Category: Thank You Jesus

Why We Thank, Praise and Worship Our God

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Give thanks, Needs, Praise, Praise-worthy, Recognize God, Thank You Jesus, Worship1 Comment

DATE POSTED Friday, 2022-08-19
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 138:1-3
TRANSLATION: The Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT:  1 Lord, with all my heart I thank you. I will sing your praises before the armies of angels. 2 I face your Temple as I worship, giving thanks to you for all your loving-kindness and your faithfulness, for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name. 3 When I pray, you answer me and encourage me by giving me the strength I need.

APPLICATION:  In this Psalm we can see where David was touched by, or reminded of, the love of God and His undying faithfulness, and it triggered his worship of God. Notice that David said he faced the temple as he worshiped, but he didn’t wait until the next scheduled worship service where he could watch the praise team worship, or the pastor rejoice over a passage of scripture that God spoke to them about. Friends, please don’t get me wrong, each of these things I mentioned are important, but I truly believe that when we recognize the love of our God, when we feel His precious love for us individually and we realize that He is faithful to us in every aspect of our lives, then we will be moved to worship our God on a very personal level. When we do that, I believe that our corporate worship services will take on a whole new dimension, for our churches will be filled with worshipers, not just people looking for a place to be electrified or energized by a good worship leader, an awesome praise team, or a charismatic preacher. David goes on in these verses to say that he is reminded that all of the promises of God are backed by the honor of His holy name – the name above all names! He is also encouraged that the God of this universe answers his prayers and encourages him by giving him the strength that he needs to go on each day and live a strong and noble life for the Lord. These are all wonderful reminders for us to also worship our God, but this list is not exhaustive, for I think of the wonders of nature that He places before me as I drive to work or into town, the beauty of another sunrise, the blessing of rain, of cows and wildlife playing in the fields and pastures, these all open my eyes to the wonders and majesty of my God! Most of all, like David, I am amazed that the God of this universe takes time to listen to my prayers and He answers my concerns and comforts my anxious heart. Who am I that a Kind should bleed and die for? Yet, I am often reminded that He would have sacrificed himself on that old cross – even if I was the only one in need of a Savior. He loved me that much, and it is no different in the love that my Savior has for each of you today, dear friends. Look for God’s almighty hand at work in your life, then in spontaneous worship, thank Him! Glorify His holy name! Tell others about your awesome friend! And lift Him up before a lost and dying world! Recognize His goodness and never attribute His careful and deliberate love for you as mere chance or good luck. Make every effort to be a personal, worshiping believer, not just one looking for a good place with great corporate worship done by others. Jesus is, or at least He can be, your personal Savior who loves you unconditionally and so very much.

PRAYER: Father in heaven, You have given us so much reason to worship You from the depth of our heart. Please awaken Your saints from the sleep of laziness, or dependence on others and/or other influences to invoke a heart of worship within us. Please help us to rest from the busyness of this life long enough to reflect on Your goodness, Your love and Your undying faithfulness. The Psalmist has stirred our hearts and minds to remember the awesome joy in lifting up praise and worship to You! May this be a day that our eyes will be opened to reflect on Your beauty and Your goodness, and may we recommit to a personal relationship with the God of this universe who loves us individually, and cares for us intimately. Thank You Father for loving and caring for even me. These things I ask of You in the precious name of Your Son, my Savior and King, Jesus. 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!

Taken God For Granted?

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Thank You Jesus, Thankful, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2021-08-17
WRITTEN AT: Hattiesburg, MS

SCRIPTURE FROM: Deuteronomy 32:3-6
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 3 I will proclaim the name of the Lord; how glorious is our God! 4 He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!
5 “But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely,
are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation.
6 Is this the way you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?

