Tag: Coveteousness

Guard Your Heart From Greed and Covetousness

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2021-08-31
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Luke 12:13-15
TRANSLATION: The Passion Translation (TPT)

BIBLE TEXT: 13 Just then someone spoke up from the crowd and said, “Master, you should compel my older brother to divide the family inheritance and give me my fair share!”
14 Jesus answered, “My friend, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”
15 Speaking to the people, Jesus continued, “Be alert and guard your heart from greed and from always wishing for what you don’t have. For your life can never be measured by the amount of things you possess.”

APPLICATION: The reading of wills, and the content of a will dictated by a father, has probably caused more family divisions than anything else in the world! For a dad writing his will, he probably looks for a way to right the wrongs committed towards he and his wife, or the bitterness, meanness and hatred that may have developed between siblings. In our story, Jesus was teaching a crowd, but a young man in the crowd had a personal vendetta that he wanted Jesus to resolve for him, and he wanted the crowd to hear exactly how Jesus intended to resolve the issue. We have seen over time how Jesus found it very helpful to use parables/examples to help others better identify with His message or response. Jesus again uses an example that the people could identify with, in order to help this young man. You see, when you find yourself in a crowd, your questions should be such that the crowd might be helped, and leave personal scenarios for your one-on-one discussions with the leader. So Jesus responded with an example that might help all hearers. Often our greed will result in overfilling our barns, before we would agree for a neighbor to have some of the excess to just feed his cattle. The excess will often cause spoilage for us, but actually meet a very critical need for our neighbor. Jesus teaches in this parable today that greed and covetousness will do us no good, as it has no impact on our time left on earth to enjoy the excess. However, when we allow a neighbor to win the battle in order to feed his family and/or animals, we are actually showing love towards him, and we show understanding of his circumstances, without first overfilling our own barn. Friends, we witness many who fill their barns to overflowing, then comes the time for them to leave this world. The excessively filled barns are then left for selfish kids to fight over and continue the vicious selfish cycle. When the deceased stands before Jesus, He totally ignores all that the person has amassed and He looks simply at the heart and goodwill of the man. Did He know Jesus as Lord of his life, and was He obedient to the commands of Jesus? That’s what matters dear one. If you know Jesus and obey His commands, you still may die a rich man, but in following the commands of Jesus, you would ensure that no one around you is in need. May we draw close to God so that He may work miraculously in us, for His ultimate glory!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: When committed to Jesus, we will be led by the Holy Spirit to live like He intends. He will be glorified when His children are drawn to Him!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, please have Your will and way in our lives. May Your children be such imitators of all that you demonstrated to us and all that You teach us each day, that the unsaved will experience Jesus and be drawn to Him. There is nothing in this world that could meet the basic need for Jesus that our soul yearns for. Oh Lord Jesus, please help us to stay focused on the miraculous works of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of our life. May Jesus be glorified today because of our submission to His will, and through our obedience to Him as we experience life with others. 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!

We Have Not, Because…..

On By Ed AlgreenIn Ask and Receive, Envy, Jealousy, Prayer2 Comments

May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider feeding even us with His Word! May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for a blessing, friend!………

Today’s Bible Reference: James 4:2–3
Today’s Bible Text: You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

My Take Away: I believe that many of us read these verses and sit back in disbelief that folk would actually do this! Whoa, wait a moment…. would we ever think that God had a message through James for everyone else…. but not for us? Something can’t be right with that analysis Brother, Sister, friend. So let’s look a little closer at this. I believe that fights, arguments and many evils in life can be traced back to times when we have felt that we were not treated fairly, or obtained our desires. In fact, we become downright envious, with a strong sense of covetousness, when we look at what others have, compared to what we have, or can afford, or perhaps that we didn’t see as a priority to purchase. Our lacking could also be a scripturally based issue, for perhaps we never saw the need to ask God for it! But what normally happens when these resulting feelings well up inside of us? Friends, this is the root of conflict and strife. In fact, there are feelings that sometimes overtake us and opens the door for Satan to push us into actions that we never thought possible. It might be quarrelling, fighting, or even conspiring to do things out of spite that could lead to crimes we never thought possible. But catch this thought friends, James is suggesting that we don’t have because we simply don’t ask God for it. Is he kidding? Of course we told God what we had to have? Ooops, did I just say that??? Friends, I believe that God is warning us that instead of looking horizontal at what others have, we need to start looking up – to God, for all that He would bless us with. Remember, we are His child, so He knows exactly what we need, and what we could handle, that won’t cause us to lose track of the important things in life. You see, we should never have those things that will distract us and cause us to lose our witness, so can we learn to give Him thanks in ALL things and in all of life’s circumstances – please? I believe that most often we tend to try and satisfy our deep, selfish desires when we ask God for things. It might even sound legitimate, such as more time, more money or more energy so that we could do the things we desire to do for God. But what if we asked instead for more desire for what God promises or commands of us? What if we asked for less desire to do those things that are contrary to His will for us? Which of these might bear the motive that best aligns with God’s will for us? It may be time for us to ‘Have A Little Talk With Jesus’ – a sincere and honest talk with Him as we seek His will, without any personal desires getting in the way of that. 

Prayer: Dear God, we are so twisted, and distracted by the things of this world, and our selfish desires. Is it any wonder why we often feel so unworthy of being used by You? Lord, You created us to worship You, obey You and example Your ways before a lost and dying world. Please help us to refocus on Your will for us, instead of our selfish desires for things that we think will benefit us. Please help us to make the adjustments necessary to focus more fully and more obediently on You and Your perfect will for us. Please help us to put self aside and allow You to minister in and through us to those who need You as Lord of their life. Please touch the lives of Your children – Your followers – Your servants today, so that we may be usable instruments in Your hands. I ask these things in the matchless name of Jesus, AMEN!

Footnote: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org 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!

2016