Category: Role Model

To Help Women Identify As True Christians

On By Ed AlgreenIn A Lamp unto My Path, Adoration, Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Awesome God, Beyond Description, Blessing, Celebrate God, Needs, Praise, Praise-worthy, Recognize God, Role Model, Worship2 Comments

DATE POSTED: Sunday, October 8, 2023, and I was blessed to be at Advent Christian Village, Dowling Park, FL when God inspired me to prepare this devotional. My Footnote will tell you how to find, read or listen to any and all episodes that I have shared over the years.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE FROM THE Amplified Bible (AMP) IS FOUND IN Titus 2:1; 3-5;

THE BIBLE TEXT IS: But as for you, teach the things which are in agreement with sound doctrine [which produces men and women of good character whose lifestyle identifies them as true Christians]. 
Older women similarly are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor addicted to much wine, teaching what is right and good, so that they may encourage the young women to tenderly love their husbands and their children, to be sensible, pure, makers of a home [where God is honored], good-natured, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

MY INITIAL THOUGHTS: As promised, in order to continue the tradition of Paul in seeing his missionaries preach and teach to the whole church body, I feel compelled to also remind our ladies of what God expects of them, as taught in the New Testament. I shared with the men in my last post what God required of us, so it is now just and right to share with the ladies also. For behind every good man, is a great woman who supports him and holds him up against the evil one. Behind every good woman, is a man who shows love to his wife just as God unconditionally loves us, and who demonstrates that love to His church.

APPLICATION OF THE WORD: As a man, I believe that we are to be the strength and spiritual leader for our wives, just as God’s Word dictates. To our ladies, I believe it is obvious that God is the leader of every good man, but He desires you to be the secondary source of strength and support, their primary ‘cheerleader’, in life. This becomes extremely challenging, especially when husbands come home with the battle scars of the evil one in the workplace, in their church business, in community clubs, and indeed in the community at large. Less I wander into a time of personal ideals, please allow me to share from God’s Word, as it was given to us by God, through His servant Paul, when he taught those who would minister in his stead – in this case to Titus. Let’s be reminded that Paul instructed Titus to teach the things that would produce women of good character, so that their character may identify them as Christians. Unless Titus, or any of our pastors or evangelists today, use a lens such as the one given to Titus, they may easily wander off into the field of personal ideals, which may often be unrelated to what God designed. Bear with me as I expand on the principles taught by Paul, to Titus, in regard to our ladies:
** Be reverent in your behavior – To understand the depth of this, notice the ‘so that…’ phrase that follows. As the oldest child of 5 children, I remember my mom telling me to be careful how I act, respond and behave in the presence of my siblings, because they are watching me. I love the way another Bible versions states this: ‘live in a way that honors God’! For this to work for you my friend, you will need to think of the words that will fill in the following blank: ‘live in a way that honors God – and not like _________’
** Not malicious gossips – Don’t allow the town to know about your neighbor because of the tales you tell them. Seldom will good news be repeated about an individual, but your friends and neighbors will quickly expand on the bad stuff that you might share with them! To honor God, I believe that He would have you brag on your neighbor – the man, or woman, that He created in His likeness. Not the one who allowed Satan to mar the goodness of God in them.
** Not addicted to much wine – Too much wine will open an individual to speak their sober mind! In other words, if you stay sober and think straight, you wouldn’t say half as much as you would when your mind is tainted by alcohol or other mind-altering drugs. Furthermore, a child of God should be teaching younger women to preserve the temple of the Holy Spirit and not taint its wellness with alcohol or drugs.
** Teaching what is right and good – Live the good and right life before God, then you can teach it to younger women by what you say and do, with a clear conscience! In later verses Paul expands on the things that younger women especially need help with. Teach them about the things of God, ladies.
Hopefully, God has placed a mentor in your life that helps you strive for pleasing God in everything you say or do. In today’s verses, Paul teaches that you (ladies) should live in a way that pleases God, so that you may encourage the younger women to tenderly love their husbands and their children, to be sensible, pure, makers of a home [where God is honored], good-natured, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will be honored. In the absence of this kind of teaching, younger women will still get guidance, but from the world that is totally misguided by Satan.

BLESSINGS WORTH NOTING: Oh, that all men and women will be so obedient to the teaching of God, through His Word, that we can help others live godly and upright lives that are pleasing to God!

PRAYER BECAUSE OF THE IMPACT OF TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: Lord, we are thankful that You designed a perfect world for us, and perfect children to enjoy that perfect world. I am so ashamed to say that we are so ungrateful, and many have chosen to follow the ways of Satan in so many areas of life, for which we are truly sorry and seek Your forgiveness. In our last study, You reminded our men how to live in perfect alignment with Your will and Your teaching, and in today’s session You turned that help towards our wonderful partners in life – our wives. Please Lord, continue to give us strength and determination to overcome the ways of this world and to strive for the way that You would have us live. Thank You for our ladies – our partners in life. Please bless them richly, and may our men join with me in desiring such a personal, intimate walk with You, that our ladies will be encouraged to do the same. Our next generation will be the result of everything we taught and demonstrated before them. May that be a Christ-like character that is based on Your Word and that You desire for Your children. May our lives be in such good form that You would be lifted up, praised and magnified for working through us and blessing us. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There’s another page on my website, entitled ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading or listening to this devotional, please go to this 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. If you would like to read more of my devotionals, or subscribe for a daily email containing each new devotional, please go online to NuggetsFromGodsWord.org. For my podcast, go online to Apple Podcasts or, using the Apple Podcast app, simply search for Nuggets From God’s Word to hear more episodes, or click ‘Follow’ to be notified of Podcast updates. Friends, please allow me to encourage you to find a church home nearby 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!

