What God Wants From You

On 2015-10-232015-10-23 By Ed AlgreenIn Believe, Love, SurrenderLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Contemporary English Version – John 6:28-29): ²⁸ “What exactly does God want us to do?” the people asked. ²⁹ Jesus answered, “God wants you to have faith in the one he sent.”

THOUGHTS: When someone does something special for an appreciative person, the first thing they try to think of is “what might I do to show my appreciation in return”. A humble person is often left with an unworthy feeling when someone does something special for them, because they realize how many other people are so much more deserving of the good works than they are. So let’s look at what the God of this entire universe desires of us in return to the greatest gift ever given. After all, He not only created us and the world in which we live, but God also saw the terrible time that mankind was having in trying to obey the law in order to stay free from sin, so He took the ultimate step of also sending His only offspring, Jesus, as a baby. He worked many recorded miracles through Jesus while here on this earth, but He also realized that He had to make things real simple for humans to ever see the light of heaven, so instead of the many sacrifices that mankind knew since the beginning of time, He decided to make one final sacrifice to prove His ultimate love, and to provide the clear path/access to heaven. This came through the sacrificial death of God’s only Son on the cross at Calvary. However, in the same way that we see many doubters and nay-sayers today, John shows us that their doubt is fed from those who doubted long before our time. Jesus proved His sovereignty in many ways while here on earth, yet in this passage of scripture today we hear, through minds filled with doubt, a question that many will eventually have on their mind, and that is: “what exactly do You want from me Jesus?” Notice how simple the response was in our scripture, and how simple the answer has remained. God simply wants us to acknowledge that we have come to a point where we realize that we cannot personally do anything in and of ourselves to gain righteousness and freedom from this world’s sin, so the only choice is for us to surrender ourselves to the One He sent for the redemption of our sin, His precious, only, Son, JESUS. Having accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, my heart is filled with the desire to make sure that no one that I know and hold dear to my heart is left behind. This includes family, friends, coworkers, and yes, ‘YOU’ friend, for you are reading this devotional today because of God’s design for you, and through me as His humble servant. You are therefore very special in His eyes, and mine, and I would be overjoyed to know that because of God’s precious Word today, you and I will have a central meeting place – at the feet of Jesus in glory! See you soon? Only God knows how soon! Please take time to read the ‘Footnote’ for help on taking the next step towards becoming a Jesus follower.

PRAYER: Dear God, Your love is beyond anything I can think or imagine, for You provided a way for filthy sinners to see the gates of heaven, by sacrificing Your one and only Son, Jesus as our eternal sin sacrifice. Thank You Heavenly Father! Thank You Jesus, Son of God, Redeemer, Deliverer and everlasting Savior! Lord, I pray that today will be the day of salvation for many who will meditate on this devotional and that they would be reminded once again of Your precious love and provision for them. May the words of verse 29 echo in the hearts of many that You will work on today “God wants you to have faith in the one he sent”. This is not just a statement that You are wanting us to be aware of, but it is a statement of love and desire to have us decide today to be with You, as badly as You want us to be with You. Thank You for expressing love in its purest and unselfish way, just for us. I love You Lord, and I ask all these things in faith, in the 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!

Live To Prove ‘To Whom You Belong’

On 2015-10-092015-10-09 By Ed AlgreenIn Holy, SurrenderLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Ephesians 4:22-24): ²² You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits.²³ Let the Spirit change your way of thinking ²⁴ and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy.

