Satisfying Results from Obedience

Saturday, 2016-08-27

Scripture

Bible Reference: Proverbs 3:1–4

Bible Text: 1 My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. 2 If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. 3 Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. 4 Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.

Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

My Take

In our scripture today we are given some pointers on how we might be blessed by God. Let me share these things in a very simple format so that we might easily get the point and begin to align our lives for blessings from our awesome God:

  • ACTION: Never forget the things taught to you by your parents; your Bible School teachers; your Pastors; the Bible. In fact, store those things deep in your heart so that your words, and your actions will reflect what you have stored, and not what the world teaches or expects from you.
    • REWARD: You will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. So many people live in misery, because they have no hope, or because they have caved in to every whim of this world. Let me encourage you to be obedient to the above ‘Action’, and live in expectation of your rewards from God. 
  • ACTION: Be loyal and kind. Some translations also use the characteristic ‘love’. These are so important, that God instructed us through the writer to tie these around our neck and write them deep into our heart. I find that the easiest way for me to do this with a Bible verse, is to type it out and place it on my computer screen, the refrigerator door, or somewhere that will catch my attention throughout my day. To embed these things into our heart is best done through memorization or reading the words repeatedly throughout your day. 
    • REWARD: You will find favor with God and those that you hang around. Your character will then earn you a good reputation by those who know you. I don’t believe there is anything that a Christian would desire more, than to know that our lives are pleasing to God. Re-read the above ‘Action’ and practice it every day friends!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your Word so that we might catch a glimpse of Your heart for us. It is evident that you want so bad for us to succeed in our Christian walk that You have given us everything we need to know about what pleases You. Lord, we long to live in total obedience to You. Please touch our hearts and help us to be strong and determined to shun Satan and to live our lives in total obedience to You. May these commands today impact us so that we might willingly live totally obedient lives to Your will and way. Forgive us Lord for our inadequacies and unwillingness of the past. 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!

The Ultimate Rewards Program

Tuesday, 2016-08-09

Scripture

Bible Reference: Revelation 22:12–13

Bible Text: 12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

My Take

It’s really amazing all that we will do in order to build up rewards on our credit card. Recently I overheard a person excited about saving 36 cents per gallon at the gas pump, because of rewards dollars accumulated on their rewards card. Well guess what, I bet they will now shop all the more at that business, whose retail prices seem much higher than the competition, just to earn the rewards! Others will travel an extra 10 miles to shop at the store, or gas station, that pays 4 center for every dollar spent at their gas pumps and charged to their credit card. If you pump 10 gallons, you saved 40 cents in rewards dollars. How much did you burn in gas to travel the extra distance??!!!! Friends, we are probably reading about the very first ‘rewards’ program when we read these two verses, and they work very much the same way. To benefit from these rewards, you must firstly, be acceptable in God’s sight (having accepted Him as your personal Lord and Savior), in other words, you belong there; and secondly, the Word says that we will be rewarded for our deeds. Friends throughout the Bible we are taught about what our deeds should look like. Can our deeds easily be taken for deeds of the Holy Spirit, or God-led deeds? If so, you probably stand to benefit from the ‘rewards’ Jesus is promising to bring with Him. If you do not meet either of the above qualifications, then you will be rewarded like I was at the gas pump near to the above referenced person, for I received zero dollars in rewards seeing that I didn’t meet the qualifications of the program. Where do you stand friend? Are you confident of the ‘rewards’ you will receive? Do you qualify? If you are unsure, please go on to read the Footnote below, for it will provide you with help to qualify! 

Prayer

What an awesome thought, that our rewards are out of this world!! Although a slogan used here on earth, yet it is loaded with the truth of all that You have in store for us, as promised in Your Word. Thank You Jesus! Thank You Father! Please use this reminder today to also touch the hearts of my unsaved family and friends, and those who You might ultimately cause to stumble across this blog. Lord, Your Word is powerful and effective. Just as You have touched me with Your Word, I pray now that You might also speak to Your children today who should know You or be drawn closer to You. Please have Your perfect will and way today, and may we not only be found eligible for Your rewards, but may we be more consistently obedient to Your Word in every way, all for Your ultimate glory, 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!

Be Ready to Say Why….

May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Today you will be encourage to openly share where your hope comes from. Can you do it? Read today’s devotional and seek to obey God’s Word. He will reward you for speaking up about the hope that lies within you! Recognize your blessing today and be ready to share it with someone else, friend!

