Month: January 2023

Jesus Cares For You

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Compassion, Miracles, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2023-01-03
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Luke 7:12-14
TRANSLATION: The Passion Translation (TPT)

BIBLE TEXT: 12As he approached the village, he met a multitude of people in a funeral procession, who were mourning as they carried the body of a young man to the cemetery. The boy was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. 13When the Lord saw the grieving mother, his heart broke for her.  With great tenderness he said to her, “Please don’t cry.” 14Then he stepped up to the coffin and touched it. When the pallbearers came to a halt, Jesus spoke directly to the corpse, “Young man, I say to you, arise and live!”

APPLICATION: Research shows that Jesus, and the crowd following Him, went out of their way by 25 miles for Him to be available for this poor widow in her time of loss. That tells me that the Father had a very important appointment for His Son, Jesus. In our minds, I believe I can safely say that we would do anything to avoid a detour of 25 miles by automobile today. For as little walking as many do today, I believe we would squirm if we were asked to go an extra city block to get to our destination! So, imagine walking an extra 25 miles, and then to meet up with a funeral procession. But, I don’t believe there was any coincidence to Jesus meeting the procession just outside the gate of Nain. The Prince of Life was about to enter the gate of the city when death came out. There at the gates where life and death meet, life wins and death is defeated. Just outside of Jerusalem one day, death and life met again, and life won forevermore – praise the Lord! But why was it important for Jesus to console this poor widow and help to rectify her position of losing her last relative? You know, I believe it was not only for the purpose of winning the heart of that mother, but can you even imagine the awe and excitement of the crowd when the saw something that had, no doubt, never happened before in their lifetime – a young man being carried to his gravesite just sat up and began talking after an encounter with the King of all kings? Furthermore, how many times have you given up hope because you just couldn’t imagine Jesus finding time to respond to your prayer request or to feel your pain? Is it not clear that Jesus wants us to see that He not only gave up His life for us on Calvary, but because He rose again, He is forever available to us for whatever needs we may bring to Him? Please don’t confuse your trivial requests for things that might align you with the rich guy down the road, I’m talking about the things of the heart. To the saved, let me assure you that as you endeavor to live each day more closely aligned with your Master – Jesus Christ, you will want to do those things that He exampled for you while He was here on earth, and you will want to learn more about God’s Word so that you can validate that you are following His will for your life. To love someone and desire to live life pleasing to them, then you are more than willing to do what they say – plus some, and you will want to do what they ask of you, because you know that pleases them. You will love them unconditionally, which means that you will love them, even if it seems like they may not always return that love in the ways you demand or wish, but because you know they love you. That’s Jesus, my friend! To the unsaved – I’m not so sure that You could appreciate the grace and mercy of my Lord, but I hope that you have experienced one more example of how He has unbelievable compassion for His children, as he did for the grieving mother in our story today. You won’t find this kind of compassion in your circle of unsaved loved ones, but this may be perhaps this might just be the right opportunity for you to meet my Savior, accept Him as your Lord, and commit your life to Him for all eternity. Please read my Footnote carefully, as I have shared with you several avenues for help, should you need it in turning your back on the world and instead accepting Jesus as Lord.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Jesus went a long way out of His way to comfort a grieving widow. I am reassured that He would do the same for me!

PRAYER: Thank You Jesus for showing us how to love. Thanks for helping us to see how Your heart was broken when You saw the broken heart of the grieving widow, and how You brought life back into her son. These are all things that are beyond our understanding, but Lord You alone are merciful and loving in such an unconditional manner. Teach us Lord to follow in Your example, so that people will see Jesus, understand Your love, and know that You will overcome many obstacles, if need be, to show Your love towards them. 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 might 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 subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

Your Level of Faith

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Faith, Healing, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Monday, 2023-01-02
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Luke 7:6-7; 9-10;
TRANSLATION: The Voice (VOICE)

BIBLE TEXT: 6 So Jesus accompanied them. When they approached the Centurion’s home, the Centurion sent out some friends to bring a message to Jesus.
Message of the Centurion: Lord, don’t go to the trouble of coming inside. I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. 7 That’s why I sent others with my request. Just say the word, and that will be enough to heal my servant.
9 Jesus was deeply impressed when He heard this. He turned to the crowd that followed Him.
Jesus: Listen, everyone. This outsider, this Roman, has more faith than I have found even among our own Jewish people.
10 The friends of the Centurion returned home, and they found the slave was completely healed.

APPLICATION: Unless we focus on the main lesson in today’s Scripture, we may drift off into wondering why the Centurion didn’t go to Jesus himself. Or why didn’t Jesus pronounce the healing as soon as He received word from the Centurion, for surely, He knew how dire the situation was. But let’s not forget to place ourselves in the shoes of the Centurion. Who are we that we would send friends to the highest religious order of our day and ask that he drop what he’s doing and rush on over to our house? What type of palace do we live in, that we would open the door and invite the Lord Jesus in? Inside our home, is everything in place to impress Jesus with our religious stand? Of all the people in the world who need help from Jesus, who are we that He would consider listening, or responding, to us? Friends, regardless of your answers to these questions, or even if this prompted more questions from you, notice that the Centurion still took action. Many will sit, waiting for their ship to come in, but if you didn’t send one out, why should you expect one to come in? Perhaps the Centurion felt unworthy, just as he said, but he may have also wanted to stay close to his servant, just in case the situation worsened. So many questions, and so many excuses we could conjure up to excuse our inaction, but the Centurion moved into action and asked his respected leaders to make the journey and ask Jesus, on his behalf. Of particular interest is the fact that even though Centurions were looked down on by the Jews, yet Jesus responded to the request of this Centurion when He first received the request, and again when the second message arrived asking Jesus to heal the servant remotely. My primary take-away in this story is that Jesus openly shared how amazed He was at the faith of this humble, caring man. In fact, He gave him the designation of being so filled with faith, that he put it into action for someone else. I believe that many of my readers and listeners are regular church attendees. Let me encourage you to meditate on this Scripture long enough to do a self-evaluation of your faith. Knowing that you can do nothing to impress Jesus, what do you suppose He would say about your level of faith? Do you suppose that your faith is strong enough that you would have attempted something like the Centurion did? If not, what do you suppose you need to help you grow in your faith? Jesus is not out of reach, dear friends. He loved you enough to hang on a cross and die for your sins. He loves you enough that He said that He has gone to be with the Father to prepare a place in Heaven for us, so that where He is, we may be also. Surely, He is more than ready to hear our cry for help, and also willing to heal – even from a distance, like He did for the Centurion’s servant. Trust Him, and call on Him, for He cares for you!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: The Jews looked down on the Centurions, but Jesus listened to the cry from His precious child and answered his request. Others may look down on us, but we are number one in the eyes of our Master and Lord!

