Everything You Do Will Succeed

On 2022-06-212022-06-24 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Listen, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Success, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2022-06-21
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 1:1-3
TRANSLATION: New Century Version (NCV)

BIBLE TEXT: ¹ Happy are those who don’t listen to the wicked, who don’t go where sinners go, who don’t do what evil people do. ²They love the Lord’s teachings, and they think about those teachings day and night. ³They are strong, like a tree planted by a river. The tree produces fruit in season, and its leaves don’t die. Everything they do will succeed.

APPLICATION: In the Word of God, we are told that God himself called David a man after His own heart. In other words, David’s life imitated what God expected from His creation. I believe this should be every Believer’s goal, for we know that when we follow God’s commands and His teachings, then it must be pleasing to God! In this very first Psalm, David gives us some attributes, or indicators of a blessed and successful person, and I wanted to draw attention to these qualities so that today we may strive to achieve these qualities ourselves:
1).  They don’t listen to the wicked – this might happen when we listen to what the world is directing us to do for happiness. Unfortunately, every time we turn on the TV, we are given these options;
2).  They don’t go where sinners go – they don’t go to a place where you might be embarrassed to take Jesus with you. Remember, you invited Him into your heart. Remember He lives and reigns in us, through His Holy Spirit. Will you really take Him into a questionable place?
3).  They don’t do what evil people do – the ’evil people’ are those who don’t know Jesus nor are they concerned about Jesus in the things that they do. Our actions are to be compared to what Jesus did, and what He taught us to do. Pilots and doctors follow their text book for obvious reasons. We should be doing the same thing – those things that God has taught us to do or that His Holy Spirit is directing us to do. These will be totally opposite to what the evil person might lead us to do;
4).  They meditate on the Word of God, love His teachings and continually think about them – God’s Word is our textbook. It is our guide to living like Jesus expects of us. To keep it fresh in our minds and to follow its directives, we must make it a priority to read it and meditate on it regularly. When we prepare for a test, we study the text book thoroughly and consistently. In this life, we are tested every day. Making the Bible a part of our mental abilities, we will tend to use its advice whenever we are tested by the world.
So often we tend to feel like it all depends on what we say to a person that may convince them of the Truth of God’s Word. Notice that David only emphasized actions? Isn’t it yet another reminder that people will watch our actions more intently than our words? David said that when we follow the above, we become strong in our faith and committed to God’s commands – successful servants of God. We will not be easily eroded away like a tree beside the water’s edge, but we will stand firm so that others might catch a glimpse of what Jesus actually looks like, and how, through faith, our lives are living examples to the unsaved.
Let me encourage you to reflect back on your life over the past few days, who have you imitated? Does your life reflect the ways of Christ, or just the general public (this world)? Did your life show enough of the qualities of Jesus that you were accused of being a ‘Christian’? Friend, you shouldn’t have to tell someone you are a Christian, they should know you are by your actions, and your demeanor. Let us all commit to live our lives with the teachings of the Psalmist very prominent in our character and our actions. Then, perhaps, others will see Jesus and want to also know Him personally.

PRAYER: Lord, we your children need You. We need You desperately to help us live in this world, yet to not live like the world. Living in Your example is like swimming upstream here on earth, for it’s like doing just the opposite of what the rest of the world does. And this has become quite a challenge for us. Please mold us into the person that You need here and now to touch the hearts of the folk that are still in need of you. We need the same power that You gave David. The characteristics to be called a man after Your own heart. You also gave Moses the fortitude to stand firm for You, even when his people were plotting to kill him. I know that You can still give that kind of strength and fortitude to each reader and listener, so I ask for Your grace to help us stand firm against the evil of this world. Please have Your will and way in our lives today, I humbly plead in Your precious and holy name. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

Warning – They Will Treat You Like They Treat The God You Represent

On 2022-06-202022-06-20 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Representative of Christ, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Monday, 2022-06-20
WRITTEN AT: Ocean Breeze, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Samuel 8:6-8
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the LORD for guidance.
7 “Do everything they say to you,” the LORD replied, “for it is me (God) they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. 8 Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment.

