Category: Seek God First

Priority–Seek God First

On By Ed AlgreenIn Believe, Priority, Seek God FirstLeave a comment

May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider feeding even us with His Word! May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for a blessing, friend!………

Today’s Bible Reference: Luke 12:29-31
Today’s Bible Text: 29 “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. 30 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. 31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT),

My Take Away: Friends this is a very logical thing, but none the less, Jesus emphasized this with His disciples, to stop worrying as children of the most high God. Let’s think this through: If we are foolish and never seek God for anything in our life, then we are probably unbelievers and feel like we have everything in this life under control. When things fail to materialize, or may not happen the way we want them to, then we start to panic and worry, because we quickly run out of options, resulting in worry over how our needs will be met. On the other hand, when we surrender our lives to our Lord Jesus, we acknowledge before Him that He is most worthy and deserving of our praise. We are convinced from His wonderful book, the Bible, that He is the author of all things and the provider for His precious children. We develop a faith, based on everything that we read about all throughout the Bible. Also, knowing the love promised by our Maker, we develop a confidence that our Master will take care of our every need. This all begins with a relationship with our Savior, friend. As part of this relationship, as sons and daughter of the King of all kings, we develop a strong sense of faith, trust, love and contentment, knowing that He cares for us and that He watches out for His own. Unlike anyone else that we have ever known, our Savior loved us so much that He willingly gave up His life so that we might live eternally with Him. If He loved us enough to do that friend, don’t you know without a doubt that the words of these verses are also true? AS totally surrendered
children of God, we can be assured that He will give us everything we need.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe in You. I claim You as my Savior and Lord, because of a decision many years ago when I invited You into my heart. Thank You for the reminder today that You have given to my readers and I, that in knowing You, we can place our faith and trust in You for all things. Please help us to develop such a trust that we will learn to not worry about anything material here on this earth. Please open our hearts to be children of constant praise to our King for Your precious gifts to us on a daily and consistent basis. There is no need to worry when we place our faith and trust in the One who holds the key to all areas of our life. In deepest love and appreciation Lord, I ask these things, AMEN!

What Should We Do?

On By Ed AlgreenIn Know God's Heart, Obedience, Seek God First, Seek God's Face, Seeking GodLeave a comment

May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Find out first-hand what God would have you do today! This will be important as you seek to do His will. May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for your blessing, friend!………

Today’s Bible Reference: Luke 3:10–14
Today’s Bible Text: 10 The crowds asked, “What should we do?”
11 John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”
12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”
14 “What should we do?” asked some soldiers.
John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

My Take Away: In so many areas of our lives we ask the same question as was asked of John the Baptist. As a child when we are tired of whippings and ready to do things mom way, we might ask her to just remind, or show us again what we could do to please her. As adults, we might ask our spouse to remind us of what we could do to please them or stay in their good graces. In our jobs we want to know what we could do to move up the corporate ladder, or earn more money. I believe that each time we attend church, we are looking for opportunities to worship and praise God for His goodness, but also to seek His face for our next assignment, or just instructions for righteous living that would please Him. Daily as we open the Word of God (and I pray that it is daily for you friend), we are looking for more encouragement and blessings from God, and looking for our next set of instructions from the Holy Spirit on what we must do to be more reflective of our Savior to those that we will come into contact with that day. We are simply asking like the different groups of people asked John, “What Shall We Do?”. A few verses down in this same chapter, John went on to explain how the Lord will soon return and how He will separate the chaff from the wheat – in other words, there will come a day of accountability, where the Master will recognize those who have obediently followed His instructions found in the Word of God from those who claimed the name but, continued to do the same old same old, and those who wanted nothing to do with their Creator or His precious Son, Jesus Christ. In knowing the Son of God, we have an obligation to obey Him, otherwise we never prove to Him or the world that we are a true son or daughter of the King. What then shall we do? Won’t you go before the Master and ask that question today, friend? John gave some basic answers that I’ve shared with you, but if you know Jesus personally, you have every right to approach Him and ask for your personalized instructions on what He would have you do. Let me encourage you to form that type of intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father, friend.

Prayer: Father, I want to thank You for showing me day after day that Your Word is active and very much alive, for You speak directly to me personally when I read its pages. Please help me to obediently follow Your instructions as a light unto my path of life. I have no doubt that my readers face the same dilemma each day as they seek Your face. Please revive Your army with Your almighty instructions – fresh new life that will not only revive us, but incent us to encourage others towards a more meaningful life and may we bless others as we meet them today. ‘As We seek Your face, may we know Your Heart’ is our hearts’ song today Lord Jesus. Please bless Your children accordingly, and we will be eternally grateful. 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

The Royal Law

On 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!