Teens Draw Near to God
Teens Draw Near to God utilizes creative arts and life lessons to Deepen Your Relationship with God. Have you ever been inspired by a poem, a song, a painting that brought you to tears, your knees, or even back to the arms of God? Well, I have, and I love to use art as motivation to do good and to love God more If you long to deepen your relationship with others, yourself, and God, then listen to this podcast weekly to get a double dose of poetry inspiration plus the Word of God. Subscribe to this show to receive a new show every week. Visit http://www.shirahchante.com/podcast for more inspiration.
Teens Draw Near to God
Vision: Don't Worry
Vision and Faith: Overcoming Worry with God's Provision
In this episode of 'Teens Draw Near to God,' host Shirah Chanté, Relationship Artist, shares her original poem 'Vision' and offers insights on overcoming worry through faith in God's provision. Drawing inspiration from personal experiences and biblical scriptures, Shirah encourages teenagers, their parents, and anyone invested in youth development to trust in God's care for their basic needs. Using anecdotes and verses from the book of Matthew, she illustrates how God provides for our necessities and urges listeners to embrace their vision without being hindered by fear and worry.
00:00 Introduction and Purpose of the Show
01:12 Inspiration Behind the Show
02:17 Importance of Teenagers Knowing God
04:09 Original Poem: Vision
05:17 Discussion on Worry and Faith
09:04 Personal Testimony of God's Provision
12:26 Scriptural Assurance of God's Care
19:32 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Follow Shirah Chante
Buy Jaundiced View: Desire Love Hate Religion book of poetry.
Draw near to God, don't fear, draw near to God, don't fear, draw near to God, don't fear.
Hello and welcome to Teens Draw Near to God. I am your host, Shira Chanté, relationship artist, healing hearts through the arts and helping God's people with Relationships here to bless you today with an original poem I wrote called Vision. Yes. Write the vision, make it plain. It says in Habakkuk chapter two and welcome teenagers, parents of teens, youth coaches, directors, anyone who works with teenagers and really wants to see them reach.
Their God given destiny, this show is for you! Yes, I was inspired many, many years ago to start this show when I was standing in A classroom at a messianic synagogue that I was attending and I was watching the children learn about God and it really inspired me. It was like a preteen class. So preteen is 10 to 12 years old.
And I thought, you know, teenagers have it kind of tough in this world because So much misguided information and there's so many things going on at that age range coming into yourself, developing your own thoughts and opinions and belief systems dependent upon what your upbringing was. So you, you have that filter that you're, you're looking through.
And so I thought, I think I want to help this age group. I want to help them. Who were raised in a godly home, who wanted to know God and maybe had questions about who God is. And I want to help those teenagers know God, draw near to God, get close to God. And so that's what I am here to do. I remember when I was a preteen, a show like this would have really helped me.
It would have really been great. But I remember a, I was the leader of a club and we called ourselves the preteen sweets. And so I'll sing a little song we made up. It goes, we are the preteen sweets, we are the preteen sweets, and then, and then each of us would have like our own little rap about our name, like, my name is, you know, okay.
So.
It was cute. But so I know this age is a very, it's a very valuable age. And so you teenagers, thank you for listening. Parents of teenagers, really so happy to have you here and thank you for caring about your teenagers walk with God and allowing them to get closer to God through the poetry.
That I share in this podcast. So vision comes from my book, Jaundiced View, desire, love, hate religion is the subtitle. And so I am going to read the entire poem and then we're gonna go back through the poem line by line to see how this point could help us draw near to God. Are you guys ready? I am. Actually, this is one of my favorite poems.
I kind of know this one by heart, but I'm going to read it. Okay. Vision, don't seal your true love, chasing false dreams, empty and lost, you will be floating in the sea, wavering your sail, doubting details, wondering if you're right. When deep down, you know the truth, made aware, where you will be, you will see.
And that is the poem, Vision. And the title of this show is called Don't Worry. What are you worried about? Don't worry. Welcome to the show, everyone. Don't worry. There are so many things in the world we could. Worry about, how's this going to happen? What's going to happen at my job? What am I going to eat today?
What am I going to wear? Does he really like me? Will she be my girlfriend? What am I going to be when I grow up? There are so many things we could worry about, but worry does not add anything Beneficial to our life. So except stress and strain in the brain, in the membrane. Remind me of a song I used to sing in college when I listened to the Beastie Boys, okay, who's the Beastie Boys, Shira, who's the Beastie Boys.
It was a popular group when I was in college, okay? And they had a song, INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE! INSANE IN THE BRAIN! And I love the Beastie Boys. Uh, You don't want to go insane in the membrane! No! And so worry just causes All kinds of stress in your membrane and your brain, and you don't need that.
There's enough in the life, in the world to think about, think about good things. And so that's what I want to share with you today. I want to share a poem. I mean, actually a scripture. I already shared my poem, vision. I want to share a scripture with you in the Bible that Jesus. He tells us not to worry.
