Category: Because of you

Mercy, Because Of Who I Am

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Because of you, Mercy, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Friday, 2022-06-03
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 86:1-5
TRANSLATION: GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

BIBLE TEXT: 1  Turn your ear ⌞toward me⌟, O Lord.
Answer me, because I am oppressed and needy.
2 Protect me, because I am faithful ⌞to you⌟.
Save your servant who trusts you. You are my God.
3 Have pity on me, O Lord,
because I call out to you all day long.
4 Give me joy, O Lord,
because I lift my soul to you.
5 You, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
full of mercy toward everyone who calls out to you.

APPLICATION: As I meditated on this today, I was compelled to stop and consider the power that David must have felt as he sat in humility and conversed with God. It is so easy for us to simply use the Scriptures to quote back at God, but can you remember the last time that you sat, quietly in your mind and spirit, and had an uninterrupted conversation with God? Sharing your very thoughts and feelings at the time with God? I’m sure that it would be well worth your time to record everything you remember about that conversation, for it might stir your mind at some point in the future when you feel out of it spiritually, or it might certainly help a loved one who is following your example. Praise God we can read and meditate on David’s time with the Lord! Not because he was perfect, but to the contrary – David was very much like us. The biggest difference is that David spent time with the Lord, and we tend to struggle so badly in putting the phone, computer, tablet, and/or television aside so that we could concentrate on the moments spent with God. Why getting up early to spend time alone with God is out of the question for many, as they try to sleep right up to the very moment they need to head out of the door for work. What really touched me in this prayer by David, is that he realized that he wasn’t perfect. In fact, he had dealt with some pretty serious sin before God. So when he took this precious time to converse with God, he didn’t just ask for a list of things, but he explained himself in each case as to why he wanted it. I went through and bolded each explanation given by David, and while God would never have demanded these explanations, I sincerely believe that it did David’s heart good to explain why he was asking for things. Wouldn’t that be an interesting process for us to explain why we are asking God for things sometimes? God already knows why we need what we are asking for, but it may certainly help us to think carefully why we are asking, and not just out of habit, routine, or as a recurring theme for our prayers. Why not stop for a moment and try this when you pray today! If it becomes a helpful thing for you to do, share with us by responding to my post. It may help us all to grow from your experience.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: I just love the Psalms, and I especially love the prayers of David as shared throughout this book! David was known as a man after God’s own heart, but yet this was a gentle and humble man who sought to know God even better and to have regular conversation with Him. I believe this practice might help us to stop and evaluate our true relationship with our God, and help us insure that we are asking God out of sincere of heart and with honest and humble intent!

PRAYER: Lord, I am so grateful for Your goodness, because You gave up Your very own life so that my sins might be forgiven. I am so looking forward to Heaven, because it is where You are, together with Your Father, and You have promised to have a place prepared for us when we arrive. But Lord I want so desperately to know that my family and friends will be joining me around the throne, because the alternative is absolutely the worse place for anyone we go. So Lord, please glorify Yourself in winning the lost that I mentioned. Soften their hearts and speak intently to their very soul, so that they may be convinced of their sin, and make every possible effort to accept You as Lord and Savior. 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!

Because of You….

On By Ed AlgreenIn Because of you, Example, Follower of ChristLeave a comment

The Holy Bible (The Contemporary English Version – 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10): 7 You became an example for all the Lord’s followers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 And because of you, the Lord’s message has spread everywhere in those regions. Now the news of your faith in God is known all over the world, and we don’t have to say a thing about it. 9 Everyone is talking about how you welcomed us and how you turned away from idols to serve the true and living God. 10 They also tell how you are waiting for his Son Jesus to come from heaven. God raised him from death, and on the Day of Judgment Jesus will save us from God’s anger.

Thoughts: Through this scripture, I was challenged with the question: So what is your role in spreading the gospel today – in your home, your church, your workplace, your community and the world? Friends I believe that we will find ourselves in one of the following categories:

  1. A stranger – perhaps because you may not have personally invited Jesus to be a part of your life, to lead, guide and direct you. You know Him from a distance, in name only, but no personal experience with Him. At times you are much like Saul, where you put down Christians and object to the joy that you see in them. You contribute to the part of society for whom the church was created, and intended to minister to;
  2. Passive – for you were really pushed by a family member to accept Jesus during a revival or crusade, but He really plays no role in your life. In fact, most folk would never guess that you are a Christian;
  3. Follower – You attend church every weekend, but you pay the preacher to evangelize and teach! You just feel obligated, either through tradition, habit or fashion, that the place for you at least once each weekend is in a church somewhere. You try to be ‘good’ in the presence of family, friends and coworkers, but they would never guess that it is because of your faith in Jesus Christ;
  4. On Fire for the Lord – As in the case of a spark that causes a fire, that then spreads to surrounding areas, so it is with this type Christian. You know the Lord; He knows you by name; Others know You are a child of God and yet others want what you have because of the qualities they see God using in and through you. This is the quality that Paul saw in the Thessalonian Christians, and this is what Paul attributed to a growing ministry in the region!

I believe that God challenged me to think about which category do I see myself in, and which category do I think that He wants to see His child in. I believe that He wanted me to challenge you with identifying where you stand today, and I believe He really wants each of us to surrender fully to Him so that He might place us in the category where He can best use us for His glory. I hope that you are willing to do that today! Think about it friend! Pray about it buddy! Surrender yourself fully to Jesus and allow Him full control of your life. Be the Christian He intended, don’t just meddle in Christianity, be sold out for the cause of Christ. Use information in the ‘Footnote’ to let me know if there is anything that I can pray with you about to help you draw closer to the Lord.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I want to be a light that shines for You, and so filled with You that others that I might touch in one way or another would seek after the source of that light – You, oh Lord. Jesus, I also pray that as our churches are filled up this week that folk willing to move up in the list noted above until they are confidently in the #5 category. People all around us need the Lord, and while You are very capable of showing Yourself to them in very real and tangible ways, I believe that they would be seriously impacted by seeing You at work in their family, friends and church-goers. How awesome it would be to hear You say “my child, it was because of you that this one first recognized me, accepted me and surrendered their hardened life to me”! For those of us striving to be a #5 Christian, I pray that even though we may never know the lives impacted by God through us, that Jesus is welcoming new ones into the kingdom each and every day …because of us! I ask these things humbly, and believing in the power of the Son of God, for it is You alone that I worship and serve oh 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 so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!