APPLICATION: Although it might be extremely challenging for us to admit that we are just as ungrateful as the Israelites were, I believe that we should always look for ways to show appreciation to our Master. Here are some ways that I believe will help us to show our appreciation to our faithful God:
– -> Speak to Him at least daily – prayer;
– -> Listen to Him at least daily – Bible reading;
– -> Obey His commandments – not just the 10 given in the Old Testaments, but all the comands given by God for our good;
– -> Love God – you know how to show love to your parents, siblings, spouse, children and others, so show love to the God who created you and watches over you each and every day;
– -> Love your neighbor – Love God and love your neighbor are listed as the two most important commandments, and around which all the others are built. Your neighbor is someone that you cross paths with who has a need. Love them, by meeting their need;
– -> Worship the Lord your God – For those whom you love, respect and adore, you tend to worship. Make it dileberate to worship God, personally. You don’t need church services to worship God. In fact, if you worship God personally on a regular basis, you will be more apt to join other believers in worshipping God corporately. God is looking for our worship, not just the worship by other believers who may be near you;
– -> Obedience and unselfishness – Ask God to teach you to do the things that please Him most. We tend to always default to the things that come easy to us and that makes us feel good about ourselves. In showing appreciation to God, you should take your eyes off self, and look for ways to please and honor God. Remember, God knows your heart and He knows your very thoughts, so you fool yourself when you think you could fool God. Be honest with Him and give Him your heart;
We could never ‘repay’ God for all that He has done for us, but we can show our appreciation for all that He has done, and continues to do in blessing us every day! Please strive to never take for granted the God who gave up His only Son for your eternal benefit. He is worthy of our everlasting praise and honor!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Show appreciation to God for His unending blessings towards us!

PRAYER: Lord, I am thankful that You are so gracious to us, even though our praise in return may appear weak and almost non-existent at times. Thank You Lord for all Your mercies and for all that You have done for us. Please forgive us for our ungratefulness and, make us ever so aware of your goodness. Thank You for Jesus and thank You for eternal life, that is only possible because of Jesus. You blessed the Israelites and we tend to jump on their case for being so ungrateful, but Lord, I need to ask You to touch our hearts so that we would never be found guilty of being ungrateful. You are our King, and we adore You Lord Jesus. Please forgive us of our sins and fill us with grateful hearts to always praise and worship You oh Savior divine. 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!

Thanks For Watching Over Us

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Give thanks, Needs, Praise, Protection, Protector, Recognize God, Thank You Jesus, Thankfulness, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE WRITTEN: Thursday, 2021-07-08
WRITTEN AT: Williams, AZ

SCRIPTURE FROM: Numbers 31:48-50
TRANSLATION: Contemporary English Version (CEV)

BIBLE TEXT: 48 The army commanders went to Moses 49 and said, “Sir, we have counted our troops, and not one soldier is missing. 50 So we want to give the Lord all the gold jewelry we took from the Midianites. It’s our gift to him for watching over us and our troops.”

APPLICATION: In this very old story, God is bringing His people, a group who was generally ungrateful for all that God did for them, from a land of slavery and ill-treatment to a land of ‘Milk and Honey’ – the Promised Land. We read about all the ways that they turned their backs on God, and how they failed to recognize His awesome provisions and His love towards them. Yet on this particular occasion the Israelites were used of God to eliminate the Midianites from a land they were to assume ownership. It seems like for the commanders of each part of the Israelite army that went to battle, their eyes were opened to the glory of God and His protective hand over their people. They showed their appreciation by giving back to God one hundred percent more than than they were asked to give, as their way of saying ‘thank you’ for watching over them. Friends, this opened my eyes as I meditated on this. We thank God for our food and our health, but most often it seems like we just follow an habitual routine, or a tradition, of thanking Him for these very obvious things. Think about this: What if you or I won a large sum of money, or inherited a large estate. Knowing how comfortable we are already, and how we are meeting all of our bills already, what would we do differently if we were gifted this large estate? I know: you would tithe to your church; you might pay off any mortgages outstanding so that you would end up debt free for once in your life; you might use a chunk of the money to take care of your parents for the rest of their lives; and you may even create an endowment fund so that the orphanage supported by your church will be funded properly. But what if you felt a tug on your heart to give to God’s church for the ongoing ministry in your community? Isn’t it strange how we then become experts on how the church misappropriates it’s money; how the leaders favor one family over another to help when in need; how their budget is a joke; etc, etc? Please dear believer in Christ, notice that there is nothing said about how the Israelites may have felt about misuse of power or provisions by Moses and his leaders. They realized that God Almighty was their guide into the battle; their strength during the battle; their protector that brought them safely out of the battle; and their everlasting hope in every circumstance of life. Notice that the commanders didn’t say that their gifts were for Moses, but they were for God. Notice that they didn’t insist on how their gifts must be used, they just wanted to give unto God for all that He had given to them and protected them from. In God’s Word, He demands that we give to the Lord God. We are given direction on how much to give, based on what is taught in the Word. I believe that God is holding our church leaders accountable for the jobs they are given in leading us, and they are all answerable to God. Let’s learn to do our part, and allow our church leaders to do theirs. God watches over each of us in His own special way, and we each are accountable to God for what He has entrusted to us. God being our helper, may we all thank Him, and give to His work, as we feel in our heart that He commands us to do.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: In a battle where all the men of the opposing army was killed, the Israelites realized that not one of their men was lost. They gave, thanked God, and worshipped Him, for protecting them. So should we when we see our God watching over us like He does each day!

