Tag: All Knowing

Finding Strength in God’s Goodness

On By Ed AlgreenIn Accept Jesus NOW, Acknowledge God, All have sinned, Awesome God, God Cares For Us, God’s WordLeave a comment

DATE POSTED
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, and I was blessed to be at Mariposa at Hunter Road, San Marcos, TX when God inspired me to prepare this devotional. My Footnote will tell you how to find and read any and all episodes that I have shared over the years.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Read Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 in your Bible, or click it to read it online in The Voice (VOICE).

APPLICATION – as inspired by the Holy Spirit
Earlier in my life, I lived in Highlands County, Florida. I remember asking a local resident why there was so much digging and dredging going on in and around the Kissimmee River that ran through that county. I was told that government authorities had decided that they needed to return the river back to its original twists and turns, as their earlier attempts to correct what God had designed, failed miserably! Now, mentioning this example is not intended to blast government officials who spent millions of dollars to try and make straight something God had deliberately made crooked, but it seems to fit today’s Scripture perfectly. Furthermore, government officials are made up of mankind, the same ones that practice this same error often throughout life. For just one quick example, think of the hairdresser who notices every week how those with curly hair, want it straight, and the same case in reverse all too often! We have heard it many times, that our God never makes ‘junk’, for He has our very best interest at heart for our entire lifetime. Often, it’s not until we intervene and try to correct His way, that we see failures and disappointments. Alternatively, Satan tempts us to compare ourselves to a friend and covet what they have, or a desire to change something about our appearance to hopefully achieve their looks/apparent beauty/apparent success. Think for a moment – we never answer all of our children’s questions, especially their many ‘why questions. all often for very good reasons! So, shouldn’t we expect there to be good reasons why God made us, and provided for us. certain circumstance in life that only He will understand the reasons why? Fortunately verse 14 goes on to further attract our thoughts and meditation, for it draws us to be reminded of the sovereignty of our awesome God. Most of us tend to live it up when times are good and the money is coming in like we want. We tend to recognize the goodness of God in providing abundantly for our good. But as soon as those funds dry up, or dwindle, we kind of question where did God go? In trying to develop a consistent spiritual viewpoint on life, it is important that we remind ourselves that ‘God is Good ALL the time‘, and not just when life is at its very best for us. God didn’t go anywhere when we became disappointed that we didn’t have the funds to buy the type car our neighbor gloats over every day. He wants us to be mindful of the car/house/spouse/child/life circumstances that we have. He intended them for our good, and knowing that He does all things for our good, we must be in a continual thankful attitude for ALL things. Let’s learn to praise Him in the sunshine and the rain, on payday and every day in between; in sickness and in good health; when life seems so, so challenging, and when circumstances seem to overwhelm us. Let’s remember, God is in control of all things at all times, so if we have committed our lives to Him and depend on Him daily, let’s praise Him daily in every circumstance of life. If things are rough today, there’s no need to worry, God knows what He’s doing and things will look brighter for us tomorrow, or the next day. A day with God, is always better than a day without Him, so let’s praise Him in light of, and in spite of, our earthly circumstances.

PRAYER
Thank You Jesus for watching out for us and guiding us through every circumstance of life. You designed us and You know every little itsy bitsy detail about every good thing we enjoy, and every challenge we face. Thank You for Your Word that we have proven true so many times in our life. Please Lord, prompt us to stay in Your Word every day for spiritual nourishment, encouragement, direction and strength. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on You, the Author and Finisher of our faith. In the good times, please encourage us to praise You for blessing us beyond anything we could imagine. In the challenging times, please remind us of where our strength and encouragement comes from. We KNOW precious Lord, that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that You can’t handle or help us through. Please help us in our weak minds to always call on You. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE
If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please take advantage of the information provided on my page ‘To Know Jesus’. Alternatively, consider speaking with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. One of God’s servants will pray with you and offer help and encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. If you would like to read more of my devotionals or subscribe to receive a daily email containing each new devotional, please visit NuggetsFromGodsWord.org. Friends, I encourage you to find a Bible teaching church home near your residence and attend as frequently as possible. Get to know God and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk while you make every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider being a part of that while also growing in your faith as you worship with fellow believers!

God’s Ways Are Unique To Him!

On By Ed AlgreenIn All-powerful, Almighty, Always There, Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

Monday, 2021-10-18

Bible Reference: 1 Samuel 26:9-12
Translation: The Voice (VOICE)

Bible Text: David: 9 No. Don’t kill him. Who can legitimately strike the Eternal’s anointed king without consequences? 10 As the Eternal One lives, his time will come. The Eternal will strike him down; either he will die, or he will go into battle one day and be slain. 11 God forbid that I would be the one to harm the Eternal’s anointed king. But please, take his spear next to his head and that water jug, and let’s go.
12 So David took the spear and the water jug from right beside Saul’s head and crept back through the camp. No one saw or knew they were there. No one woke up because the Eternal had caused the entire camp to fall into a deep sleep.

