Tag: Obey

Excuses, Excuses….

On By Ed AlgreenIn Confidence, Obedience, TrustLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – Exodus 4:10-12): 10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” 11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

THOUGHTS: When God makes something, who are we to ridicule and complain about its inadequacy? We must always realize that what God has done and/or made is well done. I read in this passage of scripture how Moses had quickly responded to God with excuses for how he was totally incapable of handling the assignment being given to him by God. However, I believe that God quickly caused me to look deep inside at how easily I tend to turn away from opportunities because of feelings of inadequacy and intimidation. Friends, I am reminded of a New Testament lesson where Jesus reminded a servant that in his weakness, the power of God is truly revealed. I strongly believe that it is time for non-believers to have their eyes opened and their hearts softened by the power of the Almighty, so that they might see God and their need for Him, and surrender their heart to Him before it is eternally too late. I also believe that Christians must be awakened to the fact in much the same way that we spend time with our families in order to develop and maintain great, long-lasting relationships, so it is with our relationship with the Lord. Jesus can’t be an occasional visitor in our lives, nor a Santa Claus when we need something, He must be Lord of all, or chances are that He won’t be Lord at all. I am convinced that God saw nothing wrong with the human being that He made in Moses, even though Moses beat up on himself pretty good and saw many inadequacies. It is very challenging for us to overlook our fears and what appears to be inadequacies, at least when we compare ourselves to others. But this message today reminds us that if God calls us to a job, then obviously He has already provided us with the abilities to handle that job. When we turn to Jesus for everything in our lives, we quickly learn to trust Him, especially in our desperation and times of feeling inadequate. Try it friend. Learn to trust in Jesus for all your needs, all your cares and all your concerns, for He cares for you. He loves you way too much to see you fail! You are precious in His sight!

PRAYER: Lord God, what a reminder today of how we must trust in our Maker, our Designer, our Master and our Savior, for everything. To do this I believe You made it evident that our dependence on You will often hinge on our relationship with You, for trusting a stranger is always challenging and almost impossible. I am convinced that You were not the maker of junk, so please give us the boldness to see the value in all that You have made, including ourselves and every attribute given to us. Please help us to never forget that You will give us the abilities and the tools, such as words and boldness to speak on your behalf, when called to do so. I’m sure that Satan would love nothing better than to see us doubt and/or fail, but loving Jesus, I am convinced that greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. Touch myself and my readers today with the boldness to press on in doing everything You have called us to do, and in everything You lead us to do each day. You are a mighty God, and I ask all this in the powerful and awesome name of Your precious Son, 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 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!

Don’t Miss The Boat

On By Ed AlgreenIn Faithful, Obedient, TrueLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Message – Matthew 7:21-23): “Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’

THOUGHTS: To take a ride on some boats or ships you need to have purchased a ticket. On others you need to book your passage and be there on time. On smaller boats, in particular parts of the world, you may be required to wear a life jacket (vest) and remain seated throughout the ride, for your own protection. Jesus warns us that merely saying that Jesus is Lord, or hopping on to the boat without having first-hand knowledge of the Captain and accepted His invitation, will not provide you safe passage on the boat to its final destination. Of course Jesus was talking about heaven, and His point here is that if we have truly accepted Him as Lord and Savior of our lives, then we would be obedient to Him. Our instructions come from the Word (the Bible). Friends, the whole idea behind ‘Nuggets From God’s Word’ is to share with you how the writer feels God has touched him during the reading of His Word. You see, we can read and re-read a passage of scripture, and if God needs to get a word of wisdom, or direction or encouragement across to us, He could even use something in a familiar passage to reveal the Truth to us, if we remain open to Him and willing to be obedient to Him. It is very clear in this scripture this morning that God wants more than lip service, He wants obedient children. Don’t just call on the name of Jesus when it’s convenient or when you feel it is necessary, but live life in total obedience to what we understand He demands in His Word. Let that understanding come from personal Bible study and time with the Lord, not just what I might share with you, or what you might learn from your pastor or Bible school teacher. As God speaks to you, highlight it in your Bible, or make notes of what you heard from God. The next time you read that passage you will not only receive a current word from the Lord, but you will be reminded of what He said to you when you last read that same passage of scripture. Remember, we don’t impress God. He loves us just the way we are, and He wants our total dedication and obedience to all that He commands of us. The rules are clear as to what will see us safely on to the glorious ‘boat’ to glory. Please don’t miss the boat!

