Category: Celebrate God

Blow A Trumpet For God!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Chosen by God, Christian, Faith, God Cares For Us, Heaven, Our Help comes from God, Praise, Stregth, Surrender, Testify, Thank You Jesus, Trust, WorshipLeave a comment

The Bible – The Message

1 Corinthians 1:27–31

Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”

Thoughts:

God is nothing less than amazing! Do I hear an AMEN?!! Just when we are about to throw in the towel, or just when we think we are only a speck of dust in God’s overall kingdom, our eyes are opened with scripture like this that reminds us that we are royalty – children of the King of kings. We are also reminded that as in the case of an earthly king where the country men are subjects of the king, we too are subjects or servants of our King. Also, as in the case of a country being recognized for its valor and earthly production where the king is primarily recognized because of his leadership and his provisions that made the country what it is, so it is with our heavenly King. For it is only through the provision of the King’s Son, Jesus, that we are saved from our sin and accepted into His glorious kingdom where we will reign with Him forever. It is only through the power of this Jesus, that blind men regained their sight, the crippled began to walk again and the dead was brought back to life again. It is only through our faith in Jesus, that we are blessed with miracles even today. But friends, all these blessings come with somewhat of a warning, for we are told that although we may be the servant praying for the sick to be healed, or praying for an unsaved loved one, we can boast of no personal accomplishment in any turnaround seen in any of these cases, for we are only the beggar, the servant, asking for a favor from God Almighty. God is the healer, He sacrificed so that salvation might be available to us, our family and our friends. So as we see God’s hand at work, let’s intensify the praise and worship to our Lord, for it is He who is responsible for the miracles wrought! To Him be all glory and praise! Lift Him up before the people around You so that they too might be introduced to our Savior and Lord! Why not use your weekly worship services to especially praise the Father for His goodness? He is worthy, and deserves a lot more praise than what He hears in our labeled, ‘praise and worship’ services!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, who am I that You would send Your Son to die sacrificially so that I might easily find my way to You? Who am I that You would heal my body, or bless me with a job, a family, and a comfortable place to live? Lord, I realize that I will never understand the sincerity and depth of Your love, but thank You for opening my eyes, and reminding me of my obligation to offer constant praise and worship to You for all that You do for me. You are all powerful, but thankfully You are all loving also, because You forgave me of my sin and accepted me as Your son. Thank You Lord Jesus for being my King, my Savior and my deliverer. May I always be mindful of Your awesome presence and love for me, and therefore never beat up on myself when I feel like things are not going my way. The provision for life eternally with You has already been made, so anything that happens on this earth is really very minor and possibly even irrelevant. Please forgive me for missed opportunities to praise You and lift You up before my family, friends and coworkers. May they be  encouraged to look to You because of the evidence of Your love in and through my every action and/or word. To You be all glory, honor and praise, for I honor You and ask all this in Your precious name, Lord Jesus, AMEN!

NOTE: 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.

For The Sake of the Gospel

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Bold Confidence, Born Again, Celebrate God, Christian, Getting Along, Heaven, Imitator of Christ, Love your Neighbor, ObedienceLeave a comment

The Bible – The Message

Romans 15:15-16

So, my dear friends, don’t take my rather bold and blunt language as criticism. It’s not criticism. I’m simply underlining how very much I need your help in carrying out this highly focused assignment God gave me, this priestly and gospel work of serving the spiritual needs of the non-Jewish outsiders so they can be presented as an acceptable offering to God, made whole and holy by God’s Holy Spirit.

