Bursting Into Songs of Thanksgiving!

On 2015-12-102015-12-10 By Ed AlgreenIn Praise, Prayer, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE – ⁷The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. ~ Psalm 28:7 ~ _{New Living Translation (NLT)}

THOUGHTS: David, the Psalmist, had such great results in his prayer life that he would often break into outbursts of praise, such as seen in this verse from Psalm 28. Was he always this pumped up about his prayer life? No, David was very much human, as we are, so he often became impatient, despondent and felt abandoned by God, especially when God’s timing and David’s immediacy was at odds. Friends, as we build solid relationships with God, perhaps we too may one day identify with the Psalmist in saying, Oh Lord…:

You are my strength – because so often I am overwhelmed by life and the circumstances that result from my being here. You help me to overcome and You give me strength to carry on;
You are my shield – for in every circumstance of life I am protected from the evil one, and you shield me from the wicked that would otherwise pull me down and destroy my witness;
I have learned to trust You – for you are my only constant in life. You are always there for me, and You love me enough to not answer all of my prayers in the manner in which I selfishly and ignorantly ask without any vision of tomorrow;
You help me – especially when I am weak, down and out. You have restored my faith in You and assured me of Your awesome power. You along are God!
I am so overwhelmed with Your goodness that – I can barely contain myself. My soul rejoices in the awesome God that I adore and serve, for You are God, and besides You, there is no other. I burst into thanksgiving right now as I reflect on Your goodness. Please help me to consistently thank and worship You, because even when I am weak, distraught and feel so far away from You, yet You are always there for me. Thank You Father! Thank You Lord Jesus for being my awesome and loving God!

Lord, may we daily burst into songs of thanksgiving as we recognize Your awesome power and love in our lives and through our walk with You. Lord, You are good and Your mercies endures forever!

PRAYER: Lord, may we daily burst into songs of thanksgiving as we recognize Your awesome power and love in our lives and through our walk with You. Lord, You are good, and Your mercies endures forever! You are so worthy of our praise, and we are so needy of our awesome, powerful, loving God. Thank You Lord Jesus! We are Your humble servants, so I ask these things in the name of our loving Savior and Lord, 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!

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!

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!

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!

How Christians Are To Avoid Heartaches

On 2015-08-042015-08-04 By Ed AlgreenIn Focused, Heaven, WorryLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Living Bible – Colossians 3:1-3): ¹Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power. ² Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here. ³ You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does. Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God.

THOUGHTS: When Christians worry, do you suppose it’s because we are worried that God will not do what He promised? When we doubt and stress out to the limit, do you suppose that we are concerned that God is unfaithful? When we feel unloved and like no one cares, do you suppose that we allow ourselves to ponder why God must have left us alone and no longer care about us? Friends, I believe that when we allow these types of feelings and/or thoughts to enter our minds, it’s because we have taken our eyes off Jesus and looking for the attention of earthly friends or loved ones. I believe it is times like these that Satan moves in for the attack, for he sees that we have taken our eyes off Jesus and allowing the distractions of this world to take hold in our lives. I would highly recommend these verses to all Christians today, for if we follow the advice in verse 2 and fill our thoughts with heaven – our future home, then we will be reminded that it is a place prepared just for us. A place where we will unite with Jesus at the foot of the cross and worship Him with unending praises. A place where we will hear the voice of the Father who will encourage us with words such as “well done good and faithful servant”! A place where the creator of love, especially love for you and I, will help us to appreciate His handiwork and find reasons to worship Him for it. A place where there will be no distractions, but instead attract our full undivided attention! I recently took a missions trip into another country, and we disconnected from cell phones for a week. Wow, what a release! Friends, I must remind you that we have allowed so much interference in our day that we not only lose sight of our one-on-one time with the Lord, but we also have lost sight of one-on-one time with our spouses, our children, our friends, our coworkers and all others. Is it any wonder that we have trouble evangelizing to them? If as verse 3 indicates, that our real life is in heaven, then I would dare say that our minds, our attention, our aim and our devotion should be there also. Does that describe you friend? If not, why not? Is this something you need to take time to talk with God about?

