Category: Godly actions

Blessed Are The Godly

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Godly actions, Godly example, Godly lives, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Worship2 Comments

DATE POSTED Monday, 2022-07-18
WRITTEN AT: O Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 97:10-12
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 10 You who love the Lord, hate evil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked.
11 Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right.
12 May all who are godly rejoice in the Lord and praise his holy name!

APPLICATION: Some of you reading this devotional today may not have made any spiritual decisions yet in your life. The bible teaches that you are an unbeliever, because you have chosen to ignore the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is impossible for you to fit the description of the righteous mentioned in our Scripture, because you have chosen to say no to the invitation by God to know Him and to live according to His example and His teachings. You cannot be right-with-God, or righteous, without a personal relationship with Him. Let me encourage you to continue reading my blog each day, because my whole purpose is to teach you about the Lord I love and adore, with hopes that you will one day hear His call on your life. Now to apply the actual teaching for today, I believe that the Holy Spirit, through the Psalmist, is convincing those of us that have accepted the Lord Jesus, and are striving to live a life patterned after His character and teachings, a few things worthy of our attention:
1. Hate evil – Evil is just the opposite to everything else that we read in the Bible, for we know full well that Jesus is LOVE and He teaches repeatedly that we are to love others, just as He has loved us. But I believe that God is saying that we should not live a double life. In other words, don’t say that you love God and everything He stands for, yet sit idly by and accept the evil that impacts our lives by the unrighteous. Furthermore, don’t promote the evil of the unrighteous by supporting their products and their habits. For example, the righteous may never consider entering into a prostitution house, but they will sit in the privacy of their own home and purchase, or watch a movie that promotes that lifestyle. If we are to hate evil, I believe that refers to evil in any form, not just that which we might be embarrassed for our friends to see us entering into;
2. God is our Protector and Rescuer – I love those movies where the super cops swoop in and rescues the good people caught under protest by the evil thuds! This is kind ‘a what I think of in this teaching by the Psalmist. I can only imagine a loving Father looking in on a situation where one of His children are being taken advantage of, abused, mistreated, cheated, or harmed by an evil man/woman. I could easily see God becoming a lot more protective than the most loving dad would do if he saw someone about to mistreat his daughter;
3. Our reward for living righteously – Light shines on the godly and joy is awarded in their hearts! Do you suppose that ‘light’ might be the light of the SON? Darkness brings despair and disappointment. Light brings joy, peace and everlasting hope. Our everlasting hope is in knowing that because of our relationship with the Lord Jesus, we will one day be with Him and the Father in heaven for all of eternity! Glory be to God forever and forever!
4. Our expectation in return – Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Let’s stop burying ourselves in disappointment like those without hope. Instead, let’s learn to praise God above all the heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: God rewards those who accept Him and are faithful in following His example and His teachings. Like our Father, God, let’s determine in ourselves to always hate evil.

PRAYER: Lord You are so good to us. From creation, to salvation, to eternal life with You and the Father in heaven, believers are blessed beyond our wildest imagination as to everything You have in store for us! Thank You loving Savior for watching over, protecting and keeping us until You return to take us home to glory. Please speak intently to the hearts of those who have shown no interest in knowing or accepting their Lord and Savior. May today be the day that they will hear Your voice and harken to Your call. Be glorified in everything accomplished by Your children today. May we always hate evil and promote our righteous 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!

