You ask,"Why is it that young people can spend a weekend on retreat in Jesus land, realize that they are living wrongly and going in the wrong direction, then come home and in two weeks or less be headed back in the same wrong direction?"
Because you're environment lacks Jeesoxygen! You begin to slowly wilt and come down off of the high you felt in the company of so many like-minded teens. You are no longer with like-minded people hearing the praises of Jesus on everyone's lips. Maybe on no one's lips. You begin to slowly wilt and feel like you're going to die from loneliness.
Then all of a sudden satan shoots you a fresh, fake breeze of old times and because you are smothering you suck in his lie and go running back to familiarity. You are back in your fake comfort zone.
You only fall backward into familiarity because you don't take the time to consistently and diligently arm yourself for battle, to actively make God your familiarity, your home, your mate, your everything.
You dont study God. Yoou don't learn His heart, His mind, His will. You study movies, music, food, English, and Science, but you don't study Happiness! You don't study Love, you don't study Peace, you don't study Joy, Beauty, Gentleness, Self-Discipline, Security, or Service. Jesus is ALL of these things!
satan says vampires, X-Men, warlocks and sitcoms are more interesting things to waste your time on. (Harry Potter has held ten years of your interest) Do you sit for two hours and study Jesus' personality, His countenance? satan says that a cell phone and Facebook is the way to self-confidence and that sex and alcohol will give you the ultimate high!
It is so much easier to believe his lies that to resist his lies. But the truth is that the road with Jesus is full of purpose, it is fruitful and productive, it feeds you well and fulfills you (as you saw on retreat)and in the end it has a wonderful resting place.
satan's road is full of thorns, pain, and drama, it bears no fruit, sucks you dry, tosses you about and then you finally open your eyes and see that his road is a dead end with no escape.
So get in the ZONE! The Jesus Zone where He fills every minute with something new and exciting, where He whispers directions for each day right in your ear and fills you with excitement and anticipation for each new day. Drink continually from His fountain of living water!!
Life with God is sooooo simmmmmmmple! His burden is soooo liiiight! His love is soooo amaaazing! If you can't see the bigger picture, the overall whole, because your environment is suffocating you, then rise above. Take the han of Jesus and let Him lift you out of the muck so yu can see the big picture. Your current environment then only looks like a small blemish when compared to the overall beauty of God's special plan for your life!
Stop drowning! Grab the Hand of the Man who loves you more than you can even imagine and He'll walk you through kicking down all the walls that are thrown up against you. Sit back and trust. Watch the miracles He will perform for you on just a little seed of faith.
Those, even in your own family that seem unsupportive, even mocking and blowing off your faith by saying, "Oh, I went through a "religious" period too. It will pass. You'll grow up," are only telling you that they lost. They tried and failed. They weren't strong enough to hold on to Jesus' hand and were soon formed into the image of the world - they morphed from being created in God's image to being remolded into the image of this world.
Here are the things you need as an indispensible minimum: You should study with a tremendous devotion to Christ,with an ever-present awareness of Him. You should acquire a considerable knowledge of His life and personality. You should nurture a strong desire to increase in knowledge of Jesus and His Church and to study the doctrines of His Church and the reasons for Her teachings. Your roots will grow deep as a result of your diligence. When satan attack you will be within the strong, spiritual fortress that you and Jesus have built together. Start building! Time is of the essence! Hurry! His arms are stretched out toward you.
