Strive To Please The One Blessing You

On 2022-10-302022-10-30 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Glorify, Needs, Obedience, Pleasing to God, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Sunday, 2022-10-30
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Ephesians 4:29-32
TRANSLATION: GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

BIBLE TEXT: ²⁹Don’t say anything that would hurt ⌞another person⌟. Instead, speak only what is good so that you can give help wherever it is needed. That way, what you say will help those who hear you. ³⁰Don’t give God’s Holy Spirit any reason to be upset with you. He has put his seal on you for the day you will be set free ⌞from the world of sin⌟. ³¹Get rid of your bitterness, hot tempers, anger, loud quarreling, cursing, and hatred. ³²Be kind to each other, sympathetic, forgiving each other as God has forgiven you through Christ.

APPLICATION: In growing up, I’m not sure at what stage children’s eyes are opened to the sacrifices made by parents so that they might thrive. For example, how many meals did mom and/or dad have just vegetables so that the kids might enjoy an extra piece of meat? How many Christmases did moms and dads forego giving each other a gift, so that they could bless their kids with an extra gift to open on Christmas morning? God is even more giving to His children, for He sent His only Son, knowing that we needed so much help in seeking forgiveness of our sin. Yet Paul saw that the Ephesian church members were still acting like the world (unsaved rebels living like there was no God). Because God saw fit to have this as part of His final instructions to Christians, I believe He desperately wanted us to catch the heart of Paul in this teaching, as it clearly explains the heart of God for His children. I feel like the key phrase in these verses is ‘Don’t give the Holy Spirit any reason to be upset with you’. Other translations say, “don’t cause the Holy Spirit to grieve over you”. Such words are used when a close family member dies, for the remaining family ‘grieves’ over losing their loved one. In the examples given in my introduction, we can easily see the expression of pride and happiness on our parent’s face when they see us achieving greatness or successful in our endeavors, but what if we stood near them as they prayed, and we heard them grieving before the Father over their disappointment in what they are seeing in us? That would tear us up and cause us much pain. I believe that’s the idea that Paul is portraying about our Savior, for He gave His very life for us, and it must hurt beyond all measure when He see us still acting like the world – like a sinner who has never even heard about grace or forgiveness. I believe we should be encouraged by this challenge given by Paul, for he not only encouraged us to put aside the evil practices of our old life, but since we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, with every intent to turn away from our sin and heartache, and follow the King of all kings, so too ought we to do the same in our habits and practices that once identified us as an unsaved sinner. In Christ, and with the special power afforded to us by the Holy Spirit residing inside of us, WE CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens and guides us towards holiness and righteousness, just like Jesus did. As you live each day, think about the words you would like to hear from Jesus when He calls you home to glory. My goal is to hear my Savior say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’. I pray that you have once again been encouraged to follow Jesus Christ in total commitment and to spend your life being just like Him, even while allowed to remain here below. Jesus paid the price for my sin, and He left me a ton of instructions to help guide me into all righteousness under the inspiration, and with the help of the Holy Spirit. I know we can do this fellow Christians, let’s just commit to it and do it – with God’s help.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: God forgave us by separating our sin from us as far as the east is from the west. Now if we could only learn to forgive like our Father in heaven taught us to and exampled for us!

PRAYER: Thank You Lord Jesus for loving us enough to sacrifice Your very own Son for the redemption of our sin. Please Lord, embolden us to be different and to live in love, like you did; forgiving others, like You did; loving even the unlovable, just as You did; and sacrificing for even them just as You did for us. Please help us to make a difference in this world, just as You made a difference in our lives. May we live in a way that pleases our Maker, our Savior and our Friend. To God be the glory for the things You have done in and through each of your children. Now, be glorified in us and through us Lord 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 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!

