Help In Seeing The Good in Your Trials

On 2015-05-222015-05-22 By Ed AlgreenIn Faith, Surrender, TrialsLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – 1 Peter 1:6-7): ⁶ So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. ⁷ These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

THOUGHTS: We must be extremely careful not to doubt our salvation when we, as Christians, have troubles and trials arise in our earthly lives. Think about it friend, if we didn’t have these, what kind of witness would we be to those who need a Savior. For God would not have opportunity to show the unsaved how gracious He truly is to His earthly servants, and the handiwork of His miraculous hands in the lives of His children. Secondly, if we were spared from trials, how might we experience the graciousness of God to be especially loving, caring and powerful in helping us to overcome these things that are way beyond our reach and/or resolution? In this scripture today, this analogy is compared to the proving process used in the precious metal ‘gold’. For when it is brought to extreme heat, it is maximized in strength and durability. Likewise, when we face trials, it’s not that God doesn’t love us or care for us, for it is then that He is preparing us for battle, or to use the phrase of an old TV star, God is preparing us for the ‘big one’! Probably the most challenging thing for us to do, is to praise God, even in the midst of our trials, because we understand, and have faith to believe that He is strengthening us. Friends, when we say that we are Christian and we truly believe that we have placed our hand in the hands of the Almighty God, we must then hang on for the ride of our lifetime, knowing that we are under His control, His protection and His will, knowing full well that He loves us way too much to see any harm or hurt impact us. Can you imagine the admiration and pride that must come across the face of Jesus when He looks on His creation (us) and see us living in full submission to Him, and we finally get the scripture that indicates – all things work together for good, to those who love and have surrendered their lives totally to Jesus? My challenge today is first of all for self, that I may be totally surrendered to the Savior and allow Him full control over my life. Only then can I truly desire to see each of you do the same. However, for yourself, if it’s to be, it’s up to you! Therefore align yourself with the Lord of all lords and the King of all kings, who loved you enough to personally sacrifice His very best so that You might trust in Him, handle life’s circumstances and look forward to spending eternity with Him in glory!

PRAYER: Father God, I adore You, I love You and I praise You for who You are and for all that You have helped me through already in my short life. However, You have taught me through Your Word that I am not perfect, so I surrender my total self to You today and pray that You might use me in ways that might allow Your kingdom work to increase and flourish here on this earth. I am equally concerned for my friends who will read this devotional today, for I always want Your very best for them also. Please satisfy every doubt or weakness in commitment and/or total surrender. Please provoke decisions in their personal lives that will cause Your name to be lifted high and every soul be drawn closer to You in full obedience. May we learn to celebrate You in all aspects of our lives, even when going through tough times. You alone are worthy of our praise in all aspects of our lives, so I worship You and ask all these things in Your precious and holy name, Lord 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 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!

We Have A Hope!

On 2015-05-212015-05-21 By Ed AlgreenIn HopeLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – 1 Peter 1:3-6): ³ All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. ⁴ And God has reserved for his children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. ⁵ And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. ⁶ So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.