THOUGHTS: Evil people think evil, wicked things, so they live like evil, wicked people. Does your life show enough evidence of whose you are, that others will be convinced? When we surrender ourselves to someone, we generally release ourselves from the one to whom we were committed before. We become very miserable and confused when we detect any bleeding over of one allegiance into another. Think about it – when you marry someone and commit your life to that person, you are generally happy and living a blissful life together, until one of you start to reflect on an old flame, or perhaps another prospect that Satan has placed in your path. It just doesn’t work friend. The marriage is doomed to fail. Don’t you know then that the same thing happens in our walk with the Lord? Paul calls our mental escape from reality ‘foolish’, for we know that the minute we entertain a bad habit, it will pull us back into bad habits. The very moment that we give in to sin, we have taken our eyes off God, and it becomes easy for Satan to pull us back into his world. This is not abnormal for humans, that’s just the way we are designed. However, just as Paul teaches us in this scripture, we have an Advocate who is standing ready to help us overcome this weakness. It is the Spirit of the Living God that enters the believer, who helps us overcome our weaknesses and makes us into a new person. However, the Spirit does not take control against our will. We must willingly surrender ourselves to the Almighty God, and this is not just a one-time thing where you may have done so in a church service. This is a daily surrender of your will to His will and His control. This is the only way that we can possibly expect to be like our creator. What a reminder in verse 24 – we were created to be like God – WOW! However the ending of that verse is also important, as it is the only way that we stand a chance at getting to this achievement – we must strive to please God and to be truly holy, even as He is holy. When we live under the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, it will be evident to those that we come into contact with, to whom we belong.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your faithfulness to us, in spite of our weaknesses. Thank You for Your Word that teaches us the importance of living our lives to reflect our Master and our Lord, and for teaching us and warning us of the pitfalls that will distract us in our walk for You. Please continue to open our eyes and encourage our spirits so that we might be more determined than ever to live Godly lives, so that the lost might know that our Savior lives, and that Your love for them is unlimited and available. I ask all this in the precious and all powerful name of Jesus, my Lord, AMEN!

Excuses, Excuses….

On 2015-10-072015-10-07 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!

How To Be Faithful in Following Jesus

On 2015-09-012015-09-01 By Ed AlgreenIn Committed, Sold out, UnwaveringLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Living Translation – Matthew 4:18-22): ¹⁸ One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. ¹⁹ Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” ²⁰ And they left their nets at once and followed him. ²¹ A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. ²² They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

THOUGHTS: Imagine for a moment if Peter and Andrew had concluded after meeting Jesus that He was a good man and would make a wonderful Savior for many people, especially for those who had time to follow Him around and observe His marvelous works. Imagine how little impact Jesus would have had on these two men if they chose to continue making a living and left Jesus alone to go and impact the brothers up the road who had nothing better to do. James and John had similar choices to make in verses 21 and 22, but like Peter and Andrew, these guys immediately dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus. Friends these stories were included in the Word to show us the impact of total surrender. I don’t believe for a moment that God intends for every Christian to give up our jobs to be obedient followers of His. However, I do believe that God is showing us that it is important for us to take a 180 degree turn from what we did as a sinner, so that we might prove to whom we now belong. We don’t need to prove it to God, for He knows our very inmost thoughts and desires, but we need to convince ourselves that we have seriously redirected our lives to following the Savior, the King of all kings, Jesus Christ. We need to prove it to our friends. We can’t continue doing the things of this world (Satan approved things) and still expect our friends to see a difference in our lives. Think about everyday scenarios: what do you do when you go on a diet? You can’t lose weight eating the same junk food and sweets that brought you to your obese state in the first place. What do you do when you get married? You can’t hang out with your buddies until the wee hours of the morning and expect to go home and find your new spouse happily waiting for you. So what about the Christian walk? I would dare say that you can’t live like the Devil and say that you are a Christian. We have to leave the garbage behind, much like the disciples left their nets and their boats behind, and choose to give God our all – our undying allegiance, our unwavering love and dedication. Show Him that You are serious about the decision you made to follow Him – perhaps He will use you like He did in the case of the disciples mentioned! Won’t that be awesome!

PRAYER: Gracious Lord, thank You for being patient with us. I’m afraid that too often we tend to try and continue doing what we’ve always done, yet expect different results, or worse still – try to convince ourselves that our allegiance has changed. Lord, I believe that these four disciples were so sold out to you that they gave up their fishing careers to become ‘fishers of men’ in your kingdom work. I am convinced that we need more folk like this today Lord, so that the world might know without a doubt who rules in our lives. Please work on us today and convict us of any shortfall You see in our lives and our commitment to You. May we be usable instruments in Your hands to reach the lost. I ask this in the strong and unwavering name of Jesus, AMEN!

The Rest of the Story!