Do Everything For The Glorify God

On 2021-08-092021-08-09 By Ed AlgreenIn Glorify, Glory of God, God Cares For Us, God's GloryLeave a comment

Monday, 2021-08-09

Bible Reference: 1 Corinthians 10:29-33
Translation: The Living Bible (TLB)

Bible Text: ²⁹ ….you may ask, must I be guided and limited by what someone else thinks? ³⁰ If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why let someone spoil everything just because he thinks I am wrong? ³¹ Well, I’ll tell you why. It is because you must do everything for the glory of God, even your eating and drinking. ³² So don’t be a stumbling block to anyone, whether they are Jews or Gentiles or Christians. ³³ That is the plan I follow, too. I try to please everyone in everything I do, not doing what I like or what is best for me but what is best for them, so that they may be saved.

APPLICATION: To a very large extent, we tend to build our lives around people who please us; who does life ‘our way’; and who has everything that makes us happy. Paul had to address this in the Corinthian church, and I believe that his teaching is included in the Word of God, because we need to be reminded of this today also. We still live in an imperfect world, and we still have a need to get over our selfishness. In this particular chapter Paul was addressing the subject of some being convinced that they could not eat certain foods, while others were quite OK with that and saw nothing wrong with it, nor how it might affect their relationship with God. Paul’s conviction was that we should be careful to do what pleases God in these circumstances, not just ourselves. In fact Paul directed us to do only those things that will glorify God, and that should challenge us the ultimate degree on why and how we should do things. This is supported by the wide variety of principles and characteristics that Jesus taught and modeled throughout His earthly ministry, for He ate with sinners, boldly taught opposing Pharisees and loved all with whom He came into contact with. But let’s take the example of food that Paul taught about in this chapter. This still exists today, because there are some who feel like there are certain foods that would defile their bodies, and some even feel that this is based on Biblical references – and therefore may displease God. I believe that we are being taught to make every effort to please God in our lives, which may mean that our own convictions may need adjusting at times. We should never create animosity with a Brother or Sister who is trying to please God through what they eat. Unfortunately, we sometimes become so wrapped up in the unimportant aspects of a Christian’s personal beliefs and practices, that we lose sight of glorifying God in the moment in which we find ourselves. Friends, rather than trying to force others to eat what we eat or not, we’ve totally missed the point if we haven’t challenged them, or helped them grow in their personal relationship with God. The time we spend with individuals, should help them in their relationship with God, or at least challenge them to consider their own lives in the light of eternity. We must be careful to help someone draw close to God, rather than becoming a stumbling block to the very people we feel led to help. As a child of God, our aim should always be to please Him through the way that we live, not by trying to be ‘God’. Our path to living like a child of the King is very clear in His Word, let’s learn to live like that and rub off on as many as we can. Maybe at that point we might have more impact on the unbeliever also, for we will truly imitate our loving Lord, and act more like He intended. It’s all about God friend, not our personal ideals.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for loving us in spite of our silly personal ideals. Thank You for speaking through Paul to redirect our attention towards You instead of trying to impose our imperfections onto others. May our daily goal always be to please You in all that we do and say; to be more like You; and to draw closer to You in every way. You have taught us to love everyone and to encourage them instead of tearing down and destroying. Lord, may it be evident to all that we come into contact with, that Jesus lives and reigns inside of us. I ask for myself and each reader/listener, and I ask this in the loving and awesome name of Jesus, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog at https://NuggetsFromGodsWord.org 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 or listening to this devotional, please go to 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. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and see all of my posts, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. 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!

Use Your Body To Bring Glory To God

On 2020-05-06 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, For His Glory, Glorify, Glory of God, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE WRITTEN: Tuesday, 2020-05-05
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

BIBLE REFERENCE: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
TRANSLATION: The Passion Translation (TPT)

BIBLE TEXT: ¹⁹Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary.^[l] ²⁰You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood,^[m] so by all means, then, use your body^[n] to bring glory to God!

