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Post Date: |
Thursday, 2017-05-11 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Psalm 33:6-9 (NLT) |
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Text: |
6 The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. 7 He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. 8 Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him. 9 For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| This is one of those times that David just stopped and reflected on the awesome power of God. Did David have challenges in life like you and I? Of course he did. Did David have reason to be down because of life’s trials and problems? Of course he did. But in spite of it all David realized that there was an awesome God that created life and everything around him, and it was that same God that loved him unconditionally! | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| Like David, don’t you suppose that we have every reason to complain; be upset; feel distraught; feel like giving up; or even feel like we may not make it through another day? However friends, I want you to look closely at some of the reasons for which David found hope, and how he found cause to worship and praise his God. I believe that you will easily find many other personal reasons to add to David’s list, that might give you cause to lift up the name of Jesus, in spite of all that you face each day. Friends, we serve an awesome God. One who is worthy of our praise and honor. I believe that when we make time to concentrate on Him and give Him the praise He deserves, then we will notice a slow fade on the emphasis we once placed on our issues that we thought were so overbearing. There is no god like our God, friend. Know Him today and know peace, love, joy, and true happiness that comes from our Father above. There is no greater peace than knowing that the Creator of this universe is in charge of all it’s everyday affairs and so loves us that He is constantly looking out for our good. That’s my God, friend! Do you know Him? Trust Him today, won’t you? | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord, how we praise You today for who You are, and for all that You do for us. Nothing good have I done, to deserve God’s own Son, yet because of His awesome love, God sent His Son, (Jesus) so that everyone of us that believes on Him, might receive everlasting life. It’s the greatest gift of love ever given to mankind. Praise God that I am a child of the King. Thank You Jesus! Lord, please also soften the hardened hearts of my family, friends and every subscriber and reader of this blog, so that they might surrender their lives to you. Lord, we want to see Jesus! What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see! Hopefully I will also see all of these I am praying for Jesus! 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! | |
Category: Awesome God
The Compassion of Christ
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Post Date: |
Tuesday, 2017-05-02 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Mark 6:36-38 (ERV) |
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Text: |
36 So send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat.”37 But Jesus answered, “You give them some food to eat.”
They said to Jesus, “We can’t buy enough bread to feed all these people. We would all have to work a month to earn enough to buy that much bread!” 38 Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see.” They counted their loaves of bread. They came to Jesus and said, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.” |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Jesus had been bombarded by crowds every day, and now wanted to escape for a few hours with His close followers to just relax and refresh. However, as they were approaching their destination they realized that the crowd was 2 steps ahead of them, and in spite of going the long way around, they were already on the other side of the lake. Jesus could easily have thrown His hands up and turned around to return where He and His disciples left from, but He had compassion on the crowd gathered and resumed His ministry to them. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| I wonder how often we shrug off our responsibility to care for others like Jesus did? I wonder how many ministry opportunities are missed when we do that? I wonder how often we skew the concept of Jesus in the eyes of others, because we acted in a totally different way than what they were expecting Christ’s followers to act like? Jesus was looking for respite, but instead faced the same crowd that He was hoping to escape for a short period. Not only did Jesus attend to their spiritual needs for this huge crowd, but He also attended to their physical need of nourishment. I want you to think like most of the disciples did. Imagine taking an extra couple of friends home for supper, unannounced to your spouse – the cook who may have prepared enough for 2. Now imagine that you dropped a bombshell on your wife that you would like for her to prepare a meal for your Sunday School class of 30. If you survived divorce on that daring request, imagine that you are the pastor of a church and you asked your wife to prepare a meal for the congregation. Whoa, that’s a huge and daring request! OK, so this request, or demand, Jesus made of His followers to feed the crowd of over 5,000 was humongous in the eyes of the disciples, especially with them not having brought any provisions. However, what was impossible in the eyes of man, was totally possible with God! Once again Jesus had compassion on the crowd and used what little His followers found among the crowd, to multiply it and make it more than sufficient for the need at hand. Friends, let’s learn to never question God when we feel like He is directing us. If He created the world from absolutely nothing, and if He created man from just dirt, can you imagine what He could still do today in the lives of those He created and gave up His very own Son’s life for? As we stand in awe of His awesome power and compassion, may we recommit yet again to give Him control and allow Him to rule and reign in our lives, for His ultimate glory? May we be willing to give wholeheartedly like our Saviir did! | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord Jesus, thank You for accepting us as You children who are so desperately in need of a Savior. Our awareness of Your power and Your giving has been revitalized as we read this story once again. Now may we be willing to exercise our faith and strive to live our life experiences with You in mind and as our example. May others desire to know You personally because of seeing You in every fiber of my life. Bless my readers and encourage them to do the same. 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 | |
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From: |
Psalm 18:25-29 (Easy-to-Read Version) |
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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! | |
Meet The One In Charge
Wednesday, 2016-08-03
Scripture
Bible Reference: Job 38:4-11
Bible Text: 4 How did I lay the foundation for the earth? Were you there? 5 Doubtless you know who decided its length and width. 6 What supports the foundation? Who placed the cornerstone, 7 while morning stars sang, and angels rejoiced? 8 When the ocean was born, I set its boundaries 9 and wrapped it in blankets of thickest fog. 10 Then I built a wall around it, locked the gates, 11 and said, “Your powerful waves stop here! They can go no farther.”