PRAYER: Thank You dear Lord for protecting our ancestors and taking such good care of them. You do the same for us each and every day! So Lord, we just want to say ‘Thank You’ from the bottom of our heart. You are so good to us! Please forgive us when we whine and complain, for Your love is always with us, even when life don’t seem to be going our way. May our lives be an example to those searching for You, or just simply don’t believe in You. May they see Jesus in action through the normal course of our lives, and may they realize that You are alive and well, ready to listen to their cry for forgiveness of their sin. 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!

Recognizing Our Awesome God

On By Ed AlgreenIn Allegiance to the Lamb, Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Christian, Discerning, Faith, Faith, Follow Jesus, God Cares For Us, God our Helper, Imitator of Christ, Listen to the Word of God, Obedience, Righteousness, Thank You JesusLeave a comment

Bible Text:  Matthew 12

Bible Text:  22 Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. 23 The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?”

APPLICATION:  Sometimes we read these familiar stories in God’s Word and God will just speak to us afresh through something contained in that passage. In this story Jesus had performed several miracles, and finally the crowd stepped back in wonderment and questioned among themselves ‘Could this possibly be the Messiah?”. In the world we live in today God is still very active, and although we tend to really hone in on the negative, there are times that our spiritual minds are awakened and we say to ourselves “that must be a Jesus thing”. That certain thing could only have occurred if Jesus made it happen. Friends, I believe that we must be praying with such expectation that we will notice every little act of God and response to our prayers by God. He is very much alive today and active in our lives. It is time for Christians to wake up and give Him credit for all that He does. It is in this type of act that we tend to help believers who are in doubt and result in questioning every act of God. They must see our faith, if we ever expect to be a Godly influence on them! We serve a mighty God, but don’t wait for the ‘big’ miracles to occur, recognize and praise Him daily for all that He does in your life. Good health – especially when we see so many in hospitals or at home sick; safety – especially when we pass a wreck on the road where some innocent person got hurt or even killed; answer to prayer – especially when we see so many that doubt or question the work of God, or try to give credit to chance or horoscopes or palm readers. Friends we serve, and we should recognize the mighty God of this universe, the King of all kings, the Creator of all mankind. Do we have reason to doubt? I believe that we actually have more reasons not to doubt the mighty works of God in our world today.

PRAYER: Praise be to God for accepting me as a humble child in great need of a Savior. Praise be to God for all the miracles performed in my life, in the life of our church and in the lives of my family and friends. May I be very alert to Your mighty hand at work in my life and all around me. May others see Jesus reflected in my life and in their own lives, so that together we can truly be a thankful people praising You for all Your mighty works and wondrous love. Thank You Jesus for caring so much for me. Please continue to work on me and mold me into something that  You can use to accomplish Your work. May I recognize Your mighty works each and every day!

Our Response To Miracles

On By Ed AlgreenIn Give thanks, Miracles, Power of Prayer, Prayer, Thank You Jesus, Thankful, Thankfulness, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE  FROM:   Psalm 79:13 (MSG)

TEXT:   Then we, your people, the ones you love and care for, will thank you over and over and over.
We’ll tell everyone we meet how wonderful you are, how praiseworthy you are!

OBSERVATION:   In this Psalm by Asaph, he and his people had pleaded with God for several things that they felt very strongly about. These things were mostly in regards to abuse of the temple, so they felt really bad about the disrespect being shown towards God and His holy temple. However, after going through all this, and in confidence of God’s mighty hand, they immediately started praising the Lord! I wonder, does the church of God (that’s you and I) here on earth remember to return thanks?

