How Much Do You Care?

On 2015-10-082015-10-08 By Ed AlgreenIn Evangelize, Love, RedemptionLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – John 1:40-41; 43-45): ⁴⁰ One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. ⁴¹ The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” The Hebrew word “Messiah” means the same as the Greek word “Christ.” ^43-44The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, “Come with me.” ⁴⁵ Philip then found Nathanael and said, “We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

THOUGHTS: As I read this passage this morning I was moved to compassion for all my family members who may not know the Lord, and for my friends that I come into contact with on a daily basis. Perhaps you didn’t get it the first time reading through the above verses. Check this out: Andrew was moved by the preaching of John and he followed Jesus – the one of whom John spoke. In other words, it’s like Andrew was at church last weekend and accepted Jesus as Lord after hearing the Word of God proclaimed! The first thing that Andrew did, was to find his brother, Simon Peter. Friend, who did you think of the day that you got saved? Would you be ashamed to face Jesus and declare to Him that your family and friends didn’t make it into heaven because you were too busy, or didn’t care enough to tell them about the Lord? Then in verse 44 Jesus called Philip, and immediately he went to find his buddy Nathanael. Friends, who do you care enough about that you would want them to come in out of the rain; be protected from the onslaught of a huge natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake? Who would you morn over if you knew that they were headed for a destructive fire and you saw it up ahead but didn’t opt to warn them about it? May I humbly say that this is exactly what your family and friends are facing, if you don’t become a ‘Andrew’ or ‘Philip’ and convince them of the saving grace of Jesus Christ? You have the ‘key’ friend – the answer to help them avoid the depths of hell. Do you care enough to share the answer with them? What’s stopping you? You may fear that they might reject your offer and perhaps laugh at you? And that may be a reality, but will God accuse you of not even trying, or loving them enough to care about their eternal future?

PRAYER: Father God, I believe that often we don’t relate ‘neglect’ or ‘priorities’ as being uncaring or unloving, because we use buzz words like: too busy; fear of rejection; they just won’t listen to me; they are a total atheist; or they have everything they need and refuse to listen to anything about God. I pray that You will open our hearts today Lord, to make decisions based on our relationship with You and Your call on our heart for action, not what we suspect the other person may say, or what they might think, or what they believe, or their ethnicity or proclaimed beliefs are. I pray that when the day comes for us to face You in judgment, that we can honestly and boldly declare like Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. This can only be accomplished with our hand in the hand of the One who calmed the waters, who died on Calvary for our sins, and showed love beyond anything we can think of imagine. I ask all this in that very name, the name of Jesus, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!

Excuses, Excuses….

On 2015-10-072015-10-07 By Ed AlgreenIn Confidence, Obedience, TrustLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – Exodus 4:10-12): ¹⁰ But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” ¹¹ Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

THOUGHTS: When God makes something, who are we to ridicule and complain about its inadequacy? We must always realize that what God has done and/or made is well done. I read in this passage of scripture how Moses had quickly responded to God with excuses for how he was totally incapable of handling the assignment being given to him by God. However, I believe that God quickly caused me to look deep inside at how easily I tend to turn away from opportunities because of feelings of inadequacy and intimidation. Friends, I am reminded of a New Testament lesson where Jesus reminded a servant that in his weakness, the power of God is truly revealed. I strongly believe that it is time for non-believers to have their eyes opened and their hearts softened by the power of the Almighty, so that they might see God and their need for Him, and surrender their heart to Him before it is eternally too late. I also believe that Christians must be awakened to the fact in much the same way that we spend time with our families in order to develop and maintain great, long-lasting relationships, so it is with our relationship with the Lord. Jesus can’t be an occasional visitor in our lives, nor a Santa Claus when we need something, He must be Lord of all, or chances are that He won’t be Lord at all. I am convinced that God saw nothing wrong with the human being that He made in Moses, even though Moses beat up on himself pretty good and saw many inadequacies. It is very challenging for us to overlook our fears and what appears to be inadequacies, at least when we compare ourselves to others. But this message today reminds us that if God calls us to a job, then obviously He has already provided us with the abilities to handle that job. When we turn to Jesus for everything in our lives, we quickly learn to trust Him, especially in our desperation and times of feeling inadequate. Try it friend. Learn to trust in Jesus for all your needs, all your cares and all your concerns, for He cares for you. He loves you way too much to see you fail! You are precious in His sight!