On 2015-08-222015-08-22 By Ed AlgreenIn Choices, Eternity, SurrenderLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Revelation 21:3-8): ³ I heard a loud voice shout from the throne: God’s home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people. ⁴ He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever. ⁵ Then the one sitting on the throne said: I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and can be trusted. ⁶ Everything is finished! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give water from the life-giving fountain to everyone who is thirsty. ⁷ All who win the victory will be given these blessings. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ⁸ But I will tell you what will happen to cowards and to everyone who is unfaithful or dirty-minded or who murders or is sexually immoral or uses witchcraft or worships idols or tells lies. They will be thrown into that lake of fire and burning sulfur. This is the second death.

THOUGHTS: For those of you who have followed Nuggets for a while will remember that we covered from the creation of the world, to the birth of Jesus, through the miracles and life changing events that occurred during His short life, then through His death/crucifixion and resurrection. All of this happened in perfect timing, and this information has been widely available for years, to show that although we are born into a world of sin and perhaps little hope, we realize when we read the last book of the Bible that all these happenings were for a reason. They brought us hope and a promise, that if we surrender our lives to Jesus – God’s sacrificial gift to man, then we would be included in the family of God referred to in verse 3. The whole plan comes together friends! For those who wisely surrendered their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ during their lifetime, we can look forward to having God live among us in an atmosphere of peace, comfort and tranquility – no more tears, death, suffering, crying or pain. Everything new! Everything as we know it today will be finished! Fortunately we are also warned about what will happen to those who choose to do life their own way. In verse 8 these folk are given just the opposite treatment. Friends, we know the Bible is true, for it is one of the most widely printed and studied books there is, plus its content has been proven over and over again. In the financial world, if we know of impending doom we try to avoid it by investing much more conservatively. In our physical environments, we try to protect ourselves when we are warned of hurricanes and/or other acts of God. I am very concerned for the millions of people who have chosen to accept the latter conditions mentioned in verse 8. There are choices that our family and friends can make to improve their eternal destiny. Are we praying enough, or encouraging enough, or doing enough to help them make wiser choices today Christians? The end of the story is very exciting for those who have made arrangements to be in the presence of Jesus and His Father! It can be the same for those of you reading this who are not sure of your position/destiny. Please follow the steps in my Footnote to receive help and sure up your position about heaven or hell as your destination, and God vs Satan for your eternal master. I would welcome the opportunity to help!

PRAYER: Thank You Father for providing everything for Your children. It is unfortunate, but we believe that there are still many who have chosen to ignore Your gift of eternal life and settle for the Lake of Fire referenced in our scripture this morning. Many of these are our family, friends and coworkers, and we are very concerned about their sanity in this kind of decision. I realize that Satan is busy at work, distracting his followers from the truth of which I have referenced here today, but I am blessed and assured to know that Christians are following the same Savior today as will lead us on that day referenced in verse 3 above! Oh Lord, please use Your saints to be an influence in the lives of those who do not call You Lord. Please keep us from being stumbling blocks, but to stay firm in our belief and always lift up the name of Jesus in all that we do and say. May lives be impacted for You today, is my humble plea oh Lord. All this I ask in the bountiful name of Jesus, AMEN!

The Consequences of Disobedience

On 2015-08-202015-08-20 By Ed AlgreenIn Forgiveness, Obedience, SurrenderLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Message – Zechariah 7:9-14): ^9-10Well, the message hasn’t changed. God-of-the-Angel-Armies said then and says now: “‘treat one another justly. Love your neighbors. Be compassionate with each other. Don’t take advantage of widows, orphans, visitors, and the poor. Don’t plot and scheme against one another—that’s evil.’ ^11–13“But did your ancestors listen? No, they set their jaws in defiance. They shut their ears. They steeled themselves against God’s revelation and the Spirit-filled sermons preached by the earlier prophets by order of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. And God became angry, really angry, because he told them everything plainly and they wouldn’t listen to a word he said. ^13–14 “So [this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies said] if they won’t listen to me, I won’t listen to them. I scattered them to the four winds. They ended up strangers wherever they were.

