Scripture: Genesis 17.  

OBSERVATION
(Key verses)

Genesis 17:1-2 (NLT)

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—’God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.

2 I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my life today?)

In chapter 12 and 15 God indicated to Abram that he would be would be making a covenant with him, however in this chapter God was ready to declare the actual covenant and bring it about. I believe that God had closely watched the life of Abram and therefore knew the sincerity of this man, but yet God prepared the way for this covenant by telling Abram how important it was for him to “Serve God faithfully and live a blameless life”. These words had such an impact on me as I read the covenant promises of God to Abram. In fact, I believe that God spoke to me through this in saying that this is just as true for His people today. Think about it friend, if God was about to do a great work, or miracle, through us today, I believe that He would want a clean vessel through which a holy God could work, and I believe that He would want to know that we are committed to serving Him faithfully. What a mockery of God if we thought for a moment that He had no idea of our sinful actions and attitudes behind the pious and ‘religious’ faces that we show at church. I realized, and was reminded that I may as well lay myself before God as an open book, because even though I may be able to fool some of the people some of the time, my God knows everything about me.

PRAYER
(What I will ask of God, in order for me to properly apply His Word to my life)

Father, please forgive me for the times that I permit my human instincts and misgivings to rule my thoughts and actions. When I surrendered my life to You, I asked that You guide my every thought and action, and Lord I am more convinced than ever that it will take exactly that for me to have the strength to serve You faithfully and live a blameless life. Please also touch the lives of those that may read this devotional and commit themselves to similar requests. I know that You love me unconditionally, and I am convinced that with You guiding my path and directing my thoughts and actions, we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Glory to God in the highest!

 

**Words underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com
**

Scripture: Matthew 5.  

OBSERVATION
(Key verses)

Matthew 5:13-16 (NLT)

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.

14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.

16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my life today?)

Having done some boating at night, I can easily identify with the imagery here about being a light in a dark world. You see, traveling in the pitch of night and not being able to see what’s ahead of you, or what might be in the water to harm your boat, is a frightening thing. However, being in the same circumstance and seeing the light from a marker or lighthouse ahead of you, gives so much more peace of mind. If we live for Christ, we will glow like lights, showing others what Christ is like and giving them hope, much light the lighthouse showed me the way in the pitch of night. But why would Jesus tell us about the importance of being a light, do we not automatically stand out as a shining light? I don’t feel there is anything automatic about it, for we still have a free will. Unfortunately we hide our light by (1) being quiet when we should speak out, (2) going along with the crowd, (3) denying the light, (4) letting sin dim our light, (5) not explaining our light to others, or (6) ignoring the needs of others. Let’s be a beacon of truth—don’t shut your light off from the rest of the world. The light represents Jesus, and we want Him to shine forth in all we say and do, so that others may see that light and accept it as ‘THE’ Light!

PRAYER
(What I will ask of God, in order for me to properly apply His Word to my life)

Lord Jesus, may I stand firm in my commitment to You, and may Your light shine bright in all that I do. May I be a lighthouse through which You will shine each and every day, is my humble prayer.

 

**Words underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com
**

Scripture: Genesis 12.  

OBSERVATION
(Key verses)

Genesis 12:1-3 (NLT)

1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.

2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.

3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my life today?)

Obviously God had seen some merit in Abram for who he was and for all that he had done to stay loyal to God, so God approached him and tested his faith even more. Friend, I want you to think with me for a moment how you would respond to such a call on your life. The nearest I can come to relating to this is that in my earlier days I was located in my birth country, the Bahamas. The organization that I worked for asked me on several occasions to work on a different island. While it was exciting to think about learning something about the culture of that island, it was a very challenging decision to make. We had family and many friends already on the island where we were at, and now to leave all of them and move to another island where we knew no one? This was a challenging time for us to move into the unknown. So I could only imagine how Abram must have felt. He was to drop everything familiar and move strictly on faith based on what God had told him and promised him. How strong is your faith today? Could you handle that kind of challenge? I believe that this is an indication of the faith required of us when we pray for a miracle, and when we pray for direction, and when we pray for wisdom. We could very easily be led into the unknown. Can you handle that?

