Prepare for Praise and Worship!

On 2015-07-152015-07-15 By Ed AlgreenIn Heaven, Praise, Worship2 Comments

THE HOLY BIBLE (Contemporary English Version – Revelation 4:8-11): ⁸ …Day and night they never stopped singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the all-powerful God, who was and is and is coming!” ⁹ The living creatures kept praising, honoring, and thanking the one who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever. ¹⁰ At the same time the twenty-four elders knelt down before the one sitting on the throne. And as they worshiped the one who lives forever, they placed their crowns in front of the throne and said, ¹¹ “Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. You created all things, and by your decision they are and were created.”

THOUGHTS: If we were to give advice to an Olympic swimmer hopeful, it would be that they practice, practice and practice some more, right? So what if you were to give advice to a Christian who might be questioning what they could do to best prepare themselves for their eternal home in heaven? God has shared the above verses with us to give us a glimpse of what it will look like in heaven, our eternal destination. It seems like our preparation might be along the lines of constant praise and worship, to the Lord in whom we have placed our total trust, while here on earth. So how could we possibly prepare for such an awesome time as that? Perhaps like the Olympian swimmer, we should aim at practicing this praise and worship while still here on earth, and like the swimmer would try to improve his/her time, we too should look for ways to draw closer to God and express that closeness through our increased effort to lift up our praise and worship to our King. I believe that if I asked most Christians if they do a fair job at praise and worship already, I would probably receive some ‘canned’ responses, such as “yep, I attend worship services every weekend, and we have the best praise team in town”, or “we don’t need praise and worship at our church because our pastor is such a phenomenal preacher – we can just sit and listen to him endlessly”. I wonder sometimes if our first misconception of praise and worship, is that it can only occur inside a specific building at a specific time. Isn’t it amazing how we believe God is on duty to handle our prayer requests 24/7/365, yet our praise and worship to this same God is limited to specific times and places? Here’s something that Matthew Henry shared on this passage: All true believers wholly ascribe their redemption and conversion, their present privileges and future hopes, to the eternal and most holy God. Thus rise the for-ever harmonious, thankful songs of the redeemed in heaven. Would we on earth do like them, let our praises be constant, not interrupted; united, not divided; thankful, not cold and formal; humble, not self-confident. I believe that while here on earth we should learn to worship our King based on our heartfelt response to Him for His manifold blessings and in deepest sincerity and honesty to our Savior. This should not be something that is only turned on in time for our weekend services, but may our weekend services instead be filled with the overflow of our personal praise and worship to our King. May it not surprise God to see You lift up holy hands to him in church, or to hear you cry out in praise to Him during the church service, because He is so accustomed to seeing and hearing similar acts of praise and worship from you throughout the week. Friends, we are preparing for the greatest day in history, and to meet the awesome God who created mankind and everything in this world, let us be busy readying ourselves by doing all that we are should be doing here and now!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, it is so exciting to think about a time when we can bow before you with no external interruptions and just worship You as if no one else even exists. For those who are accustomed to lifting You up in praise and worship here on earth, this will be a natural transition. For those who depend on external resources to trigger their worship of You, they may find that they have missed out on an awful lot here on earth, and the idea of personal one-on-one worship may seem challenging. Lord, please open our hearts and our minds to be very aware of Your presence and Your unlimited blessings that You bestow on us daily. May it then come natural to us to burst into praise and worship of You, no matter where we are or who we are with. You deserve our praise today, and every day, as we move closer to the time when we will humble ourselves at Your feet in heaven. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever and forever! These things I ask in the name of Jesus, the name above ALL names, 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 might 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.

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!

Are You Ready To Be Presented To God?

On 2015-07-112015-07-11 By Ed AlgreenIn Prepared, ReadinessLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Good News Translation – Revelation 3:3-5): ³
Remember, then, what you were taught and what you heard; obey it and turn from your sins. If you do not wake up, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not even know the time when I will come. ⁴But a few of you there in Sardis have kept your clothes clean. You will walk with me, clothed in white, because you are worthy to do so. ⁵ Those who win the victory will be clothed like this in white, and I will not remove their names from the book of the living. In the presence of my Father and of his angels I will declare openly that they belong to me.

