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Post Date: |
Tuesday, 2017-03-07 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
Matthew 21:20-22 (NLT) |
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Text: |
20 The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”
21 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Jesus had a point to prove to his followers, because He knew there was still doubt in their minds of what all they could accomplish through the power of the Holy Spirit. So He merely spoke to a barren fig tree and it instantly withered up. Of course, the disciples reacted just as Jesus knew they would, and this provided a teaching moment for Jesus. Verse 22 should be posted in all prayer rooms today! | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| For all believers reading this today, I believe that we can reflect back on our life-journey and see the path God set that led us towards accepting Him as our Master and Lord. For me, it was: placing the right lady in my life; one who was attending an evangelistic, Bible-teaching church that believed in altar calls; driving me towards attending her church vs the one that I was attending; placing a godly man in the service the night that I felt God tugging at my heart but wouldn’t let go of the seat to go to the altar, so God’s messenger came over, touched me on the shoulder and helped me make that walk that totally changed my life for ever. For the disciples, in our story today, who needed to learn about faith, Jesus also found the perfect time to demonstrate His power, and teach them about the miracles that could be wrought by even them, if they had faith. Friends, this story was placed in the Word of God to show us that, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we too have access to the throne of God to ‘ask for anything, in faith, and receive it’. Sounds impossible? Good, because the Bible said that these miracles will not be of our own power, but if we ask Jesus for it, and believe in faith that He can, and He will do it, then our prayer will be answered. So if we are asking this of Jesus, please realize that the things you ask will have to be things that He would approve of, and that fits into His perfect will. Jesus even gave an example of what could be possible through this kind of faith. So may I challenge you today to consider whether anything that you would ask in prayer today is greater than the ability to move a mountain into the sea? Probably not, right? Yet Jesus said that could be done, if we exercise our faith in Him! Wow! | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Father, there are things that many of Your children are praying for right now that seem very impossible to us. Please draw us closer to You so that our faith might increase, and so that we would think outside of our small box of finite possibilities. We need You Heavenly Father to be in charge of our personal lives, so we fully surrender to You today. Please use us as Your instruments through which You can reach the souls of mankind. May we never be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and may we see nothing but Jesus rather than the mountains of impossibilities that often block our view of You. Thank You Lord for reminding us of Your awesome power that can be extended from You to others we cross paths with, in the form of miracles today. AMEN! | |
| FOOTNOTE: | |
| There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could 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 Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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! | |
Month: March 2017
What Can Jesus Do For You?
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Post Date: |
Monday, 2017-03-06 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
Matthew 20:31-34 (NLT) |
|
Text: |
31 “Be quiet!” the crowd yelled at them. But they only shouted louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
32 When Jesus heard them, he stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 “Lord,” they said, “we want to see!” 34 Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| In this story we see a few things: First is the determination of the blind men to get Jesus’ attention. Although told by the disciples to be quiet, they shouted all the louder; Secondly, I am always shocked how Jesus would ask two blind men what he could do for them! He didn’t assume that they were there to have their sight restored, for they may have had much deeper needs that only the Master could resolve for them. And thirdly, their miracle led to them becoming followers of Christ! | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| Throughout the gospels we can read story after story about the extremes that some folk went to in order to see, touch, or plead with Jesus about their situation. I am saddened by our current day believers who either wait until their very last option to seek Jesus and ask Him for help in their respective scenario, or because they have listened to Satan and the world, and have chosen to not follow Christ, they therefore might opt to not ‘bother’ Him in their time of need. Notice that the blind men did not let pride get in their way of getting close to Jesus and asking Him for a miracle. They weren’t concerned about friends trying to turn them away because they never wanted anything to do with Jesus. I want you to also notice that although these men were not follower of Christ, He stopped, listened to their plea, and delivered them from their blindness. Friends, this is another reminder of how deep the love of God is for His children. Notice also that Jesus teaches us to never assume what the needs of another person might be. Wouldn’t you have thought that two blind men waiting to see Jesus, were probably there to ask for restoration of their sight? However, Jesus still asked what they wanted of Him. Friends, let’s learn from this that we are to be specific in our asking of God. So I believe the important question that Jesus might have for you today is: What is your greatest need that you would have me attend to for you? This should be the item that you are daily pleading to God for, and is first and foremost on your mind. Be determined as the two blind guys, knowing that the same Jesus that they called out to for mercy and healing, is still available, able and ready to also hear our cry for help. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Dear Lord, we serve the awesome Creator of this world, and You have proven yourself over and over again, yet You are often the very last person that we call on in our times of trouble and despair. As we were reminded by this Scripture today, please teach us to be persistent in asking, knowing that You are ruler over all things and that Your awesome power is just as prevalent today as it was when You gave the command to restore eyesight to the two blind men. Lord, please touch the hearts and lives of all who might read this devotional today, and please especially touch the lives of my family at this time so that we all might be reminded of the King of all kings and Lord of all lords, and Your awesome love and power. For I ask these things in Your wonderful and matchless name, AMEN! | |
| FOOTNOTE: | |
| There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could 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 Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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! | |
Confident in Our Awesome God!
