Hope For Our Greatest Fears!

On 2015-12-142015-12-14 By Ed AlgreenIn Fear, Hope, Reflection, RememberLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ^29–33I tried to relieve your fears: “Don’t be terrified of them. God, your God, is leading the way; he’s fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt; you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. But now that you’re here, you won’t trust God, your God—this same God who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go.” ~ Deuteronomy 1:29-33 ~ _{The Message (MSG)}

THOUGHTS: I believe that we can all easily identify with the fears of the Israelites, and that we all need a ‘Moses’ word every now and then to reassure us and get us back on track! As I meditated on the Word today, and saw the fears that Moses had to deal with, God reminded me that we are still very much like the Israelites, as we worry a lot about everything that God has not answered yet, at least in the way that we have instructed Him to. Think about it friends, God has been so merciful, kind and supernatural to, and for us. In fact, if we stop to consider the ways, we will quickly ascend to the clouds in awe and thanksgiving. However, for those things that really concern us, and for those things that God has yet to answer in the way we have asked Him to, we unfortunately fall into depression, thinking that God turned a deaf ear to our requests. I believe we need to quickly remind ourselves who is really in charge here. Whose timing is best? Why would God place a ‘pot of gold’ in our hands today when He knows so well how we will gloat in our accomplishments? In His time He will make everything beautiful. We belong to Him friend. Our lives are His, our family is His, our church is His, our country is His, including our government leaders, and truly our future is His. Will He really send us down the wrong path? Do we think for a moment that He has lost His power and can no longer handle everything that goes on in this old world, in our lives and every other concern that we might have? Moses reminded the Israelites, and I believe God is reassuring us today through the words He gave to Moses, that we are to reassure ourselves, based on His accomplishments this year, that we can anticipate even greater works in 2016, yes even in spite of how dismal things may appear to the carnal man right now. Let me remind you friend, that Our God Reigns, we just need to align our thoughts and our ways with His, and allow Him to reign in full power and majesty. Let’s prepare ourselves to meet Him and receive His blessing for having trusted Him fully each and every day. Let our times of reflection on all that He has already done, be our comfort for tomorrow, God being our helper!

PRAYER: Father God, You are so awesome, and You shower us with Your love each and every day, even in spite of our tendency to doubt and fear. Thank You Lord for being our awesome, Great BIG wonderful God! We’ve seen time and time again that it was not just the Israelites that You parted the waters for, and provided water for them from a solid rock, but Lord You are still God, and You have worked miracle after miracle among us also! Unfortunately, we have allowed the clouds of doubt and worry to overshadow the mighty works that You have performed in our lives, our families, our churches, our communities, and even in our country. May I humbly ask Your continued patience with us while we adjust our mindset to the awesome power of our wonderful God? Satan has no place in our lives, please give us strength and fortitude to stay so focused on You Father, that the doors to temptation, discouragement, lying, cheating and sin as a whole will find no footing in our lives. Lord, You are Good, and Your mercies endures forever! Praise be to the wonderful name of Jesus, in whose name I ask all this, 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!

Guidance For Any Kind Of Day

On 2015-12-122015-12-12 By Ed AlgreenIn Guidance, The WordLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ¹³Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. ¹⁴ And do everything with love. ~ 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ~ _{New Living Translation (NLT)}

⁴ Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. ⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. ~ Psalm 30:4-5 ~_{New Living Translation (NLT)}

THOUGHTS: Nearing the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he continued to speak to them as a father would to his children, especially in light of everything they were facing at the time as a church under persecution. In light of everything that we face in our world today, I was extremely encouraged by Paul’s blessing, because here’s what I got from the first two verses above. Paul admonished the church to:

Be on guard, or be alert – Don’t you feel some days like it may have been better if you had just stayed in bed? It is so obvious that Satan is out to tear us down at every possible opportunity. Paul, in telling the Corinthian church, is also telling us, to be strong in our relationship with the Lord, so that we will be armed with God’s love and His power and His strength, to face any and all circumstances that Satan may fire our way. Imagine leaving home with an armed guard by your side, and one who knows all things, sees all things, made all things and who happens to be the one who loved you enough to have given His very life for you. Wouldn’t that be an ultimate way to guard your way and keep you alert to the attacks of Satan that are just lurching around the corner?
Stand firm in the faith – Friends, it’s impossible to do this if you don’t have faith. Likewise, if you don’t maintain, and grow in your faith, do you really have something that you can trust when under pressure? I would encourage you to get connected to God in Bible Study and Prayer, and further strengthen your faith by getting with folk of like faith as often as you can. ‘Iron sharpens iron’ is a phrase used in the Bible. I would suggest to you today that not only do you need the strength and encouragement of other believers, but they need you also. As your faith is sharpened and strengthened, you become better equipped to not cave in to the things of this world – Satan’s tools that he has placed to trap you;
Be courageous – I believe that we must be willing to stand up for what we believe, and often this will involve a courageous spirit, especially to one who is generally timid in life;
Be strong – This is especially important, because folk are judging whose inside of your heart based on your actions, your attitude and your words. When we consider all that God has done, all that He is doing and all that He has prepared for our future in heaven, and then to imagine that He is the one controlling us, protecting us and guiding us, whom then shall we fear?
Do everything in love – It’s so easy to do loving things for those who show love towards us, but we know all too well how challenging our job is when folk are unkind to us. Perhaps we should take our eyes off others and stay focused on God, then perhaps we will more easily ‘do everything in love’ knowing that God will be pleased with us? Imagine the smile on His face when He recognizes that we have depended on Him and done amazing things for others, knowing that we are aiming to please Him, regardless of how others may react to our actions?

I realize that I have gone a bit long today, but friends would you take note of these two verses and my commentary, then read the two verses I included from Psalm. Don’t you see that we serve a most awesome God, and that joy will come in the morning, regardless of what the night has revealed? My earthly energies are geared towards honoring, worshipping, pleasing and adoring the God that I plan to spend eternity with. Where do you spend your energies each day? The above information gives you guidance on how God expects you to spend your day!

PRAYER: Father, You are awesome, and I thank You for conveying Your principals, Your character, Your will and Your encouragement to us through your Holy Word. May it be a light to our feet and a constant guide to our path each and every day, so that others may see and believe on You. I ask these things in the name of the One who gave it all for me, Jesus my Lord, AMEN!

Stand Firm

On 2015-12-112015-12-11 By Ed AlgreenIn Perseverance, Stand Firm, UnshakenLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ⁵⁶Sin is what gives death its sting, and the Law is the power behind sin. ⁵⁷ But thank God for letting our Lord Jesus Christ give us the victory! ⁵⁸ My dear friends, stand firm and don’t be shaken. Always keep busy working for the Lord. You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:56-58 ~ _{The Contemporary English Version (CEV)}

THOUGHTS: I’ve heard terms like ‘hunker down’ and I’ve heard it used in scenarios where all preparations have been completed, so now settle in for the main event. Before I give you another scenario, I promise you that I will not talk politics on this blog, because my story, and this blog, is about a much more important matter and individual. However, I’ve seen in every case where politicians will begin their campaigns in fairly low gear as they try to organize their campaign and gear up towards the BIG day, but they will stand committed to their campaign principles and goals. Now, let’s think about all that Paul is sharing in his admonition to the Corinthian church, and why I believe that God placed this in His word especially for us. In the verses preceding the ones above, Paul explained what happens to our bodies after they wear out here on earth. I realize for the non-believer reading this devotional, this simply means that life is done, so no need to worry about any possible future life. The Bible teaches otherwise, friend, and I would love to share more on that with you. However, for the believer, it’s almost like a kid looking towards Christmas and counting down the days, for we know that the greatest gift ever imagined, was given for us through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that the time for us to see Him, builds our anticipation towards that day, and it causes us to rejoice in anticipation of His presence throughout all eternity! Praise to the everlasting Prince of Peace! When a child builds up so much excitement about Christmas, parents must find ways to really keep them busy, so they don’t become overwhelmed with anticipation. Paul knew that we would have that same type of anticipation, but yet face ongoing pressure and distractions by the evil one while we remain in his territory here on earth, so Paul advises that we are to ‘hunker down’, or stand firm in our faith, so that He in whom we have placed our faith, will be our strength, our deliverance, our provider, our encourager and therefore, become the focus of our faith and our trust while we wait for His return. As we do this, we encourage those who are still in doubt and who tend to waiver when faced with challenges and distractions. There’s a little children’s chorus with words “if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”. I would like to encourage all God’s children with the words we are reminded of in these verses today, “if you’re truly His and you know it, stand firm and don’t be shaken by anything Satan will fire at you while living in his territory here on earth, for we have a much brighter future to look forward to and an awesome Savior awaiting our welcome home to spend eternity with He and His Father – God”! It just don’t get any better than that friend! The great news for everyone – especially the unbeliever, is that you can have this truly awesome experience also, if you surrender your life to, and accept the invitation of, my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Even better news is that there is no big secret in how you can be saved, in fact, I have all the help you need in the Footnote below! Make your decision and commitment today friend, then join us in standing firm in our faith as we await that awesome day, when our Lord will welcome us home!!