PRAYER: Lord God, what a reminder today of how we must trust in our Maker, our Designer, our Master and our Savior, for everything. To do this I believe You made it evident that our dependence on You will often hinge on our relationship with You, for trusting a stranger is always challenging and almost impossible. I am convinced that You were not the maker of junk, so please give us the boldness to see the value in all that You have made, including ourselves and every attribute given to us. Please help us to never forget that You will give us the abilities and the tools, such as words and boldness to speak on your behalf, when called to do so. I’m sure that Satan would love nothing better than to see us doubt and/or fail, but loving Jesus, I am convinced that greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. Touch myself and my readers today with the boldness to press on in doing everything You have called us to do, and in everything You lead us to do each day. You are a mighty God, and I ask all this in the powerful and awesome name of Your precious Son, Jesus, AMEN!

Do You Believe?

On 2015-10-062015-10-06 By Ed AlgreenIn Choices, Eternity, Salvation, Saved, SurrenderLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Living Translation – John 1:10-12): ¹⁰ He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹ He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. ¹² But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

THOUGHTS: Some of us tell stories about meeting our spouses, and those stories could sometimes sound somewhat like this passage. We struggled to get along with the person when we first met them, then they gained our confidence and we began trusting them. This followed with actually falling in love with that wonderful person and we wound up marrying them! With God, we tend to look at all the beauty around us; we hear of all the miracles He has performed, and sometimes we hear of the miracles performed in the lives of our loved ones even today. We come across folk who hate Him, yet we come across some who are crazy in love with Him. We just can’t escape knowing that God exist because of all the reasons mentioned but yet something still confuses us about wanting to fully accept Him for who people claim Him to be. Friends, may I tell you bluntly that Satan will do everything possible to distract you from trusting in his opponent, for when you believe in; trust in; and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Satan loses. However, let me draw to your attention the truth of verse 12. The verse speaks to the glory of becoming a child of God, if you believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as Lord of your life. But let’s really look at this from a perspective of what happens if you do not believe in Him and accept Him. Doesn’t that mean that Satan wins? Doesn’t that mean that you have chosen instead to follow the ways of Satan and agree that you would rather go to the pits of hell with him to be punished eternally? In life, smart folk don’t make those kinds of choices deliberately, friend. Why would you knowingly settle for that? In religious based movies we hear of people facing death by an evil person if they say they are a Christian. Please hear your friend carefully today when I tell you that there is no known punishment that you can think of that will compare to the pain, anguish and punishment that will be for those who stand before the Lord and say that they have chosen the evil one. The Bible tells us this friend. Granted, you would never deliberately surrender to Satan, right? I bring bad news friend, unless you surrender your life to Jesus Christ, you have decided to accept the alternative, and Satan will do with you what comes natural to him – punish you throughout eternity. Only you can change your destiny friend, and God will help you, if you let Him. He loves you that much!

PRAYER: Lord God, this short passage can be a treacherous one to think about today, or we can chose to see it as a bright and glorious opportunity we have in being called Children of God, because we have surrendered our life to You, through Your Son Jesus. May our choice be a wise one today as we meditate on Your Word? Many will quickly say that they never deliberately make bad choices. Please open their eyes of understanding Lord, so that they may realize that anything less than making a choice to accept You as Lord of their lives, is deliberately making a choice to allow Satan to control their lives. We need You oh Lord, for we have family and friends who still don’t understand the impact of the choice they have made up to this point in their lives. Because they have not been promised anything beyond the present time, I sincerely pray that their eyes of faith will be opened and their hearts softened to allow them to surrender to You before it is eternally too late. I ask all this in the name of Jesus, and because I know that You are the only One who can truly have a positive impact on lives, even today. All glory to You oh Lord, my Savior, AMEN!