THOUGHTS: I am fascinated how history repeats itself in spite of the lessons we should learn from our past. Much like Zechariah did when sharing the visions he was blessed with from God, our pastors today dig into God’s Word seeking what God might reveal to them that would bless and/or convict their church members. They share with us the consequences of disobedience by our ancestors, hoping that we would see the error of our ways, turn from our sin and obey God without the need for further consequences for us. A few sins were mentioned in verses 9 and 10, and not only do we still see these unfortunate sins recurring today, but they were also concerns mentioned in the New Testament. Several translations used the same verbiage in verse 11 that indicates to me that it is of grave concern to our Master. I believe that it truly concerns Him when He sees us plot and scheme against one another. When we look for ways to hurt one another. He announces this as pure evil and I believe this is something that we must not only be on guard for personally, but also look for ways to help each other fight against this awful sin. Let’s learn to pray for each other, that we would see the good in fellow humans and learn to celebrate it. Let us learn to pray for the parts of life where others find it challenging to do it just like Jesus would have done it, or perhaps expects of us. I believe the biggest thing that got my attention in these verses today, is the consequences of disobedience. The Word says “if we don’t listen to/obey God, He won’t listen to us” Oh my, oh my! Do you suppose that this is the reason we feel like we are hitting brick walls with our prayers, or feeling ignored by God? There’s an old spiritual that I learned later in life that I am reminded of as I meditated on these words today: “It’s me, it’s me oh Lord, Standing in the need of prayer“, it’s not my brother or my sister that I need to be most concerned about, but I need to get my act together first and take care of my personal cleansing before God first, before attempting to help a brother or sister where I easily see glaringly obvious sin. I don’t know about you friend, but I need God to listen to me, so it is imperative that I listen to Him and obey Him. Will you commit to doing the same? It is so critical that we have believers who are actually getting through to God with our needs and concerns. Let’s do our part in being obedient.

PRAYER: Dear God, please forgive us for so easily attempting to do Your job by zoning in on the wrongs of others, while overlooking the sin in our own lives. “It’s me, it’s me oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer – not my brother or my sister, but me….” I need thee every hour of every day, for in my own strength I cannot overcome the evil pull of this life. Please touch the lives of each one that will read this devotional. Please impact their lives with a desire to surrender full control of their lives to You so that we all may be usable instruments for Your kingdom work here on this earth. I humbly ask these things in the wonderful, and strong name of Jesus, AMEN!

God’s Work among the Nations

On 2015-08-142015-08-14 By Ed AlgreenIn Recognize God, SubmissionLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (English Standard Version – Habakkuk 1:5): “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

THOUGHTS: It is so easy for us to see the ‘bad’ in everything, or the ‘wrong’ in everything, or the ‘hopelessness’ in everything, but very challenging for us to see the positive things. I believe that this happens very often when our expectations are not met, and especially when we don’t try to align our expectations with God’s plan. We have become such an instant world that any action that takes longer than a few seconds we tend to think of as inaction by God. We are told in God’s Word that our ways are not His ways, and His ways are not ours. This means that God is not a puppet set to our agenda, or programmed to act exactly like we may want to program Him! So why then do we whine or complain? It may be the same reason why churches are not running full capacity. It may be lacking folk who feel like God and the church has stopped listening to them and not performing up to their expectations. Friends I believe that we have tried to sit in the ‘driver’s seat’ and, in our weakness and powerlessness, we are trying to ‘run the show’. How ironic that we would then get disappointed or disgusted when we see failure and try to blame God! Habakkuk was told that he would be astounded by the work that was already going on in nations around him. I would dare say that if we would set aside our personal agendas and expectations, that we would see the marvelous work of the Lord also in our day. We can’t change the politicians, so why get worked up over all that we wish they would do differently. Let us refocus on God and His handiwork. Let us stop focusing on the things we feel should be done differently and start praising God for all that He does in and around us. He deserves our glory and praise for even the things that we take for granted, such as the sun, the moon, the air we breathe and the water to drink. Perhaps as He recognizes our thanksgiving in these things then He might open our eyes to other ways that He is already working around us and blessing our nations.

PRAYER: Lord You are awesome, and again this morning I am reminded that You are busy at work in areas that we often forget or overlook. Please help us to keep our eyes focused on You and look for ways to celebrate Your mighty works, rather than picking apart the things that we selfishly feel should be different. Lord may You be the focus of our attention and may You be recognized as God of this universe in every aspect of every day, so that we may praise You as we should at all times, for You alone are worthy. I ask these things in the wonderful name of Jesus and for His sake, AMEN!

Who Is In Charge?