PRAYER: We are so blessed by the Gift that You provided for us dear God, so that we might have a means of seeing You and worshiping You in person one day! Thank You dear Father, thank You dear Jesus for the greatest gift ever given! Please help us to stay focused, stand firm in our faith, so that we would not cave in to the snares of Satan and his many cohorts here on earth. As we focus on eternity with You, may we aim to live like You and in full obedience to all that You have instructed us, may we stand so firm in our faith, that it will become obvious to all that we come into contact with, whose we are. It’s You we love, and live to be with, dear Jesus. Please grant us strength and perseverance to live our life pleasing to You, for I ask these things in the precious name of Jesus, AMEN!

Bursting Into Songs of Thanksgiving!

On 2015-12-102015-12-10 By Ed AlgreenIn Praise, Prayer, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ⁷The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. ~ Psalm 28:7 ~ _{New Living Translation (NLT)}

THOUGHTS: David, the Psalmist, had such great results in his prayer life that he would often break into outbursts of praise, such as seen in this verse from Psalm 28. Was he always this pumped up about his prayer life? No, David was very much human, as we are, so he often became impatient, despondent and felt abandoned by God, especially when God’s timing and David’s immediacy was at odds. Friends, as we build solid relationships with God, perhaps we too may one day identify with the Psalmist in saying, Oh Lord…:

You are my strength – because so often I am overwhelmed by life and the circumstances that result from my being here. You help me to overcome and You give me strength to carry on;
You are my shield – for in every circumstance of life I am protected from the evil one, and you shield me from the wicked that would otherwise pull me down and destroy my witness;
I have learned to trust You – for you are my only constant in life. You are always there for me, and You love me enough to not answer all of my prayers in the manner in which I selfishly and ignorantly ask without any vision of tomorrow;
You help me – especially when I am weak, down and out. You have restored my faith in You and assured me of Your awesome power. You along are God!
I am so overwhelmed with Your goodness that – I can barely contain myself. My soul rejoices in the awesome God that I adore and serve, for You are God, and besides You, there is no other. I burst into thanksgiving right now as I reflect on Your goodness. Please help me to consistently thank and worship You, because even when I am weak, distraught and feel so far away from You, yet You are always there for me. Thank You Father! Thank You Lord Jesus for being my awesome and loving God!

Lord, may we daily burst into songs of thanksgiving as we recognize Your awesome power and love in our lives and through our walk with You. Lord, You are good and Your mercies endures forever!

PRAYER: Lord, may we daily burst into songs of thanksgiving as we recognize Your awesome power and love in our lives and through our walk with You. Lord, You are good, and Your mercies endures forever! You are so worthy of our praise, and we are so needy of our awesome, powerful, loving God. Thank You Lord Jesus! We are Your humble servants, so I ask these things in the name of our loving Savior and Lord, AMEN!

