Category: Worship

Personal, Intimate Worship

On By Ed AlgreenIn Forgiven, Praise, Sacrifice, WorshipLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Hebrews 10:16-18): 16“When the time comes, I will make an agreement with them. I will write my laws on their minds and hearts. 17Then I will forget about their sins and no longer remember their evil deeds.” 18 When sins are forgiven, there is no more need to offer sacrifices.

THOUGHTS: In Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah spoke about the coming Messiah and the power He had over sin, however He was speaking to a people with hardened hearts and who only knew one way of seeing sins forgiven, and that was through sacrifices made at the temple. To the Israelites, any other preaching on forgiveness of sin was heresy. In the New Testament, and particularly in this passage being studied today, we see where Jeremiah’s prophecy is being repeated again in verses 16 and 17, because the people had fallen into a rut and chose to believe, and practice the same old teachings of their forefathers. This made me question if times have changed any for us today? Do we still attend church out of tradition, and practice forms of worship as passed on by our forefathers, or have we truly connected with the Holy Spirit of God that resides inside of us, and gladly anticipate times of worship so we could truly speak to God through the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we in all honesty, and in close communion with Jesus, place ourselves bare before Him and seek forgiveness of our sin, and just melt away into honest and sincere worship of the King of this universe, giving thanks for His bountiful mercies and His amazing grace? Do we leave a corporate worship service wondering if anyone else was in attendance that day, because all we remembered was the sweet time of fellowship and worship of the Savior that we immersed ourselves into, with God’s help? Knowing Jesus as our personal Savior, and continuing a sweet, honest relationship with Him each day, involves times that we stop, recognize Him for who He is, and worship Him as Master and Lord over our lives and everything around us. I believe that if we struggle with the latter, then perhaps we need to return to the former and insure that we have a personal relationship with Jesus! Where do you stand friend? Please talk to Jesus about this and make sure that all is well between you two!

PRAYER: Father, thank You for making us so that we would have a relationship with You, and a heart and mind to worship You. Please forgive us for failing miserably in the aspect of personal worship, and so often blaming our lack of desire on our worship teams, or our pastors, or the tone of the services that we attend – if we find time to attend. We are such an ungrateful bunch dear Lord, please forgive us. You gave the very life of Your one and only Son as a sacrifice for us. You’ve brought us through many trials and burdens, yet we pitifully proclaim that we were not ‘led into worship’ at a church service. Father, I believe that my heart is filled to overflowing from the many blessings that You willingly pour out on me, and the overflow alone is enough to fill times of worship and adoration as I come before You. I praise You Lord Jesus for all that You have done for me. I thank You for forgiveness of my sin. I am again reminded that there is nothing I can place at Your altar in place of my sin, but because of the shedding of Your precious blood on Calvary, I can seek Your forgiveness and know that my sin is forgiven! Blessed be the name of the Lord, most high! I worship You, and I lift my voice… Please touch the heart of each one meditating on this devotional today dear God. May they release the offering of praise that is welled up inside of them! May I always give thanks for who You are, praise You for Your amazing grace, and place these petitions at Your feet, humbly asking all this in the wonderful name of Jesus, my King, my Lord and my wonderful Savior. 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!

We MUST Worship Only God

On By Ed AlgreenIn Adoration, WorshipLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Contemporary English Version – Jeremiah 32:37-41): 37 I am angry at the people of Jerusalem, and I will scatter them in foreign countries. But someday I will bring them back here and let them live in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will make their thoughts and desires pure. Then they will realize that, for their own good and the good of their children, they must worship only me. They will even be afraid to turn away from me. I will make an agreement with them that will never end, and I won’t ever stop doing good things for them.