OBSERVATION: Paul was presented with a problem that most of my friends, and possibly most of my readers, would ever be faced with – prostitution. In trying to understand how Paul may have felt, I consider how I felt the first time I understood the impact of human smuggling and slavery. Imagine hearing that a human sex slave is way more profitable because of the ability to reuse the product owned by a pimp. For those who know God, and value the gift that He gave on Calvary for His beloved children, I believe that we will appreciate where Paul was coming from on his message here.

APPLICATION: The big deal here is that Paul was preaching to the church, not those who never visit the church or accepted Jesus as Lord. So this made me think about what must really be going on among our church people today, or among ‘Christians’ as a whole. I believe that what often causes grief among ‘Christians’, is that some may follow the plea of a parent, or a best friend to give their heart to the Lord, and an individual follows through in trying to satisfy the constant bombardment. This becomes a very temporary thing in the mind of that person, as they quickly return to their normal lifestyle without a true relationship with their Maker. Friends, if one of your men decided to marry a woman, and after the marriage ceremony he went his way and she went hers, would they truly live like husband and wife? Would they respect their individual bodies knowing that their spouse reserved full and dedicated rights to their body (1 Corinthians 7:4)? I don’t think so. Similarly, unless a Christian develops a personal relationship with the King of kings, then no real honor and respect is developed for the One who gave His life for our sin. When we show friends that we gave our life to the Lord, they try to take us at our word, until they could truly see if any spiritual fruit develops. However, we can’t fool God, for He knows us individually. He not only knows about every word we speak, but He also knows our thoughts and our very hearts. So when we stray and perform certain acts that surprises the church, don’t think for a moment that God is surprised, for He knows all about us. Now for those who honestly and sincerely surrenders their life to the Lord and truly trusts in His Word, Paul is reminding us that the Holy Spirit resides inside of us, to guide us along the right path and to live honest and noble lives for the Lord. Forbid it that this would ever occur still today, but Paul is teaching us that we are to respect our bodies, the sanctuary in which the Holy Spirit resides. Just like I believe Paul was addressing this subject that started with prostitution, but also generalizing because of the other ways that children of God were abusing their bodies, I believe the same occurs today. Many of the same sins that we look down on society for today, are almost equally as bad among God’s holy children. Like Paul, I would respectfully and lovingly warn all of my readers, that precious is the one who is a child of the Most High King, for God has placed His Holy Spirit inside of us at the time of our salvation decision. Let’s be respectful of that, and not only live according to what we believe the Bible teaches, but always be conscious of fact that we are not just disrespecting ourselves when we sin, but we are also subjecting the holiest – the Holy Spirit – a party of the Trinity, to our filth. Oh that we might be constantly reminded of this when we are tempted to indulge in things, especially those that we tend to think no one else is seeing or witnessing. Oh that we may always strive to be holy, just as He is holy.

PRAYER: Lord, You know are goings and our comings. You have blessed us with Your holy presence on an ongoing basis, because You know that we struggle to do this life on our own, in a way that is pleasing to You. Oh God, we really need You every minute of every day. Please always guide, protect and show us the way to help others be drawn to You. Please forgive us when we are weak and when we falter. Please sharpen our minds so that we will always call upon You in these moments, so that others will see more of Christ and less of ourselves. It’s all about You dear Lord. Please have Your will and way in our lives, our thoughts, our goings and our comings. May others know You and desire Your presence in their lives today. AMEN!

An Imitation of the One You Adore

On 2019-11-19 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Glorify, Glory of God, Imitate Jesus, Imitating Christ, Imitator of Christ, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

Tuesday, 2019-11-19

Bible Reference: John 13:34-35
Translation: The Passion Translation (TPT)

Bible Text: ³⁴“So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. ³⁵For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re my true followers.”

OBSERVATION: Jesus was about to end His earthly ministry, and I believe He was admonishing His disciples to carry on by demonstrating all that they saw in Him while working together, ministering together, and seeking after the heart of loved ones who had gone astray. Because I believe that Jesus still desires for His children to be imitators of their Master, I want us to contemplate what that might look like today.