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Post Date: |
Saturday, 2017-03-04 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
Psalm 18:25-29 (Easy-to-Read Version) |
|
Text: |
25 Lord, you are faithful to those who are faithful. You are good to those who are good. 26 You never do wrong to those who have done no wrong. But you outsmart the wicked, no matter how clever they are. 27 You help those who are humble, but you humiliate the proud. 28 Lord, you provide the flame for my lamp. You, God, turn the darkness around me into light. 29 With your help I can defeat an army. If my God is with me, I can climb over enemy walls. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| As I read this Scripture and meditated on how David must have felt when He worshipped God with these thoughts, I could only think that he was recognizing a great work that God had just completed in his life. So here David is recognizing God for who He is and for all that He has done. This is so important to the child of God to return to God and praise Him for all that He has done! Applicable to us today? You bet ‘cha! | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| Ever notice that our personal prayer lives are filled with our lists of wants and needs? Why even at church we tend to really concentrate on the ‘needs’ of our brothers and sisters way more than we do our expressions of praise to our awesome God, and hearts that should always be filled with thanksgiving. We can learn a lot from David here, because after losing himself in praise and thanksgiving, he shares with us how this outlook on God and his expressions of praise to God, gives him confidence to defeat a whole army and the supernatural power to climb right over enemy walls. Is this always easy for us? Absolutely not. I recently had a friend who had a child admitted to hospital with very special medical needs, could the parents truly sing the praise song in these verses? It would have been challenging while in the middle of the unforeseen battle by the doctors to save that child’s life, but for the parents whose hearts are filled with praise before the hospital stay, they would have confidence that God would protect, heal and love their daughter, and bless and direct doctors also. Friends, we have no idea what’s in store for us just around the corner of another day, have you been praising God and reinforcing the confident assurance that He is always there for you? Remember, with God’s Holy Spirit inside of you and God in control, you can do ALL things! Face the day with that kind of assurance, and prepare your mind for whatever comes your way, knowing that Our God Is An Awesome God! | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord Jesus, just one of Your humble servants bowing at Your feet once again to say thank You for being so good to me! You are awesome in all of Your ways, and more powerful than any situation my readers and I might face today! Thank You for being so good to us! Lord, with the words of David we can also say today that greater is He that is in us, than He that is in the world, and with that confidence face our giants today knowing that You can empower us to climb over any enemy wall and win any and all battles that Satan may send our way. So to You I surrender all, and say thank You for Your protection, guidance, love and wisdom, AMEN! | |
| FOOTNOTE: | |
| There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could 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 Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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! | |
Know Jesus So You May Obey Him
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Post Date: |
Friday, 2017-03-03 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
Exodus 5:1-2 (TLB) |
|
Text: |
1 … Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh. They told him, “We bring you a message from Jehovah, the God of Israel. He says, ‘Let my people go, for they must make a holy pilgrimage out into the wilderness, for a religious feast, to worship me there.’”2 “Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is Jehovah, that I should listen to him, and let Israel go? I don’t know Jehovah and I will not let Israel go.” |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Pharaoh challenged Moses and Aaron as to why should he obey the commands that their God sent them to convey to him. In not knowing the same God that Moses and Aaron knew, loved and worshipped, Pharaoh refused to obey what the two brothers relayed to him from their God. After all, why should an unbeliever obey a god that they don’t know, and that we feel is genuine? | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| To tell someone that I met for the first time, that I have the best wife in the whole world, they may look at me and admire how well programmed I am to say those words to even a stranger. To tell that stranger that my wife said that they must not eat certain foods because it will destroy their bodies, they may look at me like I’ve really lost my mind, or perhaps ask me to get out of their face. However, if my healthy looking wife walked into the room and became acquainted with them and answered their questions about nutrition and how she attributes her great health to certain diet restrictions that she follows every day, the stranger may become more apt to accept what she says – listen and obey. As I read this Scripture this morning it was like God stopped me and made me ponder for a while that aren’t Christians doing the same thing as Moses and Aaron> Think about it, we become very spiritually fed during our weekend services and as we enter our weekday we try to share, or some may even demand some of the scriptural commands on those we work with, or come across during our day. If they don’t know God, why