APPLICATION: Times have not changed very much, for when we consider our churches, and how they treat their pastors when they are true to preaching the unadulterated Word of God, without regards to whose toes they might step on, then I believe that we could easily identify with Samuel and the Israelites. Friends, it is so unfortunate that we tend to blame someone else for issues that we have caused. It is likewise unfortunate when we look beyond the issues in our own lives, or the condition of our family, or our church or our group, and see so much wrong with others. Let’s think for a moment about issues with a church. Of course, we all know that it’s not the building where the church meets that is the problem, for the challenges exists because of folk like you and I that attend the church. Thats where the challenges begin. So look no further than inside yourself when issues arise, or at that ‘friend’ who sits next to you at church. Some may feel like the church should changing the pastor, or the style of music, or update the sanctuary building, but according to our story today, the people will be unsatisfied until we give in to the demands of the people, much like when God told Samuel to go ahead and give them what they wanted. Friends, because our family and the people in our circle of friends rejects Jesus each and every day, the more we commit and dedicate ourselves to becoming more like Jesus in every aspect of our lives, then we could expect nothing different to what Jesus felt and saw when the people rejected Him. Becoming one with Jesus, means a perfect life, a life without sin – and that should be our aim every day friends. Only then will we contribute positively to our churches and the groups that we become involved in. Remember, the world hates Jesus. Always have, and always will. So if we look enough like Jesus, they will hate us also, just like God told Samuel. So what shall we do? Determine this day who you will serve, and give it all you have. Oppose sin and promote Jesus to this lost and dying world. Be determined to serve only God and His righteousness, so that He might be glorified in everything we do and say!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Although the pressures of this sinful world might steer us away from our goal to be like Jesus, always remember that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

PRAYER: Lord we so desperately need You in our lives. We want to add positively to groups that we become involved in, because of Your love that is steeped in to everything we do and say. Anything else would only add to the confusion and the hatred that normally results. Unfortunately, this also happens in church groups we join, so we are seeing churches that are marred terribly by the impact of this evil world, instead of seeing a church that is always ready to forgive, always looking out for the best in the other person, always contributing to the best in others, always praying for and supporting their pastor/shepherd/leader. Lord, it is very obvious that we need more of You in our lives individually so that we can see more of You in our churches, so that we can see Your church effectively reaching out to the lost community that we serve. We need You in our lives personally Lord, please humble us to earnestly seek Your face and allow You to rule in our lives. AMEN!

God’s Grace Makes The Difference

On 2022-06-192022-06-19 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Grace, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Sunday, 2022-06-19
WRITTEN AT: Ocean Breeze, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 15:9-10
TRANSLATION: The Voice (VOICE)

BIBLE TEXT: ⁹You see, I am the least of all His emissaries, not fit to be called His emissary because I hunted down and persecuted God’s church. ¹⁰Today I am who I am because of God’s grace, and I have made sure that the grace He offered me has not been wasted. I have worked harder, longer, and smarter than all the rest; but I realize it is not me—it is God’s grace with me that has made the difference.