PRAYER: Lord God, we are so spoiled in getting our own way when we know someone in charge. In fact, we sometime lean on folk like that to get us on board, even if we have not met all of the rules and conditions. In this passage of scripture You have warned us not to expect this from You, but instead You are looking for our obedience to all that You have taught us. Lord, this is very challenging for us, because often this involves us having to do just the opposite to what our friends, or the crowd is doing. Please help us to stop, listen and decide this day whom we will serve. If it’s You Lord, then help us to commit to that and depend on You to direct us towards total obedience. A great part of our survival here on earth, is the expectation of one day being in Your presence and hearing the words “Well done good and faithful servant”. This will result from our obedience to You while here on earth. Please help us to be totally committed to You and faithful to obey all that You command of us in Your Word. Please protect us from the evil one while remaining here on this old earth. I ask these things in the strong 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 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!

Obedience Leads To ‘Life’

On By Ed AlgreenIn Listen, ObedienceLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Jeremiah 35:12-15): ….. I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, want you to learn a lesson 14 from the Rechabite clan. Their ancestor Jonadab told his descendants never to drink wine, and to this very day they have obeyed him. But I have spoken to you over and over, and you haven’t obeyed me! 15 You refused to listen to my prophets, who kept telling you, “Stop doing evil and worshiping other gods! Start obeying the Lord, and he will let you live in this land he gave your ancestors.”

THOUGHTS: Who are you listening to? A more critical question is: In whom does your life reflect that you are listening to? Whoa… that’s a loaded question isn’t it? God saw what was happening to His people, the Israelites, where they were listening to every other leader, except the God who rescued them from slavery, the God who fed them in the wilderness where they would have died had it not been for the Provider who kept them each day by providing manna for them to eat. I know by now you are probably saying, OK Brother Ed, we know the story and these people were awful, but how does that apply to us, for we go to church every time the doors are opened and we live like the preacher tells us to. STOP friends. Please realize and acknowledge that starting at home – you have your spouse that you try to please, so in reality you are following their rules for your life. Failure to do this could result in an unhappy marriage/home. At work, most of us have a boss that we must please in order to keep our jobs and make our company profitable. Failure to do this could result in lack of salary increases and/or promotions and/or keeping our job. At school we have a teacher that we must please if we expect to receive a passing grade and graduate. Failure could result in none passing grades and/or not graduating. But what about our spiritual lives, do we not realize that failure to accept Jesus as Lord will result in a life apart from Christ and lead to eternal death? Friends, the most important part of life is to know the Creator of this world and of you and I. The One who loved us so much that He sacrificed His one and only Son to die a cruel death at the hands of evil people. Are we one of those – the ones who will continue to crucify Him? Or are we willing to surrender self to the free gift offered in Jesus Christ, accept Him as Lord and Master of our lives, then live a life pleasing to Him and in obedience to His Word? This brings with it everlasting life (see John 3:16) and a life filled with hope, rewards and blessings, both now and after we depart from this earth. Knowing Jesus is not just a thing of convenience during those times that we need Him, but it is surrendering to Him and accepting His leadership, then being obedient to what He tells you, as already written for you in the Bible. So what’s important to you friend? Where do you pledge your obedience and allegiance? The kind of life I am recommending leads to life everlasting with our Savior and Lord. No other allegiance mentioned above comes with that kind of promise to look forward to! Do you know my Savior? Please read my ‘Footnote’ for guidance.

PRAYER: Father in heaven, Lord God, You are awesome beyond any words to describe it. Thank You, thank You, thank You for creating this beautiful world for us to enjoy, and for sending Your Son so that through us accepting Him as Lord, we might enjoy an even more beautiful and wonderful place – heaven! Sinfully we have allowed so much to come before our ultimate allegiance to You, and I want to say that I am sorry for having done this. You deserve my undivided attention, love and commitment. Too often I and my friends have been much like the Israelites and allowed the things of this world to distract us from Your love, care and promise. Please forgive me, and please hear the cry of forgiveness from my friends. May this be such a reminder to us today that our lives might be eternally changed and therefore reflect evidence of the One in whom we believe. Your loving kindness is better than life! May we learn to lean on You and not only accept that gift of eternal life, but live our lives as evidence that Your Son is in control of every choice and decision we make. I ask this 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!