APPLICATION:   At one time I was a part of Wednesday Night Prayer meetings, where the very first thing that we did was to celebrate things for which we should praise God. It was interesting in that we could verbalize the items fairly good, however when it came time to praise God for them in prayer, it became very challenging to just praise God, celebrate and rejoice in our gifts without slipping in our petitions. Mind you, there was always time later to take our petitions before the Lord! It was very challenging to JUST praise the Lord and give thanks. You know, in corporate prayer, some of our challenge today might be because we rush into our prayers, say very quickly what we feel others want to hear, then we finish so that others might have time. This verse that we are meditating on today seems like it may be showing us that we should savor our time with the Lord. Can you imagine sitting around in a circle, knowing that God is in our midst, and start with the words of this verse before naming a few of the things that each of us are thankful for? Imagine if we could do that without watching our clocks and feeling the need to rush through our time with the Lord. Wow, I could see us turning that time together into a great time of praise and thanksgiving, in the very presence of our Lord and Savior. Furthermore, I believe that by the time we have finished praising God for His gifts and blessings to us, our needs that we felt so burdened with when we first came into that Prayer Meeting would be minimized and not worth mentioning anymore. Friends, those of us that have an awesome relationship with our Savior already take advantage of these times with Jesus. Attending corporate prayer meetings allow us to share that celebration with others who may be slipping in their relationship with their Lord. Together, we could help each other draw closer to God. Are you attending your church prayer meetings? Others need you, and you may need strength from the experiences of others. Check out the designated time for your church Prayer Meetings, and be there!

PRAYER:   Lord Jesus, for those who have accepted You as Lord, we thank You for accepting us as Your precious children, and Your blessings in so many ways. How could I but praise you, my Savior and my Lord? Thank You for reminding us of this area of our lives that we are probably the weakest in. Please help us to always remember the source of our help and to always be in a state of Thanksgiving. Lord, we love You and we praise You for being so good to us! 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!

 

And Why Are You Complaining Again?

On By Ed AlgreenIn Prayer, Thank You Jesus, ThankfulLeave a comment

Post Date:

 Wednesday, 2017-03-15
SCRIPTURE

From:

 Exodus 16:8 (NCV)

Text:

 8 And Moses said, “Each evening the Lord will give you meat to eat, and every morning he will give you all the bread you want, because he has heard you grumble against him. You are not grumbling against Aaron and me, because we are nothing; you are grumbling against the Lord.”
OBSERVATION:
God had brought the Israelites through so much, and He had revealed Himself through miracle and after miracle to them. Yet at every opportunity, they turned their faces on God and complained about their plight. In this particular case it was about food. For those that never complain, I know it will be challenging to try and apply this lesson today, but let’s have a look!!
APPLICATION:
It is unfortunate, but I believe that believers are probably just as bad as non-believers when it comes to complaining and finding fault. Perhaps it’s about the pastor, because he didn’t visit us when we were sick; or he spoke on Hell instead of Heaven; or I just don’t get anything from his sermons; or I just can’t get over how everyone complains about him…. Although I know it would be challenging to admit that you participated in this type of complaining, I’m sure that you’ve heard this and a whole lot more – perhaps about the choir, praise team, elders, deacons, maintenance, janitors, etc. Ever stopped to think about the words of Moses in these verses? You see, the faithful are sincerely praying for the pastor – that he may receive a revelation from God on what his flock needs and how God might choose to meet those needs. May I encourage you to really let the words of Moses penetrate your heart and your soul, and not be guilty of complaining against what God is doing through His servants who stand in front of you each week preaching, teaching or serving in any way? May I suggest that you join those who are praying for more blessings for the same ones that you’ve been complaining about? I believe that like me, you want to hear from God at every opportunity possible, and since He has chosen to speak through His servants to us, then we must earnestly be in prayer for those who serve us, that they can step away from the world and become so entrenched in the presence of God, that they will come before us as vessels filled with a word from God, that will be applicable to us and cause us to grow in our faith and relationship with God. Something I heard a long time ago, that is still applicable today: ‘You will give out of something, as much as you have put into it’. Think about that! If you pray for your pastor and staff, perhaps you will be come away from services and teaching classes filled with the awesome power of God that you prayed down on them. May I suggest that anytime you come away from a service feeling empty and unfulfilled, ask God to reveal where you went wrong in your praying for that service? Like Moses, our pastors are nothing more than us – human beings, however the God that we pray they will be filled with, He is everything!
PRAYER:
Father, please forgive us for whining and complaining so much, when in fact we have so much to be extremely thankful for and blessed through and through about. We really should be spending our time lifting up holy hands and singing praises to You at every opportunity. Lord may we endeavor to praise and thank You more than we have ever done before. May we learn to pray for the very folk that we tend to complain about and find fault with. Lord, be glorified in our lives today, is my humble prayer, 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 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!