THOUGHTS: Before I can invite anyone to my home, I must get clearance from my wife, because she wants to make sure that our home is in order and presentable to our guests, without creating embarrassment to her! If auditors are preparing to come into my workplace, we spend time getting everything in order, so that we might obtain best results from their audit, and look good in their sight. In these verses today, Jesus is declaring that some in His church will be presented proudly to His Father because He is proud of how well they are doing in staying clear of, or clean from, sin. Friends, I want to reiterate that these verses are referring to the ‘CHURCH’ at Sardis, not the marketplace. Please be reminded that going to church will not save you from the pits of Hell, even though church attendance is the best thing you can do. Hanging out with the right friends (even Godly friends) might be very pleasing to your parents, but their goodness, or even their Christianity, will not rub off on you and clear the way for you to be accepted in Heaven, even though they may influence you towards accepting Jesus as your Savior. Now for those who have accepted Jesus as Lord, I must ask, as a result of this passage, are you ready, or do you feel like you will be a good candidate for Jesus to include in His parade and be bubbling with pride to present you to His Father? Are you ashamed of anything that you would rather get straight before feeling comfortable for Jesus to do this? Jesus said He will come unannounced – like a thief in the night. This means that you will not have time to further prepare, or to clean up your act, or better align yourself with Him. This means that we must remain in a state of readiness – our lives always clean and presentable to Him. Here on earth we burst with pride when we are lifted up by family, when recognized by our employer, or bragged on by friends. Can you even imagine the unbelievable pride that will fill our hearts when Jesus, the resurrected Savior of the world, presents us to His Father – God, and He tells Him how proud He is of you and how well you kept the faith, obeyed His commands and represented Him so well while living here on earth, even among the temptations of sin and evil? I tell you what, I cannot think of prouder moment that could ever be my fortune. How is it with you friend? Got a few things that you need to work on today? Remember, Jesus could come today!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You provided the sacrifice and the means by which we could be saved. You promised to be our protector and strength so that we might live life pleasing to You, yes even among the evil of this world and its leader, Satan. Unfortunately we are a people who love to procrastinate, so we often feel like there will be time for us to seek forgiveness and depend on You – later. This is a deceit of Satan, because You have declared that no man knows the day or the hour of Your return, so Lord Jesus, I pray that You will allow Your Word to penetrate the hearts of Christians who are playing with sin, and I pray that You will penetrate the hearts of those who feel like they can wait for the trumpet call before surrendering their lives to You. Please help us to be a people ready for Your return, even if it happens today. May our lives always be pleasing in Your sight and may we be presentable before You and by You oh Lord. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus, AMEN!

Be Faithful Until The End

On 2015-07-102015-07-10 By Ed AlgreenIn Faithful, Obedience, The EndLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Revelation 2:25-27): ²⁵ But until I come, you must hold firmly to the teaching you have. ²⁶ I will give power over the nations to everyone who wins the victory and keeps on obeying me until the end. ²⁷ I will give each of them the same power that my Father has given me.

THOUGHTS: My daily devotional scripture plan takes me into the depths of the Old Testament and into the light and glory of the New Testament. Often it amazes me how God uses the Old Testament reading to tie into the reading in the New Testament! Today was one of those cases, for I highlighted Daniel 12:13 because I was touched by God telling Daniel not to be overly concerned about everything that he saw in his visions, but to “be faithful until the end! You will rest, and at the end of time, you will rise from death to receive your reward”. Moving then to the New Testament reading I saw in verse 25 of Revelation 2, that until Jesus returns to take us home with Him, we are to hold firmly to the teachings given to us. In other words, be faithful until the end. Friends, please be careful, for these are times that Satan is trying every distraction in his book of tricks to derail Christians. He can’t stand the idea of us influencing his team of unbelievers in Christ. I believe that if God is concerned enough about us being faithful to Him until the end, them He must be concerned that there will be many things that will distract us along the way. Can you think of a few right off the top? Political views and stands is a huge distractor for the Christian, as we are taught in the secular world, and even the church, that we should vote and be a part of the decision making for our respective countries. Very important stand, but how can we remain faithful to the Word of God even among the filth and dirt that stigmatizes politicians? How can we take a stand in politics, yet remain neutral so that we can promote God to everyone that needs Him, regardless of what side of the fence they stand on in politics? This is just one of many issues that come along and often places a divide in God’s church and totally distracts the needed trust for us to be a witness to ALL that we come into contact with. Many of the other distractors you may have given thought to, might be equally as destructive. My take on the verse in Daniel, and the verses in Revelation is that we are to remain faithful in our relationship with God and hold firmly to His teachings. Everything else that occupies our minds, our hearts and our busy lives, are all distractors. Only God can change this sinful world, we are called to serve Him, obey Him and worship Him, not to do His job in trying to change the world. Let’s be careful that we remain faithful until the Master comes!

