The Royal Law

On 2015-05-122015-05-12 By Ed AlgreenIn Love, Seek God First, UnconditionalLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – James 2:8-9): ⁸ You will do all right, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves. ⁹ But if you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned.

THOUGHTS: Some translations refer to the law, or rule, mentioned in verse 8 as the ‘royal law’, meaning that it was issued for kingdom heirs by the King of this universe, or the King of all kings. The reason why I feel James sums up a lot of scripture in these 2 verses, is because we who know Jesus as Lord; the love He extended on Calvary as a sacrifice for our sin; the love extended when He healed the sick and brought the dead back to life; it is that kind of love and power that will cause us to walk aright and love those who seem impossible to love. So yes, a lot of the laws of God can be summed up into this one law, if we:

Know the source of love itself and the One who first illustrated sacrificial and unconditional love for us;
Stay in the Word of God so that we can learn it and seek to live it out every day;
Realize and acknowledge that Jesus demonstrated real love, and as His replicas, His children, His disciples, we must strive to live as He lived;
Stay attuned to the scripture: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all other needs will be met’. Live with that priority in mind, and like we really believe that He will meet our needs;
Wait for God to accomplish His will in our lives and work out His righteousness in all that we are, or need to be, in order to look like Him.

Unfortunately, verse 9 teaches that if we fail to do the above, we have sinned. I would challenge you to strive to be more like Jesus every day. Then you will quickly realize that you are no less than anyone else, or no better than the rest, for God will place you on a level playing field where you can be effective for Him.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You did it right, for You loved the rich and the lowliest persons on earth. Why, You even loved me enough that You would have still gone to the cross if only I needed to see the way to Your Father. When I accepted You as Savior and Lord, I committed to live my life as You demonstrated for me while here on this earth – as detailed in Your Word. I believe that many friends will read this devotional today and would acknowledge their faith in You also. However they, nor I would dare say that we can live the pure and righteous life that You lived. In fact, James has challenged us to love each other as much as we love ourselves. We need Your help with this Jesus. Please help us to keep our eyes fixed on You and to allow You control over our lives. Help us to unselfishly love others because You first loves us, and not for what we might receive in return. I humbly ask this in Your precious name, dear Jesus, and for Your glory that might be revealed through me, 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!

Through Godly Eyes

On 2015-05-112015-05-11 By Ed AlgreenIn Love, UnconditionalLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Living Bible – James 2:1-4): ¹ ….how can you claim that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, if you show favoritism to rich people and look down on poor people? ² If a man comes into your church dressed in expensive clothes and with valuable gold rings on his fingers, and at the same moment another man comes in who is poor and dressed in threadbare clothes, ³ and you make a lot of fuss over the rich man and give him the best seat in the house and say to the poor man, “You can stand over there if you like or else sit on the floor”—well, ⁴ judging a man by his wealth shows that you are guided by wrong motives.

THOUGHTS: I would imagine that the title alone might draw attention thinking that perhaps I would address various sins that might be acceptable to God. No that would never happen, because God makes it clear in His Word that He hates sin. However, there are certain actions we are guilty of that reveals our ugly motives and ultimately leads to sin. Often Satan will place the thought of greed and self-promotion in our hearts and we easily concede to sin. The example given in this scripture today is still very real today, but I want us to examine what might be the motive behind it. We are still recovering from a fairly challenging financial depression, where we have seen a number of churches close their doors and/or reduce staff in order to survive the financial crisis. Church treasurers are excited to see new tithers enter their church, and they morn the departure of those that faithfully give financially. Churches are called on more than ever before to help poor families who may have lost jobs and/or faced crucial financial challenges that have really impacted their homes. If this kind of information is well known to church leaders, how do you suppose they would react to a well-known rich person visiting their church, versus a struggling family who may have to call on the church for help? If we do this in our churches, don’t you know that we do this in every phase of our lives? Will you prepare your home as nicely to receive a humble clerk from your employment for dinner, as you would the CEO? In our scripture we see where God gave James insight into this by challenging us to think about our motives behind the ways that we treat people from various walks of life. Friends, we should never treat someone based on their financial status, or the color of their skin, or their social status in society. These are worldly statuses we have given to each other, because all God sees is a sinner in need of His grace. He will save the poor person as quickly as He would a rich person. Because all are simply children made by God, He loves the rich person as much as He does the poor person. If we are to be just like our Father, why would we act any differently that He? Let us learn to love one another, without regard to their social or financial status, friend!