Thoughts:

Sometimes I believe that we read these passages in the Bible and we feel so sorry for the circumstances in which God’s messengers had to work, because we read where they were really challenged in many areas, especially the conflict between the Jews and the Gentiles (non-Jews). So let’s take a moment and rejoice over the many advancements that we have attained in our society and ministry today! Excuse me, but did I just give the impression that we have no issues like Paul faced? If I did, then I am totally wrong, because we are faced with issues that either hinder us from ministering to every man and woman, or we are faced with churches (people) that are opposed to having others of unmatched faith; or color or socioeconomic status, worship with them. Friends these types of prejudices hinder the spreading of the gospel as much as those Paul faced back in Romans 15. Just look around your workplaces, your circle of friends, your neighborhood, etc. We hear of folk that would go to vast extremes to hinder the possibility of folk like I referred to above from moving into their neighborhood, so should we expect to see any difference in our churches? Friends, there is only one God and there will be only one heaven, wouldn’t you reason that we should make every effort to try and work though some of these prejudices we’ve allowed Satan to entrench in our minds, while we are here on this earth so that we would be very comfortable in heaven among ALL of God’s people? Have you ever stopped to think that your reactions resulting from these various prejudices are actually hindering the gospel message? I would challenge you to think about how God might react to you obstructing the message of salvation when you come face to face with Him on Judgment Day. Based on scripture, I believe I have good authority in advising you that you might be surprised who might actually make it into heaven, for I believe there will be grave consequences for those who hinder one of God’s children from surrendering their heart to The Lord. Why not join me in asking God to look deep into our inner selves and expose any prejudice that might be found so that we may not obstruct those that we come into contact with that need to know The Lord, and also that we may be extremely welcoming to those that enter our church doors regardless of any differences that may be evident. People need The Lord friends, that’s the bottom line.

Prayer:

Thank You Lord Jesus for dying on Calvary’s rugged cross for sinners, yes even me. Although undeserving, yet You died for all, so that we may one day be with You in heaven for ever and ever. You placed no restriction on who might surrender their hearts to You, and my simple prayer this morning is that You might open our hearts, cleanse us of all unrighteousness – especially prejudices, so that we may be like You and accept all that may come into our lives, into our churches and into our realms of influence. Please continually remind us that Your judging will be based on our heart, and not any of the exterior things that we tend to look at and allow to interfere with our Godly influence. For I ask this in Your precious name, Lord Jesus, my deliverer, peacekeeper, and lover of all mankind AMEN!

 

NOTE: 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.

Try Starting Your Day Like This!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Faith, God Cares For Us, Praise, WorshipLeave a comment

The Bible – New Living Translation

Psalm 59:16-17

 16 But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.

17 O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.

Thoughts:

I’ve seen many challenges lately, for example a challenge to find 5 things you are thankful for, or some might challenge friends and themselves to walk for a number of minutes each morning. I believe that God challenged me through these verses, to imitate His servant David and find things to praise God for each morning, and to do it with joy! What type of day do you suppose we would have if we challenged ourselves to do this each morning? Would our churches be stronger if it was made up of more praising Christians? I make every effort to attend church prayer meetings each week, and it is amazing the number of prayer needs that we have to pray about. Now please don’t misunderstand, there is no better place to bring our needs, than to a place of worship where believers have gathered to pray for one another. However, I recall in one prayer meeting we had a visitor who was bubbling over with a praise item, however after hearing all of the needs, our leader was ready to move into prayer. The visitor finally spoke up and asked if there was room for praise items, as she wanted to share an item with the group. Oh my, what an important aspect of prayer we almost ignored that night. Friends, even under extreme circumstances: when we are hurting; or perhaps sad; or perhaps facing extreme challenges; God is still God and throughout all that we feel overwhelmed about, He has blessed us beyond all measure. There is a powerful song out by a popular group call “I will praise You in my storm”, can you do this friend? Can you praise God even in the middle of the storms of your life? How about committing to praise Him in every circumstance, knowing that God has a purpose for your life and that He will not do anything to harm you. It was God that gave you the healthy body to sleep well the previous night, and to awaken with another opportunity to shine for Him. Praise Him friend! Of course He will also hear your prayer for healing, hurt, job search and all other needs, but that will become very evident and easy to ask, after you have thought about and praised God for His wonderful blessings!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I’m sure it must seem like we are an ungrateful bunch of children, because of our lack of praise. You bless us so much that praise should be very prominent in our lives and on our lips. I pray that I may be so filled with thankfulness and praise that as my lips are opened, I may voice Your praises. I can’t think of anything more powerful to an unbeliever than for them to see a thankful, praising child of God. Please give me the strength and the boldness to represent You well, especially in my constant praise for the mighty God that You are. Thank You Lord, for blessing me in such wonderful ways. Please touch Your children that may meditate on this devotional and need to work on this aspect of their Christian walk also. Please use the praises of Your kids to touch the hearts of those that need to know You today so that they may want to know the awesome God that we serve. All this I ask humbly in the precious name of my Savior and Lord, Jesus, AMEN!

