Category: Love

The Incomprehensible Love of God!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Love, Salvation, UnderstandingLeave 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: Psalm 103:8-16
Today’s Bible Text: 8 He is merciful and tender toward those who don’t deserve it; he is slow to get angry and full of kindness and love. 9 He never bears a grudge, nor remains angry forever. 10 He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins, 11 for his mercy toward those who fear and honor him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12 He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. 13 He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him. 14 For he knows we are but dust 15 and that our days are few and brief, like grass, like flowers, 16 blown by the wind and gone forever.
The Bible Translation: The Living Bible (TLB)

My Take Away: Because of the larger than normal chunk of verses, I won’t comment a lot in this devotional, but I just had to share with you how awesome the love of our God is! Notice that the Psalmist is awestruck by the incomprehensible love of the God of this universe. Notice that God is actively loving His children, even though He has to deal daily with the mess-ups and the tendency of His children to run from Him in spite of His great love. In fact, think about the cruel people, and the soldiers who beat Him, led Him up to the hill of Golgotha and hung Him on a wooden cross, like we would do to an animal we are about to slaughter. Yet Jesus loved those same soldiers enough that He never petitioned to His Father to strike them down or eliminate them, but He suffered and died for even their salvation. Friends, we have never seen love like this before! And this is not just a story from the greatest book ever written, for He loved even me and welcomed me into His family when I sought His forgiveness. He will do the same for you friend, no matter what you may be guilty of here in this life so far, connecting with our Savior and asking for His forgiveness will create in you a change that could only compare to the difference of darkness and light. Total transformation, but a very bright and promising one! Do you know this Savior of which I speak friend? Will you surrender to Him today, please? Read through my ‘Footnote’ for help and direct you in this very critical decision. Failing to do this, and remaining in your life of sin, will result in eternal damnation in the pits of Hell. This is all in the Book friend. The choice is yours, but the differences in your decision is eternal and totally opposite. I pray that you will make the wise and proper decision today, God being your helper and guide.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your perfect, sacrificial, eternal love for even me. Thank you for one day having prompted me with a message similar to the one presented here today. Please tender the hearts of those that I love and respect today, and the hearts of those reading this devotional. May they make a wise and permanent decision to accept Your offer of salvation today, for this is my humble prayer that I ask with thanksgiving, 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

Salvation, Contentment and Everlasting Life!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Commitment, Love, SurrenderLeave 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 Text:
1 Timothy 6:7-10 – 7 We didn’t bring anything into this world, and we won’t take anything with us when we leave. 8 So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes. 9 People who want to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. 10 The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain. (The Contemporary English Version).
Psalm 80:3 – Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. (New Living Translation).

My Take Away: In my New Testament reading today I felt compelled to ponder a while on the verses shared above from 1 Timothy 6. Then I was torn when I got to the Psalms and read the verse above, for the words in vs. 3 were  reemphasized/repeated in verse 7 and again in verse 19 of that Psalm. It then became clear that the Holy Spirit was actually guiding me to the answer to life’s dilemma that becomes man’s greatest frustration when he realizes that riches will not bring all of life’s answers and or happiness. You see, in the new testament verses, Paul was teaching Timothy to make sure that he really emphasized to the people that on the day they were born and on the day they die, their worldly worth is the same – nothing. So why make such a fuss over money during the short span in between the two events. In fact, in verse 10 Paul emphasizes that our love for money becomes so strong during our lifetimes, that it actually affects our walk, our relationships, and our ability to properly represent God. We often reflect on the simplicity of life in the days of our ancestors, and while they also had their own types of issues, we quickly discern that they had more time to fellowship with each other and show God’s love one for another. Friends, the real answer to our dilemma became evident in Psalm 80:3, for we desperately need to seek God’s face, allow His face to shine upon us, save us, and cause us to turn again to Himself. I believe it is only then that our minds will deflect the temptation to covet what our neighbor has, or to feel the need for more money in the bank as our only answer to survival now, and in the future. It’s all about God, friend! He was here from the beginning of our lives, He surrounded us with His love, protection and direction throughout our lives and He is available to lead us to our eternal home with Him, if we accept Him as Lord of our lives. There just is nothing more important than that friends! Look to my ‘Footnote’ for help on how to make this transition in your life, if you haven’t made a decision yet to accept Jesus as your Savior, for He is the answer to all of life’s questions and earthly challenges.

