Tag: Freely give

Blessings Based on Priorities

On By Ed AlgreenIn Appreciation, Giving, ObedienceLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Contemporary English Version – Haggai 1:8-11): 8 But first, go to the hills and get wood for my temple, so I can take pride in it and be worshiped there. 9 You expected much, but received only a little. And when you brought it home, I made that little disappear. Why have I done this? It’s because you hurry off to build your own houses, while my temple is still in ruins. 10 That’s also why the dew doesn’t fall and your harvest fails. 11 And so, at my command everything will become barren—your farmland and pastures, your vineyards and olive trees, your animals and you yourselves. All your hard work will be for nothing.

THOUGHTS: I found it interesting how God got His point across to Haggai about why his people were not being blessed. I believe it is obvious that our God is a jealous God, yet we have clearly been forced to think about what a selfish and ungrateful bunch we are. Let’s reflect for a moment on how we act. We were created to worship and serve God. We are blessed beyond compare in the homes that we have and the food that we eat, plus the rich churches and church leaders who welcome us under their care. We enjoy fair health, and many of us enjoy jobs that help us to care for our families. So I believe you might agree with me that God keeps His end of the bargain in our lives. In the case of Haggai’s people, the Israelites, is it any wonder that God became upset when He declared that the people thought so little about Him that they allowed His temple to run into disrepair while their houses were extravagant and plush? In other words, their priority was definitely not on worshipping God and giving of their best to Him in their lives. So now let’s see how this might relate to us today in a comparative scenario. In spite of fairly high levels of unemployment and poverty, I believe that there has never been a people as blessed as we are. Yet we still see folk starving in our world, and we see churches closing their doors because of lack of finances. We make decisions about our church attendance based on the weather – good weather equals beach and/or family time versus bad weather means that since there’s nothing better to do we may as well go to church. Some have enormous incomes while others have only minimal wages, yet some won’t give a tithe because it sounds like way too much to give to the church, while others feel like they can’t afford a tithe, even though God promised to bless the remaining 90% in both scenarios, beyond anything we could imagine. When God orders that we give, do we not trust Him to properly handle the gifts we give, or the remaining portion to meet our needs? Did He really mean for us to put conditions on everything that He ordered for us to do or give? Yet we have become a people that expect everything promised without any conditions being applied to us! John 3:16 says that God loved the world so much that He gave…. No conditions, just that He gave… Can we love Him enough today to just give…. without conditions? Perhaps our blessings are in direct proportion to the heart of our giving, friend!

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for giving unconditionally to us. Please continue to work on us so that we might eventually learn to give in appreciation for all that You give and do for us. May we give of ourselves and in in return for all the ways that You bless us. May we learn to trust You to do all that You have promised, and to properly handle all that we give in response to Your commands. You gave out of love for us, may we learn to love You enough that we will gladly give unconditionally back to You. Please forgive us for our littleness and selfishness, and make us obedient servants willing to do, or give whatever is asked of us by the Master. This I ask in the blessed name of Jesus, my wonderful Savior, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, 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 www.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!

Sacrifices That Please God

On By Ed AlgreenIn Giving, PraiseLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (God’s Word Translation – Hebrews 13:14-16): 14 We don’t have a permanent city here on earth, but we are looking for the city that we will have in the future. 15 Through Jesus we should always bring God a sacrifice of praise, that is, words that acknowledge him. 16 Don’t forget to do good things for others and to share what you have with them. These are the kinds of sacrifices that please God.

 THOUGHTS: For those of us still in the workforce, I believe it is very evident that we are to strive to please our employer, and especially our supervisor, if we are to be successful in our job and enjoy longevity with our employer. Often doing the things that appeal to us, or seems right to us, may not always be exactly what our supervisor is looking for, and will not result in deepest appreciation from them. Receiving a ‘pat on the back’ or hearing words of praise and appreciation makes our day complete and worthwhile! Similarly, in God’s Word we are cautioned to think about our eternal home, because our life here on earth is only temporary, compared to eternity. If we have reconciled our lives with the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted His lordship over us, then we are destined for eternity in heaven, otherwise our default destination will be Hell. If we belong to Jesus, then we should be doing our very best to please Him and do what He desires even here on earth. In these few verses we are given items that we should concentrate on here on earth, as sacrifices that will please God:

  • Praise – Verse 15 even spells out the meaning of this sacrifice: Words that acknowledge Jesus as Lord. I know that we often correlate this word with the lifting of hands and singing praises directed to our King, but I believe that our lives should be so impacted by our relation with Jesus that we will no longer attribute our successes to ‘good luck’, or the ‘man in the sky’ or any other fable, but we should freely attribute our blessings to God, no matter whose presence we might be in. Our unashamed expression of praise will not only please God, but may also impact an unsaved friend that might be in our presence;
  • Giving to others – God has blessed us with everything we claim as ours. If we are merely keepers of the joy that result from those gifts, and not sharers, of what value is that to the kingdom of heaven? In Matthew 10:8 we are admonished to freely give, as we have freely received from God. It’s not ours friend, we are just blessed to have the gifts God has wonderfully entrusted to us!

Based on this scripture, we know that these two sacrifices please God. Let’s not be so hesitant in offering these up to God through our actions today. I believe that God will acknowledge His appreciation by blessing us in return!

 PRAYER: Lord You are so good to us! Thank You Lord for all Your blessings that You pour out on me every day of my life. You were especially gracious to answer my prayer requests yesterday, but Lord I am thankful each and every day. May my sacrifices of praise and unselfish giving always be a priority in my everyday walk of life so that You may be pleased with Your servant. Please tender the hearts of the unsaved today dear Lord, so that they may openly witness Your blessings on Your people and the resulting sacrifices they offer back up to You. I’m So Glad I’m a Part of the Family if God! I pray that other’s reading this devotional can freely acknowledge this fact today. If you can’t friend, then may I recommend you spend some time reading my ‘Footnote’ below to make sound decisions towards accepting Jesus as your Savior? I ask all this in the wonderful and generous name of Jesus, my Lord, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, 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!