APPLICATION: To truly understand the depth of this study today, let me remind you that David attacked towns and totally wiped out its inhabitants, including men, women, children, and livestock in some cases. So he had no fear of human life when he knew that God had ordered total eradication. After just defeating a few towns, that Joshua spared when he first brought the Israelites into the Promised Land, we can see where David got the news of his primary adversary being nearby as Saul continued pursuit after David. So many times already David communicated with Saul that he had done nothing to harm the king, and that he could have killed him on several occasions, if he wanted to. I believe that David’s men could easily have concluded that David may have been afraid of Saul, or like we would say today, perhaps Saul was holding something over David that prevented him from killing Saul. But for those men who learned from David’s Godly obedience, surely they must have seen time after time that David always chose to do God’s will above his own. So yes, I believe that we could learn an awful lot from David about His faithfulness to God. But in our verses today, I want to particularly draw your attention to the words that I bolded, for there we are reminded that God will work miraculously for the good of His people. David was bold enough to take a volunteer from his camp with him, to enter right smack into the middle of Saul’s best 3,000 men who accompanied him for protection and/or battle. Many of us might conclude that the move was more of a ‘stupid’ one, versus a brave one, but I found it so amazing to read how God took David into this daring picture, and He took a very vital part in protecting Him while he was there. For He caused a deep sleep to come over this first-class army, so that David and his assistant could actually get right up to the head of Saul. I recently read about Jesus preparing to feed the 5,000 and He tested His disciples by asking him where would they find food enough to feed the crowd. Could God have been testing David to see if he would humanly go to the head of Saul and remove his sword, without using it on Saul? What about us, are we strong enough in our faith to truly trust God, even when situations are presented right at our fingertips where we could seemingly take care of the situation ourselves? However, imagine the testimony to Abishai when David trusted God as he chose peace and a Godly witness versus the murder of a man called by God to lead a nation. Now notice how God took care of David and his partner while in Saul’s camp – He caused a deep sleep to come over Saul and his soldiers so that they never even knew that David and Abishai entered into their midst! Wow! Perhaps you are facing ‘giants’ in your life today where the obvious solution, or the world’s way of doing things, are totally different to what you feel God would have you do. How will you respond? Doing it God’s way may sound almost foolish to the world’s way of thinking, but is your faith in God strong enough to believe that if He brought you to it, He will lead, and protect you through it? God’s ways are not our ways, so we will never understand why His ways are ordered so differently to our simple humanly thinking ways. Please be encouraged to always follow God, my friend, for He has promised to take care of us right to the very end. If you believe in God, trust in Him alone in every circumstance of life, no matter what others may say. Be boldly about His work dear one, for He cares for His own and will protect us to the end.

PRAYER: Precious Lord, we are mere mortals here in this land where men of God are looked down on, and discounted as nobodies. This turns out to be more truthful than any man will realize, for we are nothing, and we are powerless without our awesome God. Help us Lord to stand firm in our faith and to always look to You for all things. Oh that we may be so sold out to You, that others will see and hear nothing but Jesus when they look on us, or hear from us. May You be glorified in everything that we attempt to do in Your name, and may we always walk in faith knowing that You are all-powerful and all-knowing. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog at https://NuggetsFromGodsWord.org 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 or listening to this devotional, please go to 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. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and see all of my posts, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

God Provides in Unimaginable Ways!

On By Ed AlgreenIn All-powerful, Almighty, Always There, Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

Monday, 2019-10-21

Bible Reference: 1 Samuel 26:9-12
Translation: The Voice (VOICE)

Bible Text: David: 9 No. Don’t kill him. Who can legitimately strike the Eternal’s anointed king without consequences? 10 As the Eternal One lives, his time will come. The Eternal will strike him down; either he will die, or he will go into battle one day and be slain. 11 God forbid that I would be the one to harm the Eternal’s anointed king. But please, take his spear next to his head and that water jug, and let’s go.
12 So David took the spear and the water jug from right beside Saul’s head and crept back through the camp. No one saw or knew they were there. No one woke up because the Eternal had caused the entire camp to fall into a deep sleep.

OBSERVATION: David, a man after God’s own heart – according to the Word of God, demonstrated to his soldiers and continues to demonstrate to us what it means to be totally sold out to God. Because of David’s relationship with God, we are blessed to witness how God provided for him in some amazing ways. This provides encouragement to us that our God, the same awesome God of David, will provide for those of us that are totally sold out to Him! Meditate with me as we think deeper about this today!