THOUGHTS: When the world looks at a bad day, or the end of life for someone, there is nothing but despair, depression and a deep absence of hope. Peter wanted to make sure that Christians living in provinces that he served knew that there was more to this life than merely meets the eye. I believe that God led Peter to pen these words so that Christians today – you and I, would know that we need to look beyond our circumstances, no matter how bleak they may seem, and to stand encouraged to know that there is a whole lot more to look forward to, especially after all that we go through on a daily basis here on this earth. Friends, may I encourage you with the words directed by God? Based on the words through Peter, I believe God is telling us that we are to look beyond our temporary issues and challenges, whether it be medical, financial, family related or whatever – look beyond life as we know it today, and remember that the same God who sacrificed His one and only Son to save us from our sin, that He rose again from the dead and sits at the right hand of His Father. This serves as a foresight for us to envision how we also will one day rise from the dead and bow humbly at the feet of Jesus and His Father, where there will no longer be strife, worries, health issues or quarrelling, for there will be no more sorrow there, nor sickness, nor parting over there, but peace forevermore on that happy, glorious day! The logical question by any reading this might be “So when, where or how do I get my ticket, or pass, for this great event?” I’m so glad you went there friend, because unlike any other destination where you may have travelled before, this destination is set aside for those who have made preparation here on earth. You see, it’s because of your choice today that will determine whether you spend eternity in heaven with Jesus, or if you will be faced with an even deeper wrath of Satan than you face daily here on earth. Have a look at the link in my ‘Footnote’ called “How to Know Jesus”. I believe you will find evidence there about what you can expect. Fortunately, if you are reading this, it means that you still have the option to change your destination choice. Unless you already know Jesus as your personal Savior, then if you do nothing you will continue your unfortunate destination to Hell. However, if you act on the information available to you in the referenced document using God’s Word, then you will be assured of your final destination in glory with Jesus and all His precious saints. It’s a matter of choice, friend. You must make that choice personally.

PRAYER: Praise the powerful name of Jesus, my Savior, I Have A Hope! It’s written in this scripture today, and so beautifully sung by Tommy Walker in the hyperlinked title. I praise You Heavenly Father for that wonderful hope, and I thank You from the depths of my heart for impacting my life some 39 years ago by helping me make the most important decision of my life. Father, I pray that each one that You will cause to read this devotional today might examine their heart closely and either be reminded of that hope which is theirs, or be provoked by Your precious Holy Spirit into accepting You as Lord and Savior today. Lord, may they make the right decision today, because doing nothing equates to a decision to continue their path towards hell. For the family that I love, the friends that I admire and the friends that I care so deeply about, I humble plead with You Lord to move in their hearts today. May You be honored repeatedly today as more of your children make decisions to accept the sacrifice You made at Calvary for our good. I ask this all in the precious name of Jesus, AMEN!

The Prescription For Help

On 2015-05-202015-05-20 By Ed AlgreenIn Prayer, Prescription, TroubleLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (God’s Word Translation – James 5:13-18): ¹³ If any of you are having trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing psalms. ¹⁴ If you are sick, call for the church leaders. Have them pray for you and anoint you with olive oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ (Prayers offered in faith will save those who are sick, and the Lord will cure them.) If you have sinned, you will be forgiven. ¹⁶ So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed. Prayers offered by those who have God’s approval are effective. ¹⁷ Elijah was human like us. Yet, when he prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell on the ground for three-and-a-half years. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again. It rained, and the ground produced crops.

THOUGHTS: Most of us feel a whole lot better if we leave our doctor with a prescription in hand, don’t we? I believe that most of us also feel better when we read God’s Word, and walk away to face our day with renewed strength, encouragement or boldness to share the Word with others, or the joy that fills our heart! I’ve heard older folk offer me certain homemade remedies and they would say, take this for anything that ails you! I always thought that was funny, but I am more and more convinced that we can take in the Word of God, apply it to our lives (not the life of another sinner who, we feel, needs it worse than us!!!!) and then stand amazed of its many applications. I will break these verses apart to emphasize the prescription of each problem mentioned, with hopes that we will reflect on this as we are affected today, or sometime in the future:

In times of trouble		Pray to your Father in heaven;
In happiness		Sing praises to the Father, the instigator of our happiness;
In sickness		Ask your church leaders to anoint you with olive oil and pray for you (olive oil was used in setting one aside for special attention by God);

Friends, we are further assured that the prayers of a righteous person (a person who has God’s approval) are effective, and the example of Elijah is a reminder of just how effective our prayers can be. So these are tried and proven actions that we can depend on, but just like any doctor or pharmacy today – if you don’t know them, or use their services, it is impossible to get the help that friends might tell you they received from them. So please allow me to introduce you to my Father, my Lord, my Provider, my Healer, my Counselor who will listen to my troubles and direct me in the right path, but most of all, He’s my Savior – for Jesus saved me in spite of my sinful life, when I invited Him to. Prescriptions are only acceptable by my pharmacy, if they come from my doctor. Similarly, the prescriptions noted above are only applicable to those associated with the ‘Doctor’ – Jesus Christ. He is within your reach friend! Please read my ‘Footnote’ below, especially the link to ‘How to Know Jesus’ and act on the instructions today friend. Let me know about your decision, so that I may pray with you as you make this change in your life! Jesus loves you, and so do I!