Living A Godly Life

On By Ed AlgreenIn Godly actions, Godly lives, Like Jesus, SincereLeave a comment

Tuesday, 2019-02-19

Bible Reference: 2 Timothy 3:12
Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

Bible Text:  Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

APPLICATION:  On reading the subject of this devotional, one may have thought that our study might give reasons to worship today, because surely we could rejoicing over the joys of living a godly life! Yes, there is much to rejoice in as we, Christians, think about our eternal home in glory with our Master. However, what Paul is warning about in this short verse, is what we might expect to see while we remain here on earth. Of course you might respond that of course, we spread the joy of the Lord with everyone, and we worship and adore our Savior at every opportunity. As true as that may be friend, notice carefully the verbiage used by Paul, for he said that for us to live a ‘GODLY’ life, we should expect persecution. Living a ‘godly’ life means that you are not just going to obey the commands of God, but you have committed to study His Word carefully and then live your life patterned after Jesus. It means that your life will be so different to that of the general public, that they might look at you like you are really ‘strange’! Think about this friends, Jesus was not a ‘yes man’ to all that the Pharisees expected of Him, for He showed them the true meaning of unconditional love; of unselfish leadership; of placing others before themselves; of standing up for God in every aspect of life, even in our careers; and of changing certain rituals because they may not be aligned with the image or expectation of Jesus Christ. In short, Jesus upset the ‘apple cart’ every time He recognized wrong or ungodly living, regardless of who was caught in the crossfire. Let’s look at this from our current scenario. In almost every conversation with Christians, we recognize that we have mellowed a lot from the ways of our ancestors, because we have calculated that their ways were just too strict, or too literal, regarding Biblical teachings. We allow things in our churches now that were unheard of in the early church. When last have you heard of a summit where church leaders would humble themselves before God and surrender totally to His will for the churches they are leading? How long would church leaders be permitted to stay in their roles, if they returned from a conference and started making changes, because they felt God was wanting them to help steer His church back to Him? Are we ready to challenge our work bosses because we see the need to stand up for what we discern to be ungodly principles and/or practices? I don’t believe we will find anywhere in the Bible that Jesus caved in to the practices of the day because He was being too literal with the commands of His Father. If we have committed ourselves to live just like Jesus, should we cave in to worldly practices and demands? How will we explain that to God on Judgment Day? Although it is very easy to look at the general public and see the wrongs, and softening effects of the Gospel, I want to encourage each reader to look deeply inside of self, and examine yourself in light of the Gospel that you claim to be your guide. Allow God to speak into your life, will you?

PRAYER: Dear God, You have placed Your perfect Son before us so that we might have the pattern for life that would be pleasing to You. Yet, much like the Pharisees, we have designed our own pattern of living. Unfortunately not all aspects of our design meets the standards that were demonstrated by Jesus. Father, we want our lives and our churches to be aligned with You, yet we tend to place our own little spin to the truth You have taught us. Please forgive us for doubting; for changing Your ways to conform with the ways of this world; and for assuming Your role, when we should really be seeking Your face and Your will. To win the world for Jesus Christ, I feel like we should first be willing to demonstrate before them a sincere ‘godly’ life so that they can clearly see what they are committing to. Lord Jesus, please have Your will and Your way in the lives of Christians today, beginning with me. Please work miraculously in our churches so that we may truly be the cornerstone of Your worldwide mission to reach the lost while we wait for Your Big Day when You will come to take us home with You. I ask these things in the name of Jesus, AMEN!

2019

Faith-Like Actions

On By Ed AlgreenIn Actions, Faith, Faith in Action, Genuine Faith, Godly actionsLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE  FROM:   Hebrews 11:27-29 (VOICE)

TEXT:  27 By faith Moses left Egypt, unafraid of Pharaoh’s wrath and moving forward as though he could see the invisible God. 28 Through faith, he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of blood on the doorposts among the Hebrews so that the destroyer of the firstborn would pass over their homes without harming them. 29 By faith the people crossed through the Red Sea as if they were walking on dry land, although the pursuing Egyptian soldiers were drowned when they tried to follow.

OBSERVATION:   Our Scripture today comes from a chapter often referred to as the ‘Faith’ chapter, or about our ancestors from the ‘Faith Hall of Fame’. You and I tell our story every day, and those close to us probably have a lot to say about our qualities, our beliefs, our stubbornness, our points of persistence, and hopefully they could tell the world about our ‘faith’. This will be evident to them through our words, our actions, our strong beliefs and our persistence about things that may make no sense to anyone else at the time, other than God and us. I wonder what would be said about us? Is there evidence of faith, or not?

