Tag: Harmony

Live In Harmony Or Strife Will Result

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

DATE POSTED Saturday, 2023-02-04
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 133:1-3
TRANSLATION: Good News Translation (GNT)

BIBLE TEXT: 1 How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God’s people to live together in harmony! 2 It is like the precious anointing oil running down from Aaron’s head and beard, down to the collar of his robes. 3 It is like the dew on Mount Hermon, falling on the hills of Zion. That is where the Lord has promised his blessing – life that never ends.

APPLICATION: A pastor relates the following story: a man stood in the back of one of our services. He was obviously a transient. He looked over the congregation as he watched the worship and listened to the Word. Then he slipped out before I could get to the door. He came back the second service, stood in the same place, and watched again. That night, he came back for the evening service. And as we celebrated the Lord’s Supper, he didn’t participate, but he watched carefully. About 11:00 that night, he knocked at my door. After we talked together for a while, he accepted Jesus as his Savior based upon one thing. “The thing that drew me is the love I sensed among the people in that building,” he said. “I want to give my heart to the One who has caused all those people to love each other.” What an awesome reminder for us to consider, for our Lord also looks over our actions and hears our words and thoughts as we meet together with others. I wonder what His conclusions are, especially at certain stressful times in our lives! I really like the analogy used by David in comparing our state of contentment and harmony among our group, as something that oozes off into the crowd. Think of the opposite – when we are hard to love or have acted up to a shameful state, others will keep their distance from us. Think also of our personal family experiences. I don’t believe that there is anything more rewarding to parents but to sit and watch their children spending quality and happy times together! Don’t you know that our Creator must be smiling and thanking the Father when He sees us imitating Him through our unity and love for one another? You know, way too often arguments, fighting and strife in the family, arises from selfish motives. But when we live to please the Lord, we will pay particular attention to His teaching in John 13:35 where He said: “By your love one for another shall all men know that you are My disciples” Also in John 17:21 He said “Father, let them be one even as we are one, that the world may know that You are in me and I am in You, that they may believe that You sent Me into the world”. Dear friends, fighting is expected and occurs way too often in our sinful world. Let us then dedicate ourselves to live in peace and harmony, just like our Lord ordained for His children to do.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Peace will be the result as we allow the calm assurance of our Heavenly Father to trickle down to those in our presence and with those we come into contact with.

PRAYER: Lord Your are most merciful, but as I look inward I see where there is such a need for my seeking Your face and asking for Your strength and guidance. Of ourselves, we are way too much like the world in which we live, but as we place our faith in You and seek Your face, we can do all things, knowing that You are alive and well. Under the power of the One inside of us, we are so much greater than the evil one in this world. Thank You for Your Word precious Lord. Please embolden us with power from above so that we would fix our eyes on Jesus, and all these things will become strangely dim. 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!

How to Live in Harmony

On By Ed AlgreenIn Faith, Harmony, Thanksgiving, UnityLeave a comment

The Holy Bible  (Contemporary English Version – Colossians 3:15-17):  15 Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful. 16 Let the message about Christ completely fill your lives, while you use all your wisdom to teach and instruct each other. With thankful hearts, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17 Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father because of him.

Thoughts: Many marriages survive because spouses allow God to keep control and help them to live together in harmony. However it is extremely challenging when other family members try to live in the same house, or even worse, when others try to make a relationship mature in amicable ways without the help and leadership of Jesus. We often see these unfortunate mishaps in places such as work and church, and these will often result in splits by the parties involved. Jesus knew this, because He saw it happening in the early church, therefore He spoke through Paul to show the church at Colossae, and also our church of today, how such a feat is possible. First of all He made it very clear that we were chosen to be His children, and in having the same Father, and in seeking His control, we were chosen to be able to live together. So right off the top, we have a few checkpoints when we see a deterioration in relationships. Back up, check the list and ask God to mend the broken pieces that we have allowed to come undone. I also believe that Jesus is telling us to celebrate in thanksgiving when we see relationships blessed with oneness! This is most often aided by the help and direction of the Holy Spirit dwelling among believers, and depending on Him to teach and instruct each other. When this is achieved, vs 16 reminds us that we are to worship God with thankful hearts, recognizing that He has been at work in and around us, and deserves our eternal praise. In fact, our very lives should reflect the glory and praise of our good Lord who blesses us. Lord, You are Good and Your mercies endureth forever!