Bible Translation: Contemporary English Version (CEV)
My Take
God finally had enough of Job’s whining and accusations of wrongdoing by God, so He decided to give Job some perspective on who He really was, and still is today! Friends, I believe that anytime we feel like God has abandoned us, the book of Job would be a good book to reflect on. Further, if there was ever a time when you may have felt like you really had this ‘life’ thing figured out, I believe that this particular chapter, and conversation God had with Job, would be a great reminder of how you need to get a grip on yourself, open your heart and mind to what God has to say and make every effort to surrender the controls to your life back to God. We have excellent reminders here of how God carefully, intricately and powerfully put this planet together, then He created us to enjoy its many blessings. If He loves us that much, won’t He all the more take care of our problems, concerns and difficulties while we live here, if we would only humble ourselves and ask Him to? Let’s always remember how we got here, and how everything around us was created and placed here for our comfort and enjoyment. Let’s learn to honor God for who He is, and then enjoy the blessings as He showers us with His love and His many acts of mercy and grace!
Prayer
Father, You are so awesome, and take such good care of us each day, yet we are so quick to grumble and complain about the way we believe life should be for us. Please forgive us for our littleness Lord, for who are we to question a God like You? Please help us to always strive towards total humility to You and respectful towards everyone that You have created and placed besides us in life. Lord, we want to be just like You, but we have such a long way to go. Please shower us with Your power and Your grace today. We need You every hour and through every step of every day. Please be very evident in our lives today, for I ask these things in the wonderful name of Jesus, AMEN!
Footnote
If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org 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!
The Greatness of God’s Power
Saturday, 2016-07-30
Scripture
Bible Reference: Job 37:2–5
Bible Text: 2 Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice. 3 It rolls across the heavens and his lightning flashes out in every direction. 4 Afterwards comes the roaring of the thunder—the tremendous voice of his majesty. 5 His voice is glorious in the thunder. We cannot comprehend the greatness of his power.
Bible Translation: The Living Bible (TLB)
My Take
In just reading this scripture my mind wanders to the song by Christ Tomblin, ‘How Great Is Our God‘. Here we see where a man of God, Job, was tempted and tried to a point where he lost almost everything he owned, and at a certain point Job went and sulked in the corner to himself wondering if God had forsaken him. The last of his three friends to try and console him, is now trying to refocus Job to the awesome power of the God that Job always loved and served. Friends, could that be our problem at times when we feel like the world is against us and that every option is closing in on us? Perhaps we may have lost focus of the only One who cares and the only One who could help us through our trying times? Friends, when we feel all alone and dealing with all aspects of life with just our simple, inadequate, wisdom; guidance and power, it is very clear that we are very limited in our abilities. May we all be reminded of the advice given to Job, and may we be encouraged by the word’s in Tomblin’s song, so that we may come to our senses and refocus our attention towards God – the Author and Finisher of our faith. It is through the greatness of His awesome power that we are able to do all things through Him who strengthen us!
Prayer
To the Awesome God that I serve: thank You for expressing Your power in so many ways for my benefit. There are many times that my friends reading this devotional probably feels much like me, where we’re just not sure what else we could do to improve our position in this life. This scripture has reminded us that when these times of discouragement comes, we must quickly realize that it is then that we are trying to handle things on our own, instead of depending more completely on the powerful hand of Jesus. Lord, You’ve proven Your love for us, and You’ve shown Your awesome power in so many ways. Please help us to stay close to You daily, as we badly need You in every aspect of our lives. For I ask these things in the strong name of Jesus, AMEN!