PRAYER: Dear God, I am so thankful that You gave of Yourself so that I might look forward to life eternally with You! I thank You for Your Word and how applicable it is to our lives right now. You knew that distractions would come our way, so You placed warnings in Your Word so that we might be alerted to these distractions. You have not only shown us how to best deal with these distractions, but You have also made promises about our rewards, if we remain faithful to You. My readers and I live in a world where there are so many distractions. I know that this is not a secret to You, but we need You Lord. We want to remain faithful, even though there are times that we must take a stand based on the values You have taught us. Please help us to never destroy our witness, because I believe that You would always want us to promote and lift up the name of Jesus with a clear conscience and without the possibility of having a finger pointed back at us by those we should be witnessing to. You must be first in all we do. If in marriage – You must be first; If in parenting – You must be first; If in working secular jobs – You must be first; If involved in our community – it must be obvious that You are first in our lives; If there is a need for us to become involved in the leadership of our churches, city, state or country, then it must be obvious that we first represent You, and it is for Your sake, Your glory and Your agenda that we are involved/taking a stand. Please help us to always be conscious of this as we serve You, love You, worship You and lift You up each day. For I ask this in the deepest honor, and respect of You oh Lord, and in the precious name of Your Son Jesus, AMEN!

The Immediacy of Prayer

On 2015-07-072015-07-07 By Ed AlgreenIn Humility, PrayerLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Daniel 9:20-23): ²⁰I was still confessing my sins and those of all Israel to the Lord my God, and I was praying for the good of his holy mountain, ²¹when Gabriel suddenly came flying in at the time of the evening sacrifice. This was the same Gabriel I had seen in my vision, ²² and he explained: Daniel, I am here to help you understand the vision. ²³ God thinks highly of you, and at the very moment you started praying, I was sent to give you the answer.

THOUGHTS: I was touched by the words that I bolded in verse 23, for several reasons: 1). Notice with me that God sent Gabriel to give Daniel the answers to his prayers before he even asked for anything! Gabriel said that at the very moment Daniel began to pray, God sent him with the answer for Daniel! 2). Notice the content of Daniel’s prayer, compared to many of our prayers today. His prayer was about seeing God glorified and the people of the city forgiven. There was nothing geared towards self, other than asking forgiveness for his sin that he was confessing. I am well aware of the importance of Daniel in prophecy; in the writer of a very important book in the Old Testament; and in his close communion with God. But friends, I am reminded that we also are of equal importance to God. Just imagine: He saw our temptations coming; He saw our weakness towards sin itself and the sinful things of this earth; He knew that we would need lots of help overcoming evil and that we would struggle big time to ever make it into the glories of heaven, so He sent His very only Son to be born among us, live among us and face the same challenges that we face, but then to also die a very challenging death, all so that we might know that He went to the extreme to show His love for mankind. God did all this knowing that we would need to know about this kind of sacrifice in order to make it into heaven to be with Him. It’s like He ‘spoon fed’ His gift of salvation to us, knowing that all we have to do is like Daniel: acknowledge our sin; humble ourselves and pray for His forgiveness; and receive Him as our Lord and Savior – this ultimately being the only means of us getting into heaven to be with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Try reading this chapter friend, see and understand the heart of Daniel, and see how responsive God was to his humility, his prayer and the sincerity of his heart. This is the same God that we know, and have access to today! He’s not dead! He’s still alive and loves us with that same kind of love today! I believe He patiently waits for us to surrender our weak selves to Him, ask Him for His help from a heart of unselfish love and dedication towards the unsaved world and towards the ongoing glory of God, and His purpose here on this earth. Where do you stand friend? Are you so hung up on self that you have no time to plead with God about His concerns? If so, you may be way too distracted from the ‘real thing’! Seek God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you!

PRAYER: Dear God, You are awesome! Like Daniel, we too are weak and desperately in need of Your touch on our city, our state and our nation. We too yearn for a day when our people will praise Your holy name because of who You are, and not because of what You might do for us individually. Help us to seek Your face without placing our selfish desires before You. We are a blessed people. Please help us to always honor and praise the originator of those blessings and seek to worship and praise You through every means we can conjure up, and on every occasion accessible to us. I acknowledge that You are God, and You are so worthy of our continual praise. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever! These are my petitions and my offerings of praise oh Lord, may Your holy name be lifted up today, for I ask all this in and through the name of Your Son, Jesus, AMEN!