PRAYER: Father, You are my Rock – a firm foundation in which I can depend and lean on in all aspects of my life. Thank You Lord God for being there with me through the good times of life and through the challenging times. My faith has been strengthened when my prescriptions have been filled and followed as You prescribed in Your Word. Thank You for caring for Your children, even when it has been impossible to get in to my primary care physician, or when we can no longer afford medical insurance or attention. Your love for us goes way beyond the cross of Calvary, for it is shown daily in Your watchful care and concern for us. Thank You heavenly Father! Please touch the heart of each one that may take time to meditate on this devotional today, or even to the one that might ‘stumble across this’ (divinely led by You!!) in search of help for circumstances beyond their control. Lead them to the Cross, dear God. Ignite within us a new flame that will be evident to those that we come into contact with today, so that they may have a burning desire to know the source of our true happiness. All this for Your glory oh God, for I ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, with thanksgiving, AMEN!

The Originators of Evil and Good

On 2015-05-082015-05-08 By Ed AlgreenIn Evil, Good, RighteousLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Living Bible – James 1:13-17): ¹³ And remember, when someone wants to do wrong it is never God who is tempting him, for God never wants to do wrong and never tempts anyone else to do it. ¹⁴ Temptation is the pull of man’s own evil thoughts and wishes. ¹⁵ These evil thoughts lead to evil actions and afterwards to the death penalty from God. ¹⁶ So don’t be misled, dear brothers. ¹⁷ But whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God, the Creator of all light, and he shines forever without change or shadow.

THOUGHTS: Less Christians believe that all things that happen in their lives after conversion derives from God, James found it important to clarify this. It served as a great reminder to me, so I wanted to share this with my blog audience today also. Just in case we ever feel like God might be tempting us to prove our faith in Him, or tempting us for whatever reason, James clarified this in verses 13 and 14. Friends, it is unfortunate, but the reason why it is so important to stay closely attuned to God through Bible Study, Prayer, Worship and Fellowship with like believers, is because as long as we are here on this earth, Satan will be a constant pain in our side. Always tempting, prodding and making every attempt to have us turn aside from, what he believes to be, a stupid decision to follow Jesus. Of course, as soon as we come to our senses we know that verse 17 is a perfect sermon for us, because while the verse is telling us where everything good and perfect comes from, we can naturally reason that the opposite must come from Satan. So I believe that our lesson in this scripture today is to remind us that when we feel temptation; when we feel evil overtaking us and when we feel like nothing good is happening to us, we must quickly come to our senses and ask God to forgive us for the evil that we have allowed to enter our lives. Ask Him to build a great hedge of protection around us. Send a true messenger of His to encourage us, and to make His presence very obvious to us, Friends, when we find ourselves slipping away from God, I believe you will always find that it is not God who is letting go of our hand, but rather us who wants to try and do things our way. It is then that we become very vulnerable to Satan. Always remember: anything good, loving and worthwhile comes from God. Anything else is caused by our weakened spiritual condition that has allowed Satan access into our lives. We can protect our righteous lives by staying closely attached and attuned to the only Righteous One, Jesus Christ. Try realigning yourself with the King of Glory today friend, and let God be God in your life!