THOUGHTS: There’s a few important things that I believe God would have us discern from these verses today:

  • God can become angry – Notice in verse 37 how He became so angry at the disobedience of His people that He scattered them around the world? It made me stop and think how angry God must get at us today when He looks at the disobedience and disregard of not only sinners, but also many who claim Him as Lord. It seems like we take the attitude of leaving our leftovers for God. When we talk about time to worship, or Bible study, we often hear that folk will consider that, if they have time (left over time). When we look at giving, it’s a matter of giving the leftovers after we have spent all that we want to. When we talk about our men being spiritual leaders in their homes and workplaces, we hear how inadequate and untrained they are, but yet they have spent so much time in their favorite sport that they not only know every move, but they know the players so well that they call them by name and even know about their off-field likes and dislikes. Out on our jobs, coworkers find it difficult to discern Christians vs non-Christians in attitudes, work ethics or conversation. Should God be angry about what He sees and hears?
  • What will it take for people to turn to God, or back to Him? – God knew that He would one-day return the Jews back to their homeland, and that they would then be ready and prepared to worship Him with pure hearts and minds. What do you suppose it would take to see our people turn to God? Every day seems to be getting worse here on earth, I can’t imagine what it would take to truly get the attention of sinful people today, but I do know that Jesus is the answer, and that God CAN get our attention. We may not like it, but our God is a jealous God. He made us for the intended purpose of worshiping Him, yet we do everything else but that.

PRAYER: Father, please forgive us for our sin, our shortcomings, and our lack of desire to worship and serve You. You have done amazing things for us, yet we approach You, worship You and acknowledge You with such insignificant value. Although undeserving of Your precious love and the sacrifice You made for us, I want to especially say thank You today and offer my sacrifice of praise and adoration to You. Please draw us to Yourself and overshadow the evil things of this world that we tend to permit into our lives. May we instead by driven to You and recognize Your holy presence so that we may live according to Your will and in obedience to Your design outlined in Your Holy Word. We were created to worship You dear Lord, please help us to everyday strive to do just that. Please also touch the lives of my readers today so that they too might receive power from You to overcome the distractions of this world, and together we will worship You with thankful hearts. All this I ask in the precious 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 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!

What God Likes Best!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Pleasing to God, WorshipLeave a comment

The Holy Bible   (The Contemporary English Version – Jeremiah 9:23-24): 23 The Lord says: Don’t brag about your wisdom or strength or wealth. 24 If you feel you must brag, then have enough sense to brag about worshiping me, the Lord. What I like best is showing kindness, justice, and mercy to everyone on earth.

Thoughts:   From a very young age, I believe that we have a desire to please, especially when we know there are rewards when such behavior is recognized! I was pleasantly surprised to find these two verses smack in the middle of a discourse between God and Jeremiah, where God was warning Jeremiah about the destruction that will be poured out on his people, because of their sin and disregard. Fortunately, I believe that this is the same attitude God has towards you and I today, friend. Because of our sin, and our disregard for Him and His precious Word, we deserve death, destruction and total disregard by God, for we are doing much like God accused Jeremiah’s people of. We are all about self-success, self-riches, self-pride, self-smarts. I believe that way too often we feel like we have this thing called ‘life’ all figured out, so why would we need God. This is most unfortunate, because there are also times where we feel so out of control and helpless. Don’t you know that those are the times that God is shaking our conscience and trying to wake us up from the awful sleep/disregard/disrespect that we have fallen into? I was most humbled by what God told Jeremiah, when He indicated that He would really prefer not having to punish us (ever heard your parents say that!!!), if only we would worship Him, accept Him, love Him and honor Him, then He would instead show kindness, justice and mercy towards everyone on earth! We serve such an awesome God friend! He loves us enough to forgive us and bless us instead of destroying us, which is probably what we deserve. So pleasing God replaces the destruction that could be brought upon us, with blessings beyond our imagination! But can you imagine how happy that would also make God? I believe that just as we have a spirit of goodness in us, rather than a will to destroy, harm or hate, so does God. So I would encourage you to make every effort to accept Jesus and your Savior; love on Him and show the respect, regard and worship that He deserves, and then relax in His goodness and mercy all the days of your life, yes even throughout eternity! Praise the name of Jesus, our Savior and Lord for loving me enough to forgive me and put up with me through my weaknesses!! He is such an awesome God!

