Author: Ed Algreen

One of God's kids expressing his understanding of God's Word and sharing how it is affecting his life! May those who read it be blessed, encouraged, and drawn closer to the Lord!

Pray for other Christian leaders

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I find it interesting how, even today, church leaders are quick to ridicule other church leaders, especially those of growing and/or thriving congregations. I was overjoyed to hear my pastor ask for prayer for a new incoming pastor of another church one morning, and he prefaced the request by reminding us that God has placed both churches in the area to minister in His name and meet the needs of this community. Both churches are needed. I pray that we can do that more often and pray for the needs of other church leaders instead of picking apart what they could do more like us, or at least differently. Peter and John was a threat to the Sadducees, probably because they were not doing all that they should do. With one common goal in mind, we should be praying for, and lifting up our brothers who are also evangelizing the lost of our communities, for they have the same goal as we do!
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They were annoyed because the two apostles were teaching the people that Jesus had risen from death, which proved that the dead will rise to life.

Boldly, Give God the Credit

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I believe that God blesses us with miracles so that we might be a witness for Him and of His power. I also believe that He uses us to work out His miracles in others, so that in all things we might give God the glory and praise that He deserves. Notice that in both scenarios I never mentioned anything about glory to self. Friend, I am absolutely powerless to do anything miraculous. However, through Jesus, and in alignment with His perfect will, ALL things are possible. We should constantly be ready to give a testimony for God. In the case of Peter and John, it was the healing of a lame man. Although they were powerless to do any such act, through Jesus, He could do all things. Please don’t take credit for anything accomplished through you by the Holy Spirit, but instead, use it to testify to the power of the Spirit in whom you prayed and seen His mighty hand at work. Give God praise at all times! Allow His work to be accomplished through you!
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Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, answered them, “Leaders of the people and elders: if we are being questioned today about the good deed done to the lame man and how he was healed, then you should all know, and all the people of Israel should know, that this man stands here before you completely well through the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—whom you crucified and whom God raised from death.

How To Find Spiritual Strength

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I believe that the most popular books sold today are the ‘How to’ books. For so many of us want to help ourselves, or at least we are curious how professionals do certain things that we wish we could do ourselves. I also believe that in spite of our battle with daily sin, we probably often think about how we could improve our spiritual walk with the Lord. In this verse today Peter is sharing with the Israelites what is required from them in order to see spiritual strength from the Lord. And in these troublesome, trying days, I believe that the answer to this would also interest us. The teaching is actually fairly simple, but I believe that to accomplish it requires much prayer, for we are to repent and turn to God. Repent means to turn away from what we are doing. Friend, so much of our lives are caught up in entertainment and self-pleasure. Now before you count me as insane or out of touch with reality, I want you to ponder the amount of time you spend in God’s Word, or in communion with Him, compared to the amount of time you spend watching TV, playing on your computer/Facebook, etc, on the phone, at work, etc. Unfortunately, our character is built from the things that we spend the most time at, for those things shape our character and our decisions. The Word says that if we repent, and turn instead to God and seek His forgiveness, times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord. Now, knowing what we need to do, what will we do today? If you know where you want to go, and you know how to get there, what are you waiting for?

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Repent, then, and turn to God, so that he will forgive your sins. If you do, times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord, and he will send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you.

We are answerable to God for ourselves

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These verses really bring to light what we hear so many preachers share with us. We cant get into heaven because we had great parents, or because our grandmother prayed constantly for us. We have to seek God for ourselves and live a committed life to him personally. God promised David a lot in response to his committed life to God, including a promise to even bless his ancestors. In these verses God is telling Solomon that those promises will hold true IF he stays committed to Him and obey His commands. This holds true for us friend, we must have a PERSONAL relationship with God. Do you have that, friend?
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If you serve me faithfully as your father David did, obeying my laws and doing everything I have commanded you, I will keep the promise I made to your father David when I told him that Israel would always be ruled by his descendants. But if you and your people ever disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and worship other gods, then I will remove you from the land that I gave you, and I will abandon this Temple that I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshipped. …

God’s Response To Prayer

On By Ed AlgreenIn Uncategorized1 Comment
For so long I have heard reference to verse 14, but when you read the preceding verses, especially verse 13, it becomes very evident that God is saying that He may very well withhold blessings from us when we stray, or when we sin. However, He also tells us that when we pray, and when we repent of our sin, and when we turn away from our sin, then praise God, He will hear our prayer, forgive us of our sin and make us (our land) prosperous again. It seems so out of sorts the way that we try to make this work. God is the Master and He dictates how it will work. We are the servants, the followers, the beggars, we need to listen and obey, to see the results of God’s response to our prayers!
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Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people, if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again.