PRAYER: Until we are reminded of all that You have done for us, and continue to do for us dear Lord, we tend to forget and even minimize Your love for us. We know that we should stay in the Word, and we know that we should revere our relationship with You oh God, but it is so unfortunate that often it will take a disaster or major event in our lives to realign our relationship with You. Please forgive us for being so weakened to sin, and so weak in our relationship with You that we would allow Satan access to our lives so easily. We are the temple of the Lord, and God cannot reign where Satan resides. Please help us to stay closely aligned to You dear God, through saturation of Your Word, through frequent prayer and through an unwavering commitment and determination to give You full reign over us. Please forgive us Lord, and be our constant Lord, Master and Ruler over all things in our lives. For I ask this in the precious name of Jesus, AMEN!

Actionable Reminders

On 2015-05-042015-05-04 By Ed AlgreenIn Example, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Good News Translation – Hebrews 13:1-3): ¹Keep on loving one another as Christian brothers and sisters. ²Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it. ³Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. Remember those who are suffering, as though you were suffering as they are.

THOUGHTS: In this chapter of Hebrews, we are being reminded what followers of Christ should look like in our everyday life. In these chosen verses, we can see where the following is dealt with:

Love one for another (especially our Christian Brothers and Sisters) – I believe that this is totally related to the extent to which we love our Savior. For when we are totally in love with the Creator, how can we but love all that He has created;
Hospitality – While we often look at Genesis 18 when we see Abraham entertaining angels, I believe it would be good for us to look at this from the point of view of the stranger also. What impression did the stranger get of God when he visited our home? Was he rejected because of the smell or looks of the stranger, or was this stranger accepted in the same love that Christ showed to us when, in spite of His awesome power to overcome, yet He accepted the cross for ‘low-lives’ such as us – sinners;
Those who are in prison – we are to remember them as if we were right there with them. Too often we say that we know how someone feels, and we might be tempted to say the same thing about someone in prison. But we are instructed to remember them as if we were there ourselves. This tells me that I should visit the prison and understand what it is like to live in there so that I could truly remember my incarcerated friend and truly identify with his needs and his hurts – or perhaps his victories;
Those who are suffering – This especially refers to those who are suffering for their testimonies. Paul was beat and imprisoned for his testimony, and no doubt this is still happening to our Brothers and Sisters who minister in troubling parts of the world. We are instructed to imagine that we are right there with them. So let us pay more attention to that missionary who visits our church next time and tries to tell us what it is like in the part of the world in which they are ministering. Let’s try to identify with them so we could truly feel what they feel and adequately pray for them.

PRAYER: How easy it is for us to fall into the trap of our own little ‘world’, where everything may be going along well. However, Father God, You have shown us through Your Word today that for Your children to truly follow in Your footsteps, we are to love like You loved, and feel empathy for our Brothers and Sisters who might be going through something totally foreign to us. Please tender our hearts oh Lord, and help us to make every effort to identify with each other – or show that we care about them, so that we may more diligently pray for them, meet their needs and/or love them unconditionally like You first loved us. Please bless those who will meditate on this devotional. Draw them closer to You dear God, so that they may desire to know and love their family and friends in such a way that the love of God would be evident to them. These blessings I plead before You in the name of Jesus, Your Son – my redeemer and King, AMEN!

Important Things To Pray For Each Other

On 2015-04-292015-04-29 By Ed AlgreenIn Christ-Like, PrayerLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Century Version – Philippians 1:9-11): ⁹ This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love; ¹⁰ that you will see the difference between good and bad and will choose the good; that you will be pure and without wrong for the coming of Christ; ¹¹ that you will be filled with the good things produced in your life by Christ to bring glory and praise to God.