Holiness – Work At It

On 2015-10-052015-10-05 By Ed AlgreenIn Getting Along, Holiness, Love, Obedience, PeaceLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – Hebrews 12:14): ¹⁴ Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

THOUGHTS: I saw a greeting card yesterday that read “Short on words, but loooong on best wishes!” I found this verse to be short on words, but packed with a powerful message for us today. God’s inspired Word is warning us that living at peace with everyone and a holy life before our Lord, does not come easy or perhaps natural to us, but are two things necessary for the follower of Christ. Our natural tendency is to sin, therefore it is challenging for anyone to get along with us, or for us to accept everyone the way they are, to love them and live at peace with them. However in this chapter of Hebrews we are being taught to listen to God. We have been shown in this New Testament book that our ancestors accomplished a lot in faith, believing in, and depending on, the power of God. We are therefore challenged to call on, listen to, and depend on God to help us accomplish everything that He has commanded of us. In this particular command, I would dare say that God has proven Himself powerful, and able, over and over. He proved His love for us in ways that we would never have to, for He sacrificed His life for us, while the world hated Him, mocked Him, spat on Him and crucified Him. So I believe you will agree that He definitely knows all about how challenging it will be for us to ‘love’ someone who despises us, or may even hate us. So friends, when we are commanded to ‘Work at It’, be comforted in knowing that we don’t have to do this alone. For Jesus promised us that He would never leave us or forsake us – that means that He is always there for us. Therefore part of our working on these commands, must include humbling ourselves before the Master and seeking His help. Furthermore, I am convinced that my loving Jesus would never command something of us that would be impossible for He and us to achieve. We gladly work at being our best in our jobs, in our families, in our marriages and in our relationships. As an obedient servant, we must also ‘Work at’ being holy in our lifestyle so that the world will know to whom we belong. Also, we must determine in our own hearts to live at peace with each other as children of the ‘Prince of Peace’. We must ‘Work at It’ with all of our being and with the help of the King, Jesus our Lord.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, our time here on earth is short, and we can therefore not afford to procrastinate on ‘Working At’ being all that You demand of us in Your Word. Holiness begets holiness, so if we are truly a son of the Holy God, then we are to represent that holiness in our everyday life. For one to meet a son, there should be good enough representation that they would tell the world that they have met the Father. Lord, may it be so in my life today, and may You fill the hearts and lives of all my readers that are willing to live obedient lives in conformity with Your will. Shine through us today Lord Jesus, so that our friends might see Jesus. For I ask these things in and through the precious name of Jesus, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!

Faith Is…….

On 2015-10-032015-10-03 By Ed AlgreenIn Committed, Faith, FirmLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Living Translation – Hebrews 11:1, 5-6): ¹Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. ⁵ It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—”he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. ⁶ And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

