Category: Prophecy

The God Who Never Gives Up On Us

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Prophecy, Recognize God, Worship1 Comment

DATE POSTED Wednesday, 2021-08-25
WRITTEN AT: Hattiesburg, MS

SCRIPTURE FROM: Luke 1:62-64; 67
TRANSLATION: The Passion Translation (TPT)

BIBLE TEXT: 62 So they gestured to the baby’s father to ask what to name the child. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to the amazement of all, he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again. And his first words were praises to the Lord.
67 Then Zechariah was filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit and he prophesied, saying:

APPLICATION: A worker in the temple, yet Zechariah was in shock over God’s response to his prayers about his wife having a child. In fact, Zechariah and Elizabeth had given up on the idea of ever having a child. But God never gave up on them, for it seems like He had them in mind for a very special blessing – to birth a son who would be the forerunner of Jesus Christ. Because of the doubt and question at the time when the angel of God appeared to Zechariah, his speech was taken away from him. However, as Zechariah witnessed miracle after miracle transpire – especially in seeing his wife beginning to show signs of pregnancy, his heart was touched and his faith was rekindled. I wonder what it would take for God to truly get our attention and convince us to place our often shaken faith and trust in Him? You see, I believe that we build our faith based on those things that seem possible to us. When met with something outside of that realm, I believe that our red flags are raised and we doubt, at least until we gain added faith, or see something that makes the impossible seem possible. But Zechariah kept looking up and eventually his faith was strengthened to see God evident in his son’s birth. Upon acknowledging this, God quickly moved to use this man for His glory through prophecy. I believe that from a human point of view, if we knew all that God knew about Zechariah and his doubt, he would have been the last person on earth that we would have listened to, and he would probably have to show miraculous works for us to believe that He was truly God’s messenger. Aren’t you glad that it’s God who judges us and not our fellow human friends? God knows our heart, so He knows that although we may sin, yet He still has confidence that we could be His faithful followers, given the right guidance and wisdom to overcome earthly weaknesses. Praise God He is willing to work with us and use us for His glory, as and when needed. What an awesome God that we serve!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: God used a man, who failed to believe an angel of God, to prophesy to His people. Praise God for seeing the ‘gold’ in our hearts even though we see nothing but doubt and failures!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You created us, so I believe You are well aware of our weaknesses and our failures. However, in Your perfect love, You still love us anyway. Like in the case of Zechariah, we can expect to be punished from time to time for our doubts and fears, but praise God you didn’t give up on Zechariah, nor do I believe You will give up on us. I believe that time left here on earth is growing very short, so Lord I pray that You will show us clearly what we are to do, and give us the boldness and strength to do it. We want Your name to be lifted on high, so Lord I pray that You will receive glory from all things accomplished by Your kids today. May Your kingdom come oh Lord, on earth as it is in heaven. 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!

Must Have Gifts

On By Ed AlgreenIn Love, Love others, Prophecy, tongues, Unconditional loveLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE  FROM:   1 Corinthians 14:1-3 (MSG)

TEXT:  1-3 Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him. But when you proclaim his truth in everyday speech, you’re letting others in on the truth so that they can grow and be strong and experience his presence with you.

OBSERVATION:   After just going through a well know chapter on the subject of ‘love’, Paul still had a few things to reemphasize to the Corinthian church, and to challenge us with. Its almost like a recap, where he emphasized the two most important gifts. Notice how important he felt love is for us? In fact, Paul said that we should ‘go after it’, or ‘seek after’ it! Ever thought of love in that way? The other important gift is prophecy, or proclaiming the truth of God’s Word to a lost world. Let’s dig into this….

APPLICATION:   In life, we tend to ‘go after’ the girl of our dreams, and possibly the car, or house, or boat of our dreams, but God used His servant Paul to also emphasize the importance of ‘love’ that we would go after it, Now at one time it was declared that God is love, and I could only imagine that was meant to describe the sacrifice, depth, warmth and everlasting peace that’s found in the fullest meaning of love. For we know that God demonstrated His love unselfishly, and unconditionally, by giving up His very own Son, so that we might have the best gift ever, the opportunity to accept that love and the person of His Son Jesus, that also prepares us for eternal life in heaven. So may I suggest that you examine the depth of God’s love for us, so that you might understand the depth of the love that Paul referenced in these verses. Let’s not take God’s love lightly, but let’s desire to have it in our hearts so badly, that we would be willing to go after it with all of our heart. A heart filled with God’s perfect love, is a heart that will be seen, understood and convinced that Jesus must live within that child of God, and is worthy of listening to by those coming into contact with them. This is also a person who would have a deep yearning to know more about God, so that they may not just share the love of God, but also the truths of God as declared in His Word. It seems like Paul may have been dealing with some other mindsets, as he particularly described the purpose and use of the gift of tongues. However, it is evident that Paul was convinced by God that the two most important gifts are: 1). Love, and 2) Prophecy (sharing the truth of God’s Word). Join me friends, in going after these gifts, so that they are the most prevalent in our character, and in our overall desire to please and serve God.

PRAYER:   Lord, we humbly come before You this morning after once again being reminded of Your unconditional, extreme love for us. We realize that this is probably one of the most needed attributes by mankind today, and therefore something that will help them recognize a child of the King more than anything else. Lord, please also give us the boldness to not be afraid of sharing our testimony and the basic truths of Your Word. That will draw mankind to you far quicker than our evaluation of things or our opinions. Lord, we want to be more like You so that the world might come to know you through simple people just like You. Oh that they may see Jesus, is our utmost desire dear Lord. Work through us, we 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!