 

NOTE: 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.

Too Busy

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Imitator of Christ, Praise, Reaching the Lost, Works, WorshipLeave a comment

The Bible – The Message

 Romans 9:30-32

 …. All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling.

 Thoughts:

Friends I know that we have our secular jobs, and many of us also have volunteered for jobs in the church, but are we capable of knowing when we are too busy to really see God at work in and around us? Paul, in addressing his fellow Jews, tried to bring to their attention that in his ministry to the gentiles (those who were despised by the Jews), he had discovered such an appreciation for God and His wonderful work/miracles, compared to what he saw in his own people, who appeared sold out to God. This sounds so much like us sometimes. It is known around churches that if you need someone to do something, ask a busy person. And although this means that you can often trust them to get the job done, what it also means is that you are giving them yet another ‘job’, and before you realize it, that person is coming to church thinking of it as just another job, like they are obligated to all other days of the week. Friends, I realize that it takes people to get the total job done around church, but when we lose sight of the reason for us going to church, to offer up praise and worship to our heavenly Father, then we have just personally taken on too much. We must find time in our busy lives for personal worship – time alone with God, and for corporate worship – time corporately with God and others of like faith. I believe that I coined a phrase that I encourage all those that I have opportunity to mentor, to use: instead of ever saying that you didn’t have time for something, always say it was not a priority! I especially encourage you to use this when you have neglected your time alone with God or your corporate worship time. In fact I encourage you to use this phrase in your conversation (prayer) with God as you talk to him about missed opportunities. It will help you to regain the priorities in your life! Keeping busy will keep us out of trouble, but if we are not careful, it could also keep us out of a sweet relationship with our heavenly Father. Why not step back and honestly evaluate your life today? Are you too busy?

Prayer:

Thank You Father for blessing us with talents that we may use for You in and around the local church. Please help us to know when we have enough to do, and especially when church work is preventing us from spending the time with You that we so badly need for our spiritual enrichment. Without You in the forefront of our day, we will reflect too much of this world to those who especially need to know You and see Your qualities in us. We were created to glorify You dear God. When we fail to do that because we are too busy, especially with ‘church jobs’ or as Paul said, “God projects”, then we ask that You please get our attention and pull us back to You. Most of us have family and loved ones who need the Lord, Father I pray that they may first of all see Jesus in everything that we do or say so that we may influence them to seek You and the wonder of Your grace, mercy and love. I ask all this in the wonderful name of Your Son, Jesus the Christ, my Lord and Savior, AMEN!

 

 NOTE: 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.

The Goodness of the Lord!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Celebrate God, Our Help comes from God, Power of Prayer, Praise, WorshipLeave a comment

The Bible –Good News Translation

 Psalm 36:5-9

 5           Lord, your constant love reaches the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the skies.

6           Your righteousness is towering like the mountains; your justice is like the depths of the sea. People and animals are in your care.