Ready or Not, Here He Comes!

On 2015-07-062015-07-06 By Ed AlgreenIn Heaven, Readiness, RessurrectionLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Good News Translation – Revelation 1:4-8): ⁴ ….Grace and peace be yours from God, who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits in front of his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world. He loves us, and by his sacrificial death he has freed us from our sins and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father. To Jesus Christ be the glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. ⁷ Look, he is coming on the clouds! Everyone will see him, including those who pierced him. All peoples on earth will mourn over him. So shall it be! ⁸ “I am the first and the last,” says the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come.

THOUGHTS: Many of us react to warnings a whole lot differently to others. Some of us go overboard in stashing supplies to see us through a predicted storm, or natural disaster, while some of us travel hundreds of miles to escape the fury of a storm. Some of us are procrastinators and will wait until the 11^th hour to truly believe the weatherman, while others act on first warnings and take appropriate action based on the credentials of the weatherman. John took the first few verses of this book to explain his credentials so that we might not only hear his words, but trust the source from which we are hearing them. Jesus came to this earth through His miraculous birth to a virgin, and John is warning us that He will come again in miraculous form – from the clouds. Friends, this same Jesus that we have studied about in the rest of the Bible, He was before all time, He is with us today, yet He WILL return to collect His chosen ones, His bride (the church – the collective body of believers who have sincerely accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior). Yes we are being warned that we are in our last days of preparation, for He will return to take His children home to be with the Father and Himself for all eternity very soon. This leaves us with a sense of urgency to not only insure that we are ready for the ‘trip of a lifetime’, but also to reach out to all those we love, and to make sure that they are ready for the ‘trip’. Friends, the warning is clear, and everything is in place for the eminent return of our Lord. Are you ready? Will you be among the number that He will take with Him into glory? I made reference to a song last week “And oh, what a glorious day“, but this might only be glorious for those who will rise to accompany our Savior and Lord. For others this will be a day of horror, for they procrastinated way too long and thought they would wait to hear the trumpet sound. You CAN trust in God’s Word friend, so please heed to its truth and to its warnings. John shared this with us on good authority, there’s no need to go to the halls of the best libraries to research whether this could be for real. This is not brand new news that John is telling us about here, for it has been pointed to throughout the Good Book, God’s Word.

PRAYER: Dear Father, You have provided Your precious Word to reveal Yourself to us. You have told us about the special provision in and through Your only Son, and You have today warned us about how He will come back soon to take the prepared saints home to glory to spend eternity with Jesus and You. The alternative is not good at all Lord, so I am especially concerned about my family and friends who have taken the warnings to date very lightly. Noah looked out of the windows of the ark and encountered the dreadful sight of his friends suffering because of lack of belief and change. I sincerely pray that You will intercede Heavenly Father in the lives of those we love and respect, so that we would never witness the drastic results of their lost and uncaring condition. May You become so real in their lives today Heavenly Father, that their eyes might be opened and decisions made to accept Your plan of salvation for their lives. May today be the day Oh God. I humbly ask all this is the awesome name of Jesus, the risen Lord and the provider of all things, 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!

Persistent Faith Leads To Victory!

On 2015-07-032015-07-03 By Ed AlgreenIn Faith, Overcomers, Persistence, VictoryLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Contemporary English Version – Daniel 6:19-23): ¹⁹ At daybreak the king got up and ran to the pit. ²⁰ He was anxious and shouted, “Daniel, you were faithful and served your God. Was he able to save you from the lions?” ²¹ Daniel answered, “Your Majesty, I hope you live forever! ²² My God knew that I was innocent, and he sent an angel to keep the lions from eating me. Your Majesty, I have never done anything to hurt you.” ²³ The king was relieved to hear Daniel’s voice, and he gave orders for him to be taken out of the pit. Daniel’s faith in his God had kept him from being harmed.