APPLICATION: Throughout the Bible we will find stories of how God used ordinary folk to do extraordinary Kingdom work. But Paul seems to stand out in many ways. He was one who persecuted Christians and who tried to destroy anything that represented Jesus Christ. He boasted about the tyrant that he was, and he backed that up in many ways, including beating and even killing Christians. What if Paul applied for a pastoral position at your church and his only qualifications he could share with your search committee was that God appeared to him and totally turned his life around from the scars I just described, to a man willing to follow the commands of Jesus? Do you suppose that any of your committee members would be firm enough in their faith to accept Paul’s new-found faith? Would Paul be permitted to assume your pulpit responsibilities in the next worship service? In my short lifespan I have served on many Pastor Search Committees. We have used many recommended questionnaires filled with tons of questions for our candidates, and we spent many hours discussing the responses given on those questionnaires. We set applications aside for, what appeared to us as, unqualified responses. I’ll be the first to tell you that any candidate telling us that they had served in no churches yet, and that their background consisted of killing Christians and denouncing the work of churches, his application package would have been destroyed and given no further attention. Yet we see that God saved Saul/Paul for a special purpose – a work that only Paul could accomplish after having gone through his life-experiences without Jesus. So is there any surprise why we are reading about Paul’s effort to clarify his qualifications to serve? Friends, I believe that if for no other reason, Paul’s background and his affirmation of his qualifications to serve, might really stir the hardened hearts of Christians serving on a Search Committee, because it would serve to show us that we should be looking at what God did in a man’s life to qualify him to serve in God’s church, rather than all the scholastic and personal achievements that may attribute to his abilities to serve. Unfortunately, one of the ugly things that seem to be the hardest to release when we find Jesus, is the judgmental attitude that we bring along from our past. It is hard to overlook our personal observations and our ideas of perfection, and to simply see what God has done and continues to do in the life of His chosen child. Perhaps we should be reminded regularly that God’s Grace, like that which was given to Saul (Paul) is God’s unmerited favor. In other words, God’s grace had nothing to do with Saul’s learned abilities, or his scholastic achievements. God simply saw a man destined to write many books in His Word; Win many to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ; and bold enough to speak to those with very hardened hearts. God created us uniquely for His good purpose, and only He could qualify us for truly sharing the Gospel with hardened sinners who feel like they have life all figured out. God knew that Paul would eventually come to himself and recognize the awesome God of this universe. He knew that Paul would go on to convince many hardened crusaders that looked and operated much like he did in his day. Friends, God also has you and I pegged for a specific Kingdom work here on earth. Like Paul, I believe that the work God chose for us to do, is specially formulated just for us. So let’s listen closely to His call, and be obedient to His instructions as He directs our path towards the work He has in store for us. Let’s make every effort to minimize our excuses, for His grace will make all the difference for us, and for those who will respond to His call through us.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: God’s grace makes all the difference in our life, and especially in our career of winning the lost to Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, every day we are reminded of, what seems to be, such an unlimited number of folk that have not accepted You as Lord. Unfortunately they see us, and they hear us, but they see nothing that convinces them of the change they need to make in their life. We often say that it may take ‘a ton of bricks’ to change the minds of some, but You created us Lord, so You know full well what it takes to get our attention and theirs. May Your grace given to us, be obvious to others – especially those who need to make a change in their life. It may be something very simple – much like a simple bumper sticker that opened the eyes of a good friend and contributed to him seeking salvation. But please provoke us to faith and obedience to our Heavenly Father so that You may use even our weak vessels to do miraculous things in the lives of those who need You. May today be the day for many to make decisions for Jesus Christ, because of Your grace in our lives. AMEN!

Protected By The Almighty

On 2022-06-182022-06-18 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Protector, Recognize God, Relationship, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Saturday, 2022-06-18
WRITTEN AT: Jensen Beach, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 91:1-3
TRANSLATION: New Century Version (NCV)

BIBLE TEXT: ¹Those who go to God Most High for safety
    will be protected by the Almighty.
²I will say to the Lord, “You are my place of safety and protection.
    You are my God and I trust you.”
³God will save you from hidden traps
    and from deadly diseases.