7           How precious, O God, is your constant love! We find protection under the shadow of your wings.

8           We feast on the abundant food you provide; you let us drink from the river of your goodness.

9           You are the source of all life, and because of your light we see the light.

Thoughts:

I believe that I can just leave the actual Bible verses above for you to meditate on today and you will soon agree with me that we serve such an awesome God! I love the way that David was blessed with adding his thoughts to paper, because his songs of praise is a constant reminder to us that we should look for opportunities to worship, praise and thank our God for His unlimited mercies. Recently a ministry that I subscribe to, Daily Audio Bible, was led into a special day set aside to connect with God. It was called ‘Long Walk’, in which subscribers were asked to take that day away from life’s normal routine and just talk with God, perhaps while on a long walk, and listen intently to His voice. Although I was not in a position to do this, I was blessed by the idea, because we often take so little time to really connect with God outside of our busy, daily chores. Although participants had the opportunity to voice their special times on a Facebook page designed for that purpose, I could only imagine how meaningful that would really be, and the many things we would find to share with God that we ordinarily would not find time for as we rush around each day. These words from David makes me feel like he really had some quality time with God, and that he chose to commit to print the conversations he had with God, so that we may follow in his writings and be reminded of how blessed we really are. Friend, let me encourage you to take time today and bask in the goodness of our God, and while you are soaking it up, please remember to talk to God about what you are feeling, and plan to share that with a friend. Yes, the blessings are coming at you, but by sharing that with someone, they will be encouraged to know that God is still actively working in and among us, amen?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, how can I ever thank You enough for Your tender mercies, Your gracious and undeserving love, Your watchful eye over me so that I may be kept safe and especially encouraged by Your presence. Your goodness is everlasting, and You have chosen to bless even me. Thank You fairest Lord Jesus! No doubt there will be a friend meditating on this devotional today that may not recognize Your love, because their hearts have been hardened by the sin of this world. Please tender their hearts and help them to recognize that Your love extends to even them, if only they would open their hearts and lives to accept Your free gift of eternal life. Lord, I pray that I and Your people will be a praising people and a thankful people who look for reasons to recognize Your goodness. Your love never fails, dear God, and I thanks You and praise You for that! For it is in Your wonderful and matchless name that I pray, AMEN!

 

Note: 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.

Ready Your Heart for Worship!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Allegiance to the Lamb, Bible Believing, Born Again, Celebrate God, Christian, Follow Jesus, Imitator of Christ, Listen to the Word of God, Love God, WorshipLeave a comment

God’s Word Says….

Psalm 24:3-6 (NCV)

3 Who may go up on the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy Temple? 4 Only those with clean hands and pure hearts, who have not worshiped idols, who have not made promises in the name of a false god. 5 They will receive a blessing from the Lord; the God who saves them will declare them right. 6 They try to follow God; they look to the God of Jacob for help.

My Thoughts…..

Praise God, His Word is filled with little ‘Nuggets’ that will bless our souls each time that we meditate on it. It is our source document for everything in this life. As we read it, there are certain things that God allows to just stand off the pages and ‘light us up’! Here’s what I got from this ‘Nugget’ referenced above: The question is being asked about who may approach God in His holy place – in His temple. The answer to this is no mystery. Our God is holy, long-suffering, loving and merciful. So who are we to approach Him in any other manner? Think about our worship services. The idea is that God’s people gather to praise Him for all that He has done for us during the past week; petition Him for needs that exist in our lives that, we feel, needs His powerful touch; and to learn from His Word in order that we may portray Him better and to gain strength and direction for the week ahead of us. The verses highlighted today explains how some people walk away from a church service just as empty as they walked in, and yet why some leave overwhelmed with God’s blessing in and through that service. Friends, it’s a matter of where our hearts are. In verse 6, we are told that the blessings were received because they ‘tried to follow God’!

