From the Publisher

90 Daily Devotions for Girls

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see what you’re lacking—what the world tells you a girl needs in order to be beautiful? Or do you see your true image—the way God sees you, your true beauty? We all know how difficult it is to feel beautiful in a culture where we’re bombarded with images of what everybody says “beauty” is. So how are you supposed to view yourself the way God sees you? The way God created you to be?
The True Images Devotionalwill help you begin seeing yourself the way God sees you—as one of his beautiful daughters. In this daily devotional you’ll read about Bible characters who display inner beauty and possess hearts that God finds lovely. Each devotional contains a verse from the True Images Bible, along with the devotional thought for the day. In addition, there’s another Bible passage to read, a prayer, and space to journal about what you’ve read. When you spend time with God each day—and learn what is truly beautiful—you’ll find that you’re filled with beauty that’s beyond measure…and beyond compare!

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Table of Contents

Read a Sample Chapter

True Images Devotional

Zondervan

Chapter One

Not a "Family Plan"

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Joshua 24:15b

If you've grown up around Christianity, you most likely know all the "right" things to say and do. "Read your Bible, go to church, say your prayers, be a good girl." Maybe it's easy for you to go with the flow and make it look like you belong to God. But do you really?

Contrary to popular opinion, growing up around Christians or going to church doesn't automatically make you a Christian. Knowing God is not like joining a cell phone company. God doesn't over a "family share plan." He doesn't let you tag along and get "free minutes" because of the ones your parents have already paid for. God wants you to choose to serve him for yourself-not because of your parents, or your sister, or your friends. He wants you to do it because you want to!

John the Baptist spent some time with people who thought they were part of a "salvation family share plan." They figured that since Abraham had an "in" with God, and they were his descendants, then they were cool with God, too. But John was quick to tell them that salvation's not about your family's relationship with God; it's about your relationship with God.

You see, no one else can choose Christianity for you. You have to choose to love and follow Jesus for yourself. It's the most important choice you will ever make. It's the most important relationship you can ever have. While your relationships with friends, guys, family, teachers, and youth leaders are all significant and valuable, your relationship with God is more important than all of those combined. It's the one relationship that should define who you are on earth and that will determine how you spend eternity. So choose for yourself this day-whom will you serve?

* Read for yourself what John the Baptist had to say about choosing to follow God in Luke 3:1-18.

>> God, I want to know you for myself. Show me what it means to serve you each and every day-not because of what anyone else does, but because I want to love you on my own ...

You're Invited

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; ... Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Isaiah 55:1a, 2b

Surely it's happened to you. You go to the fridge looking for something to munch on, trying to satisfy a craving. You open the door and stare. All the good stuff's gone. Your options are stale bread, moldy cheese, unidentifiable leftovers, and bags of frozen vegetables. Yuck!

Can you imagine if just at that moment your best friend called with this invitation: "Hey, my mom's practicing for her gourmet cooking class. She just made an outrageous spread! We're having shrimp cocktail, bruschetta, Caesar salad, filet mignon, and an amazing chocolate truffle cheesecake for dessert. Get over here and help me eat all this!" Hmmm, fridge or friend's house-which would you choose? What a no-brainer!

Did you realize that your soul has similar options? Deep down we all crave something more than what this life offers. We search for meaning. We ache to belong. And we try to satisfy those longings on our own-through relationships with guys, friends, partying, sports, academics, looking good, or having the coolest clothes and stuff. But those things are like stale bread and moldy cheese-they will never satisfy your cravings.

Meanwhile God invites you to come to an incredible, all-you-can-eat gourmet banquet for your soul! You don't need to worry about what to wear, what to say, or how to act. You only need to come, just the way you are. Your spot at the banquet table is paid for and reserved (courtesy of Jesus). Come and enjoy God's never-ending supply of hope, help, comfort, love, wisdom, strength-the menu goes on and on. Every good thing imaginable is there for the taking. How will you RSVP to God's invitation?

* Read Isaiah 55:1-13 for more about God's invitation to you.

>> Father, thanks for making it possible for me to come to you. Forgive me for the ways I've tried to satisfy my soul on my own. I accept your invitation to come to you for a feast for my soul ...

Forget the Rules

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:27-28

Harsh words from Jesus! In these verses Jesus describes the Jewish religious leaders (a.k.a. "the Pharisees"). These guys so did not get the point. They thought they could impress God by following a heavy-duty list of rules, which they had made up themselves. They went to a lot of effort to look very spiritual on the outside. To them, that was what mattered most.

But on several occasions Jesus told them they had it all wrong. He told them that instead of following all their little rules they'd made up, they needed to focus on following God's most important command: to love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37). See, being a Christian is really about what's on the inside. It's about having an intense, real, all-consuming relationship with God. It's about loving him with every part of who you are. Of course, God does have things he wants you to do or not do-but he wants you to obey him out of love and gratitude, not out of a sense of duty. That goes a whole lot deeper than a list of rules, don't you think?

Let's talk about you now. Do you give God lip service that's empty of passion and meaning? Do you call yourself a Christian while your heart is far from God? Do you consider yourself a "good Christian" just because you don't swear, smoke, or drink? Don't be like the Pharisees who missed the point. God wants so much more from you than following some checklist of do's and don'ts. He wants all of you-heart, soul, and mind.

