Tag: Praise God thru the storms of life

Why Christians Lack Thanksgiving

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Thanksgiving, Worship2 Comments

DATE POSTED Wednesday, 2023-01-11
WRITTEN AT: O’Brien, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Colossians 2:6-7
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: 6 And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done. 8 Don’t let others spoil your faith and joy with their philosophies, their wrong and shallow answers built on men’s thoughts and ideas, instead of on what Christ has said.

APPLICATION: Ever notice how we struggle to find things to share with the family at Thanksgiving, or perhaps we share just the same old, same old? Are we really overflowing with thanksgiving each day as we reflect on all the reasons we have for being a child of the King that day? How is it at your church when your group is asked to share what they are thankful for? Is the room filled with silence, or are you challenged to find an opportunity to get a word in because of the endless praises of thanksgiving being offered up by your group? I wonder if in many cases we are caught up in telling the pastor, or group leader what we think they want to hear, or perhaps trying to encourage a group member by saying what you feel they need to hear. What if that challenge was restated as ‘what would you tell God right now that you are thankful for in what He’s been doing in your life’? Please allow me to restate some of the things that Paul reminds us of that will influence our attitude of praise:
=> Trust God with each day’s problems – When we don’t do this, we tend to go into overload, as troubles tend to increase when we mess up in trying to solve them alone.
=> Live in vital union with Christ – I feel like ‘vital’ means that we shouldn’t dare to attempt life without seeking out our Lord Jesus in everything. Only Jesus knows what lies ahead for us, and only He knows the way to the Father. So, we must always incorporate Jesus in our plans, even after asking Him to guide and protect us on our journey of life.
=> Let your roots grow down deep in Him – I was nurtured as a baby, lived with my parents, listened to them, fed the best meals by them, seen their lifestyle, witnessed their success in life, and therefore became, what I believe to be, a reflection of them, because of my roots being embedded and nurtured by my parents. That what we can expect when we allow our lives to grow deep in Jesus also. When others try to discern where our strength, our beliefs, our principles, and our practices come from. I pray that they will easily discern the depth of our love and admiration of, and our obedience to our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
=> Grow in the ways of God – We learn the ways of God by reading about Him and His practices, throughout the pages of His Word. We grow in His ways by making every effort to obey His Word and all that He commanded us to do. We grew in the ways of our parents by obeying what they instructed, and in imitating what they did that resulted in a blessed and successful life. It’s no different in the formula to grow in the ways of God.
=> Be ready to defend your faith – Paul taught that when we fail to do the above things, we will accept whatever goes on around us, and taught by whomever comes our way. With Jesus as our Savior, and with our determination and godly principles in place, we can depend on God to help us defend our faith. Let me encourage you to reflect back on this anytime you feel like you have been gullible in listening to false teaching or failed to stand firm in your faith.
Friends, I believe we were designed to explode in excitement, joy and thanksgiving when we see good and glorious things happening in our lives because of our determination to be more like Jesus every day. So, what are we thankful for? Give me an hour as I share with you the love of my God for a servant such as I, and for His deliberate blessings poured out on me each day!! An old hymn was written about this end result ‘Count you many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done‘! And another ‘Thank You Lord, for Your blessings on me‘!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Praise and thanksgiving will come naturally when we’ve been with Jesus, and when we’ve taken particular note of how He’s been with us in all of life’s challenges and good times!

PRAYER: Lord, You are good and Your mercies endure forever and forever. I can’t imagine life without Your love, power, teachings and Your wonderful blessings each and every day. Thank You Lord for desiring a relationship with me – such an unworthy vessel – until I found You. Thank You for the reminder, through Paul, of the things that will enhance our relationship with You and fill us to overflowing with praises and thanksgiving to You each and every day. Oh Lord, please let this be something that attracts the unsaved person to You. Help them to know that it’s only because of You that we could smile in our storms of life, for we know the end of the story and all the blessings that await us in Heaven. Please Lord, allow this word today to encourage and strengthen the commitment of Christians, and use it to show the unsaved world all the difference that You make in our lives, so that they too may desire relationship with You. 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!

I Will Praise You Forever!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Praise-worthy, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE WRITTEN: Thursday, 2021-05-13
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Psalm 30:11-12
TRANSLATION: New Century Version (NCV)

BIBLE TEXT: 11 You changed my sorrow into dancing. You took away my clothes of sadness, and clothed me in happiness. 12 I will sing to you and not be silent. Lord, my God, I will praise you forever.

