Where Joy Comes From

On 2018-05-31 By Ed AlgreenIn Love, Sacrifice, The Father's Love, The love of GodLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: Ecclesiastes 2:25-26 (ERV)

TEXT: ^{25 …..}The best thing people can do is eat, drink, and enjoy the work they must do. I also saw that this comes from God. ²⁶If people do good and please God, he will give them wisdom, knowledge, and joy. But those who sin will get only the work of gathering and carrying things. God takes from the bad person and gives to the good person. But all this work is useless. It is like trying to catch the wind.

OBSERVATION: In these verses Solomon, the wisest man in the world, shared what he had discerned about life. In fact, the verses leading up to this goes into describing how useless life appears to be when just going through the motions of everyday life. Solomon had been the richest king, so he had everything he could possibly need or want, but thank God, his eyes were opened and he is sharing with us where true life begins and ends. Read on friends….

APPLICATION: Why not begin this time of meditation with me by stopping and reflecting on all that you have done to earn a good, honest living in your life up to this point. Think about the friends you have met when things were going well, and when times were rough. Think about all that these friends have added to your relationship with them. Now think about all you have poured into your relationship with friends and family. I know, often you were determined to stop giving because you saw no appreciation or returned love from the recipients. Perhaps you found Jesus and accepted Him as Lord of your life. Think about how awesome it was to learn that He loved you because of who you are, not because of how much you poured into His life. In fact, under those same conditions, you learned that He actually loved you beyond anything you could ever have imagined, for He was obedient to His Father and went through the crucifixion and all of the pain and mockery that came with that day of the crucifixion, and LOVE was His only motive. Love for His children who would look at that day and always meditate on the actions committed for the eternity of those who were living hopeless lives without any knowledge or concern about where they would spend eternity. Friends, this is the ‘real life‘ that I awaken each day at 3:45 am to share with folk like you that may be looking for encouragement, or love, or hope, or peace, or a closer walk with your maker – the only One that loves you to the extent of sacrificing His life, so that you and I may live eternally in heaven with He and the Father. This my friend is the one true means of joy for the believer! But be encouraged by Solomon in these verses, for he shared with joy, that this relationship with Jesus also brings to the believer wisdom and knowledge. As the wisest man that ever lived, Solomon realized that there was no other source of his wisdom other than that offered by God, so he was speaking from first-hand knowledge. So friends, let me encourage you to meditate on these things today, make any adjustments in your relationship with God that might be necessary, and enjoy the benefits of being a child of the King!

PRAYER: Father God, who is man that You should sacrifice Your Son for our eternal benefit? Who are we that You should love us and care for us with such tender compassion like You do every day? I realize that You chose to accept us because of Your love for us, so Lord I just want to say thank You for being my Master and my Lord. My beginning and my end, or everlasting King! Please direct me to ways of showing Your love today and give me wisdom to represent You in everything I say of do. Bless my readers with all of these good things also, as they totally surrender to You…. 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 Sebring, 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!

Even So, He Saved Me!

On 2018-05-28 By Ed AlgreenIn Give thanks, Sacrifice, SavedLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 106:6-8 (NLT)

TEXT: ⁶Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! ⁷Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds.
They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea. ⁸Even so, he saved them — to defend the honor of his name and to demonstrate his mighty power.

OBSERVATION: God delivered the Israelites from slavery and many evil things that were going on, yet they were so disrespectful and unthankful to Him in the Wilderness. However, instead of revenge, we are encouraged by the words ‘even so, He saved them’. This sounds a whole lot like what our God did for us. So let’s just stop and meditate on this for a while….