Prayer:   Jesus, friend of sinners, author and finisher of our faith, provider of life eternal for all who believes, thank You for Your undying love. Throughout scripture we discern that You would much prefer to love on us and provide for us, rather than the total opposite that will destroy us. Thank You for all You have done for me, I love You Lord and I lift my voice, to worship You, oh my soul, rejoice! Take joy my King, in all of Your children today. May our worship be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear. Although thankful for all Your blessings on me, I pray that You might still shower Your blessings on us yet again today. Please give us boldness and determination to be Your witness today and represent You well to those that need to accept You as King of their lives. I ask these things in the wonderful, loving and 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 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!

Worthy of Worship

On By Ed AlgreenIn Holy, Worship2 Comments

The Holy Bible  (The Contemporary English Version – Isaiah 22:15): 15 My servant will make nations worthy to worship me; kings will be silent as they bow in wonder. They will see and think about things they have never seen or thought about before.

Thoughts: I believe that as a society we are facing a very challenging situation, with our churches almost going into extinction. Shocked? Well friend, I believe that you may need to move into reality and see how many churches are shutting down each week because of poor attendance or lack of necessary operating funds. So why do you suppose this may be the case? First let’s examine the makeup of the local church – it’s made up of folk just like you and I that attend, and give for the ongoing work of the Lord. So why do we attend? Perhaps some go out of tradition – meaning that it is the place to be on Saturday or Sunday morning. Others may go because they feel accountable to a family member. Still others attend out of pure devotion to God, and they look forward to not only worshiping Him for His blessings during the week, but they also want to learn more about what God has to say to us through His messenger. So why then are churches declining, and even shutting their doors? I believe that Isaiah made a very important point that we all must pay attention to. For I believe that in and of our own sinful selves, we have no desire to attend church, to be told about our sin, and stand corrected about our life styles and decisions. However, as in the day of the church that Isaiah envisioned, I am convinced that it is God who will call people to Himself and convince them of their need to worship Him. I believe that way too often our churches today come up with so many programs and tactics to attract people into their churches, that attendees remain uncommitted when their ‘program’ is weakened or discontinued. Friends, this is not a problem when we allow Jesus to remain in charge of His church. So I believe that as church leaders constantly seek Him, allow Him control, and plead for His interaction with His people, then He will have freedom to work on the worthiness of His people and the churches in which they worship. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would ‘make’ the people (nations) worthy. To do this will require getting to their hardened hearts and turning around some evil thoughts that have been permitted in. I believe that God still has the power to impact our towns, our country and our world for Himself today, friends! For those of you who know Him as Lord, may I encourage you to surrender fully to Him today, then pray for family, co-workers and friends who have not seen the need to attend church where they might join in corporate worship? If you are one of those who have not seen the need to attend worship services, may I suggest that God is already dealing in your heart friend! I say this based on the knowledge that it is only God that would have encouraged you to read all the way to this point in this devotional! So listen to the voice of God and follow through in what you feel He is prompting you to do. He has prepared a very bright future for all of us who know Him personally. I would love to see you be among the number who will see Him face to face in heaven! I am excited about the opportunity, and I pray that you will be also!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are so good to us! Thank You for loving us enough to provide the means for us to one day join You in Heaven! I plead with You today heavenly Father, that the hearts of Your children will be humbled to fully understand the love laid upon Calvary’s cross so that we might be afforded the gift of eternal life with You in glory! I pray that each person meditating on this devotional today will not only place themselves on the altar of sacrifice and worship before You, but that we might begin in deep earnest to pray for our family, coworkers and friends, so that Your church here on earth might be reinvigorated and recommitted to true and sincere worship of You. Perhaps at that stage, unsaved loved ones will be open to uniting with sincere and loyal followers freed form hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Lord You are the only one worthy of our worship! May we commit ourselves to clean and holy lives so that our worship might be a sweet aroma in your ears. I ask all this in the precious name of Jesus, with thanksgiving, 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! 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!