Wait Patiently For The Lord

On 2015-12-092015-12-09 By Ed AlgreenIn Prayer, Wait on the LordLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ¹¹Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. ¹² Do not let me fall into their hands. For they accuse me of things I’ve never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence. ¹³ Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. ¹⁴ Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord. ~ Psalm 27:11-14 ~ _{New Living Translation (NLT)}

THOUGHTS: David had gone through many obstacles, battles and setbacks, and we often do as well in our everyday walk of life here on earth. Fortunately, David realized that he needed the God of all creation to lead him, protect him and guide him, so that he could make if safely through the traps of his enemies. Just because we have been blessed to enjoy life in a different century than David, we know that our challenges are just as real today as they were for David. We have the benefit of reflecting back on the awesome hand of God upon David, and we know that we serve the same living God that he served, and that God can do it all over again just for us. David gave us direction on how to overcome; how to get the help we need and where to get it from. We are instructed to wait patiently for the Lord, for He is not a puppet waiting for us to press a button for immediate action. He knows the perfect timing for us, no matter what the circumstances are, so let us learn to wait on His timing. I found it interesting that the Psalmist would add that we should be brave and courageous. I believe that this is a reminder that ‘waiting on God’s timing’ and Him answering our prayers in His timing, all serve to remind us that God is in control and we are not. He is the potter, and we are mere clay waiting to be molded by the Potter’s hand. I believe this reminds us that since our prayer life is more than just one way posting of our needs list, and that God actually talks back to us, He may very well give orders that may take us outside of our comfort zone. Are you ready to do whatever He says today friend? Yes, we must learn to be patient and obedient, but we must also be prepared for God to possibly steer us outside of our comfort zone.

PRAYER: Lord God, You proved Yourself over and over to our ancestors, and in many of our lives You have already done the same for us. We are such an impatient bunch, please don’t give up on us. We seriously need Your patience with us Lord. Please help us to always wait on the Lord, for only You have all the answers and the power to change hearts and lives so that You might receive the glory due to You. I humbly ask these things in the name of Jesus, AMEN!

Come To Jesus Meeting

On 2015-12-082015-12-08 By Ed AlgreenIn Integrity, RighteousnessLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ¹Declare me innocent, O Lord, for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. ² Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. ³ For I am always aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth. ~ Psalm 26:1-3 ~ _{New Living Translation (NLT)}

THOUGHTS: As I read about David’s one-on-one meeting with the Master, I remembered our pastor mentioning in a recent sermon that he and his family would see the need for a ‘Come to Jesus meeting’ every so often to settle some issues or misunderstanding that the kids may have perceived or strayed away to. This was very close to me, because we had those same type meetings in my family also, and perhaps you might do the same. The reason I feel like I was so impressed with David’s actions in these verses, is because I felt like God was telling me this should be a good checkpoint in my life also. I believe that a lot of times we feel like we are doing ok, and that we have this ‘Christian living’ thing under control. Friends, may I remind you that you and I are not to parallel our righteousness with that of our spouse, our Sunday School teacher, our deacon or elder nor after our pastor, but only after the one true righteous One that ever lived, Jesus Christ. So with that in mind, how then shall we approach the God of this universe about our righteousness? By the way, what righteousness? Remember, God not only sees our actions, like other men do, but God knows our very thoughts and intentions behind everything we say and do. So although we appear ‘good’ to those who only see the outward self and expressions, how do you suppose we stack up in God’s eyes? You also know yourself very well, are you ready to look in the face of God and say like David, that you have acted with integrity; trusted in the Lord without wavering; always aware of His gracious love and lived according to His Word? Can you truly say these things to God with enough conviction that you would welcome His cross-examination and testing? Wouldn’t it be grand to go on a retreat for about 3 days with dedicated hours towards meditating alone with God and in His Word? Do you suppose that sometime during that retreat you might truly be able to have your ‘Come To Jesus’ meeting and wait for His judgment? I bet it would totally and radically change your Christian walk and experience. I bet your eyes would be opened to areas of your life where you feel so inadequate and mis-aligned with God and His purpose for your life. Perhaps you may even feel like David when he declared at the end of the same chapter “Now I stand on solid ground, and I will publicly praise the Lord.” This sounds like cleaning up the garbage that separates, or drives you away from the God that you love, doesn’t it? Friends, for us to stand firm with our friends, we must first be extremely firm in our relationship with God.