PRAYER: Lord, I need to love my CEO as much as I love my lowliest co-worker. They both were designed by You and they both need You as their Savior to be acceptable into heaven. I believe that You love us as much today, with all that we have attached to ourselves from this old world, as You did the day You released us from our mother’s womb. For worldly attachments will remain, and only those basic things created and blessed by You will rise to meet You in the air. I pray that You will help us to rid ourselves of prejudices and wrong motives. Please help us to see Your children for who they are, not for what they have become throughout their lifetime here on earth. Financial gains as well as poverty will remain, but our hearts, souls and minds will all look the same as we enter Your kingdom. Please help us to see each other in this form while we remain on earth, so that when we rise to meet You we can lock arms with people of every nation, social status or walk of life – all children saved by Your wonder grace. Please help us to look at others through Your lens today and see folk in need of our Savior, or celebrate with them as children already saved by Your grace. I ask this in the powerful and almighty name of Jesus, AMEN!

Actionable Reminders

On 2015-05-042015-05-04 By Ed AlgreenIn Example, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Good News Translation – Hebrews 13:1-3): ¹Keep on loving one another as Christian brothers and sisters. ²Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it. ³Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. Remember those who are suffering, as though you were suffering as they are.

THOUGHTS: In this chapter of Hebrews, we are being reminded what followers of Christ should look like in our everyday life. In these chosen verses, we can see where the following is dealt with:

Love one for another (especially our Christian Brothers and Sisters) – I believe that this is totally related to the extent to which we love our Savior. For when we are totally in love with the Creator, how can we but love all that He has created;
Hospitality – While we often look at Genesis 18 when we see Abraham entertaining angels, I believe it would be good for us to look at this from the point of view of the stranger also. What impression did the stranger get of God when he visited our home? Was he rejected because of the smell or looks of the stranger, or was this stranger accepted in the same love that Christ showed to us when, in spite of His awesome power to overcome, yet He accepted the cross for ‘low-lives’ such as us – sinners;
Those who are in prison – we are to remember them as if we were right there with them. Too often we say that we know how someone feels, and we might be tempted to say the same thing about someone in prison. But we are instructed to remember them as if we were there ourselves. This tells me that I should visit the prison and understand what it is like to live in there so that I could truly remember my incarcerated friend and truly identify with his needs and his hurts – or perhaps his victories;
Those who are suffering – This especially refers to those who are suffering for their testimonies. Paul was beat and imprisoned for his testimony, and no doubt this is still happening to our Brothers and Sisters who minister in troubling parts of the world. We are instructed to imagine that we are right there with them. So let us pay more attention to that missionary who visits our church next time and tries to tell us what it is like in the part of the world in which they are ministering. Let’s try to identify with them so we could truly feel what they feel and adequately pray for them.

PRAYER: How easy it is for us to fall into the trap of our own little ‘world’, where everything may be going along well. However, Father God, You have shown us through Your Word today that for Your children to truly follow in Your footsteps, we are to love like You loved, and feel empathy for our Brothers and Sisters who might be going through something totally foreign to us. Please tender our hearts oh Lord, and help us to make every effort to identify with each other – or show that we care about them, so that we may more diligently pray for them, meet their needs and/or love them unconditionally like You first loved us. Please bless those who will meditate on this devotional. Draw them closer to You dear God, so that they may desire to know and love their family and friends in such a way that the love of God would be evident to them. These blessings I plead before You in the name of Jesus, Your Son – my redeemer and King, AMEN!

The Facilitator – From Unrighteous to Holy

On 2015-04-162015-04-16 By Ed AlgreenIn Forgiveness, Love, SacrificeLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Message – Hebrews 9:11-14): But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out.