PRAYER: Lord God, we are such worry warts, but it’s always over things that really don’t matter – things of this world. Being reminded in this scripture that our minds are to be set on our heavenly home, and our time with You, we humbly come before You today asking for forgiveness for our misguided thoughts and worries. We realize that all these things do is distract us in our walk with You and our witness of You. For when we become solid in our faith and in our walk with You, we will influence those who follow in our steps. Lord I pray that You will do an awesome work in my life and in the lives of my readers, so that we might become healthy Christians focused on the ‘main thing’ – our heavenly home. I further pray that this new focus will have such an impact on others that Your name might be lifted high as Your children become better aligned with Your perfect will. I ask these things in the strong, mighty and holy name of Jesus, your Son and my Redeemer, AMEN!

How to Hear From God

On 2015-08-032015-08-03 By Ed AlgreenIn Obedience, RelationshipLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Century Version – Job 33:12-14): ¹² … God is greater than we are. ¹³ Why do you accuse God of not answering anyone? ¹⁴ God does speak—sometimes one way and sometimes another— even though people may not understand it.

THOUGHTS: I believe that one of the most challenging things we face today is very similar to what Old Testament folk faced in the days of Job, and that is, our claim to silence from God when we need Him. For Christians, I believe that we often feel like we have a puppet who must respond every time we tell God what to do. For non-Christians, I believe most feel like there is a God and that He should be available to even them, in spite of their distance from Him in all other aspects of their life. Friends, I believe that we must first be reminded of who created us and who is the only one that not only knows what we are going through, but also knows what will result in our lives at a later time. Furthermore, we must be reminded of who actually runs this universe. Let’s remember that the sun doesn’t just rise on a whim. The ocean tides do not just occur based on a timer set by some super scientist somewhere, but is intricately controlled by the Master who created the waters and decided how sea life would best survive with moving waters. Now, for a moment just think about mankind, knowing that God created us in His likeness, don’t you know that He is also concerned about our well-being and our ultimate happiness? Don’t you know that God is there with outstretched hands waiting to receive us when we call on Him? I know, you cry out to Him all the time, right? Well, as I indicated above He is not a puppet. So for you to hear from Him and commune with Him you must first of all recognize Him as God and develop a relationship with Him. This can be done through daily Bible study, and/or becoming intimately involved in a local church. In other words, draw close to Him and allow Him to draw close to you. Ways that you would hear from God would be through prayer; Bible study; a God inspired sermon; a God inspired Christian Brother or Sister; circumstances in your life, etc. God has proven His love for you and will continue to love on you and direct your path, if you give Him control and let Him have His way in your life.

PRAYER: Lord God, we have drifted so far away from You and into doing so much of life our own way, on our own time, and with no one’s help. Yet when things come to a screeching halt, we often feel like we could conveniently call on You. The trouble is, we have drifted so far away from You that we can’t hear Your response. I know that You are there Father, and I know that You hold all of the answers and the power to perform miracles much like the ones we read about in Your Word. I pray that my readers and I will draw close to You and build such relationships with You, that we will call on You in our times of need and in many times of praise and thanksgiving. I pray that we will develop such a relationship that we will clearly recognize Your voice and discern Your direction for our lives. Thank You for being my Master, my creator and my Lord! I ask these things in the wonderful and strong name of Jesus, AMEN!

Instruments To Be Used of God

On 2015-07-292015-07-29 By Ed AlgreenIn Humility, Instruments, SurrenderLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Message – Romans 11:16-18): ^16-18 Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, God-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there’s bound to be some holy fruit. Some of the tree’s branches were pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you are now fed by that rich and holy root gives you no cause to crow over the pruned branches. Remember, you aren’t feeding the root; the root is feeding you.