PRAYER: Father, You alone are perfect and good, but I believe You would love to see us try harder to become perfect and good in all our ways so that we may be better aligned with You. Our lives are very transparent, so in spite of us convincing ourselves of our goodness, others see our faults and the large variance in our ways vs Your ways. Please help us to get honest with ourselves by asking You to highlight our weaknesses and our sin. We realize that we will never become perfect, as You are the only perfect One, but Lord I feel like we should all strive towards being more like You every day. We can only fight the war with Satan here on earth through Your strength and the assurance of Your presence each and every day. Thank You for loving us enough to care about our righteousness. I ask this humbly in the name of Your very precious Son, Jesus, AMEN!

Love Is….

On 2015-12-072015-12-07 By Ed AlgreenIn Imitator of Christ, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ⁴Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or ⁵rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. ⁶Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. ⁷Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. ⁸Love never fails! ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ~ _{The Contemporary English Version (CEV)}

THOUGHTS: This scripture will probably sound very familiar to you, because you either heard it read at your wedding, or at a wedding ceremony where you were in attendance. Yes, I agree that this whole chapter, known as the ‘Love’ chapter, very much applies to a couple either considering marriage or may even serve as a commitment for a couple making a lifetime commitment based on the love that they share for each other. This actually hit me a little differently as I meditated on this passage this morning, and it is from this perspective that I would like to share a few words with you today. God is the greatest demonstrator of love – to the extent that He is even referred to as ‘love’ in the Biblical phrase “God is ‘love’“. So considering that He sent His Son as our example of His love for us, and if everything ‘Love’ did while here on earth represents ‘love’ in its truest form, should we not be following His example? If we expect to be ‘little Christs’, then we must closely study what Christ himself did, and what He stood for. Don’t you know that we must always question our motives or even our relationship with the Lord when we realize that we are being: unkind; impatient; jealous; boastful; rude; selfish; quick tempered; keeping records of the wrongs other do; despising the truth; rejoicing in evil; unsupportive; disloyal; mistrusting and always failing in our commitments and love towards others? Friends, these actions are more characteristic of the enemy (Satan), so can we truly convince the world that we are a child of the King of all kings, when we act like that? May I challenge you to review your actions after your events of today and talk it over with God, so He could open your eyes to whether you represented His characteristic of ‘Love’, or whether it was probably pretty obvious to everyone who controls your life? This could result in a pretty sobering turn around in your life, all because of ‘LOVE’. I trust that it will be evident to the world whose you are by the love that you show towards God and mankind each day!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, loving Savior, thank You for the ultimate love that You demonstrated on the cross so that we may know You – that we may know the essence of ‘Love’. Lord, Your Word is clear that we must demonstrate all that You have taught us so that the world might see You in all that we are and in all that we say. May this be a day that Your children will make it obvious to the world, that they are Yours and may it be proven through our words, actions and love. Thank You Father for first loving us! Now, may we carry on that tradition by loving all that we come into contact with! I ask these things in all sincerity and through the loving name of Jesus, AMEN!

What Is Best For Others

On 2015-12-042015-12-04 By Ed AlgreenIn Committed, ObedientLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ²³You are certainly free to eat food offered to idols if you want to; it’s not against God’s laws to eat such meat, but that doesn’t mean that you should go ahead and do it. It may be perfectly legal, but it may not be best and helpful. ²⁴ Don’t think only of yourself. Try to think of the other fellow, too, and what is best for him. ~_{1 Corinthians 10:23-33}_{~ Living Bible (TLB)}