APPLICATION: I believe that most of us who find ourselves in trouble, will run to God to bail us out and save us. But notice that David suggested a slight, but distinctly different process for us to adopt in seeking help from the Lord. Only God knows the number of times that David sought His help, so it seems like David should be in good position to offer expert advice to us! David actually recommended that we use the same process that we use with our parents and/or our spouse. Because we have a relationship with them and have built a sense of trust in them, we feel confident calling on them for protection and/or help. So if we use that same philosophy in our relationship with God, it might indicate that because we maintain a daily, one on one relationship with the Master, then we are comfortable and confident that He cares for us in much the same way that we worship and adore Him on a regular basis. And because of that intimate relationship with our Maker, we feel like we could call on Him in our time of need, and we could immediately feel sheltered under His wings knowing full well that He will care for His own. But imagine for a moment that you have found no purpose or meaning in having a real and intimate relationship with God. How could you feel confident that He would do anything for you? You see, we can find repeatedly throughout God’s Word where He promises to care for His own, and that He will honor the request of those that demand distance from Him, especially when things are going smoothly and they feel safe in doing ‘their own thing’. Friends, our God is not a puppet who stands ready to jump when you have exhausted every effort to handle the situations of life you find yourself in. God created us in His image, so although He is God, He can still identify with us. He desires relationship with us, not to be available on an ‘as-needed’ basis. He told us that He will honor our request to be left alone. But more importantly, David reminds us in the Psalm today, that when we are in regular relationship with the Almighty, He will shelter us under His wing and protect us from all harm. In human relationships we enjoy speaking with someone over the phone, emailing them and possibly texting them, but there is absolutely nothing quite like being reunited with them in person. So it is with God. He wants that intimate relationship we could develop with Him while we’re here on earth, but I believe He longs for us to unite with Him in glory some sweet day! I hope and pray that each reader and/or listener has that assurance of one day joining with the angels in collective praise to our God in heaven. This is only possible if you have accpeted the gift of His Son who was sent to save us from our sin and ready us for heaven. If you are not assured of your position with God, please carefully read my Footnote and especially click on the link ‘To Know Jesus’. The Scriptures will show you what you must do to be saved and be reassured of your heavenly destiny. My desire with each devotional, is that every recipient will one day join me at the feet of Jesus in glorious praise! I hope to see you there precious friend!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Lord, You are my God – my place of safety and protection!

PRAYER: Lord, thank You for reminding me that You want relationship with me! Too often we strive hard to please You with our actions, and we call on You in urgent times of need. Please teach us Lord to spend time with You each day and develop an intimate relationship with You. Not only do we want this so that we could know You better, but we want to take the advice given to us through Your servant, David. What a comfort and joy to know that You will watch over, protect, guide and love on those of us that have chosen to love, accept and honor You. We are far from perfect Lord, but we know You – the only ‘perfect One’ and so we depend on You to help us flourish in our relationshiop with You. Please help us to show the unsaved world the importance of relationship – especially our relationship with You! AMEN!

Seeing Others Clearly

On 2022-06-172022-06-17 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, See God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Friday, 2022-06-17
WRITTEN AT: Jensen Beach, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Mark 8:22-25
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: ²²When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch and heal him. ²³Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and spat upon his eyes, and laid his hands over them. “Can you see anything now?” Jesus asked him.
²⁴The man looked around. “Yes!” he said, “I see men! But I can’t see them very clearly; they look like tree trunks walking around!”
²⁵Then Jesus placed his hands over the man’s eyes again and as the man stared intently, his sight was completely restored, and he saw everything clearly, drinking in the sights around him.

APPLICATION: At first glance of this miracle, one might think that this is an example of progressive healing. Doubters may think that Jesus didn’t successfully heal the blind man on His first try, so He had to try again. But friends, I am more convinced than ever, that every word in the Bible is deliberately intended for our benefit, learning and application. You see, when one is convicted of their sin and accepted into the kingdom of heaven, we see Jesus clearly for who He is. But in 1 John 4:21, we are told “God himself has said that one must love not only God but his brother too”. Now, although we see no evidence that the blind/miracle man hated his neighbor, after his initial touch by Jesus he received his sight, but he became much like Christians today, for he saw people in the distance – blurry and walking about like tree stumps. When we are ignoring people, we do something very similar – we give only a glancing eye to them, and it would take a solid brick to awaken us to their needs. It is glorious for us to experience Jesus and the wonderful, eye-opening miracle of salvation He gives to us! But let’s never forget the words of 1 John 4:21. Let’s learn to love our brother/neighbor/sister so deeply – in fact, much like Jesus loves us, and then perhaps we will understand their life-challenges, feel their hurts, experience their pain in life and their desire for love and appreciation from others. Remember, their eyes are the mirror of their soul, so get up close and personal and either see the peace in their eyes, or empathize with them over the challenges of life you will see reflected in their eyes. This can be summed up in just a few words: love them enough to show that you care about them, and then be their brother or sister through the good and challenging times of life. Be deliberate in loving others, just as you love and appreciate the Great I Am – our wonderful and powerful Almighty God!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Oh to see our brothers and sister very clearly! Even to their hurts and anxieties that are deep inside of them. Enough of the casual glances. Let’s see them like Jesus sees them.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord Jesus for opening the eyes of the blind man in our story today, and also for opening our eyes to the way that we merely glance at some folk, instead of truly following in Your example to know their heart. Our aim each and every day is to be more like You Lord, so we humbly pray that You will also look deep inside our hearts that have been blinded to the real needs of our fellow Brothers and Sisters. May it be evident to them that it’s all about You when we show that we care, because we want them to know that there is One who lives and loves deeper than a brother. Have Your will and way in our lives precious Lord, we want to be like You! AMEN!