APPLICATION: Ever notice the difference between a military enlistee and a regular civilian? One is determined to follow the orders of their commanding officer and defend their country, in spite of all the evil going on inside their homeland, while the other tries to follow the general idea of the local laws, but will not think twice about questioning those laws and or commands of those in charge of their safety and welfare. Similarly, you will often identify God’s children by their demeanor, their lifestyle, their honesty, their commitment and their love for one another. I believe that Jesus is teaching us in the Scripture today, just as He taught the disciples: ‘Let the world see so much of Jesus in you, that they will be convinced that He exists, and that they could easily follow you, as you follow Christ. I believe that Jesus wants us to not only desire to know Him in order to have our ticket punched for heaven, but especially so that the non-believer would turn their heads to this cruel, heart-breaking, mean and treacherous world, and be encouraged to see the character of Jesus in every fiber of our being. And that it would be inviting enough to convince them that there is a better way! Friends, I believe that many of you may have traveled down some of the same roads that I have. For we have seen the impact of this world on folk at our job site, in our neighborhoods, in our government, and even in our churches. I am so encouraged, and touched by the living Word of God, for Jesus knew that we would face these challenges and discouragements and we may sometimes want to just throw our hands up in disappointment and wonderment of whether it is worth the effort to try and be kind and loving every day. Often, when we ‘try’ to be good, loving and kind, we are polluting ourselves with so much self-effort, and self-taught principles, and selfish desires, that we sometimes make things worse. I believe that Jesus is teaching us, as He did His disciples, to just apply all that we have learned from Him to our lives, and look to His Book of Instruction (the Bible) when searching for answers, instead of the TV Talk Shows, or the internet sites of Palm Readers, and the like. Jesus has placed the Holy Spirit inside of us, believers in Christ, so that we might be led in the right direction; understand His precious Word, and love like He first loved us. Let’s learn to love like Jesus did – for He gave up His own life for us, even while we were still sinners. He loved Lazarus and his sisters enough that He cried in empathy for Mary and Martha who thought they would never see Lazarus alive again. Let’s learn to care for others like He did – for He stopped a whole parade so that He could chat with, and seek the desire of two cripples who could not fend for themselves. Instead of racing the children away, like His disciples, He called them to Himself, taught them and loved on them as a father would. To all my readers, I would plead with you today to seek God, read His Word, pray to Him, and be bold enough to love, talk and act like Him, even in a world that tends to be in total opposition to that. Don’t force these things upon your neighbor, but allow God to embed them into your hearts and upon your life. He wants to shine brightly through you, so that your neighbor will be convinced about the One who loves him/her in spite of their circumstances and their rotten attitudes. Be willing to let go, and let God have His way in you, my friend!

PRAYER: Precious Lord, You are more wonderful than all of creation! You loved me when I was totally unlovable by anyone. Why you even stood still under the barrage of whips, and You endured the cross, so that the world might know that we are loved more than life itself. Father, it seems like we are facing a world that is so evil and filled with hatred. I’m sure that this is no worse than what You faced, but Lord we need You. Every hour of every day we need You. Please fill us with Your power, so that we may not only overcome the temptations and trials of this world, but that we might shine with the glory of the Son, so that our dark world might be illuminated and convinced of Your love. While deserving nothing in return from this world, I pray that You may be glorified through us today in many wonderful ways. AMEN!

Actions and Words That Glorify God

On 2019-08-21 By Ed AlgreenIn Glorify, Glory of God, God Cares For Us, God's Glory1 Comment

Wednesday, 2019-08-21

Bible Reference: 1 Corinthians 10:29-33
Translation: The Living Bible (TLB)

OBSERVATION: So often we tend to get caught up in our own stand on something, that we fight for, act up, and run over people in order to achieve what we believe to be the ‘perfect way’ or even at times, the ‘only way’! God is teaching us, through His servant Paul, that in all things we are to aim for others to glorify Christ because of our impact on their lives. I believe that our mean, selfish attitudes will disappear when we interact with others using this principal! Meditate with me as we consider the impact this could have on our lives, and in our life.