Challenge……

Friends, in our marriages, in our homes, in our work and in our friendships, what we get back is often impacted by what we put into these things. The Psalmist helped me to see that I will be blessed when I ‘Try to follow God’. A doctor or an attorney who wants to be the best at their jobs will find themselves constantly in their books trying to keep up with latest laws or the latest developments in medical science. If we are truly trying to follow God, would it not appear that we should be students of THE Book in order to discern the heart and will of God? Would it not appear that we need to do more than just show up for a worship service, if we truly want to follow God and His teachings? I would dare say friend that we should be doing more than just showing up waiting for a bucket of blessings to be poured on us. I believe God would easily discern those of us that show up with: the Spirit of God very fresh in our spiritual lives; with thankful hearts ready to explode in worship and thanksgiving to God; and like a baby bird waiting for the return of the mother bird with food, God would also discern those of us that show up with a deep hunger to learn more of, and get a better understanding of, His precious Word. Perhaps then, we might approach His holy throne somewhat worthily and ready to worship Him and receive His blessing. Where’s your heart friend? Do you have a heart yearning for more of Jesus, so that you may become more like Him? Do you put effort into following God?

Prayer……

Heavenly Father, You made us to worship You and to be little ‘Christ’s’ so that we may win the world through our love and expression of faith in, and forgiveness by, Your Son Jesus. Lord, we take so much for granted and, many times many of us will just flippantly show up for a worship service assuming that the worship band might stir up a feeling in us, or the preacher might say something magnificent that might stir up something in us. Please forgive me for the times that I have been guilty of this. Unfortunately I received everything from that service that I put into it – nothing. Please give me an urgency and a desire to follow You, and to worship You, and to want to be in Your presence. To portray You in my life, I must be filled with Your Holy Spirit, please guide me in the way of Truth and give me a deeper desire to follow You in every walk of my life. I strongly feel like my friends will need something similar to this today also, please tender their hearts to Your Word so that It may do a powerful work in their lives and better prepare them for Your work. For I ask all this in the name of, and in respect and admiration of You, Oh Lord, my Rock and my redeemer, AMEN!

Action…..

In response to God leading You through this devotional today, please get with a Bible teaching Pastor you may know and allow him to guide you. Otherwise feel free to reply to my post online, or you may email me directly at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. I will gladly add you to my prayer list, and/or respond to your request(s) ASAP.

Building Memorials

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Christian, God ReignsLeave a comment

Scripture: Joshua 21-22.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

Joshua 22:34 (NLT)

34 The people of Reuben and Gad named the altar “Witness,” for they said, “It is a witness between us and them that the Lord is our God, too.”

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

Each day of our lives we see God at work, and often we meet to celebrate in praise everything He has done in our lives. Too often we generalize and say, “Yes, God is good” but we fail to say specifically how He was good to us. We hardly ever write those specific things down so that our children, or future generations can grow from our experiences. We fail to erect a memorial in honor of the awesome work that God does in our lives. Imagine how awesome it would be for us to go to a ‘memorial’ that our ancestors built in celebration of an accomplishment they recognized God’s mighty hand at work in their lives? The people of Reuben and Gad had seen God work in so many marvelous ways during the time they were altogether with Moses, Joshua and the Israelites. Now that they were going to settle down and be separated by the Jordan river from the Israelites, they wanted their future generations to be reminded every time they saw or passed by this memorial, that the God they served was powerful and had worked in wondrous ways in the lives of their ancestors as a united people, and that they too could place their faith and trust in this same, infinitely powerful, God who could also see them through their daily struggles. What are some things that we might build a memorial for today? Perhaps God used our church during special services to reach a large hoard of people where many were saved – when we build a memorial to remind our future generations about this, we are giving them confidence that the same God who worked amongst Moses and the Israelites, also performed miracles during the lifetime of their ancestors and therefore they would have confidence to realize that God could do the same for them! There may be miracles, or God-sized achievements in our lives today that we rejoice over, but unless we do something to preserve (memorialize) that, it is very possible that our future generations would have nothing to fall back on, or give them confidence in. Furthermore, unless we can do something to preserve the good that God has done in our lives, unfortunately the bad, or unfortunate things we may have done, will be long remembered! Perhaps at annual family celebrations, such as Christmas, or Thanksgiving, or Homecoming, we should reserve time for families to not only tell about the accomplishments they credit to God, but to do this through a memorial of sorts, that can be long remembered by future generations of the work of the Lord in our lives.