THOUGHTS: In the beginning books of the Bible we see where there were many examples of sacrifices of animals for the forgiveness of sin. We also see where this was pretty much a routine or a tradition, that did absolutely nothing towards bringing the individual closer to the God of this universe. In His infinite wisdom, God saw that this was not working, so He sent His precious, only Son into the world through miraculous means, with an awesome, miraculous kingdom agenda of being the ultimate sacrifice for mankind – the only channel available for leading the unrighteous to the Righteous One, God! Friends, I really want you to grasp the depth of love by our Maker in this scripture today. Imagine, He created us to worship Him. We saw no importance in this, so we went our own way and did our own thing. Our ancestors felt such grief and remorse for their sin, that they followed with a sacrifice of something near and dear to them, as a blood offering in lieu of their ugly sin, hoping that God, or sometimes ‘the gods’ would accept their sacrifice and see fit to forgive them of their sin. God saw this was not working as a long term goal towards drawing His children to Himself, so He intervened and sent His Son, Jesus, as a once for all sacrifice for the sin of those who simply accept Him as Lord. Jesus, became the facilitator for us who would forgive us of our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness so that we might stand before God as one who has been made whole, or eternally ‘clean’! Yes, we have an Advocate who has bridged the gap between our sinful nature and our Holy God! Where do you stand today friend? Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sin and bridge the gap for you? The Bible says that He will accept you just as you are and whomever you are, for all are welcome (John 3:16). Please consider surrendering to the One who sacrificed His very life for the forgiveness of your sin.

PRAYER: Praise the wonderful name of Jesus for your sacrifice on the cross for my sin, and the sin of all those who will read this devotional today! As I am reminded of the purpose and the ultimate sacrifice made on my behalf, I am eternally grateful and, considered blessed by the amazing love of my Father. I sincerely pray for all who will be reminded of this today, and ask that you humble their hearts so that they might actually see beyond their selfish desires and sin, and actually see the love of the Savior who sacrificed Himself so that we all might live eternally. May this be a day of surrender by folk who are ready to accept the love and sacrifice made available to them? I would be eternally thankful Father! I ask all these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus, AMEN!

Let No Wedge Come Between Us

On 2015-04-152015-04-15 By Ed AlgreenIn Hope, Joy, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Message – Romans 8:31-35): So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture

THOUGHTS: I believe that it is clear in God’s Word that His children, you and I, are very special in His eyes, and that there is nothing that He wouldn’t do to prove His love for us! His protection over us, and His desire to see us succeed in every way, is beyond compare and serves to help us in overcoming life’s challenges as we head towards the prize – eternal life in the presence of the Master! I found the words chosen in about verse 34 very interesting, and eye-opening, as the Word declares that no one will be able to place a wedge between the love Christ has for us! Isn’t it almost ‘a stab in the back’ for us with the Word declaring that we will fail, but there is nothing that can interfere with the love that Jesus declares for us! It is sad to acknowledge that we are so capable of failing, but praise God we are reassured from His Word that in Christ we can do all things, and that there is nothing that He can’t do for us when we ask Him, in faith, believing in His powerful name. So friends, I believe it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge our weaknesses, and for those of us who know Jesus as Lord, we are to surrender to His authority, and accept His help to overcome life’s obstacles and obstructions that tend to interfere and/or weaken our walk with the Lord. It is proven that He can help us, and see us through our worldly desires and fleshly mistakes. We just have to be humble enough to ask for His guidance and His help. We are the weakest link in our love relationship with Christ, but under His authority and awesome power, we can do all things. Let’s be willing to surrender ourselves to Him friend. Let’s tighten up that weakest link with the power of the Almighty God! Perhaps then we can conclude the verse above by not only agreeing that God will prevent a wedge from being placed between His relationship with us, but also assured that the weakness we have surrendered to Him will be buttoned up and secured in our relationship with Him also!

PRAYER: Dear Father, I come before You ashamedly, knowing full well that there is so much in this old world that distracts my walk with You and subsequently affects my love for You. I am super excited to acknowledge Your everlasting love for me and Your assurance that nothing will ever affect that awesome love that You have for me. Based on promises in Your Word, which I know that You cannot break, I now can confidently place my faith and trust in You, believing that You will hear my cry for help in maintaining my love for You also, so that that nothing will divide or interfere with that precious love I have for You. In this life we face many disappointments, and often broken promises will serve to break our joy and our trust in fellow humans. What an encouragement and a joy to know that You, dear Jesus, are constant, and always sincere in what You have promised and in all that You deliver. Thank You for being my Joy, my Peace and my everlasting King! Please reassure my readers with this same reminder today so that they might rise above the fears and disappointments of this world, and look forward to the joy in the life that follows with You! I ask this in the wonderful name of Jesus, AMEN!