Prayer: Father God, You created this world, brought us into this world, provided for us and loved us beyond anything we could imagine, by sacrificing Your very own Son to die for us so that we might live in hope of one day returning to spend eternity with You in heaven. Please forgive us for the times we have really messed up and gone sideways on Your expectations of us. As the Psalmist penned in Psalm 80:3, please turn us again to Yourself and make your face to shine upon us again, so that we may be saved. Please reach into the hearts of the hardened ones that we know and love today. May they feel Your presence and be drawn to You with sincere and broken hearts. Thank You for loving us beyond anything we could imagine. May we surrender ourselves fully to You and love you with all the capacity that we could muster up, is my humble request today, 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

How To Control What You Receive

On By Ed AlgreenIn gifts, Giving, LoveLeave 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! Read on and be blessed friend!………

The Bible Text: 36 Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.37 “Do not judge others, and God will not judge you; do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you; forgive others, and God will forgive you.38 Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands – all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you.”
The Bible Reference: Luke 6:36-38
The Bible Translation: The Good News Translation (GNT)

My Take Away: Way too often we whine about how ‘lucky’ others are, and we may even complain about how little we receive. I believe in these verses we see some prerequisites in order to receive all the blessings that God might have in store for us. Here are some things we need to improve on, if we ever expect to receive the full extent of the blessings God has in store for us:

  • Be merciful just as, and because, God is merciful – This is powerful, because it does not clarify that we are to be merciful to only those who, we feel, deserve it. God made us all, and I don’t believe He created any distinction on who He would be merciful to. He expects the same from us, friends!
  • God will not judge or condemn us, if we simply practice the same restraint when dealing with others!
  • God will forgive us, if and when we forgive others!
  • God will give to us, as we give to others. – If we are stingy in our giving (monetarily or otherwise), then don’t expect a lot from God. However, if we give generously in response to the blessings that God  has blessed us with, then we can expect God to give generously in return to us. For it is the same measure that we use in our giving, that He will use to bless us in return.

Isn’t it neat that God has given us the rules and the conditions that control how generous He will be to us? Let’s dig deep into our hearts and evaluate whether we are doing all we can, to receive all we can from our generous and loving God!

Prayer: Father God, You are so good to us each and every day. I can’t imagine how You can possibly bless me more than You do already. But after reading these verses today, I am reminded that I do not give of myself or my other possessions, near as much as You bless me with each and every day. Thank You for reminding me and my readers about the importance of sharing our gifts with others. It’s all Yours Lord, as we would have nothing without You. Please help us to freely share all that has been freely given to us, and I thank You in advance for Your promise to shower even more upon us in return. I love You Lord for You are so gracious, loving and kind to all of Your children. May You be worshiped and praised in return this wonderful day, is my humble prayer that I ask 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

Who’s Holding Your Hand?

On By Ed AlgreenIn Guidance, Love, SecurityLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE ~ The Good News Translation (GNT) ~ Psalm 37:23-24 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

THOUGHTS: I heard an interview at one time that asked adult females why they were so attached to their fathers. The answers somewhat surprised me, because they were not geared towards the financial welfare or wisdom of their father, but rather around the comfort brought by just holding their hand in circumstances where they would have otherwise felt insecure. Notice that this scenario revolved around a relationship between father and daughter, but have you ever thought of God in that type of relationship with you? Have you ever thought about the comfort you receive when you are reminded that our great, big, wonderful God is in charge of this universe and yet He is intimately concerned about our well-being and our security? Friends, there is just one catch to this. God will not push Himself on anyone who has chosen to do this thing we call ‘life’ alone. For this verse, and many others, make it clear that God will take extra good care of those who have chosen to open their hearts to Him. But may I quickly caution you that this does not mean that you can just conveniently open your heart to Him when you are in trouble, for He desires to know you, and subsequently care for, and about you in all walks of life. Although it is clear in the Word that He will protect His own, I believe this also means that He will not barge in, or interfere with you, if you have personally chosen to reject Him or live your life without Him. BUT, for those of us who have chosen Jesus as our Master and Lord, the Psalmist is assuring us that ‘greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world’, for He delights in us and assures us that even if we stumble, we will never fail or fall, for the great God of this universe holds our hand! Friends, it is very obvious throughout the Word of God, that His children are the ‘apple of His eye’ and that He loves us, cares for us and will protect His own very carefully until the day we see Him face to face! That’s exciting and comforting for the Christian! This could be exciting and comforting for the non-Christian who humbles yourself and follow the suggestions in my ‘Footnote’ – but please make that decision TODAY, for there is no promise of life for tomorrow.