Remind Us Of Your Goodness, Lord

On 2022-06-162022-06-17 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, God's Goodness, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Success, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Thursday, 2022-06-15
WRITTEN AT: Jensen Beach, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 90:14-17
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: ¹⁴Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love,
    so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.
¹⁵Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!
    Replace the evil years with good.
¹⁶Let us, your servants, see you work again;
    let our children see your glory.
¹⁷And may the Lord our God show us his approval
    and make our efforts successful.
    Yes, make our efforts successful!

APPLICATION: Moses may have heard a lot of stories about how God blessed his ancestors. But more importantly, Moses experienced some pretty miraculous things in his own lifetime. Often the overwhelming pain and disappointments of failures and/or hard times might be enough to create a very cautious outlook on life, for we know how bad things could get. But what might cause a good and honest man of God to concentrate on the good in a day, vs the many bad things that could occur? Friends, when we have a close and intimate relationship with our God, and we remind ourselves of His authority and power over all things, then we are more apt to reflect back over the apparent bad things that occurred and see very clearly how God accomplished super important things through those challenging times. Alternately, we could give in to the mockery of Satan and believe that he could make things even worse for us, so our hope sinks to a new low. Notice how Moses cried out to God to just please ‘do it again’! In other words, just as You provided manna for us to eat yesterday and allowed me to strike a rock, from which You permitted water to flow for Your people, then please Lord, do that again. We currently have many examples of ‘hard times’ that could easily provoke us to whine and complain while expecting more of the same. Crime, inflation, fuel costs and health challenges are all at extremely high levels, and the pessimist, or unbeliever, has every reason to think that these things will only worsen. But for those of us who have walked in the same shoes as Moses, we know that God moved waters aside and provided a dry road for His people to walk across open waterways; He created and made available manna for His people – millions of them, to eat each day; He impregnated a young virgin girl with His precious Son, knowing that we needed a way out of our sin and our horrifying destination – Hell; He healed the sick, made the blind to see again and the lame to pick up his bed and walk again – lots of evidence that our God is a miracle working God who provides for His children in ways that we could hardly imagine or ask for. So when we ask God to see us through our current problems and to prepare us for our reunion with He and His Son, don’t you know that we could easily arise each morning in much the same light as Moses prayed for – knowing that God has control, and He is more than willing to prepare us for the wonderful and blessed day He has prepared for us? My dear, dear friends, only God can heal the bodies of those who are still suffering from Covid; only God can provide for those of us who might look at the declining stock markets and remind us that He will supply ALL our needs; only God can mend the broken hearts of those who have lost dearest loved ones over recent months and years from the very unexpected effects of Covid; only God can encourage the increasing numbers of homeless souls who each day awaken to their new lifestyle and apparent hopelessness, into an exciting hope that He has a glorious home prepared for each of them that will outshine the best and most extravagant homes that we could walk by and dream of here on earth. Please Lord, show us Your goodness once again today so that we may start our day in bright hope of all that You have planned for us today, and throughout eternity!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: In spite of dismal current events and projections, believers in Jesus Christ has a hope that outshines everything this world can dish out to us. For our hope and future is in the hands of our Creator, who is also our Finisher and Preparer of a much brighter tomorrow!

PRAYER: Precious Lord, we stand amazed in the presence of Jesus our Lord, knowing that all we see facing us today is temporal and, even worse, the evil work of the adversary. Please encourage us with the boldness to always stand in Your presence knowing that we have a hope – a hope for a bright tomorrow, whether here on earth, or in the glories of heaven! Moses saw first-hand the many miracles You performed to deliver he and his people. Today we are blessed with an array of ancestors who have shared the miraculous stories of all You did in their lives. This, in addition to all that You have done in our own lives, convinces us of Your amazing power to heal, bless and encourage us towards a future filled with Your goodness and a hope that we need so badly today. Come quickly Lord Jesus, for we need You more today than ever before. AMEN!