THOUGHTS: The scripture that includes the verses above is rich, for it reminds me that I must be careful that my faith and trust is so grounded in God that my life is a reflection of all that God shows Himself to be in His Word. I’ve heard folk say that a child is a branch off the old tree – meaning that the child reminds them so much of the parents that one can’t help knowing who the child belongs to. Friends, there is a God who loves us unconditionally and with such great love that He sacrificed His only Son for our benefit. When we surrender our lives to God and ask Him to be our God, and to live and work in and through us, we essentially ask Him to plant Himself steadfastly in us so that our lives might be a true reflection of Him. Paul explains in these verses that God is able to implant within us His Holy Spirit to guide and direct us – to make us holy – just as He is holy. However, we are immediately warned that when we recognize this added strength and wisdom, we are to never lose sight of where that new character comes from. It is the root, or strength of the Almighty that lives within us, and nothing that we ourselves can boast of. Friends, I believe that there is nothing more obvious to a non-Christian than a fake, or self-serving Christian living life in their own pride. We are what we become, only through the grace of God, and only because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Let us therefore learn to boast only of Him and give Him the glory for any accomplishments in and through our lives. It is only through the precious fruit that He implants in us and magnifies through us that result in our unsaved friends recognizing the source of our hope. It’s all about Jesus, friend. He is the root that supports our strength and feeds our growth. It’s Jesus that our unsaved friends need, not us. I pray that we will continue to be vehicles in which Jesus can travel as we come into contact with our friends and loved ones.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, Israel may have gotten cocky because of the manifold mercies You bestowed on them. I recognize that we may tend to get like that at times also, because for some reason we may feel like we have the power to save or touch lives that really need You. Thank You for reminding us through this scripture today, that we are only the branches that are plugged into the most powerful source available to mankind – the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ! Please help us to never boast of self, for we are nothing without our power source – Your sweet Holy Spirit. Please help us to always be available to be used of You, and never assume the leadership role hoping that You will jump on board our vehicle. Miracles, like that of new birth in the lives of our family and friends, will only be possible when You touch their lives, so please help us to take our rightful roles as Your instruments that can only work when the Master chooses to use us for His glory and His honor. People Need the Lord more today than ever before. May we be usable instruments in Your hands oh Lord. I ask this in faith and in the awesome and strong name of Jesus, AMEN!

Justice, Fairness and Righteousness

On 2015-07-272015-07-27 By Ed AlgreenIn Righteousness, Things God lovesLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Message – Amos 5:21-24): ^21–24 “I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

THOUGHTS: I have just returned from a trip into another world, it seems, so I hope that my view on the scripture that really spoke to me this morning will not be too slanted! It was good to step back from our busy world and enjoy the peace, obscurity, simplicity and humbleness of all that God provides for us, if only for a week. Yes, we missed the conveniences and pleasures of this world and all that we are blessed with in our modern world. However, after being reminded by Amos in this scripture today about how God must feel when we feel obligated to provide everything that our world demands, just so that they might listen to the gospel message, then I wonder how much of God we must truly portray to the world. In these few verses, God not only said what He was displeased with, but He also told us what would really make Him pleased: Oceans of justice; Rivers of fairness and a true, honest, one-on-one, heartfelt song to the Master. Sounds fairly simple right? Sounds like something we do almost every day, but at least once a week during our church service, right? Friends, I believe that God is just as anxious today, as He ever was, to hear from us personally with our praise and worship and not just to raise our hands and voices in worship when asked to do so by our worship leader. Think for a moment how thought provoking it is to prepare a day of celebration for a loved one’s birthday or anniversary, yet how little thought we put into preparing for our daily worship of God, or even our weekly corporate worship time. Yes, we really put time into planning what we will wear to church, but do we stop to ponder what all God has blessed us with during the week so that we might truly look full into His wonderful face and just worship Him with a thankful heart? One translation includes ‘righteousness’ (right-with-God) as a characteristic in verse 24 that God is looking for in His people. May I suggest that as we look for justice in God’s form, fairness in His example and righteousness sampled after His righteousness, that we will have no trouble lifting up holy hands and hearts in worship to our King in a manner acceptable to Him?