Prayer: Lord, You made us to love, worship and adore You, our heavenly Father. Thank you! For all that have chosen to follow Your plan, You have filled them (us) with Your Holy Spirit and blessed with Your awesome presence and power to overcome life’s obstacles. Lord, You are Good and Your Mercies Endureth Forever! Thank You! Father, I am convinced that this old world badly needs You, so I ask today that You might touch the hearts of Your children – those who have chosen You as their Savior, to live in harmony with each other. I believe it is only when the unsaved see results of Christ living in us, that they will be convinced that indeed there is a Savior who is actively at work among His people, whom they should consider. Lord, may we be good representatives of Yours and fulfill Your design for the local church and the harmony You designed in us. May the unsaved see the need for a Savior and readily accept Him today, is my humble prayer that I ask in the name of Jesus, my Lord, with thanksgiving! 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 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!

The Results of Getting Along

On By Ed AlgreenIn Getting Along, LoveLeave a comment

The Holy Bible

 How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!

    It’s like costly anointing oil flowing down head and beard,

    Flowing down Aaron’s beard, flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.

    It’s like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion.

  Yes, that’s where God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life.
(The Message – Psalm 133:1–3)

When we worship the right way, God doesn’t stir us up into confusion; he brings us into harmony. This goes for all the churches—no exceptions.
 (The Message – 1 Corinthians 14:33).

Thoughts:

I normally read an Old Testament reading and a New Testament reading each morning. I had already sensed that God wanted me to share the passage in Psalm 133 when I turned to 1 Corinthian 14, only to find the same theme. To those meditating on this devotional but have not yet surrendered their life to God, you might consider this a great coincidence. However, I believe that finding both readings to contain a similar theme only confirmed what God wanted me to share. For God is just that awesome! The first passage dealt with individuals, while the second dealt with harmony in the church. However friends, the church is made up of individuals, and if the individuals (church members) are not getting along with each other in their homes and in their family relationships, can we truly expect anything different in the church, or anywhere else that the individuals find themselves? I would dare say that there is little chance of seeing a difference in one venue vs another. So how important is this to God? In the Psalm, David calls the act of getting along as ‘harmony’. He then compares harmony to the dew that drops off the steep slopes of the great Mount Hermon, and he declared that God had commanded His blessing on that type harmony, and even ordained eternal life to it. Now think about this friends, we know that it is only through Jesus Christ that we can obtain eternal life, so obviously David was prophesying that those who accept Jesus as Lord (Christians) who live in harmony, will receive the eternal life that only He offers. You see, it’s very evident that living in harmony is a gift of the Spirit, and therefore if we live in disharmony, we should really go back to the cross and seek the face of Jesus so that He might pour out His Holy Spirit upon us and allow us to live in peace, in harmony with one another. For this results in the greater gift of eternal life that can truly be yours. For my Christian brothers and sisters who have allowed disharmony to sneak into your holy lives, let us go before the throne, ask for forgiveness, and seek a fresh anointing from our heavenly Father. Our aim should be to please Jesus in all that we do. Let’s make sure that we get along with others like He expects of us.

Prayer:

Lord, Your Word is extremely powerful and often used to correct areas of our lives that need attention, and truly needs be better aligned with You and Your awesome example detailed in Your Word. There is a powerful song “Lord, I want to be Just like You”, and I pray that this will not just be my desire today, but that Your Word might provoke the hearts of all that will read this devotional and also help them commit to living a more dedicated and committed life for You. Please help us to live in perfect harmony with one another, just like You would. I ask this in the precious 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 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 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!