LOVE – What It Is and What It’s Not

On 2022-06-142022-06-16 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Love, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2022-06-14
WRITTEN AT: Jensen Beach, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
TRANSLATION: GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

BIBLE TEXT: ⁴Love is patient. Love is kind. Love isn’t jealous. It doesn’t sing its own praises. It isn’t arrogant. ⁵It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs. ⁶It isn’t happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth. ⁷Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up. ⁸Love never comes to an end….

APPLICATION: I will endeavor to share a comparison between the list of items taught by Paul to help us discern good habits of loving each other vs things that normally create a sense of pretense – a false pretense.
What love is: Patient; Kind; Happy about the truth; Never stops – being patient, believing in others, hoping, nor giving up on people we love; Love never ends.
What Love is not: Jealous; Sing its own praises; Arrogant; Rude; Selfish (doesn’t think of itself); Irritable; Keeping track of others’ wrongs; Being happy with injustices done to others;
One of the things that I have always found helpful in my Christian walk, is to keep a list of the negative aspects of something front and foremost as a reminder to me. Why? Because when I see any of those negative things sneaking into my life or my character, then I realize that I must seek the face of God immediately to help me overcome that bad characteristic and instead seek to do the things that God desires of me. I believe that you will recognize when either of the items in the second list is happening in your marriage or relationship, for things are not really at its best in your home. Something needs work, or correcting. I believe you will also see that homes and/or relationships are broken when one of the habits from the second list goes unnoticed or ignored by the individuals. Friends, when we surrender our life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, we commit to being obedient to His will, and we surrender our own will to the will and design of our new Master. Similarly, when we commit our lives to our spouse, we promise each other that we will set aside our selfish desires and we will love that person as ordained by God in His Word – just like our Scripture dictates today. Let’s try to remember that God’s will is for us to live and love like Jesus did, and to follow His commands as He shared through His Word. When we take things into our own hands, we screw things up. Is it any wonder why we fail in so many ways to love another creation of God? The first few words of verse 8 had a lasting impact on me – Love never ends. So many times we have heard about ‘love turning to hate’, for when we can’t have our own way in love, often we will turn to revenge, and that leads to actions that totally aggravates the other person and often leads to hatred. Friends, the example set by Jesus Christ is that: love leads to sacrifice; love will continue even if the other party rejects us; love is unconditional, meaning that one will love even if they are not loved in return, in the way they feel is necessary. Questions may sometimes arise in your mind about the love of the other person for you, but it is your responsibility to ensure that your love is persistent and everlasting. Only you can decide in your heart to love someone Jesus’ way, no matter how much others try to persuade you to do it ‘their way’.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Love never fails. It didn’t fail in the way Jesus loves us, and I will claim today to love others just as Jesus loves me, God being my helper.

PRAYER: Thank You Lord for creating us to love one another the way You demonstrated true love to us. Thank You for having Your servant Paul detail in Your Word how we should love. May we examine ourselves and determine in our heart to follow Your example. Loving others in total sincerity leads to a happy and satisfied life that undoubtedly pleases You, for You created us to be just like You – including Your devotion to love us in spite of our efforts to make sure that no one loves us. Forgive us Lord when we so easily assume the characteristics of this wicked and sinful world. Your ways and Your teachings are perfect. Help us to aim for that same perfection that You intended when you placed us here in our current situation, for we want to look, sound and love just like You. AMEN!

Nothing is Impossible To God

On 2022-06-132022-06-13 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Possibilities, Praise, Recognize God, Worship1 Comment

DATE POSTED Monday, 2022-06-13
WRITTEN AT: Jensen Beach, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Luke 1:36-37
TRANSLATION: The Message (MSG)

BIBLE TEXT: ^36-37“And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.”