would they listen to us or consider obeying what we try to convince them that God said? I am very convinced that the most important thing Christians can do for unbelievers is to live life in total obedience to God, so that we can convince them that God is impacting our life. Secondly, don’t ‘beat around the bush’ about why we act the way we do, or why we attend church, or why we don’t care about their crude jokes, or why God is so important in every decision we make. When a person’s heart is touched by the Lord, THEN and only THEN will they want to hear what God has to say to them. Let’s remember, we are not in the sales business, we simply bear witness to the Truth, and He will do the convincing. Remember, He intricately designed the heart, and He knows exactly what it takes to reach that heart with the love and acceptance of Jesus Christ. When we go over and above what God intended, or leads us towards, we actually cause walls to be erected by the unbeliever. Are you meeting many folk like Pharaoh? How’s your witness for our Lord, convincing to the unbeliever? Remember, God is the One who does the convincing and the saving, we are merely the earthly vessels that He might use to help in that process. Let’s not get the order messed up and confuse the unbeliever as to who brings salvation into their lives! | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord, You’ve shown us through the story of Pharaoh how challenging it is to obey Your commands if we don’t know the Commander personally. Please forgive us for often reversing that order and expecting our friends to like the things we like or go the places we go, when their hearts are often polluted with so much of the world. Please continue to work on believers so that we may simply desire to be conduits through which You can share Your love, Your salvation message, and Your grace, so that others may see and believe. I am anxious to be used by You through circumstance yet unknown today. May Your will be done, oh Lord, my Rock and my salvation, AMEN! | |
| FOOTNOTE: | |
| There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could 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 Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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! | |
What Pleases God
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Post Date: |
Thursday, 2017-03-02 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
Exodus 4:10-14 (TLB) |
|
Text: |
10 But Moses pleaded, “O Lord, I’m just not a good speaker. I never have been, and I’m not now, even after you have spoken to me, for I have a speech impediment.”
11 “Who makes mouths?” Jehovah asked him. “Isn’t it I, the Lord? Who makes a man so that he can speak or not speak, see or not see, hear or not hear? 12 Now go ahead and do as I tell you, for I will help you to speak well, and I will tell you what to say.” 13 But Moses said, “Lord, please! Send someone else.” 14 Then the Lord became angry. “All right,” he said, “your brother, Aaron, is a good speaker. And he is coming here to look for you and will be very happy when he finds you. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Moses was commanded to do something that was waaayyyy outside of his comfort zone. This caused Moses to say ‘no’ to God, and refuse to obediently get on with the job. This was unpleasing to God, as He became angry at Moses. In applying this Scripture to our lives today, we will examine whether this disobedience continues, or whether we truly make every effort to please God…. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| I would imagine that books that promise to prompt you towards things that please your spouse, or your teacher or your parents or your boss, probably sell out very quickly. For I believe that we are generally a people that prefer to please one another – especially if we believe that there are return benefits for us. But just for a moment, imagine one whose comfort zone is filling a support position behind the scenes. An extremely hard worker, but could care less about fanfare or public recognition. In fact, they prefer to see others recognized over themselves, as they prefer to get the job done and see the overall operation succeed. This sounds somewhat like Moses. He was being asked to do something that he always shied away from, because he felt so inadequate in speaking publicly. In fact, speaking in public was just not his forte. But wait a moment, why would the God of this universe ask him to do something that He knew Moses would be uncomfortable with, or feel unqualified for? Could it be that the task would then demand Moses to look upwards and depend on God, rather than his own known strengths? Friends, I am so sold out on the power of my God, that I truly believe that He outfits and prepares those that He calls to perform their assignments. I believe that if you are asked to teach, by a praying, God-honoring individual who tells you that God directed them to ask you to teach, what is there that you need time to pray about? Hoping that God, or is it perhaps Satan, will give you excuses on how to wiggle out of the assignment God has sent your direction? Unfortunately, I believe that way too often we spend more time meditating on the reasons we shouldn’t take a God-honoring position that could ultimately bring glory to Him, than we do in praising God for the opportunity to serve Him. After all, who are we that God should choose us to serve in His vineyard and influence others for the kingdom of God? Rightfully so, we are often unqualified for the job, but when we bring God into the equation, is there really anything too difficult, or impossible for Him? All things achieved though our inadequacies, shows the world that God is still in control and willing to work through even humble individuals like you and I. Please read verses 11 and 12 over again before you give a decision on whether you will accept your next assignment! Consider giving God an avenue through which He could accomplish His work to bring glory to himself and His kingdom. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord, we are your servants, willing to be used by You to accomplish Your work here on earth. We believe in You, please help our unbelief; our doubt; our lack of trust; and our natural desire to be well qualified for everything we do. Depending on You will require faith and total dependence on You. Lord, please fill us and make us usable instruments that You can work through to touch the hardenend hearts of our dear friends, family, coworkers, and all those that You place in our path. Please forgive us for the time wasted in turning away from You and circumventing Your holy appointments. Help us to totally surrender our all to You, dear Lord. AMEN! | |
| FOOTNOTE: | |
| There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could 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 Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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! | |
Your Response to ‘Impossible’ Tasks
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Post Date: |
Wednesday, 2017-03-01 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
|
From: |
Exodus 3:10-12 (Voice) |
|
Text: |
Eternal One: 10 So go. I’m sending you back to Egypt as My messenger to the Pharaoh. I want you to gather My people—the children of Israel—and bring them out of Egypt.
Moses (to God): 11 Who am I to confront Pharaoh and lead Israel’s children out of Egypt? Eternal One: 12 Do not fear, Moses. I will be with you every step of the way….. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Moses was challenged way outside of his comfort zone, because he was being asked to do something he had not been trained for, and that he felt very unqualified for. As we ponder the ‘application’ of this Scripture reading today, I want us to think about exactly what it would take for us to agree to such a task! | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| How many times have you been asked to take on a job that you have received no training for? How many times have you been invited to a meal or a meeting with top government officials, and you turned it down because of shattered nerves or 1001 other excuses that you quickly came up with? In my work field we have customer interfacing employees, and we have support staff that strictly work behind the scenes making sure that the front line staff could perform their jobs well. We find that if an employee whose makeup best suits dealing with customers is placed in the backroom, they are seldom happy in their jobs. I believe that Moses was like that! To be asked to go and see the king was a huge challenge for him, and to further be asked to confront the king with demands that anyone could guess would be confrontational, just caused Moses to pull back and try every which way to escape his assignment. Been there and done that?? I bet that we all may have faced similar challenges before, and we could probably identify with Moses. So is there anything we can do to prepare ourselves for these types of challenges? Friends, I believe you will agree that you will very easily do what your parent or spouse tells you to do, and almost anything that a sibling might ask you to do! Why? Because you trust them, and you know that because they love you, they would never ask you to do something they know you would fail at, or that would bring harm to you. So I believe that brings us to the point of obedience to God. Trust is built based on relationship. So I believe that we must first look at how well we know the One (our Father) that we are wanting to follow and/or obey. In building this relationship we will also develop a sense of what all the One, who we are wanting to trust, is capable of doing. May I remind you that the God we place our faith and trust in, has been proven over and over again, but I also believe that He will quickly give you the assurance that You need as well. I would gladly and unreservedly assure you friend, that my God is not only the Creator of this earth and each of us, but He loves us above and beyond anything we have ever experienced here on earth. In fact, He proved that love for us by sacrificing the life of His very own Son, Jesus, so that we might have a clear path to the Father and His heavenly home. I accepted Him over 40 years ago, and without hesitation, will highly recommend Him to anyone reading this devotional. Please read my ‘Footnote’ for more information on how you might know Jesus personally. That’s the beginning of a relationship with Him! May you accept Him as Lord, trust in Him as your Savior, worship Him as God and live for Him as a living sacrifice and witness to a world that is lost and going to Hell if they are not introduced to our Savior. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Thank You Father for loving us enough to sacrifice Your very own Son to save us from our sin that seperates us from You. Thank You for hearing our cry for help, and for challenging us with assignments that cause us to trust You more, and to depend on You as our sole Provider; Healer; Friend; Deliverer; Savior and Lord. Please touch the hearts of my readers and I so that we might develop the faith of Moses, and be willing to do as You command for the salvation of Your people. In thanksgiving, and desiring more faith from You, I glorify Your holy name. AMEN! | |
| FOOTNOTE: | |
| There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could 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 Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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! | |
Nuggets From God's Word 