Footnote
If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org 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!
God’s In Control
Thursday, 2016-07-21
Scripture
Bible Reference: Job 34:10–13
Bible Text: 10 If any of you are smart, you will listen and learn that God All-Powerful
does what is right. 11 God always treats everyone the way they deserve, 12 and he is never unfair. 13 From the very beginning, God has been in control of all the world.
Bible Translation: The Contemporary English Version (CEV)
My Take
If, at work, I’m at the controls and operating the computer during a demonstration in the presence of an audience, I tend to be a little tensed and nervous at times, hoping that I’ll click on the right link, or get us to the next screen quickly and accurately. Recently I was at someone else’s office and they were ‘driving’ (operating the computer), and they quickly told me how stressed they were! Let’s consider that illustration together with the Word of God in the above verses. Wouldn’t it be easy to deduce that we would be a whole less stressed if we allow God to be God, instead of us trying to take that role on by doing things and making decisions without Him? Friends, we must always remember that, without our help, God created the universe; hung the stars in space; handled all of the intricate programming for the earth to spin just right so that we would receive the right amount, and duration, of sunlight. Recently I saw a photo of a waterfall coming down from a very high mountain. How is that possible? We usually dig deep into the ground for a well of water, do you suppose that anyone ever thought to go and dig at the top of a mountain? This is one of those unexplained wonders of the miraculous hand of God! So friends, why do you suppose that we fall into the tricks of Satan by thinking that our aches, pains, finances or other circumstances are beyond the ability of God to help us place in order? For those of us who have given God control of our lives, we are super blessed to be His child/His chosen one! He has already shown enough love for us that He sent His Son to Calvary as proof of His love and to provide a means of us getting to join Him in heaven, Can you even imagine how much more He has in store for His children? While this is reviving and encouraging for the believer in Jesus Christ, this should also be an answer to many who are stressed to the limit and need the hope of One who is greater than all of their concerns! May I encourage you to read my ‘Footnote’ for tips on how to know this Jesus of mine, this Strong One who has been in control of this world from the very beginning? I can assure you that you will never regret it!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, Creator of this world and of every human being, thank You for accepting us as your children, and for allowing us access to Your throne. Please help us to place our faith and trust in You and Your awesome power. Our issues often appear very large and insurmountable to us, but when we consider the awesome works of Your hand, we can rest assured knowing that we’re in good hands.Thank You Father for loving us enough to care so much about us. Please help us to show our appreciation and respect of your power, by giving You full control of our lives. Lord, rule in us and show Your power through us as we share Your love with others. In the wonderful name of Jesus I ask these things, AMEN!
Footnote
If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org 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!
Our God Is Awesome!
May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider feeding even us with His Word! May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for a blessing, friend!………
Today’s Bible Reference: Isaiah 40:25-26
Today’s Bible Text: 25-26 “So – who is like me? Who holds a candle to me?” says The Holy. Look at the night skies: Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name – so magnificent! so powerful! – and never overlooks a single one?
The Bible Translation: The Message (MSG)
My Take Away: If I was able to post a photo with my blog this morning, I would open our minds to the beauty of the heavens at night. It would not show a photo of a dark sky void of any color, or one filled with white spots, but rather a sky spotted with clouds, yet filled with stars twinkling in the night sky that are precisely placed – some even in specific groupings to form certain shapes so that we might easily identify the ‘Big Dipper’ or others. In fact, this beauty will draw us to God with such significance that we would look in amazement and quickly conclude that only God can do this! Friends, it’s just one more reminder of how awesome our God is! When we take our largest problem before Him today, one that may seem so very impossible to us, can I encourage you to stop and reflect on the picture I’ve just painted and just praise God first for the few million stars that you can see from your viewpoint? Would you praise Him for making those beauties individually, and for placing them just right in that part of the sky? Wait just one minute, did I just say placing them in the sky? How do they stay up there? I do believe that its yet one more miracle that you can add to your list of praises, for it causes us to look heavenward where all of earths hidden treasures were created. Oh, and don’t forget to praise God for His awesome creativeness in making that otherwise pitch-black sky to not only illuminate, but to give direction and light to that mariner who sails the dark seas at night. Friends, there is no one like our God, no matter how science might try to reason Him out of the equation. Won’t you take time to praise Him today for yet another reminder of His existence, His creation; His miraculous touch to the beauty of this earth that we are blessed to be a part of? Won’t you stop and consider how very capable He is of handling even our largest issue today? Won’t you just take a moment to praise Him for who He truly is? ‘Awesome’ is just one of the many words I chose to title this blog with today. I’m sure you can find a thousand other adjectives to describe our supernatural God today! In this song Phil Wickham described Him as ‘Amazing – this King of Glory’, click listen as you continue to meditate on this thought today!
