Tag: The Word

He’s Still God – Worship Him

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

DATE WRITTEN: Friday, 2020-03-27
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

BIBLE REFERENCE: Psalm 95:2-7
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: 2 Come before him with thankful hearts. Let us sing him psalms of praise. 3 For the Lord is a great God, the great King of[a] all gods. 4 He controls the formation of the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains; all are his. 5 He made the sea and formed the land; they too are his. 6 Come, kneel before the Lord our Maker, 7 for he is our God. We are his sheep, and he is our Shepherd. Oh, that you would hear him calling you today and come to him!

OBSERVATION: Take time today to read the whole (short) chapter, Psalm 95. No, you will not find anything referenced about our current conditions, or about when things might get better. But what you will be reminded of, is that God almighty created us and everything around us. Yes, we came to this earth because of Him, and He wants us to return to Him when we leave this earth. As we meditate, let’s consider how we are doing with the time between these two events.

APPLICATION: If you stop and listen to a child, they will find every excuse why they are unwilling to obediently follow your commands at any given time. Unfortunately that follows us into adulthood and we continue to battle with obedience. Planet earth is going through some very rough times at this time, and it seems like Satan is winning, by feeding his world with nothing but bad news, impossibilities, deaths, losing battles of ill heath and the absence of cures to current dreaded diseases. Notice that our Scripture makes no reference to the diseases, the financial strain placed on families and businesses, and the finality of death that is hitting so many families. Did God mess up, or was He unawares of what might come, when He instructed David to write this Psalm? I would dare say that our God knew about the struggles of our ancestors, especially David, and in assembling a Book of Instruction for all times, He also knew what His children could expect for all time. However, the Psalmist shared with us what is important in the good times, like when the harvest is plentiful, and in the tough times, like when the hospitals are full to overrunning. My friends, let me reassure all of us today that our God never fails; He never stops loving us; He is still the One who created us and everything else around us; He still has a home prepared for us and waiting for us when we graduate from this old earth to a glorious place (heaven) around the feet of Jesus. So remind me again what on earth would distract us from praising our King of glory? Yes, we are human, and we tend to let things that affect other humans also affect us, but may I remind all God’s children, especially myself, that God has not lost control nor has He decided to revenge the world for its sin, yet. So let us therefore look to Him as our source of help, our primary encouragement and our hope for today and tomorrow. He owns it all, and He has allowed us to enjoy it all while here on earth. He may decide to call us home to glory at any moment because of a virus infection, or for any other reason He sees fit. Life is still all about Him, dear friend. Let us fix our eyes on Him. Let us worship the King of all kings, for He is Lord and worthy of our praise. Let’s not be distracted by all the commotion that surrounds us and confronts us every time we turn the television on. Let’s open the Word instead and be filled with Good News; encouraging Words, and be reminded of our God who loves us in spite of our everyday failures and weaknesses. Give God the glory my friend, and watch the stress meter become unnecessary! As the Psalmist so carefully encourages in this chapter today, let our hearts be filled with love and our lips with praise for the One who always was, always is and always will be – God!

PRAYER: Lord, we hear You calling – loud and clear. Please forgive us for being so caught up in the distractions of this world that we filter out the truth of Your Word that is always right on target, accurate, true and decisive. It provides direction for our path, and It guides us to green pastures, It restores our soul and helps us fear all evil. These are all totally opposite to what we allow into our minds every day from the news media and from friends who feel like everything is out of control. You are still the One that we need, because only You have the answers in the palm of Your hand. Please patiently guide us Lord to the path that we should always follow – the one that leads to the cross of Calvary where we might be reminded of true love, true power, true mercy, true grace and life eternal in the comfort of Your arms. Forgive us Lord for our weakness. We need You more today than yesterday, because You are the answer to all of life’s challenges and dilemmas. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog at https://NuggetsFromGodsWord.org 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 or listening to this devotional, please go to 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. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and see all of my posts, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. 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!

How Do You Handle Correction?

On By Ed AlgreenIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

God’s Word Says….