THOUGHTS: This whole chapter is known as ‘The faith chapter’. It takes on the job of the dictionary in explaining the meaning of ‘Faith’, for it tells us that ‘Faith’ makes us sure of what we hope for, and gives us proof of what we cannot see. It was ‘Faith’ that helped our forefathers know God and please Him in every aspect of their lives. This whole chapter is filled with examples of how our ancestors pleased God in and through their ‘Faith’. Verse 6 goes on to minister to us by telling us that we can only please God through our ‘Faith’, for if we want to know Him, we must have ‘Faith’, believe that God exists and that He rewards us as we sincerely place our trust in Him. I just love this chapter, because not only am I told to have ‘Faith’, but it goes on to demonstrate the very reason it was so important in the lives of our ancestors, and therefore helps me to understand that God has not changed, so if I want to be as successful in my relationship with God as any of our ancestors were, then I had better sharpen my ‘Faith’. This also helped me to reflect on my own Christian journey and identify areas of my ‘Faith’ journey, for if our offspring is to truly walk a path towards, and with God, they will not only look to Hebrews 11 for evidence of ‘Faith’, but they will also want to know how impactful was ‘Faith’ in the life of their dad/uncle/grandfather/brother/cousin. I was able to identify times where I stepped out in ‘Faith’ believing in the true leadership of the God to whom I prayed, and I saw where lifesaving medical help became available to two family members, plus the increase of my family, because of my ‘Faith’ in knowing that God approved of me moving my family to a different country. There have been other instances friends, but I want to challenge you to look into your own life and identify how impactful your ‘Faith’ in God has been in your life. I want to challenge you to talk about that with your family so that they might know that the miracles of God are not only told in the Bible, but in every aspect of our lives today also. If we are truly the only Bible that most folk will read, then it is incumbent upon us to reveal our ‘Faith’ by telling them of the ways that God has worked in our lives and showed His power and His goodness in miraculous ways. Imagine your daughter teaching your grandson about the subject of ‘Faith’ and using examples in your life, rather than, or in addition to those related in this chapter of Hebrews! If our God is truly alive today, then we should be a witness to what He is doing today in and through us, His saints who are alive today! Tell your story friend! Brag on our Savior and allow Him to be praised because of what He has done for you!

PRAYER: Father I am concerned that people are judging our salvation based on the amount of faith we portray. This could negatively impact Christians, however this is exactly what James taught us in James 2:14 when he said: “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?” As we have come into Your holy presence; as we have invited Your Holy Spirit to live inside of us; as we have committed to live our lives imitating Your character, Your example and Your teaching, we have so much to brag about. Please empower us with boldness, to not brag on anything that we are deserving of, but on the One deserving of our praise and our worship, because of Your outstanding and awesome goodness and mercy to us. Thank You Father, for it’s in the precious and faithful name of Jesus that I ask all this, AMEN!

Keep On Keeping On!

On 2015-10-022015-10-02 By Ed AlgreenIn Commitment, encouragement, Hope, MotivationLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – Hebrews 10:23-25): ²³ Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. ²⁴ Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵ And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

THOUGHTS: These verses follow a teaching where Christians were being warned about the impact of ignoring the faith, in which they once believed. This was also covered in a devotional shared yesterday, so we see where this was really a concern in the early church, as I am confident it is today. It seems like we are very spoiled, and when things are not going our way, or the way that we have instructed God, we pack up our toys and move on to more fun that, hopefully, will be more appealing to us. This is very unfortunate in so many ways friends. Jesus went to the cross for us, not because it was the most fun thing for Him to do at the time, but in obedience to His Father and because of pure love for us. There is evidence after evidence where Jesus kept His promises throughout the Bible. This was not only to show us that He could be trusted, but also to show us the love and commitment He had towards us. So what about us? What makes us waiver in our commitment? What makes us so determined to please self rather than holding true to our commitment with Jesus Christ? We are like spoiled brats, aren’t we? Direction is given to us in these verses that would serve to help us overcome this weakness. First of all we are reminded that our faith and trust is in the strong hands of the Almighty God. What have we to fear when we know who is at the helm of our ship? When it is the One who has designed and created us; sacrificed His own life for our benefit; and the One who has promised to prepare a wonderful place for us to spend eternity with He and the Father, what have we to fear? Secondly, we are to meet together with like believers, and not neglect doing that at every opportunity possible. This helps us to receive encouragement from others traveling this same road that we are on, and it helps us to get our minds off our own struggles while we look to help and encourage others who are probably facing things a whole lot worse than we are. Friends, when we follow this advice, we regain strength and encouragement from, and see extreme value in, the Savior in whom we first believed. We identify with other Christians who we find are just as needy as we are, or many times they are a lot more needy. And we appreciate ourselves more, as we will quickly realize that there is no case where we would trade our sorrows and our struggles for anyone else’s that we come into contact with. We will quickly realize that we truly are blessed beyond anything we deserve, and become more determined to keep on keeping on!