THOUGHTS: I love that old hymn “Faith is the Victory“, for one line in that hymn states “Faith is the victory that overcomes the world”. This is the kind of faith that Daniel demonstrated. He and his companions had earlier been cast into a pit of fire because of their conviction to not eat the king’s food, but came out unscathed. Later, Daniel’s very jealous peers had a law enacted to trap Daniel into a definite arrest by the king. However, Daniel had a commitment to worship His God and that included praying to God at least three times per day. This led to his arrest and being thrown into a den of hungry lions. By this time in the king’s relationship with Daniel, he had gained confidence in Daniel’s God and therefore prayed that God would protect Daniel from the lions that he had him thrown into! Of course, it was a time of glorious praise when it was discovered next morning that God responded to the prayers of the king and Daniel by protecting him, even among very hungry lions. I believe where God got my attention in this story, and the area that I would like to challenge my readers on is: How secure or solid are we in our faith? Peter had enough to walk on water; Moses had enough to stand at the river’s edge and believe that he could lead thousands of people across to the other side without danger; Daniel had enough to be persistent in his actions of food choice and in his prayer habits to know that in all things he could bless the name of the Lord – whether in the fire pit or in the pit of lions. I was challenged to consider where I am in my level of faith, and I want to challenge you to consider the same question friend. Jesus said that if we have the tiniest little bit (the size of a pin head – a mustard seed) we could move even mountains. I believe that our ‘mountains’ are as pin heads (mustard seeds) to God. But do we have the faith to place our needs and concerns solidly in His hands and the faith to believe that “all things are possible with God”? I see no reason why we shouldn’t friend! For He has proven over and over in His Word that He is able! Why don’t we let Him be God in our circumstances today? We can celebrate with way more fireworks of praise than anyone in our country can for Independence Day this weekend!

PRAYER: Lord God, You’ve created the heavens, the earth and each human being. You provided a written account of all that You have blessed our early ancestors with and the miracles performed in their lives, just to show us that You care about Your children and that You would move mountains, if necessary, in order to display Your miraculous works. With so much to support our reason to have faith in You, yet we doubt at times. “Oh ye of little faith” is what you must constantly say to us weaklings, just as You said to Peter when He took His eyes off You. Please touch Your children once again with the miracle of life, healing, overcoming government oppression and overall confidence that You are still God and that You are still in control. Often things seem so out of control, that I believe we become depressed and feel defeated, as if You must have stepped away. Unfortunately, these may be times that You are challenging us to look inside and see if we have stepped away from our faith in You. Oh what a wretched people we are, for we are so often challenged to keep our eyes fixed on You and the wonder of our awesome God. Please forgive us oh Lord, and give us strength, power and will to keep our eyes fixed on You, in spite of what might be going on around us. You alone are God, and we are not. May we give You the rightful place in our lives today, is my humble prayer that I ask in the powerful name of my most awesome Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, 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 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!

Who’s In Charge?

On 2015-07-012015-07-01 By Ed AlgreenIn Humility, King, RulerLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – Daniel 4:34-35): ³⁴ “I praise and honor God Most High. He lives forever, and his kingdom will never end. ³⁵ To him the nations are far less than nothing; God controls the stars in the sky and everyone on this earth. When God does something, we cannot change it or even ask why.”

THOUGHTS: As a little background, King Nebuchadnezzar was an obstinate king who acted like his leadership and input in his kingdom had resulted in the best kingdom around. God started dealing with him through his dreams, and provided an interpreter (Daniel) to help the king understand what the dreams meant. The second dream came to fruition, and caused the king to be humbled to eating grass like an animal. When the king was finally brought to his senses, he recited the prayer included in the verses above. The prayer reminds me of the importance of humbling ourselves to pray, or asking for help. Imagine how challenging it is for us to acknowledge that we need help. Now think about how we feel when we humble ourselves to ask for help. Now put yourself in the shoes of the king, who had everything and acted like his kingdom would go to ruins without him – in other words it existed because of him, and he admired it as a great accomplishment of himself alone. Don’t you know that there was a deep humbling of this king to be taken from his palace – to the hills, and to eat grass like an animal? Friends, as we meditate on this man’s prayer following his eye-opening experience, I believe it is clear to note that his life was deeply impacted. I believe that it is clear to also note that there was one big thing that stood in the way of this happening prior to this experience, and that was the king’s pride and promotion of ‘self’. This leaves one huge question for us to ask ourselves daily – who’s in charge of our lives? Do we allow God to take control, or do we try to do life our way and only call on God when we’re in trouble? Are we a usable instrument to God, or are we hanging on so tightly to the things of this world that we love, that He is held at bay? 2 Chronicles 7:14 makes it clear that if we are to see God actively work in our lives, our families, our cities and our country, then we must humble ourselves, seek His face and be willing to totally surrender to His perfect will and way in our lives, so that He may heal the effects of sin in our lives, and that He may rule and reign in all areas of life so that He may be lifted up, exalted and work through us to achieve His purposes. Who reigns in your life friend? Will you commit today to allow God full control?