APPLICATION: To truly understand the depth of this study today, let me remind you that David attacked towns and totally wiped out its inhabitants, including men, women, children, and livestock in some cases. So he had no fear of human life when he knew that God had ordered total eradication. After just defeating a few towns, that Joshua spared when he first brought the Israelites into the Promised Land, we can see where David got the news of his primary advisory being nearby as Saul continued pursuit after David. So many times already David communicated with Saul that he had done nothing to harm the king, and that he could have killed him on several occasions, if he wanted to. I believe that David’s men could easily have concluded that David may have been afraid of Saul, or like we would say today, perhaps Saul was holding something over David. But for those men who learned from David’s Godly obedience, surely they must have seen time after time that David always chose to do God’s will above his own. So yes, I believe that we could learn an awful lot from David about His faithfulness to God. But in our verses today, I want to particularly draw your attention to the words that I bolded, for there we are reminded that God will work miraculously for the good of His people. David was bold enough to take a volunteer from his camp with him, to enter into the middle of Saul’s best 3,000 men who accompanied him for protection. Many of us might conclude that the move was more of a ‘stupid’ one, versus a brave one, but I found it so amazing to read how God took David into this daring picture, and He took a very vital part in protecting Him while he was there. For He caused a deep sleep to come over this first-class army, so that David and his assistant could actually get right up to the head of Saul. I recently read about Jesus preparing to feed the 5,000 and He tested Philip by asking him where would they find food enough to feed the crowd. Could God have been testing David to see if he would humanly go to the head of Saul and remove his sword, without using it on Saul? What about us, are we strong enough in our faith to truly trust God, even when situations are presented right at our fingertips where we could seemingly take care of the situation ourselves? However, imagine the testimony to Abishai when David trusted God as he chose peace and a Godly witness versus the murder a man called by God to lead a nation. Now notice how God took care of David and his partner while in Saul’s camp – He caused a deep sleep to come over them so that they never even knew that David and Abishai entered their midst! Wow! Perhaps you are facing ‘giants’ in your life today where the obvious solution, or the world’s way of doing things, are totally different to what you feel God would have you do. How will you respond? Doing it God’s way may sound almost foolish to the world’s way of thinking, but is your faith in God strong enough to believe that if He brought you to it, He will lead, and protect you through it? God’s ways are not our ways, so we will never understand why His ways are ordered so differently to our simple humanly thinking ways. Please be encouraged to always follow God, my friend, for He has promised to take care of us right to the very end. If you believe in God, trust in Him alone in every circumstance of life, no matter what others may say. Be boldly about His work dear one, for He cares for His own and will protect us to the end.

PRAYER: Precious Lord, we are mere mortals here in this land where men of God are looked down on, and discounted as nobodies. This turns out to be more truthful than any man will realize, for we are nothing, and we are powerless without our awesome God. Help us Lord to stand firm in our faith and to always look to You for all things. Oh that we may be so sold out to You, that others will see and hear nothing but Jesus when they look on us. May You be glorified in everything that we attempt to do in Your name, and may we always walk in faith knowing that You are all-powerful and all-knowing. AMEN!

Blessed to Bless Others

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bless Others, Blessing, Patience, Wait PatientlyLeave a comment

Post Date:

 Tuesday, 2017-06-27
SCRIPTURE

From:

 Psalm 40:1-3 (GW)

Text:

 1 I waited patiently for the Lord.
    He turned to me and heard my cry for help.
2     He pulled me out of a horrible pit,
        out of the mud and clay.
    He set my feet on a rock
        and made my steps secure.
3     He placed a new song in my mouth,
        a song of praise to our God.
            Many will see this and worship.
            They will trust the Lord.
OBSERVATION:
It seems like the Psalmist was feeling a sense of despair, but he patiently went before the Lord pleading for help to overcome. In these verses he is celebrating that not only did God see him through his challenging low times, but He placed him at such a solid high point in his life, that he celebrated in what sounded like a new song, from a new heart, because it was coming from a renewed man! This not only brought joy and honor to David, but because of the awesome change in his life, this touched the lives of many others!
APPLICATION:
How often do we feel so despondent, and really down and out? How often do we feel like there is little hope for us, because we feel so low and forgotten by God and friends? The Psalmist teaches us from his experience that we are in no position to demand anything of God, for we are to wait patiently before God. We have to remember that God always answers our prayer, so we need not feel despondent if He does what’s best for us at the time and answer differently than what we might be wanting or expecting. So when we ask of God, let’s remember our manners and always thank God for His love and awesome wisdom in answering right! Friends, if God always answered everything we ask of Him in the way that we demand it, we would be in a heap of trouble, and we would quickly lose value in God because He simply rubber stamped everything we told Him. Remember, His ways are way above ours ways, His knowledge way exceeds ours and even to His thoughts – they are way above ours. He is the creator of everything we touch, see or experience. So our most urgent and impossible requests are but a speck of dirt to Him. Let us therefore go confidently and patiently before the Lord, knowing that He loves us as His very own child, and will answer us at the best time with the very best resolution for us, and that would bring glory to Himself. We are also reminded that as we wait for the Lord, and celebrate His response to our prayers, others will celebrate with us and grow from our experience. I bet you never thought you would be an evangelist as easy as that, did you? Seek to glorify God friends, and watch how it helps others! 
PRAYER:
Precious Lord, we are such impatient and selfish individuals. Please help us to communicate (pray) openly with You about our blessings, our needs and our desires. But Lord, help us as we pray to realize that we are not God, so the reason that we ask is because we admire the wisdom, love and generosity of our awesome God. Please remind us to always ask, and then to be patient as You answer in a way that is perfect for us and that will result in glory to Yourself. Lord, as we are blessed by You, I pray that we will be filled with such celebration that others around us will also be blessed and drawn to You. 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!