PRAYER: Lord, we are amazed by Your respect for all Your children, and Your willingness to accept all of Your creation, even those we may turn our noses up at. Thank You for hearing my plea and accepting me as Your child. Just as the Centurion found peace in getting a message to You about His dire need, my readers, listeners and myself know that each and every day will bring new challenges that we will need to call on You for. None on earth are truly righteous, but Lord I pray that You will continue to teach us to call on You for each and every need, or concern of our lives. Some on earth may dismiss us because we are not rich enough, or the partying kind, or we go to church too much, but I truly believe that when You forgave our sin, and accepted us into Your kingdom, we became true sons and daughters of the Most High God. Forgive us Lord when we listen to Satan and cower in our corner. Please give us the confidence so deserving of Your child and the boldness to call on You for the little and impossible things of life. You are God, and besides You there is no other. We acknowledge that today and wait for the time when You will call us home to glory! 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 might 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 subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

None Found To Compare With You

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Sunday, 2023-01-01
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 2 Kings 23:24-25
TRANSLATION: The Message (MSG)

BIBLE TEXT: 24 Josiah scrubbed the place clean and trashed spirit-mediums, sorcerers, domestic gods, and carved figures—all the vast accumulation of foul and obscene relics and images on display everywhere you looked in Judah and Jerusalem. Josiah did this in obedience to the words of God’s Revelation written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in The Temple of God. 25 There was no king to compare with Josiah—neither before nor after—a king who turned in total and repentant obedience to God, heart and mind and strength, following the instructions revealed to and written by Moses. The world would never again see a king like Josiah.

APPLICATION: Just in case you might read today’s Scripture and shrug it off as not being applicable to our modern world, I believe we should look at a few things very carefully and ask God to open our eyes to what all is going on around us. You see, king Josiah saw the following things that just didn’t seem like God was in them. I will expand how I see similar parallels today:
=> The king scrubbed the place clean – How many things to you see and/or hear on television that you cringe at, or if minors are in the room, you may even mute the TV? How much more will you tolerate the employee who thinks nothing of cursing or verbal abuse at work? You can clean that up, you know. At 8 years of age Josiah became king. I would have thought that his young mind would be swayed by everything he heard from adults around him. But the Bible says that the king was determined to please God in everything he did. Are you? In a recent sermon, I was reminded that in the things we say or do, we will either please God, or Satan. What a reminder.
=> The king trashed spirit-mediums – oh yes, we have these. They even advertise their business on public television now. What will it take for us to obey God’s Word and rid our communities and our nation from this wicked profession that God spoke against in His Word?
=> The king trashed all the vast accumulation of foul and obscene images – In the name of financial gain and free will, not all towns in our country are the same as ours. Some actually allow billboards and mobile billboards that advertise prostitution. Some stand idly by while prostitutes walk the streets and hand out ‘business’ cards. In the name of equal rights and free speech, public schools are now allowing satanists clubs. How many of these things that I mentioned do you suppose may have gotten trashed by king Josiah?
Friends, this bold move by this young king did not win him a popularity contest. It was different to anything the world experienced before him, and after him. No, not even to our president has shown the boldness to follow in Josiah’s example, how about yours? However, I strongly believe that if we were to individually determine in our heart to call on God for mercy, and strength to endure being different, as we stand up for all that our God taught us and exampled before us while here on earth, then perhaps we will begin to see more Josiahs, and ultimately see God’s handiwork through His committed saints. Remember, greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world! I believe that God placed this story before us today to impress upon us that we serve an awesome God, and if we are serious about being His representatives here on earth, then we must be willing to stand firm in our beliefs and not be idle while Satan makes his move in the world around us.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: It may be challenging for others to follow, if you simply obey the Word of God and be willing to stand up for your beliefs!

PRAYER: Lord, I believe that many leaders are still choosing to ignore Your commands – probably so they could remain popular with the people in giving them what they want. But thank You Father for working miraculously through king Josiah, for through obedience to You, Josiah was able to clean up a lot of the sin that served to set his kingdom backwards. This is still a very real problem today, Lord, for sin is rampant and Satan is having a field day – so much so that it is having awful impacts on Your children also. Please Lord, help us to take note of Josiah and the position he took, even though it was very unpopular in his day. We need to see more of our leaders take this stand today, Lord. Please help us to elect leaders who are willing to submit to Your will, then, beginning with our leader in the USA, touch his heart and draw him unto Yourself. Please spread Your joy to all the world leaders, especially those countries who are represented in my readership. You created us, and You have a place prepared for those of us who have accepted Your Lordship. Until it’s time to take us home, please touch our leaders so that our time here on earth will be more tolerable. Continue to speak to the heart of the lost, so they will once again be drawn to You, as their Savior and 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 might 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 subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!