Blow A Trumpet For God!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Chosen by God, Christian, Faith, God Cares For Us, Heaven, Our Help comes from God, Praise, Stregth, Surrender, Testify, Thank You Jesus, Trust, WorshipLeave a comment

The Bible – The Message

1 Corinthians 1:27–31

Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”

Thoughts:

God is nothing less than amazing! Do I hear an AMEN?!! Just when we are about to throw in the towel, or just when we think we are only a speck of dust in God’s overall kingdom, our eyes are opened with scripture like this that reminds us that we are royalty – children of the King of kings. We are also reminded that as in the case of an earthly king where the country men are subjects of the king, we too are subjects or servants of our King. Also, as in the case of a country being recognized for its valor and earthly production where the king is primarily recognized because of his leadership and his provisions that made the country what it is, so it is with our heavenly King. For it is only through the provision of the King’s Son, Jesus, that we are saved from our sin and accepted into His glorious kingdom where we will reign with Him forever. It is only through the power of this Jesus, that blind men regained their sight, the crippled began to walk again and the dead was brought back to life again. It is only through our faith in Jesus, that we are blessed with miracles even today. But friends, all these blessings come with somewhat of a warning, for we are told that although we may be the servant praying for the sick to be healed, or praying for an unsaved loved one, we can boast of no personal accomplishment in any turnaround seen in any of these cases, for we are only the beggar, the servant, asking for a favor from God Almighty. God is the healer, He sacrificed so that salvation might be available to us, our family and our friends. So as we see God’s hand at work, let’s intensify the praise and worship to our Lord, for it is He who is responsible for the miracles wrought! To Him be all glory and praise! Lift Him up before the people around You so that they too might be introduced to our Savior and Lord! Why not use your weekly worship services to especially praise the Father for His goodness? He is worthy, and deserves a lot more praise than what He hears in our labeled, ‘praise and worship’ services!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, who am I that You would send Your Son to die sacrificially so that I might easily find my way to You? Who am I that You would heal my body, or bless me with a job, a family, and a comfortable place to live? Lord, I realize that I will never understand the sincerity and depth of Your love, but thank You for opening my eyes, and reminding me of my obligation to offer constant praise and worship to You for all that You do for me. You are all powerful, but thankfully You are all loving also, because You forgave me of my sin and accepted me as Your son. Thank You Lord Jesus for being my King, my Savior and my deliverer. May I always be mindful of Your awesome presence and love for me, and therefore never beat up on myself when I feel like things are not going my way. The provision for life eternally with You has already been made, so anything that happens on this earth is really very minor and possibly even irrelevant. Please forgive me for missed opportunities to praise You and lift You up before my family, friends and coworkers. May they be  encouraged to look to You because of the evidence of Your love in and through my every action and/or word. To You be all glory, honor and praise, for I honor You and ask all this in Your precious name, Lord Jesus, AMEN!

NOTE: 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.

Reflecting on the Past Gives Confidence for the Future

On By Ed AlgreenIn A Lamp unto My Path, Christian, Encourage, God Cares For Us, God our Helper, God our Provider, Our Help comes from God, Thank You JesusLeave a comment

The Bible – The Good news Translation

Psalm 77:11–12

11              I will remember your great deeds, Lord;

I will recall the wonders you did in the past.

12              I will think about all that you have done;

I will meditate on all your mighty acts.

