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Post Date: |
Wednesday, 2017-09-06 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Luke 21:14-19 (CEV) |
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Text: |
14 Don’t worry about what you will say to defend yourselves. 15 I will give you the wisdom to know what to say. None of your enemies will be able to oppose you or to say that you are wrong. 16 You will be betrayed by your own parents, brothers, family, and friends. Some of you will even be killed. 17 Because of me, you will be hated by everyone. 18 But don’t worry! 19 You will be saved by being faithful to me. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Having a crowd gathered, Jesus thought to share with them that not all will appear ‘peachy’ for those who choose to follow Him. In fact, things will get very uncomfortable, as even to close relatives will betray them. In fact, everyone will hate them. However, their peace; their comfort; and their overriding joy in Christ should help in committing them to stand strong in the faith and be faithful to God in all circumstances. This is still very applicable to us today, so let’s examine this more closely…. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| Often it appears like we are fair-weather Christians. In other words, as long as everything is going well, we feel comforted that Jesus is on our side and taking good care of us. But as soon as we see things happening that we didn’t expect, we immediately wonder why Satan entered the scene and is trying to destroy us. Friends, I have seen some ‘terrible’ things happen which brought unsaved relatives to the Lord. My dad was a good example of that, His nephew fell from the top of a street-side electrical pole to his death. My dad’s eyes were opened to the condition of his soul and he surrendered his life to Jesus. A young man serving on the battlefield promised God that if He would see him safely through the gunfire that was killing his buddies all around him, that he would serve Him for the rest of his life. This Brother just retired from the ministry after a number of faithful years serving/leading local churches through which he led many unsaved people to the Lord. Jesus tells us in our focal Scripture today that those who are faithful to Him will be saved. You know, I believe that means that if we truly know God; if we truly trust Him with everything; and if we are solid in our faith; then we will look for the ways that God is working in all of life’s circumstances and not concentrated at all in poor me, or what God could do better for us. Let’s be encouraged friends that if the God of this universe accepts us as His very own child, and if He allows us to participate in His miraculous work here on this earth, then we should not hesitate in saying, ‘Yes Lord, thy will be done’. Let’s remember Brothers and Sisters, those who remain faithful to the end will be saved. Will you be considered among those saved? | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord Jesus, please allow Your Word to work in our lives today. Please open our hearts to accept You fully and to be totally faithful to You until You call us home to glory. We have every reason to trust You and to depend on everything that You have promised to us. Lord, may we be faithful to You til the very end. 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! | |
Tag: Content
How Forgiveness Works
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Post Date: |
Sunday, 2017-07-30 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Luke 11:1-4 (TLB) |
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Text: |
1 ….“Lord, teach us a prayer to recite just as John taught one to his disciples.”2 And this is the prayer he taught them: “Father, may your name be honored for its holiness; send your Kingdom soon. 3 Give us our food day by day. 4 And forgive our sins—for we have forgiven those who sinned against us. And don’t allow us to be tempted.” |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| Jesus’ disciples had seen Him go off and pray to His Father, and they were beginning to feel like they needed to know more about how to pray. A fair question, as many young Christians might ponder the same question today. He gave them 5 basic points to remember in prayer: 1. Recognize God for who He is; 2. Let God know that you are anticipating His soon return to take us (His children) home; 3. Ask God to supply your food for the day; 4. Forgiveness – just as you have forgiven others; and 5. Keep us from temptation. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| How much will God give you, if he likened it to the amount (percentage wise) that you have given to Him? Will God truly forgive you, if it’s based on how well and totally you have forgiven others? Friends, we hear people say all the time: I forgive you, but I could never forget what you did to me. Is that true forgiveness? I realize the hurt will remain with you for a while, but God says in His Word that when He forgives us of our sin, He separates that from us as far as the east is from the west. In other words, I believe if we bring that up to God again, He will probably say to us: “What sin? I have no idea what you are talking about”. However, this Scripture is telling us that we will be forgiven in much the same way that we forgive others. How are you doing with that friends? When someone says that they are sorry for certain actions and asks you for forgiveness, is the result anywhere close to you feeling like the offense never occurred? If that is right, you will look at them in love as if they never did one thing to hurt or bother you. Can you do it? Friends, when we look into the face of a holy God who is perfect in every way, and we say that we want to be just like Him, then through the power and direction of the Holy Spirit, I believe that true forgiveness will become a very real thing of placing the hurts of past offenses out of sight and mind, because of our forgiving hearts will look more like the heart of Christ. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord God, I believe that broken hearts that carry the weight of past sins are hearts that will cause a believer to wander from You and treat their fellow mankind in ways that would not be representative of You. Holy Spirit, please guide us today and every day to forgive others like Jesus did, so that our hearts might be cleared of any envy towards our neighbor but instead uninterrupted love towards them, like Jesus demonstrated when He gave His life for ALL mankind, even those who hurt Him and had Him crucified. Lord, teach us to be Your chosen vessels who will represent You well until You call us home. 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! | |
Nuggets From God's Word 