Tag: Need the Lord

Stand Firm

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

DATE WRITTEN: Friday, 2020-11-06
WRITTEN AT: Paul B Johnson State Park, Hattiesburg, MS

BIBLE REFERENCE: 1 Peter 5:8-11
TRANSLATION: Contemporary English Version (CEV)

BIBLE TEXT: 8 Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack. 9 But you must resist the devil and stay strong in your faith. You know that all over the world the Lord’s followers are suffering just as you are. 10 But God shows undeserved kindness to everyone. That’s why he appointed Christ Jesus to choose you to share in his eternal glory. You will suffer for a while, but God will make you complete, steady, strong, and firm. 11 God will be in control forever! Amen.

OBSERVATION: The encouraging words shared by Peter in our verses today are words that we hang on to throughout all aspects of our life. However, the devil is unique in that no individual could come up to his evil standards. But knowing our enemies, always seem to help us be on particular guard while around them. Thank God for the encouraging words at the end of these verses – our God will be in control forever!

APPLICATION: In football, players are encouraged to always keep their eyes on their opponent. In karate a student is taught that even when they bow, still keep their eyes on their opponent. I’ve heard of several people associating at parties and/or clubs while an evil person drops a type of drug in their drink, and they are often affected for the rest of their lives. Satan is waiting to attack children of his opponent in much the same way as my latter example, so God used His servant Peter to warn us to always be on guard for this. Some of the ways we might do this are: a). Standing firm to what the Bible teaches – God placed these practices and commands in His Book for our own good, and to help guide us through this very challenging life; b). Stand firm to what we were taught at home, at church and by our Christian mentors – People that love us, and especially those who also love God, will look for ways to guide those that are inexperienced in life, or unaware of Satan’s deceiving ways; and c). Stand firm in what our conscience is telling us – God gave us this unique means of making decisions based on all that we have placed into our heart, soul and mind over our lifetime. Because of God’s inspiration, Peter was also aware that we would soon start to feel like we are the only ones going through such trials, and we may even begin to question God as to ‘why me Lord’. So Peter assured us that others face very similar challenges to what we do, therefore stand firm in our faith so that we won’t discourage our fellow believers when we handle situations badly. But friends, let us keep the concluding words (God will be in control forever) fixed in our minds when we feel like Satan has really pushed hard in our lives, and we start to feel like we have been backed into a corner. For I am convinced that neither death, nor tribulations, nor the attempts of Satan will ever separate me from the love of my God, who is in control forever! That’s my God In whom I trust! Do you know Him, my friend?

PRAYER: Oh Lord my God, thank You for Your grace, mercy and understanding. I know that You created us, so You know more about us than anyone else in this world, but I could only imagine that You must often ponder over the stubborn ways of Your children, and how easy it is for us to stray and wander away from the path You have set before us. Please forgive us Lord. We need Your strength and Your guidance each and every day, especially when Satan is bound and determined to get at us and cause us to stumble. Only You can see that coming, and only You love us enough to redirect our path and help us follow Your way. Lord we love You and we need You more and more each day. We rest our hand in Yours knowing that our lives are dependent on You for everything in this life. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog at https://NuggetsFromGodsWord.org 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 or listening to this devotional, please go to 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. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and see all of my posts, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. 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!

Reasons To Defend The Faith

On By Ed AlgreenIn Convinced of the gospel, Defend, Stand FirmLeave a comment

May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? This might be a day, or a week that you may need to challenge a ‘Christian’ worker about a false teaching. Do you feel fully equipped to do that? May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for your blessing, friend!………

Today’s Bible Reference: Jude 3–4
Today’s Bible Text: …. I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

My Take Away: I believe that some early believers will look at our churches today and wonder why do we bother to call it a ‘House of God’ because it is so far from their traditional idea of what God’s house should look like. Think about it friend, in earlier churches, ladies had to cover almost every piece of skin, compared to many today that aim to expose as much as they feel like they can get by with, or at least tightly wrap it. Women had to be silent in church, but today men are so passive in their roles, that many churches survive because of the work, and in some cases teaching of the Word, especially to our kids. Some churches even have female pastors, because of the shortages of men willing to step up to the place of responsibility in their denomination. Styles of music has drastically changed, and I won’t get further into that because even today it is a very controversial subject among church goers. So because we have become so tolerant of these few things that I mentioned, among the many other things out there, I believe that Jude could just as easily have addressed His letter to either of our churches today. The words that God caught my attention with are the words where Jude challenged the church to ‘defend the gospel’  or ‘defend the faith that God has entrusted to us’. This tells me that we must be so convinced of what we truly believe that we would be willing to defend it among our friends, our coworkers, or even in a doctor’s office waiting room area, when others speak falsely or derogatory of it. Defending the Word of God becomes critical when our faith tells us that what is being declared disagrees with the Word of God, and when we are prepared to go to battle to defend it. I know, we never like to argue over religion, and I’m with you on that, but what if the circumstances that Jude recognized at his local church was happening at your church, where members became teachers and then started out to ease what God really intended believers to adhere to? What if we got a few new members and within a short period of time they were sharing some beliefs with us that we had never heard of before? They may have even wiggled themselves into a teaching position, as most churches today could always use more workers, and we wound up under their teaching. Would we recognize any false doctrines being taught and then be willing to defend against the hypocrisy? Even if it meant that we would lose that wonderful new couple who joined our church and were already paying good tithes into our church treasury? God had Jude include this very short one-chapter book in His Word, because He knew that all down through the ages we would need to be reminded of this. I would encourage us to soak this in real good today, and be willing to defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ in every circumstance of life – especially in our local churches.

Prayer: Lord, we have become a people willing to compromise our souls because of numbers in our church membership, or in order to satisfy our church budgets, or even to fill the teacher voids in our Bible schools. Unfortunately, I believe we may also easily let someone slide in with varying beliefs who might influence our church memberships or at least cause them to question what they truly believe. Forgive us Lord. We have such a large percentage that attend our churches without any intention of maturing spiritually, or becoming confrontational about Your precious Word, should it become necessary to defend the Gospel as Jude has taught us today. Please forgive us Lord. Draw us close to thee dear Lord and give us a clear understanding of Your Word so that we might defend its truths when and as needed. We need You precious 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. 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