PRAYER: Father, we are such a blessed people. When we consider this huge universe, the sun, the moon, the planets, the whole concept of land, sea, skies and the air, who are we that a King would send His very own Son as a child to a mere human female, to be born in a stable, to perform endless miracles as proof of His power and relationship to God, then to die a cruel death on a cross – who are we that You would do all this in the name of love for Your children. Wow! Wow! Wow! This song of praise by David (in this Psalm) reminds us of how special we are in Your eyes, of Your love, of your protection and of Your concern for even us. Thank You Lord Jesus for still leaving the option open for those who are still uncommitted to You. Tomorrow we will celebrate Your birthday, I pray that our gift in return to You will be a total surrender of our lives to You, even if this may be a first time surrender for some. In deepest appreciation for all that You do for me and for who You are to me, Lord Jesus, I ask these things in honest humility and deepest gratitude, AMEN!

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

Christmas Love

On By Ed AlgreenIn Christmas, Love2 Comments

THE HOLY BIBLE – New International Version (NIV) ~ Psalm 36:5-7 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

THOUGHTS: I have a nephew who told my wife that he loved her “to the moon”! The Psalmist also resorted to sharing his love for God in similar measures. This is really amazing when you consider that most people will describe their love in terms of an arm’s length, or similar. I believe there are many times that we are so overwhelmed with God’s love that it may be challenging to describe the extent of our love. Challenging because we live in a world where children become fed up with the arguing and lack of love at home, so they leave with every intent never to return. Think about the broken marriages where one or both of the parties may have felt like the measurement of love for each other had dwindled past zero and gone into a negative measurement. A desperate feeling of hopelessness in consideration of love for each other. Now to the contrary, ponder with me about the love of God. The One who made everything, including you and I, yet when He saw that we were drifting away from Him (in sin), He decided to create the scene that we try to duplicate every year at Christmastime. Through the purity of a virgin girl, God caused His Son Jesus to be born for the purpose of being the ultimate sacrifice that would clear the veil that separates sin from purity; righteousness; faithfulness; justice and unfailing love – God Himself. In fact, this is what our Christmas celebration should be all about! Celebrating the greatest gift ever given for the greatest sacrifice ever imagined. Love beyond any possible measurement or description. Love for the undeserving – you and me. Wouldn’t it be great for us to say in our Christmas card this year that: following in the example of Jesus Christ, we are sending our sacrificial love so that the recipient might enjoy life to the fullest at Christmas time and throughout the New year? I trust that this year we might be able to step back and ponder, like David, how immeasurable the love, faithfulness, righteousness and justice of Jesus has really been to us, and in doing so, look for new ways to appreciate the love of our awesome God that created the Christ of Christmas!

PRAYER: To the God of immeasurable love, we say thank You, for Your love reaches way into the heavens. Lord, may we catch a glimpse of the baby in the manger this Christmas way more than the gifts around the Christmas tree. Gifts come and go, but the baby born to Mary was sent out of love for each of us. I pray that we may not only concentrate on the core reason for our celebration, but that we may express our thanksgiving from the depths of our heart. Lord, I pray that each home celebrating this Christmas will also find ways to return their love to God in appreciations for all that His Son went through for our benefit. Thank You for Your incredible love for us Lord Jesus. May we love and appreciate You in return, is my humble prayer this Christmas, that I ask 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 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!

If…, Then…, Else…

On By Ed AlgreenIn Conditional, Love, ObedienceLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – New Living Translation (NLT) ~ Deuteronomy 11:13-17 “If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, then he will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil. He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat. “But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other gods. If you do, the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the Lord is giving you.

THOUGHTS: In programming and even in the simplest spreadsheet programs there is something called a ‘conditional’ formula, when you can have a cell where the content will be the result is based on the condition and content of one or more other cells or constants. Please don’t give up and wander away from this devotional based on my chatter about my work, but this formula popped off the pages to me in this passage of scripture relaying what Moses told the Israelites centuries ago. Notice I changed the color of the font on ‘If‘, ‘Then‘ and ‘If you do/Else‘, so that you can see where my ‘techie’ mind went when I read this. Friends, I believe that it is very important that we keep similar thoughts in mind as we read the scripture, because we read a lot about how good God is and how good He will be, if we do certain things. I would encourage you to always look for the ‘Else’ in every instance, or the ‘what if’ I don’t do what God is insisting throughout the scripture. Often the impact will be greater for us when we understand the ‘what if I don’t’ repercussions, than anything else. Moses warned his people that as they entered their Promised Land given to them by God, that:

  • If they carefully obeyed and served God alone with all their heart, soul and mind,
  • Then God’s blessings would be showered on them through bumper crops, lush pastureland and great food to eat,
  • Else God’s anger will burn against them, the rain will stop, the harvest will stop and they would quickly die.