God’s Plan – Our Purpose

On By Ed AlgreenIn Purpose, WorshipLeave a comment

The Holy Bible (The Message – Colossians 1:15-18): We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

Thoughts: At times we might purchase something, use it for whatever we intended, or had in mind when we purchased it. After seeing it break down and fail so often, we might pull out the instruction book and discover that there were some important steps we were neglecting, that could easily have caused a failure in the expected life of the item. Now, re-read the scripture verses and see if it doesn’t spell out for us why we fail individually, and especially why our churches are failing to reach the masses. Friends, it is obvious that all things were created by God and for Him. Being made by his power, we were made according to His pleasure, and for His praise and glory. He not only created us, but it is by the word of His power that we are sustained or upheld. Christ as Mediator is also Head of the body of believers, the church; all grace and strength are from him; and the church is His body. So who are we to interfere with God’s plan – His purpose for us? I want to challenge you today to look inward at yourself (not your sister or your brother) and ask God to examine you and highlight the parts of your life that you have not totally surrendered to your Maker and Designer. There may be good reason why you are struggling with worshiping God or representing Him fully to your unsaved loved ones. If you truly belong to God, then according to these verses, I believe that you should be a miserable person anytime you are doing something other than worshiping or serving God. He made you to worship Him. Your very existence is purposed in Christ. The last part of these verses speak to unity in the church (the body of believers in Christ). Friends, if you are upside down in your relationship with God, don’t you know that you will also have the same negative impact on anything that you take part in, even church leadership? Always remember and respect who the head of the church is. The last thing you want to be guilty of is having a negative impact on the work of God’s church to reach, minister and glorify Him, through the ministry of Christ, to the folk that He died for. So I believe that the message in these verses today is that we reevaluate our relationship with the Lord. Are we glorifying Him in everything we do in or out of the church? Do we recognize the local church as God’s body of believers that He put in place to glorify Him? Be sure not to place self in the middle of that friend!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for placing me here on this earth with such honorable purpose. Please reveal to me areas of my life that I must seek Your help on. Areas that I must reevaluate and allow You to change so that I might glorify You more completely. Please forgive me if I have allowed self to step in the way of Your work in and through Your local church. I beg Your guidance so that I might give glory to You for being head of any church that I become a part of and through which I seek to serve You. I know that You are head of the church, and I must therefore always seek Your will and Your guidance to be a part of it and it’s ministry to my community. Thank You for the church in which I now serve! Thank You for all the churches represented by readers of this devotional. May we all take our rightful places and honor You with our praise and worship so that You might receive glory from us individual and corporately. For I believe it is then that You will have freedom to reach into our families and minister to the unsaved. I am seeking Your favor oh God, through asking all this in the precious name of Jesus, with thanksgiving, 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 my church home, 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!

Genuine Worship

On By Ed AlgreenIn Worship1 Comment

The Holy Bible (New Century Version – Isaiah 29:13-14): 13 The Lord says: “These people worship me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is based on nothing but human rules. 14 So I will continue to amaze these people by doing more and more miracles. Their wise men will lose their wisdom; their wise men will not be able to understand.”