PRAYER: Dear God, please teach us to be humble, for without this characteristic our actions and submission to you appear nothing more than an appearance of Christianity. We need You in charge of our lives, our families, our churches and our country, for you alone holds the key to our eternity. Please forgive us for getting in the way and feeling like our role is more important than Yours. You have given us strict instructions of what You require of us, by providing Your Word as a light unto our path. By inviting You to rule and reign in our lives, may we learn to be humble, willing and obedient children through whom You can accomplish Your work without hindrance from us. May we be the kind of instruments that You can mold into Your perfect image, and may we be willing to be used of You to fulfill Your kingdom here on this earth. We are Your children oh Lord, and You are our Savior, Deliverer and soon coming King. Use us as You see fit to accomplish Your desires for this old sinful world in which we live. I ask all this in full surrender to Your will, and in the strong 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 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!

Emergency Preparations – While You Wait

On 2015-06-302015-06-30 By Ed AlgreenIn Preparation, Readiness, Ready, WarningLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (Contemporary English Version – 2 Peter 3:10-15): ¹⁰ The day of the Lord’s return will surprise us like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a loud noise, and the heat will melt the whole universe. Then the earth and everything on it will be seen for what they are. ¹¹ Everything will be destroyed. So you should serve and honor God by the way you live. ¹² You should look forward to the day when God judges everyone, and you should try to make it come soon. On that day the heavens will be destroyed by fire, and everything else will melt in the heat. ¹³ But God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth, where justice will rule. We are really looking forward to that! ¹⁴ My friends, while you are waiting, you should make certain that the Lord finds you pure, spotless, and living at peace.
¹⁵ Don’t forget that the Lord is patient because he wants people to be saved….

THOUGHTS: Friends, if we were to receive warnings today that a hurricane was approaching the coast of Florida, or perhaps in your case some other natural disaster approaching the area in which you live, don’t you know that everyone will be franticly buying food supplies to see them through a possible time of power outages, or perhaps buying hardware items to help protect earthly belongings? As I read this passage of scripture this morning, I believe God wanted me to share with you a similar warning that He spoke through His New Testament writer to us. For these verses offer warnings to us that our time here on earth is drawing to a close, as this old earth is dissolved away. You see, we are in a time of preparation at this time, for what we do with our time now will determine what happens to us when the events of verse 11 takes place. Note that there is a distinct difference between what happens in the warnings we receive today from meteorologists and what Peter declares in our captioned verses. In the latter, we see no doubt as to what will happen – it is a sure thing that we know in advance, and have time to prepare for its ultimate fruition. When natural disasters are predicted today, there are lists of items available to us that might help us to be better prepared for the impending effects of the disaster. God used a similar format through His servant Peter, and I have bolded the preparation actions that Peter gave to us. Here’s what we are told to do in preparation for the times that will come:

Search out Jesus and accept Him as Lord of your life – Yes, I know this is not verbalized in the verses above, but friend there is no way that any of the warnings will be real to you, nor would any of the bolded actions apply to you, if you are not a child of God. You will be the primary objective of Satan, as you are today, and your destination is already set – in the pits of Hell. These preparation items only apply to those who expect to see Jesus, because of firm decisions to accept Him while here on earth;
Serve and honor God in the way you live – The joy and peace that’s inside of you will be externalized through the things that you say or do;
Live in expectation and excitement about the Day of The Lord – the day of His return – the day He comes to take you with Him!
Live pure and spotless before God and at peace with your fellow man – in other words, live as Jesus exampled for us.

Don’t you know that these are items that should be placed prominently before us each day so that we might constantly work on our preparation list for that great and wonderful day? Can you say today, even so Lord Jesus, come today? You should be in that kind of state of readiness friend, because it could be today that He will return to take His bride away with Him! I would love to help you make sure that you are ready for the events referred to in this devotional, please read my ‘Footnote’ and feel free to contact me if there is anything that you would allow me to help you with.