* Want to see just how unimpressed Jesus was by the Pharisees and their rules? Read the whole fiery story in Matthew 23:13-39.

>> God, I don't want to miss the point of what it means to be a Christian. Show me what it means to love you with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind ...

Extreme Makeover

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Psalm 95:6-7

"How to get that guy to notice you!"

"Try our ultimate makeover!"

"Test your fashion know-how!"

"The prom workout that will transform your body!"

The headlines of a typical magazine tend to focus on you, you, you. But here's a little secret: It's not all about you.

What's not all about you? Life. Eternity. Everything. It's not about you; it's about the one who created you. It's about knowing that the Lord is God, and you're not. It's about obeying the Master, since you're the servant. It's about trusting the Shepherd, since he knows how to perfectly love, protect, guide, and care for his sheep.

Talk about a different way of looking at things. We're so used to focusing on ourselves 24-7. Don't you think it's time for a change? Ask God to give you a perspective makeover. Ask him to transform your mind so that you spend the day focused on God and not on yourself. So that you concentrate more on what you can give to God than on what you can get from God. So that you thank God for all he's given you instead of focusing on what you don't have.

Wanna know another secret? When you focus less on you and more on God, amazing things happen. You become a much happier person. You have peace even in tough situations. You learn how to be content in all circumstances. Now those are the kind of makeover results that only God can produce!

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* The psalmists knew what it meant to take their eyes off themselves and fix them firmly on God. See the results of their changed perspectives in Psalm 95:1-7 and Psalm 100.

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>> God, it's so easy for me to think about myself all day. Change my heart and my mind so that I think more about you and less about me. Teach me to focus on you-every moment of every day ...

Better Than Pilates

Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:7b-8

Studies show that regular exercise benefits your mind as well as your body. You look and feel better when you work out. "Amen!" says the apostle Paul. He agrees that there's real value in training yourself physically.

But-and that's the key word here!-it has limited value compared to training yourself spiritually. Working hard at spiritual fitness will benefit you not only for the next 70 years or so that you live on earth but also for all eternity.

Have you given much thought to your spiritual workout routine? Here are some tips for your "godliness training program."

Watch your diet. Be careful about what you feed your mind. Evaluate what kind of music, movies, television, books, and magazines you consume. Ask God to show you if those things are helping or hurting your spiritual health. And make sure God's Word is the staple of your diet.

Work hard. Just as jogging once a week isn't enough to keep you in shape physically, spending time with God just once a week isn't enough to keep you in shape spiritually. Regularly invest time and energy into knowing God.

Exercise. Start with stretching-be willing to obey, even when it's hard. Set an example of godliness even when others look down on you. Exercise your faith. Practice putting your hope in God. Look for opportunities to use the spiritual gifts God gave you.

Find a workout buddy. Surround yourself with others who also have the same workout goal: godliness. Training with others will motivate you to not give up!

As with any fitness program, you may feel overwhelmed about starting. Or you may start out enthusiastically but hit some slumps along the way. Don't be discouraged. Keep at it. Remember, it's worth it in the long run!

* For a more complete description of Paul's suggested training routine, read 1 Timothy 4:6-16.

>> God, help me to work hard at godliness. Show me how to value the health of my spirit even more than I do the health of my body ...

So Much to Say

Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. Psalm 119:165

A lot of girls never read the Bible. They think, Why bother? It's hard to understand. It's written for old people. It doesn't relate to my life today. I doubt I'm missing much.

But you know better, right? You know the Bible's more than an ordinary bunch of words. It holds the words of God himself. In any relationship, you have to listen to the other person in order to really know that person. If you're going to get to know God, then you have to listen to what he says. Don't assume you already know everything there is to know about God, because you can't! God is so big that you'll never reach the end of him. There's always something new to discover about him, and the best way to get to know God is through his Word.

Once you dig in, you'll find that the Bible really does have a lot to say about the things that matter most to you. You want to know what God says about sex? About reacting to mean girls at school? About what to do when someone rejects you or betrays your trust? About feeling alone and unloved? About how to deal with life when it seems totally out of control? Just take a good look in your Bible. Do you wonder how to dress, how to talk, how to act? How to make choices about your future? How to treat your friends and your family? It's all in there.

You don't have to stumble through life unsure of what to do. God isn't aloof. He's not standoffish. He's available for you to get to know him, anytime. So, what are you waiting for? Dive into God's Word and start discovering who he is for yourself!

* Check out the words of someone who truly loved God's Word in Psalm 119:161-176.

>> God, I want to know you more. Help me to make the most of the opportunities you've given me to know you through your Word ...

In Case of Emergency

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Say your dad loses his job, and you'll probably have to move-what's your first response? Say your best friend comes to you and tells you she might be pregnant-what's your first response? Say your biology teacher's all over your case because you questioned evolution-what's your first response? Say a gang member at school gets in your face because she doesn't "like your attitude"-what's your first response?

A. Get on the phone with your best friend and talk about the problem from every angle. After all, isn't that what friends are for?

B. Ask all your friends, one after another, for their advice on what to do. Take an informal poll. Isn't that what politicians do?

C. Keep it to yourself. Mull it over, consider all possible solutions and solve it on your own. Isn't that the responsible thing to do?

D. Deny it. Pretend the problem doesn't exist. Don't think about it. Eventually everything will work itself out, right?

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from True Images Devotional Copyright © 2005 by The Livingstone Corporation. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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