And so this scripture is in the book of Matthew. That's the first book of the new Testament. And it's one of the four gospels. So there's four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And Matthew is the first gospel in the new Testament. So I'm going to read chapter six, verse 25. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Is not life more than food? Well, you may be saying, well, Shirah, we need food to live. Yeah, but it's more than food. It's yeah, you need food, but it's more than food. And it's more than clothes. It's deep down in within you. That is your life. That's where life resides in your soul. And so Jesus tells us, don't worry.
Don't worry about what you're going to eat. I'll feed you. We're going to get to that. I'm going to read the next scripture in just a moment. I'll clothe you. He says, I remember when I was homeless. I was living in a Beverly Hills office building. God provided a place for me to live while I was going through a very tough time in my life and I didn't have any money.
I did not have any money. I didn't know what I was going to eat. day. And so I think I had oh, I know what happened. Okay. I had like maybe five or six or 7 seriously. Like that's all I had. And so I went to the El Pollo Loco, the chicken place here in Los Angeles. And I bought, I used my last bit of money to buy.
a meal at Opoyo Loco. The crazy chicken. Got some crazy chicken. And I remember like being so pitiful about it. Like, this is my last. It was really dramatic. I was being really dramatic with the person who was serving me. And he was like, what's, what's wrong with this girl? It's just my last little bit of money.
And I'm going to eat this and die, you know. Like there's a story in the Bible about a lady who there was a famine in the land and she was a widow and she had a son and all she had was a little bit of flour left. And so she was going to make a pancake for her and her son and they were going to eat it and die.
That's how I was behaving. But God provided a miracle for that widow and her son. And he will provide a miracle for you. And he provided a miracle for me as well. So my miracle was the next day, there was an envelope waiting for me at the office where I was sleeping at in Beverly Hills, just out of the blue.
One of the ladies whose office it was that I was living in, she said, Hey, did you see a package came in for you? And I was like, no. And so she gave me the package. And in the package was money. It was money. So I spent my last little bit of money the day before eating crazy chicken. And the Lord provided out of the blue.
I didn't ask anyone, nothing. No one knew what was happening with me. I was and the Lord provided an envelope full of money for me the next day. So the Lord knows what's happening with you. He knows what you're going through. You may be going through a tough time like I was, maybe you're, maybe you have your last few bucks on you and you're going to have your final meal and die, but you're not going to die.
No, God's going to feed you. Let's read the next verse, Matthew 6, 26.
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into birds. Yet your heavenly father feeds them, are you not more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So God is saying, look at the birds! They're eating, they're eating worms, they're eating all kinds of stuff people drop on the ground.
People are feeding the birds. There are people who go out and feed birds everyday. Give them bread. They're
Are you not more valuable than a bird that flies in the air? That's what Jesus is asking you. It's a kind of a rhetorical question in a way. He's saying, are you not of more value than they? He's asking you that because he's saying you are more valuable than a bird. I care about you. I love you. I will not allow you to die of hunger.
I will feed you.
I remember a long time ago, I was a member of a group called Feed the Children, and it just felt good to feed the children, to, you give money to the the organization and they would feed children in different parts of the world who needed food. God will feed you.
He loves you. So let's continue. Matthew chapter six. So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all of his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes, The grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven.
Will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Oh God. Oh, Jesus is saying, where's your faith? You have little faith. If you don't believe God will feed you and clothe you. You have little faith. I mean, your faith is like,
you've got to believe. That's basic. That's basic needs food and clothes.
Of course, God will take care of you. He loves you. So don't worry. He took care of me when I was living in the Beverly Hills office building with no money, sent me a package of money. Like, yeah, which If I could go on to finish that story, that money went pretty quickly, but it took care of what I needed.
Oh Lord. He's so wonderful. You are so wonderful, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your children watching today, the teenagers, the parents of teens and anyone else here. Who landed on this page, watching this podcast, listening to this podcast. I pray that they will take heed to your words, Jesus, and not worry, not worry about what they're going to eat, what they're going to wear, not worry about what they're going to drink.
They will know that you, just like you take care of the birds of the air, just like you clothe the ground with flowers. The grass has beautiful flowers arrayed so we can look at the beauty of the flowers. Just like you color them and clothe the fields, you will clothe us, Lord.
In Jesus name, amen. Alright, vision.
Don't steal your true love. Chasing false dreams. Empty and lost you will be, floating in the sea, wavering your sail, doubting details. When deep down, you know, the truth made aware where you will be, you will see. And so that's why God, this is coming to me now. That's why God doesn't want you to worry because if you're worried, your vision's going to be all skewed.
You're not going to have the proper vision. If you are in worry, cast out the worry and embrace. Envelop, develop your vision, work on your vision. Don't worry about how you're going to do the vision. Just do it. God will provide, just like he provides food and clothing. He will provide what you need to accomplish your vision.
He will. He's amazing. Every day I see new mercies every day. I'm like, Oh, wow. Thank you, Lord. I needed that.
He's a million steps ahead of you, so don't worry about it. All right. Okay. Thank you for joining me today for Vision Don't Worry episode of Teens Draw Near to God podcast. I am your host, Shira Chanté. The poem, Vision, comes from my book, Jaundiced View, Desire, Love, Hate, Religion, which is available on Amazon.
And remember to love God, love you, and love people.