THOUGHTS: Just as Paul had a deep desire for his church members at Philippi, I believe that God would have us do the same for each other. Please allow me to break down the above verses to show us two important end results that we should pray for each other:

That we present ourselves to God at His second coming without spot or wrinkle, and to help with that we should pray:
- That our love will grow more and more. This reminds me that we will never attain perfection in this area here on earth, because of our selfish desires and personal greed. However, this is of utmost importance to us when considering that one day we will come face to face with our Savior. This also tells me that this particular attribute should be a daily prayer of ours so that we might love more today than we did yesterday, and that we love sacrificially as Jesus did for us on Calvary;
That we bring glory and praise to God:
- In addition to the evidence of God’s love being reflected in our lives, I believe that verse 11 is pointing us to live a life that exudes a sweet savor of goodness, ordained and blessed by Christ. I believe the latter is important to avoid our selfish pride, and the possibility of doing good for personal attention and/or gain. I believe the type goodness referred to here is the same as mentioned in other scripture as ‘fruit’. In other words, our lives will produce ‘fruit’ or ‘qualities’ that immediately reminds the world of Jesus. When this type goodness, or ‘fruit’ is evident, not only will we honor and praise our Creator, but those to whom we minister will also praise Him.

Living Christian lives that please God, will be evident to those we come into contact with. This only happens when you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and personal Savior, for there is not enough ‘good’ in you alone to please God. Only the work of His Son in us produces the kind of life acceptable to God. If you have not taken this leap of faith yet, may I introduce you to my Lord today, please? It’s the best thing that could ever happen to you! Read the ‘Footnote’ below for more information on how you might go about accepting Christ, please?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, without You we would be forced to pattern our lives after the ‘good’ we see in each other, which would lead to chaos, greed and selfish desires. Thank You for showing us the way to pure happiness and a life of purity that would be pleasing to You. Thank You for touching the life of Your saint, Paul, and the desire You gave Him to share these words, looked at this morning, with the saints at Philippi first, then made available to so that we might gleam truth and direction for our lives. Lord, we want to be just like You. Thank You for showing us what that entails, and thank You for the assurance we have of Your willingness to help us achieve that. I place my life in Your hands and pray that You might cleanse me of all sin and characteristics that displeases You, and that You continue to bless me with the way to true perfection through Your Word. Please touch the life of each friend that will read this devotional today and draw them closer to You because of Your Word. Without full surrender to You we are way too much like this old world, please keep us focused on You every day, is my sincere plea, that I ask in the name of Jesus, my Lord and precious Savior, AMEN!

How to Pray

On 2015-02-202015-02-20 By Ed AlgreenIn Obedience, Prayer, SalvationLeave a comment

The Holy Bible (The Message – 1 Timothy 2:1-6): The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live. He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out.

Thoughts: Like me, you may have thought that prayer is personal communication with God, so it is up to us what we talk to God about, right? While that may be a true statement, I believe that we must also be obedient to God’s Word. So when He instructed Paul to include his instructions to Timothy on how to pray for, and with, the churches that were organized, I believe that God wanted us to also take the same lead. While I believe that The Message does a great job of relaying these instructions simply and understandably, there are a few points that I would like to remind myself about, hoping that you also might be enriched by the Word of God today:

Pray in every way you know how, for everyone you know – friends we must be careful that our prayers are deeper than just responding to a prayer request by a friend by quickly responding that we will pray for them. Way too often that’s the extent of our prayer for them. Furthermore, if a non-believer asks for prayer, we must remember that their most important prayer need is salvation. Perhaps the need they are asking you to pray about will lead them to knowing the God that they are asking us to pray to, on their behalf. God works in mysterious ways, so He will hear our prayer and work out His plan in the lives of those we earnestly pray for, according to His perfect will. Our role is to pray;
Pray for rulers and their governments – friends, I believe that we spend way too much time in opposition to God’s desire for our government leaders. How? God never tells us to whine, complain, or bad-mouth our government leaders. Instead, in Romans He tells us that governments are ordained by Him, and their work will be a part of Him fulfilling His will for the people served by these leaders. God wants us to live humble, peaceful, prayerful lives imitating Him in every way possible. Our government leaders must know that Christians are praying for them so that they may properly lead us as Christ would have them do. This will not happen if they think or imagine that we are beating up on them at every opportunity. Please don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of corruption and greed in government, but I don’t believe we could find scripture to support that it’s our job, as Christians, to tear down and destroy governments who do this. Yes, we have the privilege to vote on whether we feel led by God to decline voting for ones we feel are not properly performing, but when they are elected, according to our prayers, it is not our job to step in and evoke, or recall those prayers and constantly be a thorn in the side of the politicians and/or God’s work through our political system. God really don’t need any help from us!
Pray for ourselves to be a channel that can be used by God to reach the unsaved – The latter part of this scripture relays what was on Paul’s heart, and again I believe that he was a mere messenger speaking the words from our Savior. God’s work and His heart is all about seeing the lost come to know Him as their personal Savior before it is eternally too late. In my opinion, this leaves an onus to constantly pray that we will be worthy vessels that God can use to extend His reach to our family, friends and other circles. We can only do our part of being used by God, for we can save no one. Let us therefore be in a constant cleaning mode and polishing our relationship with the Lord so that we might be attuned to His will and desire for us, and be usable vessels for Him to use.