On 2015-08-082015-08-08 By Ed AlgreenIn Power, SurrenderLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Easy-to-Read Version – Romans 6:12-14): ¹² But don’t let sin control your life here on earth. You must not be ruled by the things your sinful self makes you want to do. ¹³ Don’t offer the parts of your body to serve sin. Don’t use your bodies to do evil, but offer yourselves to God, as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used for doing good. ¹⁴ Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.

THOUGHTS: I believe that the subject question is often asked in life, and quite often it is asked of married couples. I would like to challenge us to think about this question on a more regular basis – to help us evaluate whether we have given full control of our life to God, or whether we still allow sin to filtrate and wrongly impact our lives. I believe it would be a challenging exercise for us to reflect on our day and evaluate whether our actions and our words were God-inspired or sinful. In fact, won’t it be challenging for us to write down throughout our day each of our actions and the overall theme of our conversations, then at the end of the day place an indicator beside each whether it was of God – remembering that if it wasn’t then it could very well have been of our ‘old sinful self’? As Christians, we are to surrender our lives to Christ, and strive to be more like Him in every way. A life not fully surrendered will easily follow what it was – its old sinful self. I believe that since our natural life is swayed so heavily by sin, that the Christian life is a very intentional and surrendered life. We must surrender our own sinful self-will and allow God to take control. It is only then that we will allow Him to be our Master, and to guide us and use us in ways that will be pleasing and honoring to Him. God has ultimate power over every aspect of our lives, including sin, however He will not overstep our personal will and desire. I believe that it is critical for us to quickly recognize when sin is controlling us and even more critical for us to quickly approach the throne and ask God to assume, or resume control of our lives and be our Master and Lord. A fully surrendered life is one that God desires of us – are you there yet?

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being such a strong and awesome God. Thank You for teaching us how to identify sin and how to seek Your help in overcoming and/or avoiding sin. It is so critical that You assume full control of our lives, otherwise we quickly fall back into a life of sin. As Christians, You have already rescued us from that life, so please patiently work on us to fully surrender ourselves to You and to wait on You as You mold us and use us for Your glory. Please give us wisdom and strength to stay focused on You and to stay clear of the sin that once held us captive. For those who have not accepted You as Lord, I pray that again today You might soften their hearts and show them Your power. Only You have the power to help us overcome sin and stay focused on You. We want to do just that today Father, but we can only do that through Your strength and with Your direction and power. All this I ask in the precious name of Jesus, Your Son and my Savior, AMEN!

The Best Rewards Program!

On 2015-08-062015-08-06 By Ed AlgreenIn Heaven, Rewards, SalvationLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Revelation 14:13): From now on, the Lord will bless everyone who has faith in him when they die.” The Spirit answered, “Yes, they will rest from their hard work, and they will be rewarded for what they have done.”

THOUGHTS: In the credit card world, folks will do whatever is needed to obtain rewards. I heard recently of one person applying for several cards just to check out their rewards program! I believe that many Christians are just extremely thankful that God got a hold of us, convicted us of our sin and loved us enough to forgive us of our sin, that seldom do we think of the rewards that are ours when we see Jesus. There are a few rewards not mentioned here: Imagine leaving this world of sin, hatred and envy to enter a new heaven with Jesus and His Father, our God! Imagine there being no more dying, no more pain or heartache! Imagine a crime-free place and a place where there will be no clock to watch for event after event and distraction after distraction! Now included in this verse are a few things that need our close attention. First of all, notice that the blessing is reserved for those who have faith in Jesus. Know that God made the ultimate sacrifice of sending His Son to us – Jesus born miraculously to Mary. Know that God allowed Him to die a cruel death on a cross, so that the shedding of His blood might be a constant reminder to us of His sacrifice for us. Be reminded though, that Jesus rose victoriously from the dead so that we might know that our God’s not dead, and that we serve a risen Lord! Know that one day we will unite with Jesus in heaven! In this verse we are reminded that the Lord will bless those who have faith in what I just described and have accepted Jesus as Lord and personal Savior! Secondly we are reminded that we will rest from our hard work and receive a reward for all we have done. Friends, this is a great indication that after we accept Jesus as Lord, we are not to just sit and sour, but to be active in the Lord’s work. Please don’t read into this that we are all to become pastors, although if you feel God tugging on your heart to become one, you must do everything to be obedient to His call. This is emphasizing that the faith that lives in us, must be expressed through us to others that we come into contact with. This is a natural part of a Christian’s life. Before Christ, we were not afraid to let the world know how sinful we could possibly be. After Christ, we need to have the same determination – show the world how awesome our Savior truly is. Introduce them to Him and convince them of their need for our Savior. On earth, we love being rewarded for our hard work. This verse reminds us that in heaven we will be rewarded for our hard kingdom work while we were on earth. Are you bursting with anticipation? We should all be filled with excitement as we wait for that day!

