Tag: Return to the Lord

Sacrifices of the Heart When Returning To God

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Idols, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Sacrifice, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Thursday, 2021-10-14
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Samuel 7:3
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 3 Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”

APPLICATION: As in our story today, I was reminded that we may allow different things to intrude in our Christian lives that could very easily cause us pain and heartache. As our Heavenly Father, imagine how hurt God must be when He watches His children cave in to sin and the ungodly things of this world. But what do you suppose the average Christian suspects will happen when we come face to face with Jesus. Do we hope that God will just overlook these extracurricular things that hindered our relationship with Him? The bottom line is that I believe we are very much like the Israelites who were cautioned by Samuel, in that we must avoid taking our ‘trash’ before our Holy God and expect Him to bless it. First we must humble ourselves before God; Seek His forgiveness; and Willingly rid ourselves of the objects of sin that we have allowed to impede our relationship with Him. I believe we must pay close attention to our priorities, for we may have allowed several other things to take God’s place in our lives, and some we may not even realize. While I don’t know of a Bible verse to support this list of priorities for us to live by, I believe one could discern this priority list from reading God’s Word: 1). God; 2). Family; 3). Church; 4). Work; 5). Friends; 6). The world. Let me suggest trying to evaluate what happens when you swap around any of these things. Can you see where chaos could easily result? Can you see where one area loses proper focus when you concentrate more on a lesser important area more than you should? Often it is when our priorities are out of order when we start becoming attached to idols, when we start doing other things that distract our focus from our #1 priority, God. Friends, God created us to worship Him and bless His people. When we choose anything else above that, we are messing up. It’s a very simple process Samuel gave to the Israelites: 1). Get rid of your idols (other gods); 2). Turn your heart/soul/mind towards the Lord; and 3). Obey only the Lord God – read and obey His Word. Try this, dear friend, and I believe you will be lifted up, drawn closer to God, and protected against the evil one. This makes you better usable for kingdom work, and more attractive for the sinner to follow as they seek God. Remember, where the heart is, so will your soul mind and actions be.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Fix your heart on the things of this world and there your heart, soul and mind will be. Fix your heart on God and there your heart, soul and mind will be. God is worthy of our honor, praise and worship!

PRAYER: Lord, we praise You for who You are, and for all You mean to us. Unfortunately, that praise diminishes as our dedication to You diminishes. Please drive away the things that distract us from You, and set our minds on the things of Christ. Please help us to keep our priorities straight, so that it will be obvious to our lost world whose we are. The Israelites needed an adjustment made in their lives, and I believe that many Christians and our respective churches are in need of a similar adjustment today. Please gently tug on the hearts of your children today so that we may be drawn back to You and wholly dedicated to Your purpose and will. In Your presence is where the glory shines, and our world needs that glory more and more every day. May Your children/disciples be the channel that you will use to brighten this old sinful world and cause them to look towards our King! 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!

Change

On By Ed AlgreenIn Change, SurrenderLeave a comment

The Holy Bible

38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes — both calamity and blessing?
39 Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins?
40 Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven

(Bible Translation and Location: The New English Translation – Lamentations 3:38-41)

Thoughts:

I have always been told that the truest meaning of insanity is: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results! In verse 40 we are reminded that there should be a reckoning day where we have a serious, honest day of inflection with ourselves, especially when we realize that we the reason for our struggles and/or hardships might be because we are being punished by the Almighty because of our sin. For God is telling us that we should then stop, carefully examine our ways (compared to the ways taught by God in His word – not compared to your neighbor, coworker or your best friend), and return to the Lord. Now, I believe it is very evident to see that for us to redirect our lives from something that God dislikes, or something that is contrary to His Word and His will for our lives, then ‘Change’ has to take place. Otherwise we will continue doing the wrong thing knowing that we are living out of the will of God and contrary to His commands. The next verse (41) helps us to understand how we might achieve this change. In this world, whenever someone is caught doing something wrong, they are asked to surrender themselves to the authorities. When we lift up our hearts and hands to God, we are surrendering ourselves to His authority. To truly come before a righteous and holy God, we must first seek a cleansing from Him, and agree to accept the change that He might dictate to us, in order to be like Him. When last have you placed yourself before the God of all creation and asked Him to examine your very thoughts and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, so that You may be more in line with His will for your life? To truly represent Him, be His child and be more like Him, we must surrender the ways (sin) of this wicked world, seek His face, and return to the ways of God. Anything less than this will merely be lip service and life as it is right now. Please let us commit to ‘Change’, right now!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Your Word achieves its purpose every time. It drives deep inside and causes us to see our unfaithfulness and our sin, the reason for our separation from You, the reasons why our loved ones and friends are not being impacted by us for You. Please forgive us. Please don’t give up on us, but continue to patiently direct us towards all that You need us to see, and all that You need us to understand and follow in Your Word. Thank You for loving me enough to care about my future with You in Heaven. Thank You for providing The Way of us to enter Heaven’s portals one day and worship You in person. You are Holy, Almighty and worthy of our praise oh Lord. I thank You for Your amazing grace and Your indescribable love. Please touch each one reading this devotional today. Direct them to the areas of their lives that must be affected by ‘Change’ for them to know You personally, and/or draw closer to You, if they already know You. My prayer is asked in humility and thanksgiving, for I ask it in the precious name of Jesus – Lord, Savior, Almighty God and Everlasting Father, 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!