Prayer is the key, and the answer, friends!

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for the privilege of prayer! Thank You that we can pray to our Father who has time to acutely listen to us, and not distracted by the things of this world that plays such a distraction in our lives. Lord, You’ve given us direction on how to pray, and what we should be focusing on in our prayers. Yes, I am guilty of bogging down my prayer life with all the sickness and other depressing things that constantly bombard my life, but Lord I believe You are telling me today that although my concerns are important to You, there is direction given in Your Word as to how and what I should primarily pray for. Please help me to keep this foremost in my mind every day, so that I may pray in accordance with Your will and for Your sake, knowing that as Your people are touched by You, their lives will be capable of achieving Your perfect will. You are God, and we are not, so help us Lord to place full control in Your hands, as we stick to the will of the Father and pray as instructed in His Word. Bless us this day oh Lord so that we may pray aright and live like You, for I ask this in the all-powerful name of Jesus, my Savior, 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!

Prepare for Trouble

On 2015-02-032015-02-03 By Ed AlgreenIn Uncategorized1 Comment

The Holy Bible (The Message – 1 Thessalonians 3:3-5): Not that the troubles should come as any surprise to you. You’ve always known that we’re in for this kind of thing. It’s part of our calling. When we were with you, we made it quite clear that there was trouble ahead. And now that it’s happened, you know what it’s like. That’s why I couldn’t quit worrying; I had to know for myself how you were doing in the faith. I didn’t want the Tempter getting to you and tearing down everything we had built up together.

Thoughts: As human beings we are easily discouraged and we easily feel defeated. Yes, this happens to even Christians who serve the God of this universe! The great apostle Paul shared in the highlighted verses that he was worried that Satan had stepped in a discouraged the Christians that were impacted by his ministry while he was with them. Friends, I believe that we need this reminder today, to help us understand that even though we might surrender our hearts and lives to Jesus, as long as we live here on this earth, we are still human, and prone to the same temptations that other humans face. The difference for us (Christians) is that we have a Comforter, a Savior, a Friend, our Creator who protects us from the Evil one, and stands by to comfort and cheer us. Think about this as you would in a marriage scenario. When you were single, you had no one to share your burdens with, and no one who really cared about what happened in your day (except perhaps your parents) however, after marriage you were able to share your ups and downs with each other. Likewise, Jesus has promised never to leave us or forsake us! He cares for us and will protect us, and comfort us as needed. The other Truth in these verses is that no matter what we do for Christ, or what He does in and through us, Satan is standing by with all of his cohorts to break down that good work. This is what Paul worried had happened to the Thessalonians after he left them. Friends, we must be reminded that we can only lead someone to the Lord. It is up to Him to convict them of their sin and save them from eternal damnation in the pit of Hell. I am also reminded that we must be careful to disciple, and or encourage a new Christian to immediately get involved in good Bible teaching so that they might take on that armor of God – their encouragement and protection when the Evil one comes up against them. After all, just like we wouldn’t leave a newborn child to fend for themselves, we must be consistent in helping newborn Christians to grow in the ways of God, for His ultimate glory, and for their good.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You know better than us how much opposition we will face in this world, both in our personal lives and in the lives of the ‘babies’ touched in some way by our witness and/or ministry. We are prone to worry about this because of our vested interest and hard work, however I pray that just as You have reminded us in Your Word this morning, we might quickly learn that You are in control and will protect Your own. I know we should care a lot about what happens to those that we have ministered to, but help us to surrender them to Your care while continuing to love them, encourage them, offer godly direction to them and earnestly pray for them to overcome the temptations of Satan that will rise up against them in their new Christian walk. Please continue to encourage Your messengers of the gospel, and give them guidance on ways that they might follow through with godly discipleship to aid in new believers’ Christian walk with You. We are prone to worry Lord, but help us that we might learn to do our part well, then allow You to assume the love and direction that You have promised to all who believe on You. We need You for ongoing ministry to the lost of our community, but we need You equally as much to impact the lives of believers so that we might grow in You and impact this world on Your behalf. I ask these things with sincere belief in You and with dependence on You to do Your perfect will in our midst dear Lord, AMEN!