APPLICATION: Mary, a young, virgin girl, who had not exposed herself to any man yet, was approached by an angel and given a proclamation that sounded really far out – that in spite of her virginity, she would bear a child. Moreover, this child would be the very Son of God. We may have heard this story so many times that our senses may have become dulled by the prophetic words the angel Gabriel, and the impossible announcement given to this virgin girl. But for the purpose of fully grasping the awe of this story again today, let us stop and consider the idea of our young, sheltered, child coming in to tell us that: #1 – They are pregnant; and #2 – They will be the mother of God’s Son. Wow, those two statements would probably knock us to the floor! So, stop for a moment and just imagine how you would honestly react to that news. Furthermore, imagine if you were that young lady who was touched on the shoulder and spoken to by a, a…. a what??? An angel??? Ok, perhaps you are now beginning to understand why Mary needed a little more convincing! But she was given another big shocker, that her elderly cousin Elizabeth – you know, the barren one? Yes, Elizabeth will also have a child soon. Oh my, how much more could this young lady’s heart take? But she was given the tag that helped her to make sense of all this shocking news, for the angel told her that the author of all this is God, and that nothing is impossible with Him. But, you might ask: why was this included in the Bible for us? Oh my friend, I am hoping that you might be encouraged like I was. For when life seems overwhelming, to whom shall we turn? When we feel like God is sending us in a direction for which we seem so unprepared, how will we succeed? When our loved oneis stricken by a deadly disease, like Covid, with little hope of surviving, at least in the eyes of the doctors, what shall we do?? When we can’t seem to have children, and we want them so desperately, how, how, how???? Let us remember the words given to Mary by the angel when she stood in disbelief and wonderment – Nothing is impossible with God! When God promised in His Word to be with us through all phases of life – He will fulfill His promises and see us through. When God leads us into a situation, He will see us through to His satisfaction! Remember, the same God that caused a virgin girl to bear the very Son of God, is the same God that we serve today! He is still the same God that we call on with our ‘impossible’ situations. I praise God that He is the One that I serve, and the One that I adore, for nothing – absolutely nothing, is impossible with God! Oh what a Savior! Oh what an awesome God that we serve!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: What God did before, He is still very capable of doing even greater miracles today!

PRAYER: What a wonderful God we serve! Thank You Jesus, for the sacrifice You made so that our sins would be forgiven and that we would be privileged with life everlasting with our Father in heaven! Thank You for using Your children in things like bearing the very Son of God; the miracle of birth to a barren lady; healing of the lame, the blind and the dumb. Thank You for showing us that we are more than conquerors when we place our faith and trust in You. Please dear Lord, speak to those that choose to ignore You and the love and victory You provide to all who call You ‘Father’ and ‘Lord’ of their life. Oh that You may be glorified today in all that we are. AMEN!

Ungrateful Hearts Complain

On 2022-06-122022-06-12 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Thankful, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Sunday, 2022-06-12
WRITTEN AT: Jensen Beach, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Numbers 21:4-5
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: ⁴Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, ⁵and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