Friends, I saw this as a warning to us, for I believe that God is getting our attention to understand that yes, He is a loving and all powerful God who will do everything for us, but:

  • If we fail to be the children He designed us to be and continue in disobedience, and follow the ways of man instead of the commands of God,
  • Then we should realize that we have chosen our own path in life that can only lead to eternal damnation,
  • Else we must continue to seek God’s face, stay closely in tuned with His Word, obey His commands and enjoy His immense blessings that He has in store for us, and prepare for the eternal home that He has prepared for us in Heaven!

Find yourself in this If, Then, Else formula friend, and be prepared to talk with God about helping you attain a close and intimate walk with Him so that He might fulfil all that He has in store for you, His beloved child.

PRAYER: Lord God, thank You for showing us in Your Word where You came through time and time again for Your children. Thank You for the assurance that You will come through for us, if only we would be obedient to Your instructions given for our benefit. I believe that You have so much in store for us that our minds could never comprehend the awesome love that You are waiting to pour out on us. The formula for us to receive Your blessing is all outlined in Your Word. Lord may we be found obedient and pleasing in Your sight, is my simple prayer today, and I ask this in the precious name of Jesus my loving Lord, AMEN!

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

Pass It On

On By Ed AlgreenIn Evangelism, Love, Pass It OnLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – Deuteronomy 4 ~ Contemporary English Version (CEV) ~ 9 You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well. 

THOUGHTS: Moses was preparing to see his people, whom he faithfully trusted in God to lead out of Egypt over the past 40 years, now he was about to witness them drift off into the land promised to them by God, but without him (Moses)! An exciting moment, but think about how cautious you were when your young adult was about to leave the nest and move out into this big world on their own. Think about the cautions and precautions you tried to cram in at the last minute to make sure that your young adult stayed on track and continued the legacy that you had taught them for the past two decades. Friends, this is a normal part of the cycle of life, for we all reach a time in our life where something had a major impact on our lives, and we have to decide how, or whether we will allow that thing to impact our lives for good. When God created us, He gave us the option of personal choice. Like in the case of our children, God expects that we would take our encounter with Him and allow it to positively impact our lives to the extent that our lives would be changed forever. Fortunately, this is true for many, but for some, unfortunately they brush off the powerful hand of God and decide to do life on their own. For those of us who accepted Jesus as Lord of our lives, we were/are faced with the same challenge as the Israelites faced when they were about to leave the guidance, protection, encouragement and direction of their leader. We must decide what we will do to stay confident in our faith, and we must decide whether we keep this miracle to ourselves. Friends, how will others know, if we don’t tell them? What will help us keep the faith during challenging times, if we don’t keep reminding ourselves of the God who impacted our lives, or look for encouragement of another like person who is going through tremendously good times of answered prayer at that very moment? Unless we do this, Satan will quickly find a very vulnerable opportunity to batter and bombard us with disappointment and disillusionment. This is exactly the reason why it is so important for us to share the experiences of our walk with the Lord. It could very easily make all the difference in the world in the life of one who is down and out. It could make all the difference in the world to one is has only known or witnessed the very negative aspects of life. Your child(ren) will grow up facing the challenges of life using the principles of life that you have taught them – good or bad. Are you currently passing on the good news of the Savior who rescued you from sin and giving you daily strength and encouragement to face every day? Please don’t leave it for the ‘other person’ to do this for you. God has placed us individually where He wants us. We know all too well that He still has a lot to do in this old wicked world. Be reminded that we are His servants with grave responsibilities to ‘Pass it On’ – the wonderful and blessed good news of the One that help us through each and every day.