PRAYER
(What I will ask of God, in order for me to properly apply His Word to my life)

Father, You told us in Your Word that if we had faith the size of a small mustard seed, that we could say to a mountain move aside and it would move. Thinking about faith to leave our family, friends, church and familiar surroundings, and go into the unknown and live among the unknown is almost as daring and challenging to our faith level, as is moving a mountain. Yet we pray each day for You to work a miracle in our lives or the lives of family, or our church. As I pray Lord, I need to constantly pray for the faith to believe unreservedly in You and in what You may direct me to do. Please give me that kind of faith dear Jesus. Too often I pray with question marks in my mind. Thank You for working in and through children like me to test our faith and minister to others on Your behalf.

 

**Words underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com
**

Scripture: Matthew 4.  

OBSERVATION
(Key verses)

Matthew 4:23-24 (NLT)

23
Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.

24
News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon-possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all.

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my life today?)

The people saw Jesus in action. They saw ministry at work. They saw the needs of people being met, and they began to evangelize – reach out to the people who needed Jesus, and they brought them in to share in the miracles they had seen and possibly even been the recipient of in their personal lives. Friends, this is very much how it should work today. Often we crawl into our little shell because we are afraid of rejection or repercussion. Don’t you think it was just as bad back in the day talked about here? Remember, all children under two were killed; Jesus was crucified; Many of the disciples were imprisoned and some even beheaded. So did the people have anything to fear? Yes they had lots to fear. I believe that our mission today is to be persistent in preaching and teaching as Jesus taught us in verse 17 – “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near”. When this is done, and as lives are changed, yes even the lives of Christians, we will be anxious to share the good news to our friends and neighbors, especially the unsaved. Friends, repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.

PRAYER
(What I will ask of God, in order for me to properly apply His Word to my life)

Lord God, I know that You are so aware of how lax we have become and how satisfied we are in claiming You as Lord, even without the desire to share that Good News with those that we know and love. As You preached and shared with us in verse 17 of this chapter, Your second coming is near. Please forgive me for procrastination in sharing the Good News so that others might be drawn to You. Please forgive me for not emphasizing the urgency of the hour whenever I have opportunity to teach or witness. Please reignite that importance in me and help me to be busy about Your work. Please also create this urgency in Your church today, so that we may see that Christianity is more than just coming to church and being satisfied that we have earned our badge for the week, but that we have a tremendous nugget to share with folk that will have an impact on their eternal destiny.

 

**Words underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com
**

Scripture: Genesis 7.  

OBSERVATION
(Key verses)

Genesis 7:1 (NLT)
¹  When everything was ready, the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my life today?)

I can’t help but believe that there were many in Noah’s day that considered themselves righteous, but God considered Noah alone righteous. Doesn’t this sound an awful lot like the church today? Statistics will show us that a very large percentage of Americans believe that they are saved and going to heaven, and I’m sure that the church will give a resounding “amen”, but brothers and sisters will you be able to stand before a righteous and holy God and tell Him how righteous you were on earth? Remember now that God knows all things, so He already knows if you are righteous before you ever open your mouth, so you may as well give it to Him straight the first time. Righteous means “right with God”, and I believe that for those of us that make the decision to accept Jesus as Lord, and seek His guidance and help to live each day in accordance with His Word and His will, then perhaps we may have something to honestly say to God about our righteous condition. We just celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. He suffered a lot for us and our salvation. What are you willing to do in order to be obedient to Him and show your love for Him? I believe that He wants so bad to tell you “Well done good and faithful servant”, but that comes after you do your part in the relationship, and live a life of obedience to Him.

PRAYER
(What I will ask of God, in order for me to properly apply His Word to my life)

Father God, I realize that You alone are righteous and perfect, but just as you found Jonah righteous, I believe that You are very interested in seeing Your saints today righteous. Please help me to clear up anything in my life that causes me to stumble and stray from You. Pressure is great in this world to live like the neighbor down the street and not like a child of God should. Lord my desire is to live like You and allow You to impact my life in such a way that all those that I may come into contact with might have a real desire to know the Jesus that I know and serve. Please give me the strength and power to do that.

 

**Words underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com
**