When God’s People Pray

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It is amazing, but yet extremely exciting when we see God’s hand at work in response to our prayer. But yet, is it not disturbing to note that prayer meetings are one of the worst attended in today’s churches? God’s presence was so amazing in the temple where Solomon had prayed that the priests could not enter the temple, but it led to them falling face downwards on the pavement in awe and worship to the God of this universe! Here are a few things I discerned from this: 1). David showed his children the importance and value in prayer, therefore Solomon followed in his footsteps before his people and prayed – so friend, we must be open in our prayers if we ever expect our children and/or new Christians to see the importance of, and follow our example in, prayer; 2). Because God’s ways are so beyond our abilities, we should prepare ourselves for the amazing results that will surpass our wildest imagination, as we too will be awestruck! We serve an awesome God, friend! Do you know Him?
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When King Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and burnt up the sacrifices that had been offered, and the dazzling light of the LORD’s presence filled the Temple. Because the Temple was full of the dazzling light, the priests could not enter it. When the people of Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the light fill the Temple, they fell face downwards on the pavement, worshipping God and praising him for his goodness and his eternal love.

Answer to Prayer deserves Praise!

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The crippled beggar at the gate “Beautiful”, once healed, jumped to his feet and immediately followed Peter and John into the temple, walking, jumping and praising God! Wow, what a praise and worship service that must have been? When last have we seen such a service at our churches today? God is still God, and He still heals. Why are we not excited about that? If that don’t ‘float our boat’ nothing can!! A thankful people who love the Lord will give Him glory for His acts of love, kindness and healing. There’s nothing for us to be ashamed of!
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he jumped up, stood on his feet, and started walking around. Then he went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God.

Do you believe Solomon’s Was Right in His Prayer?

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King Solomon, in his prayer at the opening of the temple he built, asked God to keep His covenant and show the people His love in return for their wholehearted obedience. For him to ask God to keep His covenant means that at one point God made that promise that He would do that. Friend, God makes no mistakes, and He always keeps His promises. So to receive God’s constant and Fatherly love, we must continually strive for obedience to His Word, His direction to us through His messengers, and His convincing nudge when we pray to Him and we feel convinced that He has spoken back to us. Let us then set self aside and be obedient to our Master, it comes with great rewards! God’s abiding love! What a peace is that, friend? I love it!
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He prayed, “LORD God of Israel, in all heaven and earth there is no god like you. You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you.

Let’s Give What We Have!

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Peter and John were being asked for ‘something’ from the blind man at the entrance to the temple. I’m sure the man was expecting money, but what he received was a gold mine, compare to what he expected. As Christians, we have so much love and such an inheritance that we can give to beggars today, or anyone else that is in need. God has gifted us with the most precious gift imaginable, His one and only Son! Not only should we be jumping for joy and telling the world about our wonderful gift, we should be sharing the joy, and peace that it gives to us. In our Bible study at church last night we were reminded about God’s Holy Spirit that dwells in us, empowers us! Why would we ever keep something like that bottled up inside of us? We are doubly blessed when we share a gift that was lovingly gifted to us. Lord, please bless me with insight today, so that I may be aware of the needs of others and to share with them Your gift given to me! Thank You, in Jesus’ most precious name!
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When he saw Peter and John going in, he begged them to give him something. They looked straight at him, and Peter said, “Look at us!” So he looked at them, expecting to get something from them. But Peter said to him, “I have no money at all, but I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk!”

A Worship Service That I would Loved To Have Participated In!

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I am excited about the wonderful worship service that attend each week, but from the sounds of these verses, this was a worship service that I would loved to have been a part of! Wow! Almost indescribable! God’s presence shone so brightly that they had to discontinue the worship service. Reminds me of a welder, he can’t look at the welding with his naked eye because of the extreme brightness. God’s presence is always amazing, because it is such a blessing, privilege and honor for us to be a part of such majesty! It kind’a makes me homesick for heaven, and being in the presence of my Savior! Do you know Him friend? Have you accepted the invitation to be there? You can do that today, while you still have breath to do so! Please contact me if you need more information. It won’t take a GPS to get there!! There’s a song that means a lot to me and reminds me of that wonderful day “What A Day That Will Be”! Oh that will be glorious, friend!
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All the priests present, regardless of the group to which they belonged, had consecrated themselves. And all the Levite musicians—Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, and the members of their clans—were wearing linen clothing. The Levites stood near the east side of the altar with cymbals and harps, and with them were 120 priests playing trumpets. The singers were accompanied in perfect harmony by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, as they praised the LORD, singing: “Praise the LORD, because …