APPLICATION: There are stories out there that’s a whole lot better than mine, but I bet there are cases where God has been a lot more forgiving, because of your life’s circumstances also. The point is my friend, that all of us were either living deep in sin, or may even still be living a life of sin. Yet at one point in time God, in His awesome grace and mercy, concluded that at His expense, He would provide an easier and more understandable way for us to move from a life of sin, into a life of assurance, peace of mind and full assurance of our eternal destination. However, I’m sure that you would probably want me to say to the world that we’re a whole lot different to the Israelites and that we show a whole lot more appreciation for what God has done for us. But can I truthfully do that? I don’t think so, because after we walk away from our altar of forgiveness by God – through His Son Jesus, many of us have continued to act like the world when around our unsaved friends; we wrestle with giving to the church, because of all the horror stories we’ve heard from friends; we have no time or money for helping the poor, because we have our own opinion about what we should do with our hard-earned money; and the biggest challenge is this thing about being at church every spare moment we have. Saturday and Sunday is the only two days we have off work, and to expect us to attend church for one or two hours of that is really asking a lot. Really friends? These things sound kind of far out, but can you imagine how real they are for many in our circle of friends, or for many church attendees? Some have this calculated to the very time that they should spend under the instruction or teaching of the Word. So are we really that much better than the Israelites were? Ever stopped to think that God sent His one and only Son to die for us – even while all this, and more, was going on among His kids? I’m glad He did friends, and I hope that you will join me in rethinking the reasons why we refuse to do some of the things that may cause a sacrifice of our time or money, when we know full well that it could be for the eternal good of the Kingdom and/or to help a lost soul who might be otherwise destined for Hell. Jesus – a whole lot like us, even so, He gave it all for our sake. How much would we be willing to give in return?

PRAYER: Lord, we praise You and we magnify Your name on high for all that You have done for us, and continue to do for us each and every day. Lord, please help us to be more giving, more thoughtful and more loving, so that we might imitate You better in so many more ways. Lord You are good, and we praise You for who You are. AMEN!

Believe You have Received

On 2018-05-24 By Ed AlgreenIn Believe, Faith, Faith in Action, Faithful, Genuine Faith, Know and BelieveLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: Mark 11:22-24 (TPT)

TEXT: ²²Jesus replied, “Let the faith of God be in you! ²³Listen to the truth I speak to you: If someone says to this mountain with great faith and having no doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. ²⁴This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

OBSERVATION: We’ve heard the old gospel song ‘Faith is The Key to Heaven’, and it melts our hearts away. But in today’s verses we hear from the mouth of Jesus the convincing and compelling words that Faith is also the Key to answered prayer. Do we really go into prayer with that kind of confidence? Let’s meditate in this for a little today….

APPLICATION: While a child is putting on his sneakers, he is also screaming out to mom in the kitchen that Mike, who lives just down the road, invited me over to play for a few minutes. I’ve finished my homework & chores, so is it OK if I go and play a little? I will be back in time for the family dinner. The son, Jim, knows all the things that mom will ask him, so he includes everything while asking, or is it telling!!!! So let’s put this into perspective with our relationship with our heavenly Father. Are we in His Word enough? Are we trying to grow our relationship by attending church and/or Bible study? Do we feel like we know the mind of Christ and are asking in full alignment with His desire for our lives? I believe it is obvious why we don’t ask for certain things – it may make us too proud, or it may point our friends attention to us instead of God, etc. But do we know the mind of Christ like a husband may know the mind of His wife of 30 years? Our verses end with the words ‘… believe that you have received it, and it will be yours…’ I once had an old saint tell me that she was praying for an aching arm of mine. In about a week, while entering the church, she looked up at me and asked very confidently, “is that arm better now?” When I said that it wasn’t fully healed yet, she looked at me in puzzlement, as if wondering what must have gone wrong in her prayers for me. Friends, that’s the kind of relationship we need with Jesus. That’s the kind of faith and assurance we can then have in our prayers. Believe that we HAVE RECEIVED IT, and then WE WILL RECEIVE IT!

PRAYER: Lord You are so good to us! Wretched sinners, yet You look down on us in love and listen to all the things that we worry about and ask for. Most of all, You meet us where we’re at when we come to you in prayer with all of our concerns and complaints. Being reminded of what You promised in Mark 11 today, we could only say again how thankful we are to be called Your precious children, and for the liberties that You give us as children of the King! Please forgive us when we become worried and bring menial things to You, for Lord they seem huge to us. Please work with us, continue to love us, make us more bold to come before You than ever before. Please help us to be so confident in our prayers when we know the mind of Christ and all that You have in store for us. Lord, we ask all this in the precious name of Jesus, our Lord and perfect Savior, AMEN!

Must Have Gifts

On 2018-05-23 By Ed AlgreenIn Love, Love others, Prophecy, tongues, Unconditional loveLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 14:1-3 (MSG)

TEXT: ^1-3Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him. But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you’re letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you.