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Lord, I acknowledge today that You are certainly awesome in so many ways in and through me. Please help me to regularly build altars, or memorials to celebrate these accomplishments so that future generations may be encouraged to seek after the same loving, powerful, awesome God that I serve and give witness to. Thank You for loving and working through the people of Reuben and Gad. Thank You for being God to my ancestors and working miracles for them and through them, and thank You for blessing even me in so many ways. Please help me to not hide these miracles under a bushel, but to let them shine to a world that has little hope, aside from You!

 

àWords underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com.
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Heavenly Celebrations!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Celebrate God, Encourage, God Cares For UsLeave a comment

Scripture: Luke 15.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

Luke 15:3-7 (NLT)

3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

7
In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’

10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

For those that we invest our interest in, through prayer, caring and/or some other tangible way, we tend to rejoice over their successes in life! This is because we have a vested interest in them. God’s Word says that there is rejoicing in heaven also when one sinner repents and returns to God. I love that word ‘RETURNS’ because it is an indication that we were God’s, but strayed away and now seen the error of our ways and have come back to God. I believe that if our churches today did a better job of investing ourselves in the lives of those that we say we are ministering to, then there would be a big party or celebration every time someone walks the isle and announces to the church that they are ‘returning’ to the God who loves them and have always cared for them. I don’t know about everyone else, but I need to get busy about the work of the Lord, and I don’t mean another committee, but rather busy about ministering to those who have strayed away from God and need to return to Him. While I am not a big party person, I would love to join in the heavenly celebration every service time as sinners return to God, especially if I had a small part in encouraging, or praying for that person. Christians, let’s re-focus on the main purpose of the church – a people drawing closer to God through personal development in the Word, and in encouraging others to ‘return’ to God so that they too can join the party! We have a Savior who loves us so much that He gave His very life for us – talking about a vested interest in us?

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Lord Jesus, I know that I could spend all day just finding ways that I need to draw closer to You, but additionally I feel such a burden for those that need to ‘return’ to You and surrender their lives to You. Please give me the boldness to share words of encouragement with someone today. Please burden my heart with individuals that I may specifically pray for and encourage so that Your work may be accomplished. Thank You for loving me so much that You encouraged me back to You and away from a world that has no desire to see me succeed or live eternally with You. I rejoice in that today, and I look forward to rejoicing next Lord’s Day as I see others ‘return’ to You!

 

àWords underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com.
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Nothing is Too Big For God!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Ask and Receive, Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Christian, Listen to the Word of God, Victorious LifeLeave a comment

Scripture: Joshua 9-11.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

Joshua 11:19-20 (NLT)

19 No one in this region made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites of Gibeon. All the others were defeated. 20
For the Lord hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites. So they were completely destroyed without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

This passage reminds me that nothing, absolutely nothing, is too big or impossible for God! Praise the name of the Lord! I feel like so often in our lives today we limit God and our requests to Him by what we can see as a possibility. In this passage this morning I saw where kings for several nations joined together to fight and try to keep the Israelites out of their territory, but as noted in these two verses, God was preparing the land that He had promised to the Israelites when they left Egypt, and these folk had to go. God hardened their hearts and caused them, or provoked them, to fight the Israelites, and no matter the size of the joint army, God had already won the battle for the Israelites. This tells me that in today’s society where there are folk that are so hardened and don’t want to hear about the Lord, and when we, as Christians or children of God, decide that those folk are unreachable or untouchable, we are truly limiting the power of God. We know what the book says – God will be victorious over Satan and all of his forces, and I have a pretty good idea that it will not be because of what we do to help Him! We serve an awesome, powerful God. Let’s not limit Him in our prayers, in our families, in our churches, in our workplace nor in our towns. He will overcome this world! He will be victorious! Let’s not stand in His way. Instead, let us be steadfast in prayer, obedient to His Word, and follow His every direction – for He holds the keys to winning our church, our town, our state and our nation. Let’s be ready to join the victory party in heaven, instead of sitting on the sidelines and doubting if our God can overcome the people and the evil things that we see going on around us – for Nothing Is Too Big for our God!