Thoughts:

Although faith is a powerful thing, we have a lot to increase our confidence and our faith, especially when we reflect on the past. Example in point, is the hard physical work I’ve seen from my dad that helps me to stay focused, and press on, especially when I attempt physical tasks myself. I know that the hard work only made him a tough, persistent, determined man who cared for his family, so instead of me looking at the trends of today, I gain my strength from looking at my dad’s past accomplishments that stemmed from his hard work. So it is in our Christian walk. We have the option of listening to the critics that we must base our faith on the things that can be seen, but reflecting on the mighty hand of God in so many Biblical stories, gives us the faith and confidence to know that He can do it again! What’s even more exciting is that God doesn’t have to do it the same way again! He once parted the waters for His people to safely cross over and avoid massacre by the army behind them – don’t you think that He could also free us from our oppressors in even more exciting ways today if He thought there was a need to? He raised Lazarus from the dead, don’t you know that He could also speak the dreaded decease of cancer out of a child of His, if only we plead with Him for healing? Furthermore, God has promised to watch over us, care for us and love us through to the end. Whom then shall we fear? Why then should we worry ourselves sick when we face challenges beyond our human control? Friends, remember that we have a Savior who is very capable of blessing His children, and just as capable of seeing us through our challenges, that otherwise seem hopeless to us. However, let me be quick to remind you friend that our God is a God of relationship, not a ‘Jeanine-in-a-bottle’. He hears the prayers of those who know Him, not those who just need a temporary relief in a situation. Asking a stranger for a favor is just about hopeless, but calling on family (real family that live as, and love like, family) in our time of need, is two totally opposites in our expectations. To build that relationship you must have invited Him into your life, have you done that friend? Please use the contact information below to allow me to pray with you about this very important decision you need to make. God is the only One that can, and will, help you in and through life’s circumstances, so yes, this is a ‘needed‘ decision you should make!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for the record You have left in Your Word to comfort us and reenergize us into making good, solid decisions. May Your kids who meditate on this devotional today be humbled about their need for a Savior, the Savior of this world, the One who loved them enough to die on a cruel cross so that they would have the means of entering heaven’s gates and one day sitting by Your side in Your kingdom. Thank You Father for loving us this much. Thanks for keeping Your record book (the Bible) alive so that we might see from Your past record how truly powerful and loving You are. This gives us confidence that You can do these things and more in our day, if they become necessary! What a might God we serve! Thank You Lord for Your blessings on me! Father, the evil of this world is way more than I can handle alone, so I commit myself to You again, with the confidence that You can see me through every circumstance! I ask all this in Your precious, powerful and loving name, Jesus my Lord, AMEN!

 

NOTE: 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.

Trust In God at All Times

On By Ed AlgreenIn Ask and Receive, Bible Believing, Faith, Follow Jesus, God Cares For Us, God our Helper, God our Provider, Helper, Our Help comes from God, Protector, Thank You Jesus, The enemy, Trust, Truth, Victorious Life, Worry no moreLeave a comment

The Bible – The Good News Translation

 Psalm 62:5-8

 5 Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.

6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.

7 My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.

8 O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.

Thoughts:

When we think about the life of David we remember that from the time he was just a young boy he placed his faith and strength in the hands of the Lord – remember when he went to battle with the giant Philistine? David faced many battles as Israel’s king, and he was able to place the battles before God, seek His direction and in following God’s commands, David lead many armies into successful battles. Many of the Psalms were written either in preparation for battles, or in celebration and thanksgiving for successes in battles. Now for those who are still trying to follow my line of thinking here, you are probably saying under your breath that you are not a king, and you have no armies to lead. But where God got my attention on this is that we almost daily face battles of one type or another. For some, it may be jobs and unreasonable supervisors, for others it might be family members, friends, co-workers or just about anyone that Satan could send our way to test our faith in the Lord. The big question, or challenge, for us to consider is: will these ‘battles’ result in the world seeing that we are just like them, in that we caved in to jealousy, revenge, hatred or an attitude just like theirs, or will they see in return: forgiveness; love; turning the other cheek; understanding and a God-like attitude? You see, for us to truly be ‘little Christ’s’ (Christians) then we must respond like Jesus would. If we say during the good times of life that God is our Refuge and Strength, do we maintain that same truth when under pressure or tested by Satan’s tactics, and our enemies are attacking from all sides? Please re-read vs 8 and be reminded that God is saying through His servant David, “Trust in the Lord at all times, for He (God) is our refuge (our safe harbor) and our strength”, and we have nothing to fear!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, it is easy for us to trust in You when we are on a mountain top looking down on our ‘enemies’ or looking down on the completed battle, but the challenge is for us to place our faith and trust in You before we go to ‘battle’, or during the ‘battle’. Lord, we are reminded in Your Word again today that You alone is God, yes over our good times, and the bad and the challenging times. Please help Your weak-at-heart children to always place our faith in You and to look to You for our guidance and victories. Way too often we try to take the wheel back from You and drive this life-ship ourselves. Please forgive us, for we should never forget that You are our Strength and our Refuge, a present help in times of trouble and in need. Lord, my unsaved loved ones will not experience this great Strength and Defender unless they have accepted You as their Lord and Savior. Please, may it be so, even today? I humbly ask all this in Your precious and all powerful name, Lord Jesus, AMEN!