Acts 21:27-30 (GNT)

27 But just when the seven days were about to come to an end, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized Paul. 28“Men of Israel!” they shouted. “Help! This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone against the people of Israel, the Law of Moses, and this Temple. And now he has even brought some Gentiles into the Temple and defiled this holy place!” (They said this because they had seen Trophimus from Ephesus with Paul in the city, and they thought that Paul had taken him into the Temple.)

30 Confusion spread through the whole city, and the people all ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the Temple. At once the Temple doors were closed.

My Thoughts…..

It is sad that the unchurched of today remain unchurched, often because of bad experiences with Christians, or the church. It is even more sad that many Christians ‘pack up their toys’ and leave a church when they can’t have their own way, or when the pastor/preacher/priest preaches God’s Word and it does it’s intended job of highlighting sin in the lives of those listening, but ‘Christians’ leave because someone is identifying certain things that they do as ‘Sin’. Not sure what really set off the Romans when they heard Paul preach, but they had their fill and was not about to let it continue. So instead of ‘packing up their toys’ and leaving, they just thought they would incite trouble and kill the messenger. But you may ask, “How might this relate to us today?” Friends, Satan still does his best to interfere and/or stop the work of the Lord, and he uses the unsaved, and the weak, selfish, children of God to accomplish his work. We may have come far enough in our society that church goers might not grab the messenger of God, drag him outside and try to kill him, but they often allow Satan to use them in more cunning ways to destroy, or severely inhibit the work of the Lord in our churches and/or communities. Churches are closing their doors at a greater rate than most people could ever remember in history; Bible study and prayer has been kicked out of our schools; churches are in such discord that most pastors could only stand an average of 18 months on the job without their health being severely impacted.

Challenge……

I believe that our challenge today is simple, but yet very challenging. For those who have not surrendered their lives to the Master, I would challenge you to listen closely to the Spirit of God that might be encouraging and convincing you of your need of a Savior. Please don’t look at others who are trying to be Christ-like. When you make your decision to accept the call of God on your life, you will have an obligation to be like HIM, not like the ‘Christian’ you have known who appears to be a hypocrite. Each of us will be accountable to God for ourselves, and I’m pretty sure that an answer indicating that you tried real hard to be like Brother ‘Fred’ (who whomever) will not be acceptable to God. Yes, Christians should live their lives in a manner worthy of others following them, but our responsibility is always that we live like Jesus did. Now, to those of us that know that we are Christians, please let’s remind ourselves that Satan is still alive and working harder than ever to destroy the work of God. Furthermore, he is trying to use us to do his dirty work for him. Daily in the Word; Daily in prayer; Take time to worship with other believers; Encourage one another, and do not pull each other down; These are some of the attributes that will help us to stay strong in our faith. I have always heard “idle hands are the devil’s workshop”, and I believe that this is proven way too often. Make this your new, or renewed objective each day – to be more like Jesus in everything you say or do. Then, get into the Word (the Bible) so you can learn the ways of God and the things that Jesus said! You’ll find yourself praying for your pastor, instead of tearing him apart for every little thing!

Prayer……

Lord Jesus, it is amazing how little things have changed from the days of Paul’s persecution, to the wickedness that still destroys churches today. I pray that You will prick the hearts of Christians anytime we are tempted to follow the wishes of Satan rather than doing Your will and being Your imitators. Lord, it sometimes feel like we are losing the battle in winning the lost to You, and that way too often the world, or Satan, is winning Christians over to his army of evildoers and backbiters and destroyers of Your work. I am reminded that You are still very much in control and that these things happen to cull out the evil from Your churches, but Lord, please encourage those of us that look on these events as discouragement in the ministry. Please remind us to keep on task with our individual mission to draw closer to You every day, and to keep on witnessing to the unsaved, or fallen, so that they may catch a glimpse of You and gain a desire to know You in a personal way. Father, this is a mighty task in my eyes, but I am reminded that ALL things are possible with You, so I ask all this in that all powerful name of Your only Son, Jesus, my Lord, AMEN!

Action…..

In response to God leading You through this devotional today, please get with a Bible teaching Pastor you may know and allow him to guide you. Otherwise feel free to reply to my post online, or you may email me directly at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. I will gladly add you to my prayer list, and/or respond to your request(s) ASAP.