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Father I pray that I can see through Your eyes and not be obstructed by the limitations of my eyes. Please help me to set aside my personal agendas, my limiting expectations and my projection of what I can accomplish, and instead fill me with the awesome realization that I serve a God that knows all things and can do all things. As I sit aside and see Your awesome power at work, may I be the greatest cheerleader and servant to follow Your every command. You deserve all my praise and adoration for the awesome power that You portrayed to my forefathers, and for the power yet to be displayed as You win the victories over sin and death that I see all around me. Praise God that I am on the winning side!

 

àWords underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com.
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Be Holy, Even as God is Holy

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Christian, Humility, Obedience, Things that make God angry, WorshipLeave a comment

Scripture: Leviticus 9-11.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

Leviticus 11:45 (NLT)

45 For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

Most of these 3 chapters are about how God ordered Moses, Aaron and His people to prepare the temple and themselves so that as they come into His holy place/temple they might come as a prepared people showing respect for the Master of this universe and the One who saved them from many things as they traveled through the wilderness for 40 years. In 10:2 it was sad to note that even in the days of which this scripture is based, people tried to cut corners and do what they thought was right, not what God was so careful in detailing to them, and the consequences led to death. However, it was exciting to note in 9:23 that as God’s commands were carried out, God showed Himself to the people – through a consuming fire from heaven. It really concerns me today how casually we come into God’s house and how little respect we show for His holy place. If we knew that we were going to be in the presence of an earthly ‘king’ or president, we would probably seek professional help to make sure that we dress properly for the occasion and that we follow the right etiquette. Yet, the King of all kings, the master of ourselves and our earth, the Savior of this world, the One who sacrificed Himself for our sin and our benefit, and we show little to no respect for walking into His holy temple. Instead of sacrificing, we reluctantly give of our tithes and offering, we can’t find time to give of ourselves to His service. We are quick to ask and beg of Him, but yet we are too proud to lay ourselves at His feet and truly let go and worship Him. Can someone remind me again why God owes us a blessing under such circumstances? I’m surprised that He hasn’t done something terrible to us like He did to Aaron’s sons when they did their own thing. In the verse I am using here, God reminds us that we are to be holy, just as He is holy. I don’t think this means that we are to be like the world so that they might think we are cool and they will feel comfortable worshipping with us. As the world sees God at work in our midst, they will flock in to worship with us, because they want to see the mighty hand of God, not the proof that we can be just as ‘cool’ as them.

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Father, over in the New Testament You became so angry about what was happening in Your holy temple that You lost Your cool and disrupted the party. This is yet another reminder that You house is to be a place of prayer, a place of worship, a place where You are the focus of our attention and a place where Your Holy Spirit can manifest Himself to us. I’m so afraid that we have come a long ways from where You expect us to be, and therefore tons of reasons why You have refused to move in our midst like You would really like to. Lord, I need to be sure that You are first in my life, and that my heart is prepared and ready to worship You when I enter into Your sanctuary. As a church leader, I need to be sure that ample opportunity is given for Your people to get their hearts right and aligned with You as they come for worship. May I stop spinning the wheels, doing the usual, and following what has become the worldly expectation of church. May I be so prepared in my heart to worship You in Your temple, that everything else will be oblivious to me and may I therefore see Your glory shine all around me. May You resume control of Your temple and Your people who have come to worship You in Your temple.