Thoughts: I believe that it is worthy of note when a scripture is referenced in several areas of the Bible, so not only did God get my attention as I read this passage of scripture, I noticed where vs 13 was referenced and reemphasized by Jesus himself in Matthew 15:8-9 and Mark 7:6-7. Then in vs 14, the words of Isaiah was also referenced in 1 Corinthians 1:19. Friends, this may be controversial to many who may read this devotional today, but I believe that this scripture is still something that should awaken people today. For I believe that way too many people attend church services today so they can satisfy the ‘something’ that is missing in their lives; or perhaps the traditions from their upbringing; or perhaps the pressure from friends and/or family members who might influence or invite them. However, although we might receive encouragement from time spent with other believers in corporate worship, I believe that our most sincere worship comes from those times that we are awaken by something in God’s Word; or perhaps an answer to a personal prayer that you have been burdened about; or perhaps the glory of God shown to you through His marvelous handiwork, healing or call to salvation for a hardened sinner friend that you have been earnestly praying for. For it is times such as these that you realize that there is a personal connection you have with the God of this universe, the Savior of this world, the Jesus who loved us enough to die on a cruel cross just so that we might live eternally with Him. These things create an atmosphere of personal worship in our lives that cannot be explained, and was not urged on by anyone or anything other than your personal relationship with God. Friends, let me encourage you to connect with God before you get dressed for church and worship Him personally there in your home. Then take that spirit of worship with you and allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through you as you continue to worship God through corporate worship. Let’s learn to concentrate on God, not the pretty dress or suit ahead of us, or the fallacies of the preacher as he does his best to share the Word with you. Let’s look for God in our worship services, and let’s plan to worship Him personally, even if no one else is led to expressions of worship. Our worship depends on our relationship with the King of all kings, not the atmosphere or the music or even the preaching, for if it did, we would worship for the wrong reasons. Speak with God about your attitude of worship today and seek to know if you are where He wants you to be in your worship time with Him. I believe that there is no greater joy than to know that you have worshiped God in various circumstances of your life and in every walk of your life!

Prayer: Lord, the reasons why we worship You are endless, for You are beyond description in all that You have created for us to enjoy, and for all that You spare us from each and every day, and for all that You bless us with personally. You have given us Your precious Holy Spirit to guide us, protect us and lead us unto all Truth. Yes we ache, and we have our humanly/earthly issues, but these are so minor compared to the love and peace that we enjoy from knowing You and experiencing You personally. Please Lord, help us to keep our eyes fixed on You, and not the many interruptions and interference that Satan sends our way to distract us in our relationship with You. It’s You that I live for, and You that I worship dear Lord. May my praise offering be acceptable to You oh King. Please forgive me where I fail at doing this wholeheartedly at times, I ask that You touch my life and return my attention to You whenever this occurs. Please touch the hearts of those You encourage to read this devotional today. May they find peace in their worship of You, or be reminded of its importance today, is my humble and respectful prayer that I ask in the precious 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 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!

May My Thoughts Please Christ!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Pleasing to God, Praise, WorshipLeave a comment

The Bible – New Century Version

 Psalm 104:33–34

33             I will sing to the Lord all my life;

I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.

34             May my thoughts please Him;

I am happy in the Lord.

Thoughts:

Ever read a book, flip the pages and all as if you had finished reading that page, but in reality you don’t have a clue what was on that page, because your mind was miles away? Does this happen to us in our families where we are not really tuned in to a conversation taking place? Now-a-days we have all the distractions of electronics and television to distract us from quality time, or a time where our family has our undivided attention. What about church? Surely our minds don’t wonder off when we are in God’s house!! In verse 33, David is boasting about his awesome worship times – singing to the Lord – in fact he went as far as saying that he is committed to singing these praises as long as he lived. Then comes verse 34, where David asks God to direct his thoughts so that they may please Him. I get the impression that he is singing the praises, but yet seeing his mind wonder off onto other things. That caught my attention, because I believe that I am not alone when my mind wonders off during a worship song, or during the preaching or even the praying. Friends, I believe that our minds are in such overload with what remains undone at work, and/or family business that must be attended to, and/or just overtired because we didn’t get enough rest. I also believe that if we fail to worship God daily in our personal lives, it is highly unlikely that we could be very sincere in our corporate worship. Imagine our pastors coming to the pulpit, without sermon preparation or personal worship time, but because that’s the place they are paid to be at that certain hour each week. How do you suppose the sermon would come off? So why do you suppose we, the congregants are any different? Without any worship time during the week and/or any preparation time with God about the 1-2 hours that we are about to spend in corporate worship, do you suppose that our minds are magically changed and redirected from the busyness of the week, to now totally concentrate on our worship time? Friends, I believe that we have an obligation to our God, who knows everything about every thought, word or deed, to confess our weaknesses and ask for His divine intervention, so that we can avoid the pretense of worship, and instead surrender our lives, our minds and our whole beings over to Him. These words from a song I love seem appropriate for us to sing each time we enter into corporate worship, “… so forget about yourself, and concentrate on Him, and worship Him….” How is it with you friend? Is there something you need to speak with God about as far as Him receiving your undivided attention during worship times?