OBSERVATION: After just going through a well know chapter on the subject of ‘love’, Paul still had a few things to reemphasize to the Corinthian church, and to challenge us with. Its almost like a recap, where he emphasized the two most important gifts. Notice how important he felt love is for us? In fact, Paul said that we should ‘go after it’, or ‘seek after’ it! Ever thought of love in that way? The other important gift is prophecy, or proclaiming the truth of God’s Word to a lost world. Let’s dig into this….

APPLICATION: In life, we tend to ‘go after’ the girl of our dreams, and possibly the car, or house, or boat of our dreams, but God used His servant Paul to also emphasize the importance of ‘love’ that we would go after it, Now at one time it was declared that God is love, and I could only imagine that was meant to describe the sacrifice, depth, warmth and everlasting peace that’s found in the fullest meaning of love. For we know that God demonstrated His love unselfishly, and unconditionally, by giving up His very own Son, so that we might have the best gift ever, the opportunity to accept that love and the person of His Son Jesus, that also prepares us for eternal life in heaven. So may I suggest that you examine the depth of God’s love for us, so that you might understand the depth of the love that Paul referenced in these verses. Let’s not take God’s love lightly, but let’s desire to have it in our hearts so badly, that we would be willing to go after it with all of our heart. A heart filled with God’s perfect love, is a heart that will be seen, understood and convinced that Jesus must live within that child of God, and is worthy of listening to by those coming into contact with them. This is also a person who would have a deep yearning to know more about God, so that they may not just share the love of God, but also the truths of God as declared in His Word. It seems like Paul may have been dealing with some other mindsets, as he particularly described the purpose and use of the gift of tongues. However, it is evident that Paul was convinced by God that the two most important gifts are: 1). Love, and 2) Prophecy (sharing the truth of God’s Word). Join me friends, in going after these gifts, so that they are the most prevalent in our character, and in our overall desire to please and serve God.

PRAYER: Lord, we humbly come before You this morning after once again being reminded of Your unconditional, extreme love for us. We realize that this is probably one of the most needed attributes by mankind today, and therefore something that will help them recognize a child of the King more than anything else. Lord, please also give us the boldness to not be afraid of sharing our testimony and the basic truths of Your Word. That will draw mankind to you far quicker than our evaluation of things or our opinions. Lord, we want to be more like You so that the world might come to know you through simple people just like You. Oh that they may see Jesus, is our utmost desire dear Lord. Work through us, we pray. AMEN!

Attributes of Love

On 2018-05-22 By Ed AlgreenIn Christian love, Love, Love of God, Love others, Love your Neighbor, Our Character, Things God lovesLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (TPT)

TEXT: ⁴Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. ⁵Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. ⁶Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. ⁷Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.

OBSERVATION: No doubt Paul had to clear up some misunderstanding about this action, and about this word that people often use so loosely – Love. I believe that God foreknew that His children today would need to be very clear about this word also, so He had Paul include it in our Book of Instruction – the Bible. Let’s meditate on this today and see where God might lead us, as He speaks to us through His Word….

APPLICATION: We are told throughout the Bible, that ‘God is love’, so anytime we think of this action or this word, we should think of how this might help us be a little more perfect in our love for each other. In the verses above, we are reminded by Paul that if we want to live our lives like our Father – consistently expressing love from the very depths of our heart, then there are some attributes that will be evident in us. Have you ever been praised for being incredibly patient; or gentle; or consistently kind to everyone; or so happy for others when blessings come their way; or one who deflects praise and self importance and therefore never brags about self achievements; not one who looks for ways to shame and disrespect others in an effort to make self shine above everything else; not irritable or quick to take offense; Joyfully celebrates honesty, but will not reflect delight in what is wrong; and because love always believes in and wants the best for others, it is considered a safe place for others to relax in and enjoy. Love never gives up, and I therefore pray that no one reading my blog today will ever give up, but always seek the attributes of ‘Love’ – the love of Jesus! In these verses, try replacing the word ‘Love’ with your name in the Scripture today, and see if there are any phrases, or attributes that you need to quickly kneel before the Master and seek His face on. I believe there is nothing more that He would delight in, than to help us walk upright and in His image, but He wants to know that we want that, so ask Him dear friends!

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, we know that You can blow us away today with the many inadequacies You see in us, compared to Your message through Paul that we looked at today. Please forgive us precious Lord, and give us the strength and boldness to redirect our determination and, instead be determined to be more like You every day. In a world of stress and hatred, we pray that Your love will shine through us consistently, until You call us home to glory. AMEN!

Not Me, But GOD!