PRAYER: Just as it only takes a spark to get a fire going, so it could be in the life of one who is lost, if we open our mouths and share the love of our Savior with that lost person. Father, I believe that we need to do this under the inspiration and help of Your Sweet Holy Spirit though, as we want the weaker ones to be inspired by You and not any pretense of our own. Lead us and guide us dear Lord, so that we may pass on the legacy of all the miracles You have performed in our lives, especially the miracle of new birth. Lord, may You therefore impact lives for Yourself through our lives. Thank You Father for loving even me. Please help me to pass Your precious love along to others. For I ask this in and through the precious 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 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!

Love Is….

On By Ed AlgreenIn Imitator of Christ, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – 4 Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or 5 rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. 6 Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. 7 Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. 8 Love never fails! ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ~ The Contemporary English Version (CEV)

THOUGHTS: This scripture will probably sound very familiar to you, because you either heard it read at your wedding, or at a wedding ceremony where you were in attendance. Yes, I agree that this whole chapter, known as the ‘Love’ chapter, very much applies to a couple either considering marriage or may even serve as a commitment for a couple making a lifetime commitment based on the love that they share for each other. This actually hit me a little differently as I meditated on this passage this morning, and it is from this perspective that I would like to share a few words with you today. God is the greatest demonstrator of love – to the extent that He is even referred to as ‘love’ in the Biblical phrase “God is ‘love’“. So considering that He sent His Son as our example of His love for us, and if everything ‘Love’ did while here on earth represents ‘love’ in its truest form, should we not be following His example? If we expect to be ‘little Christs’, then we must closely study what Christ himself did, and what He stood for. Don’t you know that we must always question our motives or even our relationship with the Lord when we realize that we are being: unkind; impatient; jealous; boastful; rude; selfish; quick tempered; keeping records of the wrongs other do; despising the truth; rejoicing in evil; unsupportive; disloyal; mistrusting and always failing in our commitments and love towards others? Friends, these actions are more characteristic of the enemy (Satan), so can we truly convince the world that we are a child of the King of all kings, when we act like that? May I challenge you to review your actions after your events of today and talk it over with God, so He could open your eyes to whether you represented His characteristic of ‘Love’, or whether it was probably pretty obvious to everyone who controls your life? This could result in a pretty sobering turn around in your life, all because of ‘LOVE’. I trust that it will be evident to the world whose you are by the love that you show towards God and mankind each day!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, loving Savior, thank You for the ultimate love that You demonstrated on the cross so that we may know You – that we may know the essence of ‘Love’. Lord, Your Word is clear that we must demonstrate all that You have taught us so that the world might see You in all that we are and in all that we say. May this be a day that Your children will make it obvious to the world, that they are Yours and may it be proven through our words, actions and love. Thank You Father for first loving us! Now, may we carry on that tradition by loving all that we come into contact with! I ask these things in all sincerity and through the loving name of Jesus, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com 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!

Jesus Will Never Give Up On You!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Jesus Loves you, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – 7–9 Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that. ~ 1 Corinthians 1:7-9 ~ The Message (MSG)

THOUGHTS: I am excited in being reminded of how special I am in God’s eyes! Wow!! But I am not alone in this, for this scripture refers to the special provisions for all those who have accepted Jesus as Savior. That’s you Brother, and yes, you Sister! Now because I believe it is just like God to provoke someone to read this devotional today who is incapable of understanding the same joy in this passage that I find, I would ask that you kindly allow me to highly recommend that you contact me, or any other Bible believing Christian, so we could introduce you to the author of the book from which I extracted these verses. He’s the One referred to throughout these verses as the provider of all good and perfect gifts in store for those who have called on Jesus and surrendered their lives to His care. Friends, I could never expect to benefit from the estate of a very rich unknown person, because I am not a son. In other words, I’m a stranger. However, for those of us that have accepted Jesus as Savior, we are sons and daughters of the King. So these are some of the exciting promises found in just this small clip from His Word:

  • We are in need of nothing!
  • God has provided for our every need until He returns to take us home to glory with him!
  • We have reason to be excited about our future, in spite of how dismal things may appear here on planet earth, for our Lord will come back for us to take us out of this evil world, to join Him in the glories of heaven, in just the right time!
  • Our Savior will NEVER GIVE UP ON US!!!!

To my friends who can’t expect to benefit from this wonderful promise because you are a stranger, and not a part of the family of God, may I remind you that as long as you have breath – and know that you have absolutely no promise of your next breath, but while you can, please consider reaching out to Jesus, asking for His forgiveness of your sin, and ask to become a part of His intimate well-loved family. Jesus has a soft heart for sinners who want to sincerely make a change in their lives. He sacrificed His life so that all who asks may become children of God, so of course that includes you! He has not given up on you friend! This can be the most exciting Thanksgiving for you and your family! Please consider becoming part of the family of God.