Today’s Bible Reference: 1 Peter 3:15–16
Today’s Bible Text: Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life. Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope. Give a kind and respectful answer and keep your conscience clear. This way you will make people ashamed for saying bad things about your good conduct as a follower of Christ.
The Bible Translation: The Contemporary English Version (CEV)

My Take Away: The very first sentence in our scripture today is a given, but a great reminder – that we must honor our Lord Jesus, by the way we live. It should be evident whether we are living free of any restrictions, without any type of guardrails at all, or whether we have a purpose in life and that our direction for getting to our goal consists of a very narrow road with lots of guardrails to help prevent us from running into issues. We are reminded that when we live this way, others might question us about the hope and determination that we have, and where could our strength possibly be coming from to live so differently in a world that is filled with evil, crime, hatred, envy and strife. It is at this point that we should feel honored to share exactly who is incenting our actions, why did we choose to take the route we are taking, and what we know that we can expect at the end of our journey here on earth. Most of all, although we know that we will have trouble containing the excitement, we must learn to share our response with deepest respect for the one asking and in the same love that Christ first spoke to, and encourage us to redirect our lives. Friends, throughout God’s Word we are reminded that God rewards those who obey and live by His commands, but He envies those who don’t and will bring eternal damnation on them. Will you make Him proud today because you had the audacity to speak up about the hope that lies within you? Pray that I will, as I continue to lift my readers up in prayer, especially with these encouraging instructions today!

Prayer: Dear Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name in all the earth, as I sing Your praises for all that You do in my life each day. Praise God that my readers and I enjoy this same blessing, because we serve the same God! As the world recognizes that very special gleam in our eye, or reactions in our demeanor, may we be quick to share with them the source of our joy, our strength and our everlasting hope. May it not be the norm today where friends get together to tear someone apart, but may we instead share the hope of eternity, and the source of our joy and hope about living a joyful life today because of the hope of tomorrow, all because of Jesus our Lord! I celebrate You, Master and Lord! May I do that in humble adoration with deepest respect for all that we come into contact with, for I ask this in the name of Jesus, my Lord, AMEN!

Footnote: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or 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

Obedience Results in Rewards

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Living Translation – Matthew 6:4; 6; 14-15; 17-18; 33): 4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. 14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. 17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. 18 Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

THOUGHTS: I found a common theme in reading Matthew 6. God had some awesome teachings, and He emphasized, or stood behind His teaching so strongly that He added rewards after each area of His teachings. Beginning in verse 4, on the subject of Christian based giving, I believe that if I am led to give to a person in need, God uses me to respond to the prayers of that needy person. While I might be eternally grateful for the opportunity to respond in giving, the act of me giving from my overflow of blessings is not intended for me to boast, but instead to allow praises for answered prayer from the recipient, so that God might be magnified. Then on the subject of prayer, we are taught to pray in private. Imagine the irreverence in telling our spouse everything, intimate or not, in a public setting? We are to have an intimate relationship with our Savior, so we are to pray to Him in private. In verse 6 we are promised that God will then reward us, or grant our sincere desires, as they fit within His perfect will for us. I included verse 14 because I wanted us to be reminded that God is not a push-over, or a Santa Claus just waiting to reward us no matter how we act or respond to His goodness. He tells us that He will forgive us based on our degree of forgiving one another. We must be willing to ask, pray and forgive in a manner pleasing to God, not for our own selfish reasons. Our submission to fasting is another example for us to show our humility to the God that we serve, and to reveal the honesty in the very reason for which we are fasting. When we do this in the right spirit and for the right purpose, God says that He will once again reward us. Friends, when we seek the Kingdom of God more than everything else, and when we live righteously before a righteous God, He promised that He will give us everything we need! Are you there yet? If you are not being rewarded in one of these areas mentioned above, then perhaps there are self-inflicted roadblocks preventing God’s outpouring of His rich blessings that He would really like to shower on us. Friends, let’s clear the path to blessings! God wants to bless His children, I believe. We just need to do our part to be vessels worthy of His blessings!

PRAYER: Father, please forgive us for our littleness, our selfishness and our desire to please and promote self, instead of You. It is evident that You have such awesome rewards in store for Your children. Now if only we can learn to be humble and obedient servants so that You may freely pour out Your blessings on us. You alone are worthy oh Lord, and we cannot do this thing called ‘life’ without You. We are fully dependent on You, yet Satan is so determined to distract us from all the rich blessings You have in store for us. Please forgive us for our desire for independence, and help us instead to be totally dependent on the God who can do all things. We’re at Your mercy dear Lord. Please fill us with more of You and Your promised rewards. I humbly ask all this in the strong and powerful name of the only One worthy and able to intercede for us, Jesus my Lord, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to 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!