PRAYER: Father God, what a blessed people we are, for the creator of this universe to love us so amazingly and to not only prepare the way for us to overcome this sinful world, but for us to know without a shadow of a doubt that our future home is awaiting us and filled with rewards! Wow! Oh what a Savior! Please help us to overlook the trials today, and allow us to reflect the joy that is ours in knowing Jesus! May You be able to work through even us today in the lives of those that we come into contact with. Have Your way in and through us dear Lord, for I ask this in the precious name of Jesus, and for His sake, AMEN!

What Goodness Is

On 2015-08-052015-08-05 By Ed AlgreenIn Fairness, Humility, Kindness, Loyalty, ObedienceLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Easy-To-Read Version – Micah 6:6-8): ⁶ What must I bring when I come to meet with the Lord? What must I do when I bow down to God above? Should I come to him with burnt offerings and a year-old calf? ⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with a thousand rams or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Should I offer him my first child to pay for my wrongs? Should I sacrifice my very own child for my sins? ⁸ Human, the Lord has told you what goodness is. This is what he wants from you: Be fair to other people. Love kindness and loyalty, and humbly obey your God.

THOUGHTS: One commentary said that verse 8 relays the meaning of ‘spiritual reality’ compared to mere ‘ritual worship’. I believe that helps me to understand what God was saying through Micah here. Weekly we see where thousands of people attend church, but in our experience with them throughout the week, we see unchanged lives – seldom do they exude the love of Jesus in every way through every phase of their lives? Micah chose to expose some of the things that the Israelites brought to the temple, or shared in normal conversation, when describing how they thought they could please God or seek His forgiveness, or just to get right with God. Micah explained that it was not necessary to reinvent what God had already made clear to them. Friends, I believe these words are extremely applicable to us today also, for some of us may feel like our church attendance makes us right with God, or perhaps the offering we give, or perhaps the way we express ourselves over right vs wrong. However, what God relayed through His prophet in verse 8 are some very simple and basic things:

Be fair to other people – Try to understand others. Appreciate where they might be coming from in their thoughts and their actions. Never think that you have all the answers to everyone else’s wrongs. Think about them like God thinks of us – we may be unworthy, but He loved us enough to sacrifice His one and only Son so that we may stand a chance at eternity with Him;
Love kindness and loyalty – This involves being kind to those that Jesus loves. This may involve folk that appear to hate your guts or despise what you believe or stand for. This may involve folk who live totally different to the way you do. But imagine, if you can live beyond what they expect, how will you prove that you are any different to them? Be loyal as if you were serving the King, not just enough to get by in the eyes of those that might observe you.
Humbly obey the Lord – Set pride and personal aspirations aside and obey what the Master desires of you. Humility means emptying yourself of self and refilling yourself with God. I love that old hymn normally sung as an invitation – “I surrender all”, for I feel like my life should be in a constant state of surrendering all of me to all of God.

Anything you need to work on friend? Anything that will help you enhance your spiritual reality while here on earth? Examine yourself and decide to surrender all to Jesus today. When you do, refill yourself with the attributes of God so that He might be able to use you even more while here on earth.

PRAYER: Lord God, Your Word is all powerful and very applicable to our lives today. I therefore believe that You placed this scripture before me today to enhance my walk with You, and to use this blog to help others to also recognize where their strength lies, and the direction that you would have them go in order to become more like You in the eyes of those that they will witness to today. This old world needs Jesus, and we only get in the way when we try to give them more of ourselves. We need to be an open book that Jesus can fill and use its pages to speak to the unsaved. Lord, please have Your perfect way in our imperfect lives, so that the miracle of rebirth might occur in the lives of all that we will touch today. I ask all this in the precious and life-giving name of Jesus, AMEN!

Nuggets From God's Word

Tag: Surrender