A Call To Prayer and Witness

On 2015-01-292015-01-29 By Ed AlgreenIn Prayer, WitnessingLeave a comment

The Holy Bible (The Contemporary English Version – Colossians 4:2-6): ² Never give up praying. And when you pray, keep alert and be thankful. ³ Be sure to pray that God will make a way for us to spread his message and explain the mystery about Christ, even though I am in jail for doing this. ⁴ Please pray that I will make the message as clear as possible. ⁵ When you are with unbelievers, always make good use of the time. ⁶ Be pleasant and hold their interest when you speak the message. Choose your words carefully and be ready to give answers to anyone who asks questions.

Thoughts: In Paul’s departing remarks to the church at Colossae, he shared a few things that God laid on his heart that would help the people grow in Christ and improve the effectiveness of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that these points are very important to us today as we continue the ministry in this evil world in which we live. Here are some points that really got my attention in the highlighted verses:

Prayer – Paul even had some sub points to this particular need:
- Never give up – just because we may have prayed for something last week doesn’t mean that we don’t pray for that need again this week. Be consistent, and persistent, in prayer;
- Stay alert – when we hear of a Brother hurting or in need, pray. He may not have asked for prayer, but we can discern that he needs our prayers. We may hear of disasters, such as currently happening in churches in Africa at this time. It’s a news item, but we know that these are our Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, so let us lift them up to the Father in prayer. Let’s be alert to the needs of one another;
- Be thankful – Let’s learn to always thank God for His provisions, or perhaps His healing, or His guiding and protecting hand upon us, before we ever start our ‘grocery’ list of needs. Let’s be a thankful and appreciative people before God;
- The ministry – whether it’s our own teaching or preaching, or that of our church leaders, let us pray that the words of God spoken through mere man will impact the lives of listeners. Let’s pray that people will not be distracted by the weaknesses of man, but instead by the power of the Holy Spirit, working through God’s messengers.
Witness – This one really stung, because way too often we will sit with an unbeliever and talk about everything under the sun, without ever rejoicing over the Son that lives within us and has played such a key role in us. In our midweek teaching at church last night we were reminded of the words of a great preacher who said, “In a day when everyone is ‘coming out of the closet’ what is stopping Christians from doing the same”! Of course, this is referring to the ‘closet’ of witnessing, for Christians are so afraid of saying anything that might ‘hurt the feelings’ of an unbeliever. However, should we not instead be enthused to share a life-changing, rescue-from-Hell, tip with someone we care enough about to sit and chat for a period of time? If they were about to walk across a very dangerous intersection, we would loudly shout out any life-saving tips to them. Why then do we hesitate to shout, or gently give them life saving tips that affects their eternal destiny? The tip from Paul in vs 5 is that we always make use of the time we have with our non-Christian friends, for they too need the Savior that we love and adore. They too deserve eternity in Heaven with the creator of this universe. What then are we waiting for?