PRAYER: Father, what an awesome privilege to call You ‘Father’! Thank You for accepting me as an integral part of Your family! Thank You for all of the promises wrapped up in these verses! Who is mere man that You should be so loving and kind to us? We’ll never know, but thank You for loving us anyway Jesus! Lord, I believe that there are many that will quickly read over this devotional whose ‘love tank’ is probably sucking air, because they don’t feel at all loved by You, or anyone. I pray that You would use the words of Your servant above to trigger a change in the heart of a reader today, or of a family member because of the prayers of Your children. Thank You for being my Father, my Savior and my Redeemer. To God be all the glory, honor and power in my life today, AMEN!

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

How Dare You Criticize The Man of God

On By Ed AlgreenIn Church Leaders, Love, Obedience, RespectLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – Numbers 12:5-10 – The New Living Translation (NLT): 5 …the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward. 6 And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say: If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. 7 But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. 8 I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?” 9 The Lord was very angry with them, and he departed. 10 As the cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from leprosy.

THOUGHTS: I would strongly encourage you to read the short chapter from which this scripture reference was taken, for it had a profound impact on me. Click on the scripture reference above and you will be taken to a place where you could read all 16 verses. You will get a better understanding in verse 3 why God took such a fierce stand against the sister and brother of Moses, for the Word declares that Moses was the most humble man on earth at the time. I believe this was included to help us understand that Moses would probably have loved his siblings regardless of what they may have said about him. What a humbling honor to be considered as the humblest man on earth, wow! Does that not automatically cause us to question ourselves and what we might do to be more humble in God’s eyes? However, this criticizing of God’s servant, truly angered God, and He dealt with it head on, and severely. He had Moses and his siblings go to the tabernacle, and there He called Miriam and Aaron to step forward as He was about to speak directly to them, and He wanted Moses to witness this. Friends, I want you to read verses 6 through 8 and imagine yourself in place of Miriam and Aaron for anything derogatory you may have spoken or thought about your Pastor or other called church leader. Don’t you know that these men have sacrificed their entire lives to any possible worldly success, when they surrendered to the call of Christ to serve Him in the positions He has blessed them with? Are we then not like Miriam and Aaron, where we are criticizing God for the man He has placed as His leader in our local assemblies? I would strongly caution you that we had better be very careful to pray for our leaders and their humbleness to closely obey God’s commands for His local church. Notice that there is no indication that Moses complained to God about the bad things his siblings were saying. God knew their hearts, He heard their words, and He subsequently reacted very harshly – not just with a tongue lashing, but actually imposed the ringleader (Miriam) with leprosy, which caused her to be placed outside of the camp (city) for 7 days, even in spite of Moses’ plea with God to heal her. Friends, we must learn from this that we must respect God and His called representatives – our church leaders. We must also learn that God loves His humble servants so much that He will stand in the gap for them. So if you are a called person of God and reading this devotional, please know that God has your back. Be committed to Him and serve Him faithfully, knowing that He will take care of the back-biting, gossip and ridicule. If God has truly placed you as His leader to His people, it is He who is more hurt by the backlash from His people, as they are really questioning His authority. May we all be found faithful and true to our Master, until the day He calls us home to glory!

PRAYER: Lord God, Almighty Father, thank You for the picture of love for Your humble servant, and the reassurance that there is no reason why You would still not protect Your servants even today. It is so easy to get caught up in complaining or whining about our leaders, especially when they don’t pat our backs just right, or say the things that we like to hear. Please help us to stay focused on Your Word, for I believe that as we do, then we will appreciate the words from the leaders You have placed in charge of ministering to us. Please teach us to be humble like Your servant Moses, and also teach us to follow Your pattern of obedience when it comes to our spiritual leaders. As church leaders, we badly need encouragement for boldness before Your people, yet humbleness to always seek Your face so that we can seek Your favor for Your people. As followers of Christ, please help us to always pray for, and encourage our church leaders as they seek to obey You and follow Your commands for our respective churches. You are holy and deserving of our praise, worship and honor, and when we do this, perhaps we won’t have time to ridicule and/or gossip about our Brothers and Sisters! I love You lord for who You are, and I ask these things in faith and in the name of Jesus my Savior, 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 www.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!