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Post Date: |
Saturday, 2017-02-25 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Psalm 18:1-3 (TLB) |
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Text: |
1 Lord, how I love you! For you have done such tremendous things for me.2 The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me. He is a rugged mountain where I hide; he is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety. He is my shield. He is like the strong horn of a mighty fighting bull. 3 All I need to do is cry to him—oh, praise the Lord—and I am saved from all my enemies! |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| David had been rescued from battle after battle, and he sat down and considered the source of his protection, support and wisdom, and exploded with a sacrifice of praise to the only God, the One who was so gracious to him. He acknowledged that God stepped in and saved him from his enemies whenever he cried out to Him, and now his heart was so filled with thanksgiving and praise that it appears like there may not be enough descriptive words to serve the purpose! How are we doing in this area of life? | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| We hear about folk traveling hundreds of miles to be touched by a TV evangelist who has been known to heal attendees of crippling deceases, and we hear of prayer meetings where we are encouraged to bring our petitions and our needs before the Lord, but how often do we remember to return to the altar and lay our hearts out before God in awesome praise and adoration, having recognized Him as the Healer, or Provider, or Miracle Worker in our personal situation that we had laid before Him in prayer? As a kid, we were taught that it is good and proper to say ‘thank you’ after being blessed with a gift from someone. But how often do we return to God to acknowledge His holiness and His awesome blessings to us? Friends, may I encourage you to acknowledge God for His mighty works, and stop attributing your successes, recoveries and wins over serious deceases to ‘good luck’ or ‘your special moment’ or any other avoidance of praising God? If you took time to pray for God’s intervention in your serious situation, and you see a breakthrough in that situation, please acknowledge the One that you asked to help in the first place. I believe that each day results in multiple ways that we can stop and praise the Lord – protection while traveling the road of life; the doctors who helped us overcome serious illness; loved ones who encourage and bless us every day; food to eat and the comfort of our homes. Let’s not take those things for granted. God blessed us with then, and He knows what we need and when we need them. Let’s acknowledge Him in all things each and every day, and let’s not forget to thank those that God has placed in our path, so that they also might be blessed and appreciated by us. God is so good, and in so many ways. Let’s praise Him for who He is and for all that He does! | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord Jesus, You are so good to us and so often we neglect in returning thanks and appreciation for all that You do. Please forgive us for our ungratefulness. Lord, may we learn from David and be more moved by Your Spirit to return to the throne of grace and offer up our praises to You on a regular basis. As recognized in my ‘Application’ above, You look out for us each and every day, and You bless us more than we could possibly deserve every day. Thank You Father for Your awesome love for us and for all that You do for us. May we be more like David in an example of a grateful and appreciative child of the King. 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! | |
Category: Thankfulness
Appreciative To God!
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 17:14–17
Today’s Bible Text: 14 He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. 15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” 16 He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. 17 Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)
My Take Away: We are a very needy people. It seems like there would never be a shortage of things to ask for whenever we go before God in prayer, for He is so worthy, so powerful and so loving in wanting to supply our every need. But this scripture today is a reminder that we are to be a people of thanksgiving and praise even more than a people who constantly ask/plead/beg for God’s grace and favor. Think about it friend, God provides so much more than what we ask for, and His responses to our requests are so much more than we could ever imagine. There is no other God like our God! As I look outside my window this morning I can see sunshine; a beautiful lake with fish jumping from the water; greenery; birds and the accompanying chirping from them. So far I’ve listed several things that I never asked God for this morning, but for which I can give Him thanks. Unfortunately I believe many of our prayer lives are much like the lepers in this story. We are probably quick to run to God with our needs and our wants, but how often do we return to thank Him for His attention and answers? Let’s never forget that there are times that we ask God, but we tend to think that He never heard us if He answers differently to what we told Him. There is much to thank God for in the ‘no’ responses as well! Friends, may I encourage you today to try and follow in the footsteps of the one leper who gave thanks to Jesus, and not the other nine who took the healing for granted, and were ungrateful in returning to give thanks! God deserves our praise and our thanksgiving!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You bless us so powerfully every day in so many wonderful ways. Please help us to always, always return to give thanks to You for not only hearing our prayers, but responding to them in such divine ways. Please help our times of prayer to always be deeper in praise and thanksgiving than any of the needs that we have to pray about, no matter how severe those needs may appear to us. Leprosy was pretty serious, yet when healed, only one returned to give thanks. May we be a part of that group that will remember, and will return to give thanks, for we are so appreciative of all that You bless us with each and every day. In thanksgiving, I ask these things, 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!
2016