THOUGHTS: Glance back at today’s title again and think about how ‘worldly’ that statement sounds. Not at all, right? That’s because this is an attribute of a child of God, friends. Paul used this in teaching the Corinthian church, where members who had accepted Jesus as Lord, realized that there were some traditional practices where they had recognized they may have been questioning God’s authority to bless and/or authorize them to eat. The problem Paul saw in that, is that they chose to eat these meats in the presence of weak Christians or even those who had yet to accept Christ. This created an air of unacceptance or separation by the unsaved, where it could have become almost impossible to break through their barrier, to teach them anything about the Lord. Let’s put this into a current, practical application. Assume with me that you invited a person to your church who is unsaved, but have always felt ‘religious’ convictions about eating pork, because they had at one time in their life been taught that the pig was ‘unclean’. So after the worship service, at the church-provided luncheon you filled your plate up with pork chops and proceeded to sit next to your invited friend to gorge yourself on this delicious meat. You noticed that after excusing themselves several times to make trips to the bathroom, your friend finally told you bye, and they left. Your eating of a food that made them sick to their stomach, not only put a wedge between the two of you, but could very easily have placed such a disgust in the mind of that friend for Christians as a whole, that they would never again accept an invitation to your church. This is an example of something being OK (legal) in your mind, but it totally offended your friend that you invited to church. Food is not the only thing that offends, or turns a prospect off from the Jesus you have been trying very hard to share with your friends. However, may I suggest to you that if you stick to the things of God and the practices taught by His Precious Son, then you can’t go wrong. You have developed a hardness in your heart against those things that may offend God, things that you automatically do in the presence of weaker Christians and/or prospects, causing them to question what kind of God could you possibly be serving. Right or wrong, non-Christians have their view about what a ‘perfect’ follower of Christ should look and act like. We have a responsibility to God to act and talk like Him so that He might use us to minister and/or encourage those that we come into contact with. We are to be ambassadors for Christ and learn to stay pliable by Him. This will lead to a life where our friends will see the difference in us, and not question to whom we could possibly belong. If you are truly on the Lord’s side, may I encourage you today to seek His face and desire to live according to His Word and His will for your life. Time is short before the Lord returns. We can’t afford ‘mess-ups’ like given in the example above. We are on mission for Jesus Christ, not on a self-pleasing mission for personal pleasure or gain. Join me, won’t you?

PRAYER: Father You sent Your Son to this earth to witness how far we had strayed, and to teach us how we should live obedient lives that are pleasing to You and therefore be individuals who are usable by You. Lord, this old sinful world has such a tug on Your children, especially when we lose sight of Your goodness and Your teachings. Lord, personally, I want to be just like You. I want my life to be a living example of all that You have taught us in Your Word, so that others touched by me would have touched the hand of God extended through me. I pray that You will multiply this request over and over, as individuals read this devotional today and share a desire to also be Your committed servant. Touch Your people once again dear God, so that we might become servants that You can be proud of, and usable instruments in Your hand – all for Your ultimate glory and honor. For these blessings I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus, my Savior and Lord, AMEN!

God Will Never Let You Down

On 2015-12-032015-12-03 By Ed AlgreenIn encouragement, God Can Do It Again, God's Not DeadLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ^11-12These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence. ¹³ No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. ~ _{1 Corinthians 10:12-13}_{~ The Message (MSG)}

THOUGHTS: I believe that Paul was warning the Corinthian church to take note of what God had done in the past to help their ancestors, and know that He can do it again for them. Our message in this study today is to also help us realize that our God hasn’t changed, and that He can do it again for us – similar miracles as performed for Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. I am always amazed how things in our everyday life changes – cars; technology; houses; churches; dress, etc. but when we read about the works of our God from the very beginning of time, and as we are reminded by Paul in our passage today, I can’t help being totally encouraged to know that our God – the One who spoke to Moses through a burning bush; the One who used a man who was afraid to speak in public, yet used Moses to lead his people – in huge numbers through the wilderness, I can only reassure myself and encourage you in the fact that Our God’s not Dead, and that He can do that, and any other miracle beyond anything we can imagine, with just a word, or just the touch of His powerful hand. That’s right Brothers and Sisters, He can Do It Again! I know that we feel overwhelmed with the challenges of life, and I know that we may often feel like we are fighting a very challenging battle in our normal day-to-day lives, but just as Paul encouraged the Corinthians, I must use his example and encourage my readers today to know that whatever you may be going through, rest on His promises, depend on His strong hand, and be confident in His Word, that HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN! That’s just the wonderful, miraculous, saving, loving, awesome God that you and I serve friend! Let me encourage you that should you be in a good place emotionally when you read this today, please take note of these words and be prepared to ‘Carry Your Candle‘ of encouragement with you today so that you might allow God to work through you to encourage someone who may be struggling to see that hope that’s offered by God alone. To the one who will read this today and wonder about who this awesome God is, may I encourage you to read my ‘Footnote’ for the ‘keys of knowledge’ on how to know my Savior, and how to contact me so that I might introduce you to my best Friend. I serve an awesome God and I want you to know Him like I do.

