Tag: God

Trust In The Lord!

On By Ed AlgreenIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Holy Bible – The Good News Translation

Psalm 118:6–9

6               The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid;

what can anyone do to me?

7               It is the Lord who helps me,

and I will see my enemies defeated.

8               It is better to trust in the Lord

than to depend on human beings.

9               It is better to trust in the Lord

than to depend on human leaders.

Thoughts:

In marriage life we build trust in our spouses by: keeping each other’s secrets confidential; by being there for each other when it seems like no one else is available to us; understanding and caring for each other through the good times and the bad; listening to each other when we dream of our future, but would rather keep those thoughts very private for the time being; loving each other in spite of the bad things we know about each other. I realize the list is not all inclusive, however I am mindful of the love of God and how He cares for me. Additionally, I also know that in addition to the above, He also knows my very inmost thoughts. Now, when I share things with my spouse, she can only feel sorry for me, show that she cares, and she may wish me well. With God, He not only works with me to become my very best for His service, but also goes beyond anything I can think or imagine as His child! I believe that the Psalmist was feeling a little of this as he shared this Psalm. For he had seen proof that God came through for him when no one else would, or could. He saw that God was greater than any other human being, and also beyond anything his leaders could every do for him. Friends, nothing has changed about God! He still loves and cares for His own, and He still provides for our every care and/or concern. Just this past week I was praying for a need in my life, only to see God respond in a miraculous way, that far exceeded the specific need that I presented, but that would totally resolve and satisfy my need. I can truly say with the Psalmist that God is greater than any other human being that I could possibly place my faith and trust in, and also way beyond any human leader I may feel confident in. Whom then shall I fear when Jesus is my Savior, my friend, my all powerful, all gracious and all loving King? Friend, please allow me to introduce you to Him, if you don’t already know Him. If you do know him already as you wonderful Lord, please be encourage by this reminder today. There is no god like our God! I encourage you to accept Him today, trust Him and allow Him full control of your life today!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, please forgive me for the times that I doubted Your ability to come through for me, and for the times that I selfishly asked for things to satisfy my personal desires instead of staying focused on the things that will bring glory to You. The Psalmist has reminded me that You are very caring, full of wisdom and especially understanding of my weaknesses, and I have no reason to doubt, but every reason to place my total faith and trust in You. Please continue to bless me with the faith to remain strong in my commitment to You, and to allow You full control of my life. Lord, I believe that many friends who might meditate on this devotional today may be battling with similar trust issues. Please reveal Your deep compassion towards them and work in their hearts for total surrender of self, and to the awesome God that You are. Thank You for Your awesome love and caring about my life, and my future here on this earth. Please continue to work on me, in me and through me as Your humble servant. I ask this in the precious and awesome name of Jesus, my Savior, AMEN!

NOTE: 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 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.

He’s Still God – On the Mountain Tops and in The Valleys!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Uncategorized2 Comments

The Bible – Good News Translation

Psalm 116:10-11

 10 I kept on believing, even when I said,

“I am completely crushed,”

11 even when I was afraid and said,

“No one can be trusted.”

My Thoughts:

Friends, I believe that we often mistakenly void many of our commitments because of unrelated causes. Let me offer one or two ideas to explain my point: (1) You may work out at a gym, and after a few months you may not have lost any weight, so you quit going to the gym. Truth is, the volume of food that you have been eating has increased, but definitely not decreased, so although you are spending more calories, you are still taking in more. Nothing to do with the gym! (2) You are having an argument with an employee at work, so you quit your job of 10 years that paid you handsomely and gave you health benefits. Now consider the biblical application. In our Christian life, we must be in a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and therefore enjoy a daily walk and talk with Him. When this is in place, we mature in our relationship with Him and can easily handle a ‘no’ response to a prayer request that we may have asked of Him; or in another case, a friend relationship that went sour; or in another case, your faith may be restored in a friend that you thought you couldn’t trust. Throughout our relationships and worldly activities our faith in Jesus should stay intact, if we remain strong in our relationship with Him. Think about it, nothing has changed in what He did for us at Calvary, or in what He continues to do for you and I. So we should be able to rejoice like the Psalmist did! Even throughout our trials and temptations, our faith should remain strong, and if we ask Jesus to help us in all aspects of our life, we should respond to situations like He would. Are you struggling in your faith because of issues other than your walk with Jesus? Be comforted today in knowing that our God never changes and will always love His kids! He is our God when we are on the mountain top and also our Comforter and God when we feel like we are in the deepest valley of our life. He’s still God, friend! Trust Him!

My Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I pray that my readers and I might be reminded that: You are the One that we adore! You are the One that we raise our hands and our hearts in praise to when life is rocking along without any known challenges! And You are especially the One that we must look to at those times when we feel like we are ‘at the end of our rope’, or feeling like we are in a deep valley. I firmly believe that You are still God, regardless of the circumstances that may occur in our lives. Please give us strength and humility to depend on You during those times that we feel so low, so alone, so useless and so far away from You. In fact, it is those times in particular that we really need You by our side and Your outpouring of grace, mercy and loving-kindness. Even as a child of the King, as long as we are here on this earth, we will still be challenged with issues that we feel so incapable of handling. Praise God we know You, our King, and we can depend on You to help us through every circumstance in life! In the name of Your son, Jesus my Savior, I ask that You hear my prayer today and that Your continue to bless Your children who need You so desperately today and every day, AMEN!