Prayer: Heavenly Father, as You are well aware, the needs are great here on earth, especially the need for Your Son, and the need to surrender our pride to Him. We badly need Your power, Your boldness and Your direction to show enough love for our fellow man by sharing Your message of salvation with them. There are folk that we know, love and care about, that are dying and going to Hell because we have been afraid to put self aside, and share the Love of Jesus Christ with them. I sincerely apologize for my shortcoming in this area Lord. Please forgive me. You died to save ALL who believe on You, please help me to not withhold sharing this good news with everyone that I know and associate with. Please don’t let me stand in the way of extending this privilege to family and friends of mine. Please impact my readers and I with Your Word in such a way today Lord, that we may be more constant in prayer and a bold witness of You to all that we come into contact with. May it be our mission to spread the joy of our salvation with all whom we come into contact with. We need You Lord, and we want You to be a part of our everyday life. I humble place these requests at Your feet with expectations of You working Your perfect will in and through us. For I ask this in the wonderful name of my Savior, Jesus Christ, with thanksgiving, AMEN!

A Prayer For Christians

On 2014-12-152014-12-15 By Ed AlgreenIn PrayerLeave a comment

The Holy Bible

¹⁶I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

(Bible Translation and Location: New Living Translation – Ephesians 1:16-18)

Thoughts:

Unfortunately you will not find a model prayer for Christians to recite in this devotional today, but what God got my attention on, is the importance of continuing to pray for fellow Christians. Let me give you a worldly comparison/preview of what I saw as I meditated on this. Can you imagine a citizen walking down a main street of a town under siege? They would look like any other citizen of that country and would probably be allowed to travel on. Now, imagine a visitor, or stranger, doing the same walk. Don’t you think they would be questioned more thoroughly about their choice of places to be, or dangerous streets to travel? Now imagine a soldier trying that march in uniform. He may be shot on sight, or imprisoned just for poking around an area where he shouldn’t be. This is much like Christians when we exit the safety and security of the church building, we become easy targets for Satan and his cohorts as we mingle in their areas of business. Therefore Paul is teaching us, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, to pray for spiritual wisdom and insight so that we may become strong in the knowledge of God, and that our faith might be strengthened to withstand the temptations of Satan that are ready to weaken our stand and distract our walk. In doing this Paul is reminding us that we will each become confident in the hope that is ours – our rich and glorious inheritance (our eternal home in heaven, where we will join with the angels and sing endlessly at the feet of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ)! Oh what singing! Oh what shouting! On that happy day when my Savior I will see! So friend, I share your sentiments in seeking the lost and praying earnestly for that one that needs the Lord, but please don’t forget to pray just as earnestly for your Christian brothers and sisters for help, guidance and strength to stay strong in their faith and continue to be a light in their world of darkness where friends, family, coworkers and others are without Christ and desperately needs to see faith in action through a true representative of Christ’s. We may be the only Bible that teaches them or that may reach them. In our sermon yesterday a particular clause spoke personally to me – the person that God has designed for us to speak with today may never be touched or spoken to, if we refuse to take our responsibility seriously. Wow! Let’s do our part today friend, so that God may not be disappointed in us!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding me of the importance of praying for my Christian brothers and sisters in the Lord. We have such a long list of friends that we pray for salvation, and often neglect praying for those who already know You, and who are prime targets for Satan each day. Please may I ask that You protect Your children today, build a hedge of protection around us so that Satan’s darts and arrows may be kept at bay, yet our witness and representation of You will be very evident and inviting to those that need You. I need Your strength today Lord, please help me, and those that join me in this prayer, to be great warriors for the kingdom, and awesome representation of You among the saved and unsaved so that Your kingdom might be fulfilled this Christmas season. All glory to the new born King! For it is in this holy name that I pray, Jesus, Emanuel, God with us, AMEN!

Nuggets From God's Word

Tag: PRAYER