APPLICATION:   At a very early age we are taught about faith. Remember the time when dad stood you on a wall and then held his arms out for you to jump into? You showed faith in his ability to catch you, and his strength to not let you fall. Some of you attended church and was taught about Jesus. You believed at a very early age that Jesus loved you and considered you as His very own son or daughter. Your mother was seriously ill at one time, and you remember seeing the church leaders praying over her for healing, and you remember seeing those prayers answered. Never having seen Jesus in person, you exercised your faith to believe that He responded in the above scenarios. So in reading this Scripture today, you could share with others that although this Scripture tells about the faith of our ancestors, you also have personal experiences where you saw God at work! Friends, please notice how Moses showed his faith to hundreds of thousands as he obeyed God and led the Israelites out of Egypt, knowing full well how strong and mean the king was, and how he could have easily caught and destroyed many of the Israelites. Notice how the Israelites had a choice to make when they approached the Red Sea crossing and saw it flooded with water at one moment, then dried up the next. My wish for believers is that you and I will not only exercise our faith in God, but that our actions will encourage others to know what our God truly is capable of. Something that would cause the heads of unbelievers to turn from disbelief, to a heart of acceptance and appreciation for their Maker, Designer, Savior and Everlasting King of Glory. 

PRAYER:   Lord God, thank You for showing Your power to even us. Thank You for forgiveness of sin, and for accepting us as Your children. Thank You for the faith You have embedded into us, and the desire to please You in every way. Please continue to encourage us to surrender to self every day and to look constantly for ways to become closer aligned with You and Your perfect will for our lives. I believe this especially includes exercising our faith in You, so make us strong in this respect oh God, I pray. 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!

Living A Godly Life

On By Ed AlgreenIn Godly actions, Godly lives, Like Jesus, SincereLeave a comment

Arbuckle

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: 2 Timothy 3:12
Today’s Bible Text: Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

My Take Away: On reading the subject of this devotional, one may have thought that I would be giving you reasons to worship today, because surely I would be rejoicing over the joys of being a follower of Christ! And yes, there is much to rejoice in as we, Christians, think about our eternal home in glory with our Master. However, what Paul is warning about in this short verse, is what we might expect to see while Christian remains here on earth. Of course you might respond that of course, we spread the joy of the Lord with everyone, and we worship and adore our Savior at every opportunity. As true as that may be friend, notice carefully the verbiage used by Paul, for he said that for us to live a ‘GODLY’ life, we should expect persecution. Living a ‘godly’ life means that you are not just going to obey the commands of God, but you have committed to study His Word carefully and then live your life patterned after Jesus. Think about this friends, Jesus was not a ‘yes man’ to all that the Pharisees expected of Him, for He showed them the true meaning of unconditional love; of unselfish leadership; of placing others before themselves; of standing up for God, even if it may have damaged their political careers; and of changing certain rituals because they were not in the image or expectation of Jesus Christ. In short, Jesus upset the ‘apple cart’ every time He recognized wrong or ungodly living, regardless of who was caught in the crossfire. Let’s look at this from our current scenario. In almost every conversation with Christians, we recognize that we have mellowed a lot from the ways of our ancestors, because we have calculated that their ways were just too strict, or too literal of Biblical teachings. We allow things in our churches now that were unheard of in the early church. When last have you heard of a summit where church leaders would humble themselves before God and surrender totally to His will for the churches they are leading? How long would church leaders be permitted to stay in their roles, if they returned from a conference and started making changes, because they felt God was wanting them to help steer His church back to Him? Are we ready to challenge our work bosses because we see the need to stand up for what we discern to be ungodly principles and/or practices? I don’t believe we will find anywhere in the Bible that Jesus caved in to the practices of the day because He was being too literal with the commands of His Father. If we have committed ourselves to live just like Jesus, should we cave in to worldly practices and demands? How will we explain that to God on Judgment Day?