 

NOTE: 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.

Grace – Free and Undeserved

On By Ed AlgreenIn All have sinned, Ask and Receive, Bible Believing, Blood of Jesus, Chosen by God, Christian, Faith, God Cares For Us, Grace, Love, Reaching the Lost, Sin, Thank You Jesus, Things Eternal, WitnessingLeave a comment

The Bible – New Living Translation

Romans 11:4-6

 4 And do you remember God’s reply? He said, “No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!”(1 Kings 19:18)

5 It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. 6 And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.

Thoughts:

I find it interesting how God draws certain things to our attention as we read His Word. I believe this has reiterated the point to me that without staying in His Word, how then will we hear from Him? My reason for the aforesaid, is that my initial reading of the highlighted verses left me wondering why God would have Paul include this Old Testament reference in his talk to the Roman believers and also in His Word for our edification? God quickly drew to my attention something to share with you in today’s devotional. Friends, who are we that God should have ever gotten our attention towards salvation? Now, before we get all holy and self-righteous in thinking that we never killed anyone, like Elijah was referring to in his initial question to God about the Jews, the Bible clearly states that God detests sin. He hates it. But friend, all the same, He valued us/loved us enough to look beyond our sin and rescue us from this life of sin. Yes, He convicted us of our sin and our need for a Savior? That’s where Paul is coming from in this passage, and that’s what we must be diligent to praise God about, and that’s what we must be careful in helping our lost family and friends to understand. God’s grace is beyond anything we can measure or understand. He sacrificed His one and only Son to die a cruel death on a cross so that we might be saved, even while we were deep in sin, uncaring and undeserving of such grace. We just can’t comprehend that kind of grace/love! But just as Paul share with his Roman counterparts, I must remind you today that God’s very nature is love and just as He once put the life of His Son on the line for us, His grace is still sufficient today. Please don’t give up on that lost loved one. To the one that may be reading this today that may never have made a decision to accept Christ as your personal Savior, please don’t think that you are beyond God’s love. The mere fact that you are reading this devotional is an indication that the Holy Spirit is working to show you His love and grace. Be obedient to His call on your life today, won’t you? Please feel free to contact me using the email address below to pray with you and help you in the vital decision.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I praise You today for Your wonderful and unparalleled grace. You loved me enough to speak to me right where I was, in sin, and convince me of the need for my Savior! Although we are tempted to think like Elijah did and question why You would save some folk even after knowing their awful past, I thank You for not being like us humans, for we often think like the world still, and tend to give up on folk because their future seem so hopeless to us. Oh my, where would we have been if You felt the same way about us? Praise God that Your ways are way beyond our very best efforts, for You loved us even while we were still wicked and undeserving. Thank You Lord Jesus for Your love and Your grace. Please help us to see through eyes filled with the grace of Jesus so that we may have a positive, Godly influence in the lives of those that need to accept You as Lord. As Your sons and daughters we need desperately to be more like our Father. Please continue to impress upon us the character and love of our Savior so that the world might see and know, without our hypocritical selves interfering, that they need You in their lives. I ask all this in the precious name of my Savior and Lord, Jesus the Christ, AMEN!

 

NOTE: 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.