Careful Not To Show Impartiality

On 2015-04-132015-04-13 By Ed AlgreenIn Forgiveness, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – James 2:1-4): ¹ My friends, if you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you won’t treat some people better than others. ² Suppose a rich person wearing fancy clothes and a gold ring comes to one of your meetings. And suppose a poor person dressed in worn-out clothes also comes. ³ You must not give the best seat to the one in fancy clothes and tell the one who is poor to stand at the side or sit on the floor. ⁴ That is the same as saying that some people are better than others, and you would be acting like a crooked judge.

THOUGHTS: I love the way that Jesus showed equal love and respect for people from all walks of life while He was here on earth in person! I love the way that He saw no difference in mankind when He surrendered to the call on His life and was crucified at mount Calvary for our sin! I love the way that He performed miracles on mankind, without first requiring knowledge about the family background, or a reference on their financial worth! He invited us all to share in the joy of an awesome Savior who now sits in the highest possible position – at the side of the King of this universe and God over all creation! Jesus demonstrated impartiality to everyone He came into contact with, and in spite of their partiality one to another. Friends, this is the same Jesus that we are to imitate as we take on our respective roles in our homes, our work, our churches and in our community. Jesus didn’t just say that He must be impartial one to another, He demonstrated it and set the example for us. Imagine for a moment a piece of clay, molded by its potter, complaining about certain aspects of another molded object? Imagine any object created by that potter refusing to appreciate any other design by that potter because of it being marred in any way, or painted a different color, or contains certain imperfections to the naked eye? May sound silly, but isn’t that the same that God sees when we ‘act up’, segregate and place certain conditions and/or qualifications on those that we allow into our circle of friends and/or that we consider worthy of our affiliation? Praise the wonderful name of Jesus, that He didn’t brush aside short people, or handicapped folk or even those who interprets His Word differently on some things than He actually intended. Praise God that He sacrificed His only Son, so that ‘WHO-SO-EVER’ believes on His Son and acknowledges Him as Lord, will be saved and will live eternally in heaven with Him. Friend, praise God that means me! That means You! That means that very challenging relative that you may have given up hope on! That means ‘ALL’ who surrenders! That means hope for even the one who feels hopeless! That means that we who have seen this great Light and have accepted the free gift offered by this wonderful God of ours, are to be images of this Jesus that we have accepted as Lord, and that we are to live and act with the same impartiality as He did. Let’s love as Jesus did …. without partiality! If challenged by this, let’s return to the foot of the cross and ensure that we ARE one with Jesus, and that He controls our very nature and all aspects of our life, especially our sinful prejudices.

PRAYER: Dear God, please forgive us for lifting ourselves above others You have created equally. We realize that we are from the same clay that You created them from. We are reminded that You sent Your Son so that all who call on His name would be saved – no exceptions and no prequalifiers, for we are equal at the foot of the cross. We all come as sinners, in need of a Savior. Because You have promised to receive us and forgive us, please help us that we will do the same with those that we come into contact with. Lord You are good, and we appreciate your impartiality and Your willingness to accept even us, though unworthy and having wandered so far away from Your commands. May this be a new day for us – a day filled with Your grace, Your love and Your acceptance of all who were created by You. I ask this in faith and in the matchless name of Jesus, the name above all names! 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!

The Amazing Love and Forgiveness of God!

On 2015-04-092015-04-09 By Ed AlgreenIn Forgiveness, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Jeremiah 48:42, 46-47): ⁴² You are finished as a nation, because you dared oppose me, the Lord.

⁴⁶ People of Moab, you worshiped Chemosh, your god, but now you are done for, and your children are prisoners in a foreign country. ⁴⁷ Yet someday, I will bring your people back home. I, the Lord, have spoken.