The Best Rewards Program!

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Revelation 14:13): From now on, the Lord will bless everyone who has faith in him when they die.” The Spirit answered, “Yes, they will rest from their hard work, and they will be rewarded for what they have done.”

THOUGHTS: In the credit card world, folks will do whatever is needed to obtain rewards. I heard recently of one person applying for several cards just to check out their rewards program! I believe that many Christians are just extremely thankful that God got a hold of us, convicted us of our sin and loved us enough to forgive us of our sin, that seldom do we think of the rewards that are ours when we see Jesus. There are a few rewards not mentioned here: Imagine leaving this world of sin, hatred and envy to enter a new heaven with Jesus and His Father, our God! Imagine there being no more dying, no more pain or heartache! Imagine a crime-free place and a place where there will be no clock to watch for event after event and distraction after distraction! Now included in this verse are a few things that need our close attention. First of all, notice that the blessing is reserved for those who have faith in Jesus. Know that God made the ultimate sacrifice of sending His Son to us – Jesus born miraculously to Mary. Know that God allowed Him to die a cruel death on a cross, so that the shedding of His blood might be a constant reminder to us of His sacrifice for us. Be reminded though, that Jesus rose victoriously from the dead so that we might know that our God’s not dead, and that we serve a risen Lord! Know that one day we will unite with Jesus in heaven! In this verse we are reminded that the Lord will bless those who have faith in what I just described and have accepted Jesus as Lord and personal Savior! Secondly we are reminded that we will rest from our hard work and receive a reward for all we have done. Friends, this is a great indication that after we accept Jesus as Lord, we are not to just sit and sour, but to be active in the Lord’s work. Please don’t read into this that we are all to become pastors, although if you feel God tugging on your heart to become one, you must do everything to be obedient to His call. This is emphasizing that the faith that lives in us, must be expressed through us to others that we come into contact with. This is a natural part of a Christian’s life. Before Christ, we were not afraid to let the world know how sinful we could possibly be. After Christ, we need to have the same determination – show the world how awesome our Savior truly is. Introduce them to Him and convince them of their need for our Savior. On earth, we love being rewarded for our hard work. This verse reminds us that in heaven we will be rewarded for our hard kingdom work while we were on earth. Are you bursting with anticipation? We should all be filled with excitement as we wait for that day!

PRAYER: Father God, what a blessed people we are, for the creator of this universe to love us so amazingly and to not only prepare the way for us to overcome this sinful world, but for us to know without a shadow of a doubt that our future home is awaiting us and filled with rewards! Wow! Oh what a Savior! Please help us to overlook the trials today, and allow us to reflect the joy that is ours in knowing Jesus! May You be able to work through even us today in the lives of those that we come into contact with. Have Your way in and through us dear Lord, for I ask this in the precious name of Jesus, and for His sake, 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!

Choosing God Is Worth Far More

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Good News Translation – Hebrews 11:24-29): 24 It was faith that made Moses, when he had grown up, refuse to be called the son of the king’s daughter. 25He preferred to suffer with God’s people rather than to enjoy sin for a little while. 26He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes on the future reward. 27 It was faith that made Moses leave Egypt without being afraid of the king’s anger. As though he saw the invisible God, he refused to turn back. It was faith that made him establish the Passover and order the blood to be sprinkled on the doors, so that the Angel of Death would not kill the firstborn sons of the Israelites. 29 It was faith that made the Israelites able to cross the Red Sea as if on dry land; when the Egyptians tried to do it, the water swallowed them up.