The Challenges of Being A Role Model

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Role Model, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Friday, 2022-12-30
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Philippians 4:8-9
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: 8 …… Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.

APPLICATION: Perhaps the greatest challenge for us as we consider the example set for us by Paul, is that we never know when someone is following in our footsteps, for many of the things we do are instinctively said or done form the content of our heart. I have 2 examples to share with you that might help you better tune in to this challenge from Paul: 1). Several couples and I were spending a weekend together. The challenge was given for everyone to get up early enough on Sunday morning to attend church together. The end result was that only the women joined me in attending church. Because of this, no children accompanied us. Later that day as we were gathered all together in one room, and I challenged the fathers to be spiritual leaders in their homes and take their families to church each week. The children sat quietly as I made my challenge, and several were even on electronic devices. However, at a later date one set of parents were discussing in the car whether they would go to church the following day. The child in the back seat pops up and shares the words that I had challenged the dad with some weeks earlier! Were the followers listening and then ready to accept the challenge? You bet ‘cha! 2). I had a relative coming to spend the weekend with my wife and me. My wife told him to not forget his church clothes. To which he responded, I went and bought a shirt with a color, so that I could dress like my uncle for church! Not only were we enthused over the effort put forth, but I had never realized that my dress code was anything special. Obviously, someone was watching! Friends, Paul shows us in this challenge today that his followers stood at a point in their life where they would go on without him in it, and they had to make a choice on whether they would apply what they learned from him, or resort back to their original way of life. We too have this same challenge in knowing that 2023 will occur within hours. Will it be just ‘more of the same’ for us, or are we using this as a steppingstone to enter into a New Year, changed by the words, actions and experiences of 2022? I am convinced that if we act on the simple message taught by Paul, God will smile at the changes He sees next year! Think about it:
=> Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right.
=> Fix your thoughts on things that are pure and lovely.
=> Dwell on the fine, good things in others.
=> Dwell on everything you can praise God for.
=> Choose to be glad about life, and the things mentioned before this.
=> Put into practice all you learned from followers of Christ and saw them doing.
Oh, that we would live in such a way that we can say to others what Paul said to his followers in that very last sentence. We must be determined to live differently to the world, and live the example set forth for us by our Lord Jesus Christ, and His faithful saints. Without that determination, we are left at the mercy of every wind of change, every move of Satan and all the evil that serves to turn us away from God.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul reminds us that if we follow the design of God, learn from His Word and obey His commands, then the peace of God will be with us. I have no greater desire than to know the peace of God is with me today and every day!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, teach us to live as honored examples of You, and in a way that others will see Jesus in and through us. Lord, I want Your perfect will in my life, and I want to do Your will in every aspect of my life. Take control Lord, teach me Your ways, give me boldness to obey, and a desire to live every day following Your will, even if it is totally contrary to that of the world in which I live. As I reflect on 2022, may I see the areas of my life that require attention and more dedication to align with Your will. As the New Year comes, may it not only bring new opportunities to let Your light shine through me, but may I also feel closer to You than ever before, and may that reflect in every word, deed and attitude. Lord, there are many in my circle of family and friends who show no evidence of knowing You or reflecting an attitude of what might be Your will for their lives. May this New Year bring renewed desires to find You, experience You, and reflect Your will for our lives, so that unbelievers would see and experience the love of Jesus, even while still here on earth. 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!

Our Lives – An Expression of Whose We Are

On By Ed AlgreenIn Role ModelLeave a comment

The Holy Bible

Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
(Bible Translation and Location: The Message – Galatians 2:20-21)

Thoughts:

As in Paul’s day, I believe that today we find some Christian leaders who are in the church ministry business for an income, a place to work, prestige, or in some cases just to find an opportunity to use their knowledge from years of Bible College that their parents forced upon them. However, I also believe that we have some Christian leaders who, like Paul, are pastoring or leading various ministries because of a deep, fully committed relationship with the Lord, and obedient to the special call on their life by the Master of this universe. The difference will be obvious to those being served, for one will be speaking and acting from the learned, head knowledge, while the other will be responding to a deep, spiritual, personal relationship with the God that they follow, and serve. One will be committed to pleasing the ones that they serve and receive their paycheck from, while the other will be committed to serving the Lord God Almighty who distinctly called them into the ministry. Now the latter personality, while serving God and faithfully following Him, will also faithfully minister and serve the children of God, as that exemplifies exactly what God demonstrated to them/us. I believe that the difference will be very evident in the pulpit and in personal relationships with the congregation. The eye opener here for you and I, Mr. and Mrs. Layperson, is that individually we fall into one of these same two personalities. Using Paul’s analogy, you might say that in one person we might find ourselves committed to rule-keeping, and peer pleasing but without true dedication to the things of the Lord. While another person might be so filled with God that the fruit of the Spirit is being wonderfully and miraculously expressed through us. The big question is: Do others see enough of Jesus in you to convict, or accuse you of being a follower of Jesus Christ, and a faithful servant of His? Are you bearing fruit that family, friends and acquaintances will recognize your source of life?

Prayer:

Lord and Savior, Jesus my Lord. I just want to thank You for not only creating me and placing me on this earth to follow the same evil actions of those that I come into contact with, but instead, You loved me enough to show me through Your Word, and demonstrate for me though Your life while here on earth, the way that is pleasing to the Father. Please continue Your marvelous work in me, and please also speak to the hearts of those that might meditate on this devotional today. May we seek to serve You and You alone, without the need or desire of praise from those around us, for we want serve You oh God. May the people see Jesus in everything we do, say or think so that they may be drawn to You and not repulsed by us. Have Your will and way in the lives of those that claim You as Lord today, is my 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 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!