APPLICATION: To a very large extent we tend to build our lives around people who please us; who does life ‘our way’; and who has everything that makes us happy. Paul had to address this in the Corinthian church, and I believe that his teaching is included in the Word of God, because we need to be reminded of this today also. We still live in an imperfect world, and we still have a need to get over our selfishness. In this particular chapter Paul was addressing the subject of some being convinced that they could not eat certain foods, while others were quite OK with that and saw nothing wrong with it, nor how it might affect their relationship with God. Paul’s conviction was that we should be careful to do what pleases God, not just ourselves. In fact Paul directed us to do only those things that will glorify God, and that opens a much wider spectrum of principles that we should follow, including why and how should do things. This is supported by the wide variety of principles and characteristics that Jesus taught and modeled throughout His earthly ministry, for He ate with sinners, boldly taught opposing Pharisees and loved those whom He came into contact with. But let’s take the example of food that Paul taught about in this chapter. This still exists today, because there are some who feel like there are certain foods that would defile their bodies, and some even feel that this is based on Biblical references – and therefore may displease God. I believe that we are being taught to make every effort to please God in our lives, which may mean that our own convictions may need adjusting at times. We should never create animosity with a Brother or Sister who is trying to please God through what they eat. Unfortunately, we sometimes become so wrapped up in the unimportant aspects of a Christian’s personal beliefs and practices, that we lose sight of glorifying God in the moment in which we find ourselves. Friends, rather than trying to force others to eat what we eat or not, we’ve totally missed the point if we haven’t challenged them, or helped them grow in their personal relationship with God. The time we spend with individuals, should help them in their relationship with God, or at least challenge them to consider their own lives in the light of eternity. We must be careful to help someone draw close to God, rather than becoming a stumbling block to the very people we feel led to help. As a child of God, our aim should always be to please Him through the way that we live, not by trying to be ‘God’. Our path to living like a child of the King is very clear in His Word, let’s learn to live like that and rub off on as many as we can. Maybe at that point we might have more impact on the unbeliever also, for we will truly imitate our loving Lord, and act more like He intended. It’s all about God friend, not our personal ideals.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for loving us in spite of our silly personal ideals. Thank You for speaking through Paul to redirect our attention towards You instead of trying to impose our imperfections onto others. May our daily goal always be to please You in all that we do and say. To be more like You and to draw closer to You in every way. You have taught us to love everyone and to encourage them instead of tearing down and destroying. May we be more like You every day, and may it be evident to all that we come into contact with, is my humble plea that I ask for myself and as I encourage my readers to do the same also. For I ask this in the loving and awesome name of Jesus, AMEN!

Self Worth – Measured by Faith

On 2018-04-142022-04-14 By Ed AlgreenIn Faith, Glorify, Self-Discipline, Worth1 Comment

SCRIPTURE FROM: Romans 12:3 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

TEXT: ³I realize God has treated me with undeserved grace, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you.

OBSERVATION: Paul had encountered Christians who were so proud of their gifts and God-given abilities, that they were almost useless for kingdom work. Furthermore, I’m sure that Paul saw the need for us to measure our worth by something, otherwise everyone would be off the charts in their view of themselves. However, I found it very sobering at the command by Paul to assess ourselves based on the faith we feel blessed with. Let’s dig into this some more in the Application…..