PRAYER:
Dear God, You are so good! Thank You for Your love that You showed evidence of at Calvary, when You made the ultimate step of providing the means for us to know You personally. Lord, there are many that will read this devotional today who are taking very lightly the great sacrifice You made for us. There will also be some who read this as a total stranger, because they have yet to surrender their life to You and accept You as Lord and Savior. Please Do It Again – by melting hearts, convicting Your children of sin and loving them into a relationship with Yourself. Especially at this busy time of the year, there are many who are overwhelmed with all that they feel is necessary to bring happiness into their lives, and those of their families. Please Help us to celebrate the One who came into this world to be our Savior and Lord. A most treasured gift that could never be replicated by anything we buy from the stores. So please help us to give, and share the greatest, most meaningful gift imaginable, the gift of Jesus Christ. Thank You Jesus for accepting me into Your family and treating me as Your very own son. Bless all who reads this devotional today, for I ask all these things in the wonderful name of Jesus – Emanuel, AMEN!

Run With Purpose – You’re almost There!

On 2015-12-022015-12-02 By Ed AlgreenIn Consistent, Persistence, Race2 Comments

THE HOLY BIBLE – ²⁴Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! ²⁵All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. ²⁶ So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. ²⁷ I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. ~ 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ~ _{New Living Translation (NLT)}

THOUGHTS: Imagine an athlete running down the track, and every time a friend shouts his name he runs off to the right to see who it is calling his name. Similarly, if a fan of his opponent calls his name, he steps off the track to check his running shoes, thinking that something is wrong. Do you think that athlete will ever reach the finish line in time to qualify? Paul drew an illustration similar to this in our scripture today. First, I believe you should settle this in your mind. Just as an athlete must meet certain qualifications to run a race, you will want to know that you have accepted Jesus as Lord of your life in order to enter the race that Paul is referring to. In other words, only Christians identify with the goal of seeing Christ face to face at the end of our race (the race of life itself), so you may consider that a prequalifier. Now when Paul refers to conditioning his body in order to run the race and endure to the end, he is referring to things like: strengthening our walk with Jesus daily so that we might know the Way, the Truth and the Life. Imagine running an athletic race without knowing the way to the finish line, or believing everything a coach tells you, or knowing for sure that the finish line exists on the other side of the track because you can’t see it from the starting line. Friends, we must remember that just as the athlete can’t purchase a ticket that will automatically take him to the finish line when the starting gun fires, so it is with the Christian life. When you invite Jesus into your life, you invite Him to save you, yes, but you also invite Him to guide your daily walk and talk so that as you travel this track (daily life here on earth) towards the goal (eternity in heaven with Jesus and the Father) so that you will look, sound and act like the athlete in competition – like a Christian ought to look – like Jesus. Friends, this is a very personal experience/relationship, so Paul reminds us that if we learn how to do this by the book, and we teach others, or preach to many, and don’t live like an athlete – a child of God, then we stand to be disqualified personally at the end of the race/life. I’m sure that you have found in life that in earthly relationships, way too many experiences arise, to possibly refer to a manual on the subject. However, if we live daily in close communion with the other party, we learn a lot about them and can generally handle the ups and downs as they arise. In our relationship with God, we must learn to communicate with Him – in prayer, Bible Study; church; fellowship with other believers; etc. so that we may condition ourselves daily to reach the goal, even if God called us home today? Think about it friend.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for making this life worth living by providing a promise for those of us that know You, to one-day reach out to grasp Your precious hand and hear You welcome us home to glory! What joy that brings to my heart today, even though I understand that the challenges of today may be even more challenging than the ones from yesterday. Lord, thank You for the assurance that You are by our side, guiding us, protecting us, encouraging us and loving us as we travel this challenging track, known as everyday life. Please continue to emphasize the importance of relationship with You, because that reminds us that it was You who took care of us and watched over us that day or that circumstance – something we really can’t attribute to happen-chance. Please speak to, and challenge my readers and I today about the need for daily conditioning, so that we may stay strong and determined to stay on course and stay the course right to the very day that You calls us home – our goal! I long to see that Day oh Lord, so I rejoice in the knowledge and expectation of that Day, yet plead for Your strong hand to be consistently upon me as I run this race. All these things I rejoice in, and ask for, in and through the precious name of Jesus, AMEN!