PRAYER: Lord God, You alone are holy, just, fair and righteous. You have blessed us with so much and shown us how to live this life imitating Your characteristics in every way, yet we so easily allow this world to sway our thoughts, our character and even our appreciation of You. Please forgive us for straying so far away from Your ideals and the example You set for us. Please help us to return to the basics of what You have taught us, what You have exampled for us and what You expect from us – as detailed in Your Word. May we learn to be more like You every day and in every way, is my humble prayer that I ask in the precious and holy name of Jesus, AMEN!

The Tender Compassionate Love of Our Father

On 2015-07-182015-07-18 By Ed AlgreenIn Accountability, AppreciationLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Hosea 11:3-5): ³ I took Israel by the arm and taught them to walk. But they would not admit that I was the one who had healed them. ⁴ I led them with kindness and with love, not with ropes. I held them close to me; I bent down to feed them. ⁵ But they trusted Egypt instead of returning to me; now Assyria will rule them.

THOUGHTS: I believe that one of the most antagonizing things that a parent can experience is: after bringing a child up in the fear of the Lord, loving that child and teaching them to honor and respect mankind, giving them an education to help them succeed in life, then for you to stand by and watch them throw it all to the wind and lead a life of crime, or unconcern for their fellow man. Imagine what that does to a parent. Imagine how God must feel when considering that He went the ultimate step of sacrificing His own life for our benefit, yet we brush it all aside and do our own thing without any regard for His reason for blessing us in unimaginable ways – His deep, sincere, unconditional love for us. This is what it sounds like Hosea was referring to in this scripture today, for God blessed Israel and then blessed her over and over again. In verse 4 I can picture how an earthly father would show only endless love for his child, and not in any way punish or revenge his child for the times they turned against him. Why at every opportunity, the dad would hold that dear child close to him, bend down so he could look the child in their eyes and feed them. Loads of evidence that not only earthly fathers pour out love for their children, but also a very clear indication that God’s love is at an even greater level. How are we doing in acknowledging the love of our heavenly Father? Do we show appreciation for His love by trying to be obedient followers, and by loving our earthly brothers and sisters in like form? Or are we as bad as Israel, in that we have learned nothing from their experience? Are we still as obstinate as they were? Are we OK with receiving the judgment of God that will ultimately be forthcoming for those who reject God and/or show total disregard for His Word and His commands? Friends, I want to encourage you to accept this precious love of our Father today. I want you to know without a shadow of doubt that He loves you just as much as expressed by Hosea in this scripture today. He will meet your needs, He will meet you wherever you are in life and He will feed you, if hungry; He will encourage you, if discouraged; He will be your constant guide, if you feel you are floundering; He will love you when you feel like no one else does. This is what He sacrificed His only dear Son for friend. Run to His open arms today. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin and total disregard for His love and sacrifice, and invite Him to be your Savior, Lord, King and eternal guide. Just make His day friend, and of course, make your everlasting eternity secure in Jesus!

PRAYER: Father, You showed such awesome love to Your chosen people of Israel, and we are thankful that we got to hear about and meditate on that awesome love today. We are also aware of that same unexplainable, unconditional, unending love for us, because we know ‘more of the story’, and the sacrifice You allowed on Calvary by Your very own Son, Jesus. Thank You Lord for Your Blessings on Me! Please touch this child with a desire to return that love through my obedience to You and through my love and service to others. Lord there’s a day coming when I’ll be presented to You. May my other readers striving to live this life of which I refer here, join me at Your throne and be blessed to hear “well done good and faithful servant”. Here on earth we call that ‘accountability’, Lord may we live our lives knowing that we are accountable to You, the King of all kings, the Savior of this world! I ask these things in the beautiful, strong and awesome name of Jesus, AMEN!