APPLICATION: I remember a time or two in my lifetime where I was committed to earnest prayer for very dire situations. Being blessed to come out successfully and favorably on the other side of that situation, I remember that it was a natural reaction to praise the Lord with all of my being. David had gone through some very similar situations, but he stuck to his plan in pleading before God about his concerns. In just the early part of Psalm 30, David was in such fear of his life, and unsure if God was really protecting him, until he questioned what good would it do God if he died. Often when we are in a hopeless mood and on an uncertain path, we start to feel sorry for ourselves. In fact, we may even start to feel like God has forsaken us. But I believe that God places us in the path of Scripture such as this one, where we are reminded that our problems have been very, very minor compared to those that David faced, yet he realized that the God of this whole universe noticed a little spec like himself and filled his heart with joy and amazing hope. Friends, this is the same God that we serve! Have you really face unsurmountable problems during the week, or have you just not seen your life unfold the way that you imagined, or wanted? What if you met a friend, like I did, who is a paraplegic, yet he encourages other men each week in their walk with the Lord? Do you suppose that you may then feel like your problems really were insignificant, and that God really has been faithful to you in many supernatural ways? God has been dealing with me about this daily devotional format recently, for He led me to think about adding a section to declare His blessings in each Scripture that we look at. You see, I have been focusing way too much on the areas of correction God may want us to carefully look at, and while this is very important, we must never overlook His blessings to us and the encouragement we receive from His word. So stay tuned for that enhancement!! As for today’s Scripture, please allow me to encourage each reader to look for the blessings of God each and every day – even those days when it seems like the bottom has fallen through for you. Praise God for those blessings each day, and be prepared to praise Him with the corporate body when you meet for weekend services. Remember, He is the God of the mountain, and the God of the valleys also. Never feel like He has left you hanging, for He may be giving you room to grow in your relationship with Him. Praise Him for each day, no matter how uplifted you feel, or how little you feel like you accomplished that day. Knowing that you’ve had Jesus by your side and leading the way for you, is enough to praise Him with all of your heart. In the words of David – praise Him forever!

PRAYER: I am reminded of an old hymn ‘Oh For A Thousand Tongues to Sing the glories of my King’, for You are so deserving of all my praise in every circumstance of life, dear God. I remember two distinct times where my family received calls about the death of loved ones. Very sad times, and it would have been extremely challenging to praise You Lord in those times. But in one of those cases, my dad gave his heart in full surrender to You, Lord, and there is no greater cause for praise than to know that a loved one was called from a world of darkness into the kingdom of light as a born again Christian! Please encourage us to not question You in Your infinite wisdom, for you not only know about today, but You are the Designer of our tomorrows also. Thank You for Your faithfulness Lord. We praise You in our storms, because we know that You are waiting our arrival on the other side. Help us to share our blessings with others so that they might want to know You in a personal and intimate way. Thank You Lord Jesus! 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!

Learn to Praise God, Even In The Storms of Life!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Praise, Praise-worthy, Worry no moreLeave a comment

Post Date:

 Saturday, 2017-09-09
SCRIPTURE

From:

 Psalm 57:5 (CEV)

Text:

 4 I live among lions, who gobble down people! They have spears and arrows instead of teeth, and they have sharp swords instead of tongues.
5 May you, my God, be honored above the heavens; may your glory be seen everywhere on earth.
6 Enemies set traps for my feet and struck me down. They dug a pit in my path, but fell in it themselves.
OBSERVATION:
Even among his troubles David took time to recognize God and to offer up a sacrifice of praise right in the middle of his challenges. We face challenges all the time, so let’s see how this might help us…. 
APPLICATION:
I want you to particularly notice that we are very much like David was, in that he suffered insecurities, and that he felt like his enemies were out to get him at every turn. In verse 4, some translations use the word ‘enemies’ in lieu of ‘lions’. In verse 6 David continues to emphasize how much his enemies are out to get him. Yet right in between these two verses, David stopped to give honor to God! I believe that we can conclude that David was sharing his heart with God about how he really felt in this world in verses 4 and 6, but he wanted God to know that in spite of his challenges and the way that he felt others were treating him, he wanted to praise God anyway. I believe that God placed these verses before me today for a special reason, for in verse 4 I could easily share about my concerns about hurricane Irma that is approaching us from the south, and there is so much concern about safety, security and survival because of the awesome strength that this hurricane brings and all of the tornados that will spawn from it. In verse 6 I can easily worry myself silly over what life my look like after this storm. But I believe that God wanted me to recognize that in the middle of all these worries, I need to stop and remember who’s in charge; who created us; who causes the winds to blow; and who will guide this storm and keep a watchful eye over his children. When I think about all of this and take a reality check on who also guides me through the storms of life every day, I am reminded that I serve a risen Savior who watches, protects and loves me, every day, so there is nothing to worry about! I want His will to be accomplished in and through my life every day, whether in the heat of the summer, or the coldest winter, or on the mildest day of summer enjoying the beauty of the beach or the mountains, or even through vicious storms, such as the approaching hurricane. Friends, let’s learn to praise our God in all phases of life – on the good days or the days that we feel could be better. Then when the storms come, we will look for the works of our Master and find reasons to praise Him even then. Of course I want you to be safe during the storms of life that will come your way, but let me also encourage you to always praise God in the good times and in the challenging times of life. Remember, He’s still God and He will watch over you in every circumstance of life!
PRAYER:
Lord, please help us to be more like David and praise you in the midst of the storms of life that seem gigantic to us. Oh to be reminded that You are creator over all things and watch over us on the good days and on those days that seem hopeless to us. We are but a spec of dirt in the overall master plan of this earth, but yet we serve a God who considers us heirs, and sons and daughters of His! What a mighty God we serve! Please help us to keep our head up; look to the Master of this universe for all things, and give thanks in all circumstances of life, 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 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 Nuggets From God’s Word 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!