APPLICATION: Unless with a grateful heart you concentrate on the awesome blessings of God in your life each day, you might instead very easily get caught up in the idea that you only enjoy each day what is expected for each person, each day. In other words, you may take for granted all that you enjoy – more than you could every have done for yourself with the hand of God being involved, for your good. Unfortunately, when you complain, you become depressed and despondent, like the Israelites did, when things were not going the way that they expected. In spite of all God had done for them, and all that He continued to do each day for them, yet the Israelites were ready to complain/criticize God and His servant Moses. These ungrateful people looked at and complained about there not being enough variety in their meals; and not enough water; and because of their long walk, there would probably not be enough to last. But aren’t we just as ungrateful? Perhaps we should really meditate on this picture painted for us by God. Remember the morning you woke up to thunder, lightening and rain – on a day that you had other plans, and how you whined and complained about yet another day of rain, even though your neighbor had been crying for more rain to help his garden grow better? And don’t forget about the aches and pains that we complain about to all of our friends, or the quality of the food that was provided for us out of the goodness of our neighbors last night, or perhaps the diminishing eyesight as you grow older, etc, etc, etc! Friends, if we look at life as a blessing from God, which it truly is, and if we accept all aspects of life as God-directed, God-blessed, God-ordained and God’s perfect will for our lives, then we should automatically explode in awesome praise when we awake to raindrops on our window, for God must have something awesome in mind for us! Reflect on the car that won’t start for you on that morning when you had so much planned? But isn’t it praise-worthy when you later learned of an awful wreck on the same route you would have taken that day. Was God not merciful to you and protected your path? Let us always remember, friends, our God has a plan for us and He wants to protect us and bless us beyond our ability to understand or appreciate. So let us be deliberate in praising our Master every day for all things, for He truly loves us and, I believe that, He truly wants us to flourish in His many blessings that He careful pours out on us every day. Let’s learn to live with God’s perfect plan, and not mess things up by adding in too much of our wants and wishes. God is in control, and He promised to care for our every need, if only we will let Him.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for Your loving kindness to the Israelites, in spite of their ungratefulness. Having recognized that we have not learned any good lessons from the Israelites, we must ask Your forgiveness and plead with You for Your ongoing patience with us as we learn to recognize Your goodness and Your mercy towards us. You are an awesome God, and I am thankful for Jesus and the forgiveness of my sins, so that I may call You ‘Father’. Oh how I long for my readers and I to one day look full into Your wonderful face and sing endless praises to our King! In the meantime, please help us to accept Your loving provision, direction and ultimate will for our life. You’ve got this, if only we will allow You to do Your work! AMEN!

The Righteous Person

On 2022-06-112022-06-11 By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Righteous, Righteous Living, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Saturday, 2022-06-11
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 37:30-31
TRANSLATION: GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

BIBLE TEXT: ³⁰The mouth of the righteous person reflects on wisdom. His tongue speaks what is fair. ³¹The teachings of his God are in his heart. His feet do not slip.

APPLICATION: I wonder if, in the eyes of a stranger, they would know who our Master is? Who or what drives us and influences our decisions. If they met us for the first time while we were stressed to the limit, would they recognize who is influencing our defiance, or our calm spirit, even in the midst of our ‘storm’? The Psalmist reminds us that our mouth will reflect the wisdom of the One we claim as our Master; our tongue will speak out of fairness if we claim the only true and fair God as our Lord and Savior. He goes on to give us the reason why these good things gloriously occur in our lives – because of the teachings of our God that we have allowed to indwell our hearts and control our very lives. David declared that when we allow such an influence in our lives, we stand on a solid footing and our lives will reflect the God in whom we place our faith and our trust. Friends, our lives will reflect the One in whom we place our faith and our trust. The decisions that we make and the words that we speak will be a reflection of the teachings that we have permitted to dwell deep within our hearts and souls. If we fill ourselves with evil and the things of this world, then we will make decisions based on those bad ideas and evil principles. If, however, we have filled our lives with the things of Christ, His words, His example and His character will influence the decisions we make and the words we speak. Please allow me to be the first to tell you today that the world is carefully watching you, and they are ready to jump on you with great judgment when they see you acting contrary to what they expect from a Christian. So I believe our challenge is, that when we react to a situation, we must ensure that our words and actions are aligned with Christ. This will convince the unsaved who may want to know the Source of our wisdom, our good judgment, our love for others, and our careful use of words, that the Holy Spirit resides inside of us and directs us to be good representatives of our Master. That’s the only way that we will fulfill His purpose, and help the unsaved to know Jesus. Preaching to them, or at them, will have minimal impact on them, compared to what they experience from our words and through our actions. i believe another way of saying what David shared is: Because of our sure footing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we stand firm in the will and ways of the One we serve. To see and hear us, is to see and hear Jesus! God being our helper in every situation of life!

PRAYER: Dearest Lord Jesus, please help us to be more like You in every phase of our life. We know that Your ways are perfect, and that we will only reflect the attitude and character of the One that we love, adore and serve. Please inspire the lives of my readers and myself, so that others will see Jesus in everything we do or say. It’s all about You dear Lord, Oh that we may be a living example of You in every day and in every way. AMEN!

Nuggets From God's Word

Tag: Bible