THOUGHTS: As I studied this chapter in Jeremiah I gleamed how upset God was at the people of Moab. In fact, He was legitimately upset over the blatant sin by this people, and total disregard for Him. I believe this climaxed in verse 42 when God basically wrote the Moabites off as a nation, for He told them that they were finished. What frightens me about this is that no matter which country you might be reading this devotional from today, you are well aware of the blatant disregard for God anymore. In fact, it seems like the scales have totally tilted towards Satan and his group of worldly warriors who are bound and determined to rid our world of anything Godly. Further, to save our jobs and protect our families, many of us have given in to many of Satan’s compromises, and therefore weakened the army of God even more. I wonder how much longer God will put up with this! In verse 32 of this chapter, God shared how he wept for the people in disappointment for their obstinate attitudes, ways, decisions and disregard for the God who loved and protected them over the years, and had their best interest at heart. I was totally humbled by this, because folk, we are quick to whine and complain and find fault, but when last have you been so concerned for your country that you actually laid out prostrate before God and wept over decisions that are being made by your country that will impact the practice of our faith? However, the highlight of this study comes in verse 47 where God basically told these people that in spite of all that you have done to upset me, one day I will bring you back home, and I could only imagine that this would also mean that He would accept their personal plea for forgiveness. Friends, we serve such an awesome, loving, forgiving God! I pray that as you read this devotional today, that you will reaffirm your faith in God. I pray that if God led you to read this devotional, and you do not have a personal relationship with Him, that this might be a day of decision for you. God’s army is the only winning proposition available to us friend! If you are not a part of that army, you are automatically on Satan’s team that leads to Hell and total damnation. You do have a choice though, while there is breath. Please read my Footnote for the ways and means of you suring up your life decision. I know you won’t regret it!

PRAYER: Father I am reminded again that our ways are not Your ways, for You are filled with compassion, love and forgiveness for Your children, even though we so easily cave in to pressure and selfish desires. Please forgive us Lord, and please continue to teach us Your ways. Please give us a deep desire to know more about You and to willingly concede to allowing You to love on us, protect us, guide us and stand firm in our faith. Thank You for Your willingness to forgive even me, a sinner saved only by Your wonderful grace. Please touch the hearts of my readers today. Let no one read this without a self-examination and rededication to a rich relationship with You. I humble ask this in the powerful and matchless name of Jesus, my Lord, AMEN!

Our Example

On 2015-02-162015-02-16 By Ed AlgreenIn Love, Patience, SacrificeLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – 2 Thessalonians 3:5): 5 I pray that the Lord will guide you to be as loving as God and as patient as Christ.

THOUGHTS: Although this was a prayer that Paul offered for his church, I am reminded that there is only One that we are to imitate. Only One that we are to follow as our example. Let’s ponder on this for a bit. God loved us so much that, although He created us, yet He allowed us freewill to do our own thing. He saw that it was difficult for us to be good enough to follow the many laws instituted throughout the Old Testament, so He miraculously brought Jesus into the world, proved who He was by giving Him power to perform miracles, then allowed for His crucifixion – all so that we could have a better way into heaven. This is the purest example of love that we could ever imagine or find, friend. So when Paul prayed that his church would love as God did, he was really praying that there would be no flaws or prejudices in their love one for another. I was reminded that I need to be the same way, and by sharing this with you I am suggesting that you also consider becoming a child of the King and love like He did. Then to be as patient as Christ, I think about the patience He showed when, although having the power of God, He allowed the abuse to continue during His trial and on the road to the crucifixion. He allowed evil men, for whom He was sacrificing His life, to beat Him, drive nails through His hands and hang Him on a cruel cross – all for our good friend. Don’t You know that He could have called legions of angels to His rescue, and angelic warriors to fight and destroy the evil ones that were beating and destroying His body? Instead He endured unbelieving patience because He knew it was all necessary for our good and ultimate purpose. So friends, we not only have an example of love and patience to follow, we are reminded that God Almighty went to great extremes to show His love for us and to provide a means for us to one day enter heavens gates to be with Him throughout eternity! For those who are feeling hopeless and unloved, please recognize through this discourse that there is One who loves You enough that He would die for you. There is no greater love, friend. May this be a reminder for our day to love like God did and endure the patience that Christ did

PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for all that You did to show Your love for me and for Your ongoing love towards me every day. When I am feeling unloved, or when I am tempted to love only the lovable, may I be reminded of this short verse today. When I become impatient with those who persecute me, may I be patient and reminded of all that you endured leading up to the cross. Please encourage my friends who will read this devotional today, may they also learn to be more lovable and patient. May we follow Your gracious example. I ask this believing in You for all things, and for Your sake alone, with thanksgiving, AMEN!

Because of God’s Love

On 2015-02-142015-02-14 By Ed AlgreenIn LoveLeave a comment

The Holy Bible (The Message – 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17): ^15–17So, friends, take a firm stand, feet on the ground and head high. Keep a tight grip on what you were taught, whether in personal conversation or by our letter. May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.