Prayer:

Loving Lord Jesus, please forgive me for the times that I am bodily present in worship services, but my mind is everywhere else but there. I am very much like David where I need Your touch on my life so that I can truly concentrate on You and worship You for the awesome God that You are. You have made us, and provided everything possible for our enjoyment, yet we find it challenging to give You our undivided attention, worship and praise. Lord, please touch Your people once again. I believe that revival will break out if we all came to worship, prepared in our hearts and minds, and dedicate our corporate worship time entirely to You. Please patiently examine our hearts and our minds and renew within us a right spirit, open to exemplifying You in every way, every day, and offering up our undiluted praise at every opportunity. We need this, and you deserve this dear Lord, so I ask this in your precious and holy name, 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.

Reasons To Worship

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Born Again, Celebrate God, Christian, Faith, God Cares For Us, Heaven, Pleasing to God, Praise, WorshipLeave a comment

The Bible – New Living Translation

Psalm 95:6–7

6 Come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,

7 for he is our God.

We are the people he watches over,

the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!

Thoughts:

As a child, we normally question ‘Why?’ as we learn new things or when people ask us something, or tell us to do something. Is it any different as adults? We tend to question a lot also, and we tend to object when we don’t understand why we are being asked to do something. In these focused verses from Psalm 95, David encouraged us to come, and let us worship God, let us bow down, and let us kneel before the Lord. Now, let’s look at our lives today and consider why we would want to follow this idea, or command, of David’s. After all, there is no way that we would do something like this without understanding why we are doing it! Here are some reasons I discerned from David’s command:

  • God is our maker – think about this, parents play an important role in ‘making’ their children. While they don’t demand their children to worship them, they do demand respect, honor and obedience. So when we consider God as our ‘maker’ should we not worship Him as part of our respect, honor, obedience and praise? In fact, these attributes are forms of worship!
  • He is our God – Sometimes I believe that we would sooner listen to the weatherman about Mother-Nature giving us a beautiful day, and offer up thanks to ‘Mother-Nature’ for blessing us with a great day! Friends, there is no ‘Mother-Nature’, there is God! He is the one that put this world together and created you and me to populate this earth. He is the One that created rain, the sun and all other things needed for us, and plant life, to live. He is the One who deserves our praise for the awesome days; good health; food on our tables; loving families, etc!
  • He watches over us – oh how thankful we are when sitters take such good care of our children for us. I know, we don’t worship them, but I do know that we are very thankful to them and honor them for their faithfulness to our kids. These are forms of ‘worship’ friends! If you came to church with these attributes towards God, you will be offering up praise to Him and could very easily be led into worship of Him.
  • He cares for us – I’ve been physically down a bit recently while recovering from surgery, and had to depend more on my wife, child, sister and church leaders than probably any other time in my life. Am I thankful to these individuals, and appreciate their unselfish acts in helping me when I can’t help myself? You bet I am! Do you see how this is the same way that God cares for us every day? Do you see how our hearts should be filled to overflowing with praise and thanksgiving to God when we come together to corporately worship Him?