PRAYER: Lord God, You are good and Your loving mercies endures each and every day and in every way. Please help us to get over ourselves and gain a deep understanding of how blessed we truly are. Help us to look for ways to help others with more intensity than the effort we put towards pulling ourselves down. We are a child of the King! Created by You, loved by You, cared for by You and thought of in advance by You regarding our eternally destiny. Thank You Lord Jesus for loving even me! Please intervene in the lives of all those that You will lead to this devotional today. May the redeemed gain strength and encouragement to keep on keeping on, and may the stubborn and unsaved be reminded that it is in You that we have hope for tomorrow and can therefore live today as a people who are blessed and lifted up! I ask these things in faith and in the strong name of Jesus, AMEN!

Hindrances to Worship

On 2015-10-012015-10-01 By Ed AlgreenIn Forgiven, Righteous, WorshipLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Easy-To-Read Version – Hebrews 9:13-14): ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow were sprinkled on those who were no longer pure enough to enter the place of worship. The blood and ashes made them pure again—but only their bodies. ¹⁴ So surely the blood sacrifice of Christ can do much more. Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make us completely clean from the evil we have done. It will give us clear consciences so that we can worship the living God.

THOUGHTS: I believe that every Bible Teacher or Pastor’s wish would be, that their hearers are getting as much from a lesson as they received when they studied the lesson being taught. I also believe that every Worship Minister would love to know that the folk they are leading in a time of worship were participating from the deepest parts of their heart and receiving a blessing like they receive when leading us. Often we will go to our corporate worship services and while sometimes being totally blessed and pulled into the worship time through full participation, yet at other times we just attend but don’t feel a closeness to our Lord as we worship. These are the times we find fault with the person next to us or behind us, or with the worship leader, or perhaps the volume of the instrumentalists! But friend, if you especially read verse 14, you will notice that as long as we enter God’s house with stained consciences, there just may not be an opportunity for you to connect with God and His Holy Spirit that day. You might remember from God’s Word that God will not be present where sin abounds. I believe that another way of understanding verse 14 might be in the following way: “One cannot worship the Living God without a clear conscience” or unless one has already settled with God concerning their sin. There’s a worship song that has been around for a long time “There’s A Sweet, Sweet Spirit in this Place“. After reading verse 14, I’m not so sure that will even happen for us if we present ourselves for worship with sin in our life. Perhaps we should have a confession service first, then, perhaps, the Spirit of God might find clean hearts and consciences in which He is free to move and to bless. Let’s keep this in mind the next time that we attempt to worship God. Clean hearts will draw close to God, as it is the only way that He will draw close to you and I.

PRAYER: How dare us attempt to enter Your presence in sin, Oh God, especially thinking that we can block the hindrances (our sin) while we attempt to worship You. It’s not enough for us to conjure up a time of ‘worship’ Lord Jesus, for we want to be where You are, and we want to worship You in sincerity of heart, soul and mind. Please forgive us for attempting to worship You, the One who never sinned, yet with sin in our hearts. Please cleanse me of all unrighteousness, so that as I approach Your throne I can do so with a clear conscience and without sin. Please touch the hearts of my readers Lord, so that they too might be enlightened of any sin that not only separates them from You, but also blocks their true worship of You. Lord, may You rule and reign in every aspect of our lives and especially prepare us for frequent times of worship to You. I love you Lord, and I lift my voice and heart in worship to You alone. My prayer is offered in and through the name of Jesus, the only one worthy of my worship and praise, AMEN!

Nuggets From God's Word

Month: October 2015