Prayer: Thank You Father for Your amazing love, Your amazing grace, Your miraculous touch to our world! This truly is Your amazing grace! Please forgive us for running to You with such minor things in this life, but Lord, thank You for understanding our helpless state and for the small glimpse of what we gather of Your awesome power and grace to help us. Lord, as we worship You today and draw close to You, may we be reminded of Your love and availability to us. May we learn to savor in Your grace and Your awesomeness more. We need You Lord, please show us more of Your power and grace today, I pray in the name of Jesus, my Savior and Lord, AMEN!
Footnote: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org 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!
2016
Our Awesome God!
May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider feeding even us with His Word! May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for a blessing, friend!………
Today’s Bible Reference: Isaiah 48:11–13
Today’s Bible Text: 11 I will rescue you for my sake – yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols! 12 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last. 13 It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order.”
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)
My Take Away: I believe that God spoke to me on two items in these verses this morning, and I wanted to share this with you friends:
- The preceding verses spoke about God purifying His people with fire. Then He said something very powerful in verse 11: “I will not let my reputation be tarnished”. Friends, we may claim the name of ‘Christian’ or ‘follower’ or we may have a desire, and commit to live like Jesus. However, this may sometimes result in no change in our lives. I believe that God will then quickly step in to make sure that His reputation is not tarnished. We hear about Christian leaders being caught in adultery or some other sin, and we may sometimes wonder how did they get caught. Friends, God said that He will not allow His reputation to be tarnished. I believe that this still very much applies today! Christianity is not a ‘pretend’ thing, it’s a lifelong commitment to the very One who sacrificed His life for our salvation. He’s the One who holds our future in His hands, and may I remind you that He will not allow His reputation to be tarnished!
- In verses 12 and 13 God reminds us of His awesome power and supremacy. Let’s try to keep in mind that this God that we serve, created the universe that we enjoy today. He is the ONLY God – the Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end. Let’s also note that it is just not the human race that are under the obligation of obeying our Master, but even to the stars that we enjoy looking at – God also made them and they are obedient to His call. When we think of the awesomeness of our God, do we need to go any further than to simply read His Word and savor the awesome descriptions of our Creator? Friends, may I remind you that we serve a strong, awesome God!
Friends, do you know this awesome God of whom I have spoken in this devotional? If you do, please enjoy His presence today and rejoice in the awesome God that He truly is. If you don’t know my God, please allow me to introduce Him to you. There is information in my ‘Footnote’ that might help you, but I would welcome your email asking for my help. It would be my honor to introduce you to the One who will make the difference between eternal life and endless death in the presence of the Evil One – Satan.
Prayer: Praise God, I can rejoice in the joy of my salvation, the Creator of this universe and the One who lives forevermore! Lord, please deal in my heart daily so that I may never misrepresent You or tarnish Your name. Please touch the hearts of my readers today so that they may also commit to a pure, dedicated life that is totally sold out to You – a life that will never sacrifice or tarnish the wonderful name of Jesus. May others see Jesus through our actions and through all areas of our character, for I ask this in the precious and holy name of Jesus, AMEN!
Footnote: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org 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!
2016
Let Nothing Take God’s Place in Your Heart
May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider feeding even us with His Word! May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for a blessing, friend!………
Today’s Bible Reference: 1 John 5:18-21
Today’s Bible Text: No one who has become part of God’s family makes a practice of sinning, for Christ, God’s Son, holds him securely, and the devil cannot get his hands on him. We know that we are children of God and that all the rest of the world around us is under Satan’s power and control. And we know that Christ, God’s Son, has come to help us understand and find the true God. And now we are in God because we are in Jesus Christ his Son, who is the only true God; and he is eternal Life. Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. Amen.
