This month our focus is on valuing our teens in order to teach them how to take pride in who they are and what they can accomplish. Your teenager lives in a “today” world and doesn’t much think about the “tomorrow” world unless you are talking about senior prom or college. And those are just vague ideas that have rainbows and lollipops dancing all around them!

Our teens need to learn that so many of the decisions, efforts, and choices that they are making right now will directly affect their future. But if they don’t value who they are or take pride in what they do right now, how can we expect them to understand the importance of some far off distant future?

Please take a moment to watch this second video on how we can help our teens value themselves to the point of caring!

Does it seem like your teenager just doesn’t care about their grades or their attitude or even your opinion?

How can you help your teenager value themselves?

One way you can do that is to take some time to remind them where our ultimate value comes from.

As believers, our identity comes from who we are in Christ. I want to share with you a reading we use in our Manhood/Womanhood Rite of Passage for 12th graders. It was written by Dr. Ed Laymance and it is full of biblical truth that reminds us as believers we are a “Child of the King”

Because of who Jesus Christ is, and
because He is my Savior and my Lord:
I am a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
seated with Christ in the heavenly realm. I am chosen, accepted,
and included – a citizen of heaven and a member of God’s household.
I am loved by God unconditionally and without reservation.
I belong to Him, having been bought by Him with the
precious blood of Jesus. I have eternal life and will be
saved from all of God’s wrath to come – guaranteed!
I am a Christian. I am not just different in what I do.
My identity has changed. Who I am has changed. Everything has
become brand new.
I am a dwelling place in which God lives by His Spirit.
I have access to Him anytime, anywhere, for any reason.
I am God’s creation – His workmanship. I was created by Him
and for Him, so who I am and what I do matters.
I am spiritually alive. I have been set free from the fear of death
and have been given life to live and enjoy to the full.
I am forgiven – completely, totally, and absolutely.
I have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and
brought into the Kingdom of light – the Kingdom of the Son.
I have been set free from the penalty of sin and the power of sin.
I am an enemy of Satan and at war with spiritual forces of evil, but
greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
If God is for me, it doesn’t matter who or what stands against me,
because nothing and no one can separate me from the love of Christ –
not hurt, pain, loss, problem, or brokenness;
not persecution, trouble, difficulty, or danger;
not abandonment, abuse, addictions, or appetites;
not desires, food, sexuality, or relationships;
not life or death, angels or demons;
not my past, the present, or the future;
no power, no person, no place, not anything in all creation;
not even Satan himself shall prevail.
I am in the hands of Jesus, in the hands of God, and nothing and
no one can snatch me out of God’s hands.
I will fear no evil because God is with me, and
He has promised to never leave me nor forsake me.
God’s presence is with me everywhere I go –
to the heights of heaven,
through the valley of the shadow,
to the ends of the earth – forever and always.
I am a child of the King and choose this day to live as one