Thoughts: On a day that we celebrate ‘love’, and express our love towards our spouse or sweetheart, I am intrigued that my Bible reading would take me to a passage that encourages me to reflect on my love towards God, and my subsequent reciprocal actions towards God – The One who showed His love for me in a sacrificial way, by openly providing an attainable way to one day join Him in heaven! Not sure about you, but whenever I recognize love being expressed by my wife towards me, I quickly examine my life to see what I might be doing or saying to do the same towards her. If that’s a ‘normal’ reaction, and I believe it is, then I question if we (mankind) are truly and honestly recognizing God’s love towards us each and every day. Because if we were to react in the same manner as we do to our spouse, then this would be a whole different world we would live in. Imagine if only Christians did their part in expressing their love towards Jesus? Imagine if this rubbed off on all those that we come into contact with, and after seeing a better way to live, that they also tried to do better in their relationships? As God’s love fills us to overflowing today, I hope that we can pray as Paul did for his church members: May God, through His deep, unending and unmatched love, put a fresh heart in us, and may He invigorate our work for Him and enliven our speech so that God might be glorified, and others will be encouraged to know the One that we serve, love and adore. God loves us friend, and He wants our lives to be so affected that this evil world around us might be impacted. Take a firm stand today friends, will you?

Prayer: Your love is amazing dear God! Thank You for loving even me! Thank You for Your Word that brings refreshment to my heart and invigorates me in ways that I pray might be a blessing to others. Please enliven my speech so that I might depend on You for the very words that I speak, as my desire is that my life might influence others for my Master. Thank You Jesus for all that You are and all that You mean to me. Please influence the hearts and souls of Your children who will meditate on this devotional today, so that Your love may be very evident to them. May Your actions impress upon them the need to show Your kind of love to all that they come into contact with today. May this ‘lovers’ day, be one where friends will not only be invigorated in their love for their sweetheart, but also for You. I ask all this because of Your love for me, and in the name of Jesus Christ, 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!

A Model Prayer for One Another

On 2015-02-042015-02-04 By Ed AlgreenIn Love, PrayerLeave a comment

The Holy Bible (New Living Translation – 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13): ¹²And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. ¹³May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.

Thoughts: Wow, what a model prayer for us to consider! I would imagine that there were any number of needs Paul could have prayer for, after all he had sent a co-worker to go and check on the Thessalonians to make sure Satan hadn’t infiltrated their new found faith in God. I believe that God wants so bad for us to just act in obedience to His Word, and to show His love that was shown for us when He sacrificed His very life so that we might have eternal life. I also believe that as we practice love for one another, and strive to live that love out in our lives, we will protect ourselves, including our relationships, from the Evil one. When we slack off in allowing God full control of our lives, we start seeing the unfortunate impact of Satan acting out through us. Friends, we can’t win the lost or impact the needy when we are infighting worse than they are. God’s love will never be evident in our lives as long as we selfishly seek to love self above all others and demand our own way. Of course we should continue to accept prayer requests from friends, but friends I want to encourage you to pray this prayer modeled by Paul for your friends also. Yes, as long as we remain in human form here on this earth, we will have illnesses and ailments, but as far as the challenges we have with each other? I believe that the more we bath our relationships in prayer and shower them with the godly kind of love, then Paul’s prayer in verse 13 will surely follow us as we enter into the presence of our Lord and Savior. So let’s aim to love others, as God loved us and demonstrated His love for us. Let’s pray that the love of Jesus will overflow in the hearts and lives of each of us. All for the glory and honor of our Lord! Let’s take self out of the equation and love as He did, and for His glory and praise, only!

Prayer: Lord, You are so good to us! Your love reaches beyond anything we are capable of, at least in our own strength. However, through faith in You and the awesome power that You are always willing to grant to us for Your good purpose, I pray that You might impress upon my readers and I today the love that we are to show for one another, if we are truly Your child. Jesus, You showed ultimate love when You surrendered to Your Father at Calvary so that Your children might enjoy eternal life with You. Please help us to show that kind of sacrificial and submissive love one for another. Please help us to take self out of the equation and love so that others might experience a touch of Your kind of love. There was a worldly song with lyrics “What the world need now, is love sweet love”. I can clarify that the world really needs the kind of love that only You can offer! As Your children and earthly representatives may we truly reflect Your love, so that You may be glorified because of us. This is my humble, unselfish prayer that I ask in the name of Jesus, the only One capable of loving me and this world without limitation or hindrance, AMEN!

Nuggets From God's Word

Category: Love