PLEASE NOTE: I will be out of town on a mission trip to be of service to our friends in Mexico during the week of July 19^th. I will not be able to publish these devotionals during that time. Please pray that God will use His servants, our group of 30, so that His children in this foreign land might be encouraged and drawn to Him through our honest and sincere representation of our Savior. May God be glorified in all things through our witness! I expect to resume these devotionals on Monday, July 27^th.

Oneness – So The World Might Know

On 2015-07-172015-07-17 By Ed AlgreenIn Disciple, Oneness, UnityLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (God’s Word Translation – John 17:20-23): ²⁰ “I’m not praying only for them. I’m also praying for those who will believe in me through their message. ²¹ I pray that all of these people continue to have unity in the way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be united with us so that the world will believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me. I did this so that they are united in the same way we are. ²³ I am in them, and you are in me. So they are completely united. In this way the world knows that you have sent me and that you have loved them in the same way you have loved me.

THOUGHTS: In this chapter Jesus prayed to His Father for His disciples and the church at large. In these verses He prayed in all sincerity that those who know Him (Christians) would be in such unity that the people to whom they speak (the unsaved world) would believe in Him and accept Him as the Savior of the world sent by God the Father. Friends, I often reflect on what the opposite effect might be if the will of the Father is not accomplished. That leads me into considering what happens to the ministry of Jesus Christ when children of God can’t agree – when they fight and bicker among themselves so much that the unsaved world wants no part of the confused mess they see occurring in and among churches. Is it any wonder sometime why we stop and ponder why our ministries are ineffective? It seems like even among ‘friendly’ denominations, we go out to minister in Jesus’ name, and wind up putting down another denomination. Oh my, friend, that is not a sign of ‘oneness’. When our job description dictates that we spread the love of God, and our lives reflect the joy of the Lord living inside of us, doesn’t that mean that we should be so busy praising and bragging on our Lord that there will be very little time or desire to reflect on the beliefs of some that we may not agree with? In fact, when I reflect on this prayer of Jesus and really gain the breadth and depth of His heart as He prays to His father, I see where He really wants us to reflect the ‘oneness’ that He portrays with His Father. There is no where in scripture that Jesus puts down His Father or speaks evil against Him or disagrees with Him. Instead, it is just the very opposite, for He respects the role of the Father in ultimately making decisions (especially about the second coming of Jesus), and He speaks as one and the same when conveying the truth and love of the gospel. So where do we get off at in being His follower, imitating Him in every way, yet being critical of fellow disciples who are working towards the same goal of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ? This type behavior or ministry will not serve the ultimate wish of Jesus in verse 21 when He prayed that we will go out and minister in such unity that the world (the unsaved) would know that God truly sent the One in whom we believe, and the One we are spreading Good News about. ‘Oneness’ points to us truly representing Jesus, who was sent and is representing His Father. Anything else tears down the ministry of Jesus Christ and promotes the intent and heart of Satan. I believe we all know what we should be busy doing today and every day of our life. Let’s get to work – unified in the Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ!

PRAYER: Father, please forgive us for our weakness in allowing so much of this world to indwell us and interfere in the ministry that You have aligned for us, and as these verses today reflect, that You have actually prayed for. Our lack of success in ministry is directly impacted by our disobedience to You and Your Word, and our selfish desire to tear down another while trying to promote our selfish goals. Reading these verses today causes me to seriously consider keeping these pinned in an obvious place for daily inflection, and as a guide towards my daily goal. Lord, I need Your power to overcome the desire to tear another down in order to promote self. May I ask that You grant me strength to overcome this weakness, but also to touch the heart of Your followers today and embed a deep desire within them to also do the same. Please strengthen and guide us towards ‘Oneness’ – the kind that You exampled before us in being ‘One’ with the Father. I ask this knowing that Your desire is that through our ‘Oneness’ the world will know that You were sent by the Father to save them. May this be accomplished today in and through your earthly representatives, for this is my pray that I ask in the name of Jesus, AMEN!

Nuggets From God's Word

Tag: Trust