**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 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.

Live in Light of Eternity!

On By Ed AlgreenIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

God’s Word Says….

Job 19:23-27 (GNT)

23 How I wish that someone would remember my words and record them in a book! 24 Or with a chisel carve my words in stone and write them so that they would last forever. 25 But I know there is someone in heaven who will come at last to my defense. 26 Even after my skin is eaten by disease, while still in this body I will see God. 27 I will see him with my own eyes, and he will not be a stranger. My courage failed because you said ….

 My Thoughts…..

At the beginning of this book God said of Job that he was a true man of God that stood tall among other men and was firm in his commitment to God, in spite of what might come his way. Friends, we have seen for the past 18 chapters where Satan unleashed his power on Job and, yes it became very discouraging for Job, because he even wished he was never born. But praise to the God of heaven and the Savior of all mankind, Job never lost his allegiance to God. He knew that God was right there, and that it was he (Job) that needed to lift his eyes above the troubles and look towards the day when he would see God’s wonderful and loving face. I believe that when he wished that these words were written in stone for others to see and be encouraged by, he not only thought of us, but he also wished that he could be encouraged by his own words when discouraging times came. Job realized and acknowledged where his struggles came from and at the end of the highlighted verses he is basically voicing the cause of his weakness and low times. Satan is very powerful friends, but our God is head and shoulders above him, He created this universe and He is very capable of ruling and reigning over Satan and any of his deceptions, lies or devious acts that could possibly be imposed upon us while living in this old world.

Challenge……

What a lesson this is for us friends! If we would take time to analyze the cause of our sin, our frustration, our weakness and our failing, perhaps it would help us to do like Job and stand firm in our faith in spite of all that goes on in our lives. I believe that our application here is that we must make God so much a part of our lives that not only He will be able to say like He did about Job, but that our friends will also see so much of Jesus in us that they will openly recognize in whom we believe, and in whom we gain our strength and guidance. While we are living each day in the fear of the Lord, others are watching for an example to follow, and they are making mental notes, so that when anything is said about us, whether in life or death, they will be ready to attest to our lives and what our principles and character meant to them. Let us then live in the light of eternity, in our everlasting hope, one that leads us to the love and provisions of our Almighty King and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Prayer……

Lord Jesus, You are my hope for all that I contend with in this old world, and for my joy, as I reflect on heaven where I will spend eternity with You, thank You for loving me enough to make such provisions for me. Thank You for always being there for me! Please continue to give me strength to look above my troubles and look towards the heavens and remember all the joys that are mine! Lord, You know more than we do, the many challenges that my friends and I face here on this earth on a daily basis. Please keep us focused on You, so that our challenging times down here will seem miniscule compared to the overwhelming joy that is ours when we join You in heaven. Thank You for watching over Job, yet allowing his true strength and joy to be revealed to us in the scriptures. May the light of Your Word always be the path that we will follow all the days of our lives! Jesus, I ask all this in Your precious and most holy name, knowing that You are master over everything that could possibly come our way, AMEN!

Action…..

In response to God leading You through this devotional today, please get with a Bible teaching Pastor you may know and allow him to guide you. Otherwise feel free to reply to my post online, or you may email me directly at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. I will gladly add you to my prayer list, and/or respond to your request(s) ASAP.

Things That Prevent Total Dedication to God

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Christian, Faith, RighteousnessLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 3

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man,
should her first husband come back to her again? If he went back to her, wouldn’t the land become completely unclean?
But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers, and now you want to come back to me?” says the Lord.
“Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah. Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute?
You have sat by the road waiting for lovers, like an Arab in the desert.
You made the land unclean, because you did evil and were like a prostitute.
So the rain has not come, and there have not been any spring rains.
But your face still looks like the face of a prostitute. You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.
Now you are calling to me, ‘My father, you have been my friend since I was young.
Will you always be angry at me? Will your anger last forever?’
Judah, you said this, but you did as much evil as you could!” (Jeremiah 3:1-5 NCV)

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

I wonder how close we are is what goes on in our country today, compared to what was happening in Judah during the day of Jeremiah? Sometimes I wonder if it is possible that a nation could have been any worse, especially when I turn on the evening news and hear story after story about the various crimes that have taken place in some of our cities. I become even more disturbed when I hear about the discord among people in churches, in families and in work places, and when I see people so dedicated to everything that may incidentally come up instead of to God and His ideals for their lives. After reading this passage I can only ask if God is not calling us a lot worse than what He called Judah. We find so many other Gods beside Him. We dedicate ourselves to so much else except the only One that could truly shower His blessings on us. Oh how we need to reassess our purpose and the things that truly receive our attention.

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Lord God, I am a part of this earthly people who respond to earthly things that distract me away from Your ideals and from following Your ways and Your teachings. I call myself a child of Yours, yet I am so easily distracted by things that really shouldn’t matter in the long scheme of things. Please redirect my thoughts, my desires, my weakened commitment to stay on course for You through thick and thin. You allowed Your Son to die on Calvary just so that I may enjoy life eternally with You. There is no greater sacrifice than that. No greater way of showing Your love for me. Oh that I may now dedicate myself to that kind of devotion to You. Please be my ongoing Guide and Strength to achieve the goal of total dedication to You.

*Words underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com