On 2018-05-212018-05-21 By Ed AlgreenIn Awesome God, Chosen by God, Encounter with God, SavedLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 12:6-7 (TLB)

TEXT: ⁶There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are his. ⁷The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.

OBSERVATION: I believe in these verses Paul intended to help the church to know the importance of drawing close to God so that He could draw close to them and use them for the enrichment of each other. This speaks volumes to the church today, because when we go off doing our own thing it might only benefit our small circle of friends, however when we allow the Holy Spirit to direct us into action and showing love one to another, we will see the church (God’s body of believers) enriched, blessed and uplifted. How do you feel like you’re doing in this, friends?

APPLICATION: If we were to sit down and evaluate how we are doing individually, I believe that Satan will automatically drive our thoughts possibly towards the pastor and what he could be doing differently, or more of. Satan might also drive us towards all that we’ve heard about other leaders in the church, or even members that we’ve always looked up to. You know what I mean, it’s everyone else’s fault – except yours. Really, friends? Do we really believe that there are any here that are perfect, like Jesus Christ was? Paul took a moment to express to the church that it is only because of the grace of God, and the power of God, working in and through us (the church) that anything could be accomplished for Him. Oh that we would never be so bold and/or stupid enough to study God’s Word, or teach His Word to others or preach His Word, without the full cooperation and help of the Holy Spirit. We are His instruments, and therefore He uses us to speak to His children, so that their hearts may be drawn to Jesus. That whole encounter is a ‘Jesus thing’ that we never want to mess up. May we all be faithful and true, so that we may be used of God to spread the gospel in all walks of life, so that Jesus might tug on the hearts of all who are touched by Him.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord Jesus for touching my heart, thank You for making me whole. Please give my believing readers and I, the boldness and determination to reach out to all those that we will come into contact with today, and as we merely brush up alongside these individuals, I pray that You will penetrate their hearts and draw them unto Yourself. Oh that they will see Jesus today, and come to know Him personally and intimately as their Savior and Lord. Today may be the day that many will come to know You as Lord, but I also realize that today may be the day that You call many home to Yourself. May Your perfect will be done dear Lord, AMEN!

, thank You for making me whole

God Speaks

On 2018-05-182018-05-18 By Ed AlgreenIn Listen, Listen to the Word of God, Obedience, Obedient, Seek God First, Seek God's Face, Seeking GodLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: Job 33:15-19 (GNT)

TEXT: ¹⁵At night when people are asleep,
    God speaks in dreams and visions.
¹⁶He makes them listen to what he says,
    and they are frightened at his warnings.
¹⁷God speaks to make them stop their sinning
    and to save them from becoming proud.
¹⁸He will not let them be destroyed;
    he saves them from death itself.
¹⁹God corrects us by sending sickness
    and filling our bodies with pain.

OBSERVATION: Like many of us, Job was feeling down trodden, and like God may not be on his side throughout this ordeal of total loss. In fact, Job shared that he felt God had removed Himself from him. Now because everything gave the appearance that Job could have ‘thrown in the towel’ at any given moment, a few friends who felt they could help Job, came with words of advice. Fortunately, these words of advice are also helpful to us today, so we will look into a time of meditation about the ways that God speaks to us.

APPLICATION: When we are in the middle of despair, it is challenging for us to talk to God and seek the positive He is trying to achieve through our despair. When we are praying for the next big thing in our life, it is extremely challenging to think positive about that, when suddenly things start going wrong, or at least totally opposite to what we had envisioned. Job was a very godly man, but he was still very much human just like us. Granted, he was stronger than most of us, because when his wife had about as much as she could take, she suggested to Job that he should just curse God and move on with his life. However, there were friends who came along, perhaps accountability partners, and tried to help Job face this crisis in his life with a view on God. Friends, when we are praying in one direction asking for a specific thing to happen or take place for us, don’t we tend to brush off the other answers or direction that we obviously receive from God as our ‘not hearing from God’? Shouldn’t we stop at times and accept the answer as ‘No’, instead of pressing on with begging God because we feel like obviously God is silent on our request? I heard a pastor say at one time that he felt called by God to our church, and he felt obligated to remain there until he felt the call to go elsewhere, not because he got a better offer from the church down the road. Often we pray because of a better offer Satan is prodding us along with, but when we ask God for His direction, it means that we know that the answer could be ‘Yes’, but it could be a challenging ‘No’ also. Oh that God would teach His children to not come before Him to ratify their decision, but instead to seek His perfect will for their life, and seek His direction on how to accomplish His will in a way pleasing to Him. Job’s friend, Elihu, gave Job and us, an excellent reminder of some of the ways that God might choose to speak to us. Are you listening friend? And are you ready and willing to obey the Master wholeheartedly, regardless of anything else that may happen all around you? Let’s seek God with all our heart, and be willing to obey Him with all our mind, soul and being.