THOUGHTS: Choosing God Is Worth Far More Than …. Can you think of anything that is more important? This chapter of Hebrews is filled with so much of the faith our forefathers displayed in the King of all kings and the Creator of all things, that our lives should be impacted to the extent that nothing will ever cause us to stray in our faith. For because of their faith we saw where mere, humble, man stood before a very powerful earthly king and demanded that the majority of his people that were being held in slavery, should be freed and surrendered to the leadership of one who had absolutely no experience with leading a mass of people. Because of his faith in, and obedience to God, Moses saw where the king crumbled to the overwhelming power of God and gave in to the demands of Moses. We see where this one miracle of faith led to many more, as Moses followed in obedience to God. The masses were fed, when there was no food source in sight; they drank water from a fountain when there was nothing visible other than a shepherd’s stick and a rock; they faced death with the natural eye, but yet saw the waters divided and a path provided for them to cross between two lands, then looked back in human panic to see how the opposing enemy was gaining on them, only to witness the battle being won for them as the divided waters collapsed on the enemy and drowned them all. Friends, in these verses it is plain to see that Moses placed his trust in God, rather than any other earthly treasures or resources available to him, because he saw that his present obedience and future rewards could only come from, and lead to eternity with God. I believe this is a wake-up call for us to reexamine our lives to determine if we are placing our faith in something, or someone that leads us to this type of eternal rewards that Moses chose, or are we struggling to turn loose of the earthly assets, or clinging to earthly values, or placing our faith in mere man rather than God? If you are misguided in your faith, then I pray that God would quickly open your eyes to show you what your eternal rewards might be. If you are misguided, I believe that, based on the Word of God, I can safely tell you that you might currently be so earthly minded that you will be of little Godly use in the life to come. Unless you plead with God to intervene and help you to turn your life around, may I ask that you be careful not to take on the guilt of others who might be following you? Please read Ezekiel 3:17-20 to understand how God threatened Ezekiel with the sentence of bearing the guilt of all he led, if he was disobedient.

PRAYER: Thank You for Your Word dear Lord. Thank You for loving us enough to show us the results of obedience to You and the effects of disobedience. We are again reminded of the rewards of choosing You as our personal Lord and Savior and being obedient to Your Word and Your commands. I know that “It Will Be Worth It All When we see Jesus“, so help us to live our lives in light of that truth and therefore surrender our lives totally and wholeheartedly to You in every aspect of our lives. All to You I Surrender. Thank You for hearing my heart and my prayer dear Lord, for I ask all this in 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 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!

The Rewards of Giving

The Holy Bible

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

(Bible Translation and Location: The Message – 2 Corinthians 9:10-11)

Thoughts:

Over the past two days we have learned that God expects us to give out of what we receive, and to give with the right attitude. In today’s scripture we learn how God rewards us for our giving. I’m sure that many who meditated on the last two lessons may have questioned how they could possibly afford to give from the little they earn, especially considering the large amounts they owe. Friends, God answers that question in today’s scripture by reassuring you that He gives not only enough for ourselves, but also the where-with-all to supply the needs of others. In faith, we must show the reality of our subjection to the gospel, by works of giving. Remember this will be a reward to our faithfulness, and to bring praise and glory to God by others who are touched by our giving. Please also note that Paul was not just drumming up this idea of rewards to induce the giving he was asking his followers to do. For back in Matthew 10:42, Jesus told His followers that if they only give a cup of water to one of His, they would certainly be rewarded. In Hosea 10:12 we are told that if we plant righteousness (right-ness with God) we will reap a blessing! In Matthew 5:6 we are told that God will satisfy those whose greatest desire is to please Him. By now you are probably thinking that this is probably the way to go to bring you riches. To a certain degree I will agree with you, because there is nothing like building up the pleasure of our God with our obedience to His Word. Absolutely nothing like seeing those in need find reason to praise God for His wonderful gifts, knowing that we may have had a role to play in those gifts because of our obedience. I find way more delight in hearing that others are pleased with and/or blessed by something that I may have contributed to, rather than the richest dude on earth handing out $100 bills for everything they notice that I may have done. For you see, my actions are in response to God’s commands and for His glory, not for man’s attention or his returned praises to me. I would rather go unnoticed in my giving of finances or time. I am much more rewarded by hearing someone giving praise to God for answering their prayers about their needs. If God used something that I may have contributed to Him, then it is truly His to give away to a person in need. He’s the one that deserves the praise and glory. Give from a heart of obedience friend, and give it to the Lord, who gave it to you in the first place. Be ready to praise Him for the ability to give, and for the glory it might bring to a child of God in need, for your rewards are ‘out of this world’!!

Prayer:

Jesus, thank You for showing us how to give, by first giving of everything You had to us. Thank You for accepting that bitter cup You mentioned in the garden, so that I might enjoy the sweet cup of fellowship with You as my Lord and Savior. Thank You for blessing us daily with the love, assurances and resources that we might pass along blessings to others in need. I pray that my reader friends might, like me, gain a daily appreciation for Your goodness towards us, so that we may freely share with others and give liberally to You and Your work in response. I pray that through recognizing, and being reminded of the source of our blessings, we might be encouraged to give all the more. I so appreciate the rewards You have prepared for me, thank You Father! May we be reminded of those rewards daily so that our giving might be all the more joyful! All this I ask for You dear Lord, in Your precious and worthy name, 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 days 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!