The Bible Translation: The Living Bible (TLB)
My Take Away: I was immediately drawn to the first part of this scripture that says that if we are truly a child of the King, we are held securely in His hand and under His protection from the Evil One. Then John clearly delineates who truly is controlled by Satan, and I pray that each one reading this devotional have made a firm commitment to graduate from that dark, sinful world, into the welcoming, loving, forgiving hands of our Lord and Savior. If you are still struggling with sin dear friend, then I would recommend that you go back to step one and check your son-ship with the Father. Was that an automatic thing you assumed because you were attending church every time the doors were opened? Was it something you felt pressured into making a decision, or did you ever feel drawn by God’s Holy Spirit to surrender your old life of sin and accept Him as Your personal Savior? May I encourage you to use the place, date or time of your adoption into the kingdom of Light, especially the next time that Satan tries to cause you doubt about whose you are? But friends, in spite of all the great insight already mentioned, the very last sentence is a powerful statement. When I think of what might take God’s place in our hearts, I tend to think of anything that might interrupt our personal time with the Lord. These are the times where you are spiritually refueled to go on stronger in the faith. And if anything steps into that space, or disrupts the time you had set aside to be with God, then I wonder if perhaps that’s what John was cautioning us about? For any relationship to flourish, I feel it is important for daily time together. When you are not meeting those committed times, then obviously something else is taking priority over your time alone with God. Perhaps another area might be church attendance. I know, just as staying in your garage overnight will not turn you into a car, so church attendance will not save you! However, I believe that a true child of God would want to be with God’s people at every opportunity. In fact, the Word infers this to be a characteristic of a believer. Furthermore, church attendance gives you the opportunity to praise and worship our Creator – the giver of all good things in this life; you also have the opportunity to be blessed by hearing how God has blessed others and answered their prayers; plus you have the opportunity to minister to others by sharing your God experiences with them. So if you’re not there, will someone go lacking that night, or that day? Will God understand what took priority over Your time with Him? Is another god slipping into the picture?
Prayer: It seems like I may have run on a bit long this morning, but Lord I pray that You might use this devotional to awaken me to the desires of Your heart and Your relationship with me. May I be found faithful in all things oh God, and may You have prominence in all that I am. Touch the hearts of my readers dear Lord. May each of us be reminded of the priority You placed on making sure that our sins are forgiven, forever. With that same determination, commitment and priority may we be extra careful to not let anything interfere with the overwhelming and powerful role that You play in our lives. I believe that others will see and believe! Thank You gracious and loving God for loving us so much. AMEN!
Footnote: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org 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!
2016
We Are Known By How We Live
May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider feeding even us with His Word! May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for a blessing, friend!………
Today’s Bible Reference: 1 John 3:7-10
Today’s Bible Text: Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)
My Take Away: Friends, I don’t know that I can add a whole lot to what the Word of God is saying to us in this passage. For just as John declared to his followers, God insisted that this become a part of His precious Word to men and women to come, for He knew that we would be challenged with the same struggles in our day. You may ask why I would possibly assume that this is an ongoing challenge. Friends, it is very obvious that many are being lured into a false sense that being a Christian equals: church going; or doing good; or walking the isle of a church after intense pressure by peers/family; or baptism; or hanging with the right crowd. Hopefully if nothing else is gathered from this devotional today, I pray that you will read carefully the above verses, and other related scripture, so that you might discern the following key points:
**To walk in fellowship with our Lord and Savior, requires an invitation from Him, and a decision/commitment by you;
**You can only be righteous (right in God’s sight) when you accept that invitation from Jesus with all your heart and in deepest sincerity;
**When Jesus is convinced that you are sincere, He will then allow His Holy Spirit to come and live inside your righteous being;
**The Holy Spirit will provide help, inspiration, determination and the power to live a life of righteousness. One that will example His righteousness, and portray His love for mankind so that the lost might see Jesus and have a desire to know Him. By your fruit, or by your right living, others will know whose you are!
So I believe that the challenge for us to look at today is that others will be observing us, just like they’ve done every day. What do you suppose they are seeing? Do they see a man/woman of righteousness, or are they seeing a pretender, or perhaps one that keeps on sinning, as described in the above verses? You will either be a help to someone else searching for righteousness or a Savior, OR you will possibly be a stumbling block to them in their search. Which will it be today, friend?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You only have the power to call others unto Yourself. You only have the power to save mankind from sin. You only have the power to fill us with Your love and Your righteousness so that others might see and believe. Lord, I realize that The way I live could either impact the lost for You or turn them off from wanting to know You. Please speak to Your children once again today Lord. May we be righteous, as You are righteous. May we reflect love, even as You are the true representation of love in its purest form. Lord, may others see Jesus very evident in all that we say or do today, so that they may see and believe. I ask these things in the precious, righteous and most loving name of Jesus, AMEN!
Footnote: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 http://www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org 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 