Friends, based on the above, do you see any reason why we would need help in worshiping our God? Do you see any reason why our churches are not filled with the praises of God’s children when there are planned worship services? It begins with each of us friends, for we are the church. We are the ones that must draw close to God, so that He might draw close to us. We are the ones that must ready ourselves for corporate worship each week so that we can offer honest and heartfelt worship to our God. When the world sees this, they will be drawn to God. They must see something different than what they see in their everyday life on the streets or in secular jobs.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for being my God. Thank You for loving me enough that You gave, so that I might have an entryway into Heaven. Thank you for watching over me and caring for me. Lord, please help me, and those that I worship with each week, to stop our busy minds, leave behind the concerns of this world, concentrate on You and worship You. Lord, this is very personal, so I believe each of us must purpose in our own hearts to give all of us to all of You, so that You may be lifted up, worshiped and praised in a manner pleasing to You. May You hear a sweet, sweet sound of personal worship from us daily, and especially when we come together for corporate worship. Thank You for hearing my prayer, oh Lord, for I am asking all this in Your precious and holy name, 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.

Restore Your Church Oh God

On By Ed AlgreenIn All have sinned, Bible Believing, Celebrate God, Chosen by God, Christian, Encourage, Eternal Life, Evangelism, Faith, Follow Jesus, Forgiveness, God our Helper, Grace, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Humility, Imitator of Christ, Listen to the Word of God, Love God, Obedience, Our Help comes from God, Power of Prayer, Praise, Repentance, Righteousness, Servants of God, Surrender, Trust, WorshipLeave a comment

The Bible – New Living Translation

Psalm 85:4–7

    4 Now restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more.

    5 Will you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations?

    6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?

    7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.

Thoughts:

In my first read through this passage of scripture I was touched by the prayer of David to save his people, and my heart was deeply touched by his prayer because I can clearly see how many around us, in our neighborhoods and in our cities, need the Lord. However, on closer study of this I realized that you can only restore something that at one time was resident there before. So my heart immediately went out to what David was really praying, because I believe that we are seeing churches dying today at a greater record than ever before in the history of our land. In part, I believe that this is because we need an equally as large evangelism effort to the once ‘saved’ who have fallen by the wayside, as we do to the ones who have totally disregarded the message of the cross. Like you, I am very concerned about all that is going on in our land, and in this world, where we are killing each other without any regard for precious life itself. However, this should come as no surprise to Christians, because even back in 2 Chronicles 7:14 it was declared that God is looking for His people, His children, to humble themselves and pray, before He would give consideration to healing our land. When Christians treat their relationship, their commitment, so flippantly, and when there is no humility in looking to God for His powerful, healing and restoring hand upon His people and our land, what is it that we should really expect differently? Friends, we are bringing damnation on ourselves, on our churches and on our land. Remember, God is still in control and His Word will endure to the end, so we must follow His plan if we ever expect to see God restore us again! What is your role? Are you following His plan, so that you might expect to see Him restore us again? Please, let us humble ourselves and pray…..

Prayer:

Jesus, my Lord, in all humility I pray that You might touch the hearts of Your people once again. Begin with me, I pray. May Your church be revived once again, I pray. May each person meditating on this devotional today realize that this is not the ‘place’ we call church, but the body of Christ that at one time or another made a sober decision to accept You as Lord and Savior of their life. May the places that we call ‘church’ burst wide open from the crowds that will be renewed/revived and reminded of their obligation to their Master and Lord. May Your ‘church’ truly come alive again, so that we may follow Your commands and humble ourselves before You and pray. Lord, may the uncommitted one that may be lead to read this devotional today realize the importance of surrendering themselves to Your Lordship today. We are in desperate need of a touch from You oh King, please hear my prayer and heal us. Please cause us to recommit ourselves to do Your perfect will. For I ask all this in the name of the only One with the power to do anything about our pitiful condition, 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.

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.