PRAYER: Oh that more of us will pray as young Samuel once prayed, ‘Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth’. For many of us pray to You oh Lord, and we tell You what we want and how we want it, and unless You knock us up alongside our head, we walk away assuming that we have Your blessing on our newest project that we came up with. Lord, if we are truly going to listen to You, I feel like we need to come before You like empty vessels waiting to be filled and directed by You. Please Lord, teach us to pray aright. Help us to come before You with no personal agendas and listen carefully to what You would have us to say, to do, to be, and to reflect in the eyes and minds of others. Your will is what we desire Lord, please teach us how to accomplish that. AMEN!

Please Everyone in Everything You Do.

On 2018-05-17 By Ed AlgreenIn Evangelism, Evangelize, Personal WitnessLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 10:30-33 (TLB)

TEXT: ³⁰If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why let someone spoil everything just because he thinks I am wrong? ³¹Well, I’ll tell you why. It is because you must do everything for the glory of God, even your eating and drinking. ³²So don’t be a stumbling block to anyone, whether they are Jews or Gentiles or Christians. ³³That is the plan I follow, too. I try to please everyone in everything I do, not doing what I like or what is best for me but what is best for them, so that they may be saved.

OBSERVATION: Paul had to teach the Corinthian church that they needed to get their eyes off self, and think about what God would have them do in order to reach the hearts of others. This is still very applicable today, for individually we look for the best churches to attend and where our needs, wants and wishes may be met. These verses reminds us that there are many more important reasons to look for….

APPLICATION: I heard a pastor say that living the Christian life is challenging because it is totally opposite of what the world expects. So reading these verses, we might ask ourselves how can we possibly follow Christ in our everyday life, yet please those we come into contact with, who may have no desire to know Him. Paul teaches us to always keep the ultimate goal in mind – that they may know Christ. Would you be willing to set time aside today to think about how you might change some of your actions and/or reactions, so that others may learn to trust you and the message of Jesus Christ that you aim to share with them? This is a bit tougher than we might imagine, because at a very early age we are taught to: stay away from people who are known for causing trouble; or people that don’t like your friends; but instead act like you are taught at home. Don’t speak like others, but like one who has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Please don’t get me wrong, I truly believe that these things will happen from time to time, but when your mind is on the ultimate goal of seeing your friends, or neighbors, or neighborhoods won to the Lord, then your approach on each of the things mentioned will be much more compassionate and loving – even with total strangers. I believe that the key lesson here today is that we get our eyes off self, and off the bad guys and girls in our neighborhood, and instead look at them as gems desired by God. Seeing a total change in one’s life and character is of so much joy to us and to our Lord, that it could totally force us to overlook the bad and/or the evil when they are unawares of God’s perfect love. We are ambassadors for Christ, not selfish for all the ways we could be blessed.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord Jesus for saving my soul. Thank You for also touching the hearts and lives of my readers. Lord, I pray that You would use these words today to draw us even closer to You, so that we may be of some heavenly good to those that we come into contact with. May they not only see Jesus in us, but may they also feel the tug of Jesus upon their heart

How to Escape Temptation

On 2018-05-15 By Ed AlgreenIn A Lamp unto My Path, TemptationLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 10:13 (TLB)

TEXT: ¹³But remember this—the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different. Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you. And no temptation is irresistible. You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, for he has promised this and will do what he says. He will show you how to escape temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it.

OBSERVATION: Paul wanted his parishioners to know that there is nothing wrong with them, just because they sometimes felt like temptations may not have disappeared since they listened to him and accepted Jesus as their Savior. He wanted them to know that others have faced the same challenge before them, however there is help for the problem. I feel like since we are burdened with the same challenge today, we should meditate on this and seek God’s face and direction for our personal lives…..