Prayer: Dear God, You have placed Your perfect Son before us so that we might have the pattern for life that would be pleasing to You. Yet, much like the Pharisees, we have designed our own pattern of living. Unfortunately not all aspects of our design meets the standards that were demonstrated by Jesus. Father, we want our lives and our churches to be aligned with You, yet we tend to place our own little spin to the perfections You have taught us. Please forgive us for doubting; for changing Your ways to conform with the ways of this world; and for assuming Your role, when we should really be seeking Your face and Your will. To win the world for Jesus Christ, I feel like we should first be willing to demonstrate before them a sincere ‘godly’ life so that they can clearly see what they are committing to. Lord Jesus, please have Your will and Your way in the lives of Christians today, beginning with me. Please work miraculously in our churches so that we may truly be the cornerstone of Your worldwide mission to reach the lost while we wait for Your Big Day when You will come to take us home with You. I ask these things in the name of Jesus, AMEN!

Footnote: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely to subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!

2016

Where Does Your Wisdom Come From?

On By Ed AlgreenIn Godly actions, Wisdom, Worldly actionsLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Easy-To-Read Version – James 3:13-18): 13 Are there any among you who are really wise and understanding? Then you should show your wisdom by living right. You should do what is good with humility. A wise person does not boast. 14 If you are selfish and have bitter jealousy in your hearts, you have no reason to boast. Your boasting is a lie that hides the truth. 15 That kind of “wisdom” does not come from God. That “wisdom” comes from the world. It is not spiritual. It is from the devil. 16 Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there will be confusion and every kind of evil. 17 But the wisdom that comes from God is like this: First, it is pure. It is also peaceful, gentle, and easy to please. This wisdom is always ready to help people who have trouble and to do good for others. This wisdom is always fair and honest. 18 People who work for peace in a peaceful way get the blessings that come from right living.

 

THOUGHTS: I praise God for the wisdom expressed through His servant-writers in the Bible! These few verses help us to identify which of our actions are Godly, and which are not. For certain actions reveal a Godly form while some actions show our old carnal ways. I know, some may think that because we are Christian, those carnal ways are gone. May I remind you that we are ‘a work in progress’, for as long as we are left here on this earth, Satan will give a constant fight to distract our walk for the Lord. So friends, have a look at the following list, taken straight from this scripture today, and based on your own actions, determine the source of your actions, and which ones you still need to seek God’s help with:

Worldly Actions Godly Actions
Boasting (a lie that hides the truth) Humility
Proud Pure wisdom
Selfish Peaceful
Jealousy Gentle
Instigator of Confusion Easy to please
Every kind of evil Always ready to help people in trouble
Doing good for others
Always fair
Always honest

Verse 18 tells us that as we seek God to help us attain the actions in the right column, we will receive true blessings! I would challenge my readers and myself to pray, and work diligently on eradicating our ‘Worldly Actions’ and to ‘press forward towards the goal’, as Paul said he was, to become more like our Savior every day, by living out ‘Godly Actions’. If we persist, then one day, with God’s help, we will consistently produce truly Godly Actions every day. Let’s strive to minimize Satan, and maximize God, in our lives every day!

 PRAYER: Lord, you never said that life here on this earth would be easy, but You clearly promised that You would always be with us! We know that You have the power to do ALL things, and we know that You have the power to overcome Satan. Please remind us of this any time we struggle with those actions listed in the left column above. I believe that You want us to succeed in being like You, and I know that You have the power over Satan, so Lord I ask that You strengthen us for every challenge. May it be obvious that You are in control as we show signs of success in these areas of our character. In the interim period, please teach us to be dependent on You as we strive to honor Your Word and be obedient to Your teaching. Help us to squish Satan and those worldly actions in our lives, so that we may be bold witnesses for You while permitted to stay here below. I ask these things in the precious name of Jesus, my 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, 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!