over it and hold it there.  When the bubble lands smack in the center of the level, it means that the picture is straight.

 Do you know that God has given us a level to measure whether or not our lives are straight? In other words, whether or not we are living our lives according to truth?  The level God has given us is the Bible.

 Whenever you are not sure whether something is right or wrong to do, go to the Bible to find out. 

 The Bible is your manual for living. Just as your parents got a manual when they bought their car or their washing machine, so did you get a manual when you were born into this world. That manual is the Bible. It tells you how to keep from breaking and, if you do break, how to get fixed.

 The problem is that most people don’t read the Bible until they break. 

 Don’t be one of those people. Read your Bible every single day.  You wouldn’t think of missing a day feeding your body, so why would you miss a single day feeding your spirit?

 Bottom line, if you want to become level-headed, read and study the Bible. If you do, you will keep your life on the straight and narrow path, the path of truth, joy, and peace.
________________________

 If you enjoyed this post, please tell your teenage girlfriends about the Gabriel Girls. Thanks!
_______________________________________________
Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio
Posted by at No comments:
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Thursday, August 13, 2015

How to Make Smart Choices for Your Life

Hey, Gabriel Girls!

 It’s decision time. Time to take a look at how to make smart choices for your life.
Fotolia File: #53965260 | Author: Elenarts

Most of you reading this are between the ages of 12 and 18.  Except for me, lol!  It’s been almost 52 years since I was 18 and 58 years since I was 12.  But I still remember what it was like to be 12 and 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 and 17 and 18.

 Anyway, for most of you, the next 10 to 15 years of your life will be years during which you will face the most important decisions of your life. Here are some of them:

  • Should I finish high school or should I drop out?
  • Should I go to college?
  • If yes, what college should I go to?
  • What should I major in?
  • If I choose not to go to college, should I get a job or some other kind of training?
  • If a job, what kind of job should I get?
  • Should I look for a job in my hometown, or should I move away?
  • Should I get married?
  • If yes, whom should I marry?
  • If no, should I get my own apartment or should I live at home with my parents? (If you’re thinking about this latter choice, ask your parents first. :)
These are only a few of the choices you will be making in the next few years that will affect the entire rest of your life. So, wouldn’t you agree that it’s very important to make smart choices?

Since I’ve already made all of these choices for my own life, I would be happy to let you in on some tips for making smart choices:

1) Consult God before making any choice. Even a choice like should you eat that third piece of pizza. :) Making choices without consulting God is a sure recipe for disaster. The way you consult God is by praying and reading the Bible. God will speak to you through His Word and through His still, small voice deep inside you.

2) Consult your parents before making any choice. Although your parents may seem old-fashioned at times, truth is they’ve traveled down the road of choices and know where the potholes are, so they can warn you ahead of time. 

3) Consult your pastor if you attend a church or an older person you know who loves God and lives according to His Word.  They will give you an objective view of your situation and offer you wise advice. If you don’t have a pastor or you don’t know a wise older person, ask your parents to suggest someone who can offer you good counsel. 

Talking to your friends about your choices is fine, but remember that your friends are at about the same place in the road of life that you are, so they don’t know what lies ahead either.

Making smart choices is both scary and fun. When you have the right guides--God, the Bible, your parents, and a wise older person--you will feel confident that you are making a smart choice every time.

_______________________________________________
Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.


To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:

  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio
Posted by at No comments:
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