APPLICATION: I’m sure that like me, you sometimes feel like Satan must pour out more of his power on Christians than anyone. For we hear about so many pastors and Bible teachers who are tempted into public sin. We hear about so many failed marriages, and there seems to be little difference if that marriage consists of pagans, or believers in Jesus Christ. So what’s the secret? Well, Paul reminded us that there is One who is greater than us, and all of our challenges and temptations. He has already proven Himself in multitudes of ways, and because we know Him and know of His awesome power, we can confidentially trust Him and go to Him for the strength and wisdom needed to overcome the temptation that is knocking! Friends, we know that the Master loves us, and that He cares for us. We know that He has gone to prepare a place for us where there will be no more sin, nor temptation, for we will be in the presence of our Savior and His Father, God Almighty – forever! So knowing that He can supply our every need, including temptation, and knowing that there’s much better things ahead for us, may I ask what might be holding you back from these wonderful blessings? Will you not seek, so that you can find that peace in knowing Jesus as Lord? He cares for you my friend!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I believe that we have learned from this verse in Corinthians, that we will face temptation, no matter what worldly title we might carry here on earth. However, we have also learned that You have the power to not only handle all of our problems, but that You are also capable of helping us steer away from temptation and the downfall that often follows that weakness. Please help us to always keep our eyes fixed on You, and have our minds made up that we will serve you until the end of life as we know it here on earth. Lord, how we look forward to being at Your feet in glory for ever and for ever, AMEN!

Walk a Day In My Shoes

On 2018-05-122018-05-12 By Ed AlgreenIn Everything We Need, Greatest Need, Know and Believe, Know God's Heart, Needs of others, Recognize NeedsLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (ERV)

TEXT: ²²To those who are weak, I became weak so that I could help save them. I have become all things to all people. I did this so that I could save people in any way possible. ²³I do all this to make the Good News known. I do it so that I can share in the blessings of the Good News.

OBSERVATION: Paul realized that he could share the Good News of Jesus Christ with every Christian gathering and they would totally get it, but should he walk down the street or around the corner, folk might wonder if he was from a different planet! I don’t believe that has changed, for we sometimes speak a totally foreign language, compared to the ordinary person on the street or the executive who has his nose in the financial books most of his life. Let’s see what we could glean from this scripture and how we might apply it….

APPLICATION: First of all, let me emphasize that I firmly believe Jesus came to save all people groups of the world, no matter your education status; your skin color; your culture; your financial status; the sin you have committed; etc, etc. Paul saw a challenge, that I believe still exists today – who will tell them? There’s an old proverb that says ‘Birds of a feather flock together’. There may be many applications for that proverb, but I believe the primary fault with it, is that we tend to become a very exclusive group of folk that either worship together, or play together, or visit one another. I almost left out the last option, because so few of us visit one another anymore. So what does this all boil down to? Well, unfortunately, I believe that it points to the idea that we quickly form little groups of like minded, like cultured, like financially, type people. These are the folk that we worship with, visit and feel closest to. However, we also know that God came to seek and to save ALL that are lost, all that are hurting and need a Savior. So if we are His missionaries and His hands and feet on the ground, what will we find to respond when asked about serving or ministering to the unlikely person stuck with living under that nearby bridge, or sleeps outside of the liquor store for the convenience of being there when it opens next morning? How do you suppose you would think about these scenarios if you were to follow Paul’s example? How do you feel like you could reach these unlikely folk for Jesus? Will you have a satisfactory response for Jesus when He questions you about your work on earth, including ministering to all people in need? Please know that our response to God concerning that man we pay a salary to at church to do all of this, will probably not be what God is looking for. We are all called to ‘go into all the world and proclaim the name of Jesus Christ as the only saving grace from our sins’. If you truly want to understand that person from another culture, ask if you could join him for a day, so that you might walk in his shoes and understand the challenges that he faces each day.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus, our Redeemer, Savior and Friend. Thank You for His demonstration of humility in meeting the needs of people from all walks of life. I’m not sure how we got separated from that and have formed such exclusive groups that often do not include all of society, but Lord You have opened my eyes and reminded me of the need to reach the whole world for Your kingdom’s sake. Please give us wisdom and boldness to tear down those walls of division and rejection. You are known for Your love; encouragement; humbleness; caring; and everlasting hope, among many other attributes. Please help us to be imitators of You, and spread these same attributes to all people, without any walls, so that the world might know You and see You lived out in our lives every day. Thank You Lord Jesus! AMEN!

Nuggets From God's Word

Month: May 2018