APPLICATION: I believe that each of us can think of times that our faith was put to the test. So based on this Scripture, let’s now evaluate how well we did in that test, because after all, that determines our worth to God! I believe that Paul is telling us that we should never think more highly of ourselves than we should, but to always use sober judgment in evaluating ourselves. The faith referred to in this verse refers to the view that we take of our abilities. Friends, we are to always remember that the gifts we possess are God-given. So if there would be any glory due, we owe it all to Him. Furthermore, these gifts are given to bring blessings to others. Any gifts that we fail to look at in this way will bring pride to the individual, and will either not be used to bless others, or we may use them very selfishly and seek personal praise whenever we do use them. A good case in point might be a time when you acknowledged the talent of someone and saw so much pride in them that may have caused you to remark – if only they would use those gifts to the glory of God!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for forgiveness of sin, and thank You for seeing enough value in us to bless us with gifts that could be used for Your glory. Lord, please give us strength to remain humble and to pass any glory and praise straight up to You. Lord, please use us in miraculous ways so that others may see You, and learn about Your power and Your strength. We are mere vessels Lord, and we ask You to fill us and use us so that You may be glorified. 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 Sebring, 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!

Carefully Obey When The Master Calls

On 2017-10-182017-10-18 By Ed AlgreenIn Glorify, Learn from God, Teach1 Comment

Post Date:	Wednesday, 2017-10-18
SCRIPTURE
From:	John 6:43-45 (ERV)
Text:	⁴³But Jesus said, “Stop complaining to each other. ⁴⁴The Father is the one who sent me, and he is the one who brings people to me. I will raise them up on the last day. Anyone the Father does not bring to me cannot come to me. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets: ‘God will teach them all.’ People listen to the Father and learn from him. They are the ones who come to me.
OBSERVATION:
Jesus was accomplishing great things, and He had quite a following. This irritated the Jewish leaders and they began to have little conversations around the subject of ‘Who does Jesus think He is anyway’. Knowing their very thoughts, Jesus went on to explain the importance of really accepting Him and following Him in response to God’s call on a person’s life. Let’s have a closer look….
APPLICATION:
There are several reasons someone would follow a leader or sit under their teaching: To improve their personal skills, with hopes of one day becoming someone like the teacher; Improving personal skills to enhance their ability to help others; To discern missing attributes of their leadership skills. Spiritual skills and attributes of Jesus is often quite different, and more challenging, because the ways of Jesus is more often totally opposite to the ways of the world. This totally different concept is intentional, I believe, because our use of these added skills is for enrichment of the kingdom and not for any personal gain. Friends, I believe that it is important that we sense God’s leadership in ways that we can grow closer to Christ, learn more about Him, and seek to serve Him more faithfully through serving and encouraging others. This will bring glory to God as we encourage others to be more sensitive to the voice and will of God. Remember, those whom God calls to Himself will seek to learn more of Him and faithfully serve Him until the end. You are forced into learning at work, are you not anxious to learn more from Jesus for the advancement of the kingdom?
PRAYER:
Father in heaven, You designed us much like You, yet we easily allow the world to reshape us. Please touch Your children once again today and draw us unto the Son so that we may sit at His feet and drink from His fountain of knowledge. Lord we want to glorify You, and it is especially important to us to touch the lives of others so that they may be drawn to You also. Please lead us closer to the cross so that we may soak in every word that You would have us share with others who need You. May Your kingdom grow today as a result of Your mighty touch on the lives of Your children, 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!

The Basics Of Prayer

On 2016-05-202016-05-20 By Ed AlgreenIn Forgiveness, Glorify, Prayer, WorshipLeave a comment

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: Luke 11:2–4
Today’s Bible Text: Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this:
‘Father: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come. Give us day by day the food we need. Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong. And do not bring us to hard testing.’ ”
The Bible Translation: The Good news Translation (GNT)

My Take Away: There are some basic elements to this lesson from Jesus on how we should pray, that I believe, we should all pay close attention to, and incorporate into our prayer lives:

Father – Address the One to whom you are praying. This is not a general prayer to the church where you are asking for volunteers to help you with certain concerns of your life;
May Your holy name be honored – Our God is worthy, and is to be honored for the awesome God that He is. In spite of the most serious prayer concerns that we could possibly have for God, yet there is so much that we can recognize in His goodness and mercy towards us. Take time to glorify Him and worship Him;
May Your kingdom come – What’s your heart’s condition? Would you be ready to go with Him if His kingdom came today – if He came for you today?
Give us…, forgive us…. – Recognize that you are a needy person in desperate need of a most worthy God. Place your needs at His feet and ask His forgiveness for all your failures and shortcomings;
Forgive others – Recognize that you are asking God’s forgiveness because you have been faithful in forgiving others;
Hard testing – Know that the only thing that separates you from the challenges, trials and testing this world/Satan dishes out, is the grace of God. Ask for God’s strength to properly handle those things and to protect you from them. Remember, He is worthy!

Friends, I believe that many of you may struggle with how to pray. That’s not new, for Jesus responded to the same dilemma that His followers had – as in our subject verses today. I hope that this will help you.

Prayer: Praise God that we serve such an awesome, all-powerful God! Jesus, please touch our hearts again today as we deal with such elementary, yet very powerful, subjects as ‘prayer’. We are a needy people who desperately need an all powerful Savior to hold our hands and direct our thoughts, our actions and our words today. In thanksgiving, I ask these things for my readers and myself dear God, 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

Evidence of Our Righteousness

On 2016-05-172016-05-17 By Ed AlgreenIn Glorify, Obedience, Righteous Living, Righteousness, Worship2 Comments

Today’s Bible Reference: Isaiah 26:7–8
Today’s Bible Text: ⁷ But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. ⁸ LORD, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

My Take Away: I believe that first impressions of my subject may cause you to think that you can easily impress people (family, friends, loved ones, coworkers), so this act of being righteous has to be an easy challenge today. Well, if your heart is right and you are sincerely doing everything possible to exemplify Christ in every aspect of your life, then you may be right. I was challenged by the two simple ways Isaiah shared that we could show proof of our desire to be righteous:

Obeying God’s laws – friends I believe that our challenge with this, is in trying to get to the root of God’s intentions in His laws. Society, and yes many churches, have put their own spin on what the Word of God is actually saying to His people. Many ‘teachings’ tend to ‘water down’ the real intent of the scripture to something that man feels is possible or sounds most logical for followers. We must be sure that we are truly understanding the heart of God and His full intentions, for His ways are pure, true and righteous in every way. Let’s be careful to not sprinkle a little of our own philosophy into the Word to make it sound good or palatable. God gave His words to His messengers in precisely the way that He meant for us to understand and obey it. Our obedience to His laws, or His teachings, or His Word is evidence of our righteousness. Do I dare say that anything less is clear evidence of how messed up we truly are?
Our heart’s desire is to glorify God – We have no idea what kind of worshipping, or praising, or glorifying God takes place in the privacy of homes, or at our jobs, or other areas of our life, but may I dare suggest that from the evidence we see at church services, it’s probably very minimal? Some seem very excited about being at church on Sunday mornings and this reflects in their worship. Most seem to attend out of tradition; satisfying a spouse’s invitation/demands; and some just to say that they want the rest of their week to go well, so they give Jesus some time on Sundays. On Sunday evenings or Wednesday night prayer and Bible Study meetings churches might only see 20% of the Sunday morning crowd. I wonder whether our ‘desire’ is to glorify God. I wonder if we could join Isaiah in appearing before God on Judgment Day and asking Him to please consider our times of glorifying Him as evidence of our righteousness while on earth?

These are only two factors in evidencing our righteousness, but I believe they are huge ones. God knows our heart, regardless of what we might evidence before mankind. Draw me close to You dear Lord, never let me go. My heart’s desire is to know You and draw closer to You. Please touch the lives of those that will read this devotional today. May they draw ever so close to You and may their lives be filled with righteousness and servitude towards You dear Father.

Prayer: Lord, we commit ourselves to You and pray that Your Holy Spirit will constantly impress upon us the need for obedience to Your laws, and an undying desire to glorify You in all aspects of our life. AMEN!