PRAYER: Thank You for the warnings Heavenly Father. The information shared in these verses today are way more critical than any report we might receive from our meteorologists this season. Please help us to take our preparation time very seriously, and ready ourselves for that great day of happy reunion with You in heaven. Help us to be busy in firming up our preparation plans and stand in a state of readiness for Your soon return. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon His face…. This is an exciting day that Christians live in anticipation of! Lord, may we not disappoint You in any of the things we might say or do as we live our lives this side of heaven, for we know that our words and actions will reflect the one who controls us. I pray that all of my readers can say without a doubt that greater is He that is in us than He that is in this old sinful world! It’s You I live for, everyday oh God. Fill me with Your joy, love, hope and happiness. For I ask all this in the strong 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 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!

No Fear of The Day of Judgment

On 2015-06-242015-06-24 By Ed AlgreenIn Day of Judgment, Faith, Hope, LoveLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Living Translation – 1 John 4:16-19): ¹⁶ ….God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. ¹⁷ And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the Day of Judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. ¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. ¹⁹ We love each other because he loved us first.

THOUGHTS: If we are faced with a court case, we will no doubt live in fear of the outcome, especially on the day that the Judge concludes the case and issues the sentence. If we are summoned to the boss’s office at work, our natural tendency is to well up in fear, as our first reaction is to question in our minds if we have done anything wrong. In our daily walk here on earth, whether we know Jesus personally or not, we live in hopes that our lives would not be in vain, but instead, a blessing to someone else. For those who have invited Jesus into their heart, we live each day praying that we would please God in the way that we live, in total harmony with Him, and in total obedience to all that He has commanded in His Word. John summarizes this for us in these verses today, by saying that we must live in love, for as we do, we will live in the image of God, who loved us sacrificially and unconditionally, in spite of who we were in character and entrenched in sin. When we make it our mission to live like Jesus taught us, our love becomes more perfect (more like the love expressed by Jesus, and expected by Him of us). And when this occurs, we live with a clear conscience and without fear of the Day of Judgment when we stand before Jesus. You see, ‘Judgment’ can result in one of two types of emotion for us: Gladness/happiness/joy as we are declared ‘not guilty of the crime, or sin; or sadness/disappointment/rejection/fear as we are found guilty of the crime, or sinful and without a Savior. So friends, we do have a choice – do nothing about your eternal salvation and be found guilty of sin – without a Savior – with the advanced knowledge that our sentence is eternity in Hell with Satan; OR we can say ‘Yes’ to Jesus, live in obedience to His Word, expressing love to all those we come into contact with and representing the King of all kings in everything we do and say – with a known sentence of eternity in Heaven with Jesus where we will worship and adore Him and His Father (God) forever and forever, amen!! The choice seems obvious to me, but my sole reason in sharing these devotionals each day is in hopes that Jesus will touch the heart of my readers so that you also might come to know Him intimately/personally and therefore live the rest of your life in Hope! In a state of constant celebration and in joyous anticipation of our Judgment Day when we stand for the King. Make it right friend, and make it today, while you are still able to.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, Your Word is very powerful! As You have touched my heart today and spoken to me through Your written Word, please also impact the lives of those that will be led to this devotional that I have shared under Your direction. May Your children be Your children – a splitting image of You in every way – especially in our love for others. However, there will be some who will read this who may be trying to live life on their own and love others as just the right humanly thing to do. Please tender their hearts today oh Lord and help them to see You – the originator of perfect love. May they realize that they too can become Your child if they choose to surrender themselves wholeheartedly to You. May this be the day of great decisions oh Lord, and may all glory be offered up to You for the great work that You will accomplish, because of Your Word being shared. I ask all this in perfect faith and in the name of Jesus, my Savior, AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or 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 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!

Let Faith Direct Our Lives

On 2015-06-202015-06-20 By Ed AlgreenIn Confidence, Faith, TrustLeave a comment

THE HOLY BIBLE: Since we are surrounded by so many examples ⌊of faith⌋, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially sin that distracts us. We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up. We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith….. (‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1-2‬ GW)

THOUGHTS: I believe that these verses are telling us that faith is a tried and proven characteristic that we can build our lives on, in confidence. Often when we are dare try something new, we may have to go on faith believing on the everlasting God to direct our path and take care of us through various circumstances. That kind of faith is supported by a believer’s first-hand experience with the Father. The faith referred to here in our scripture today is a proven faith by our ancestors, and is one that we could bank on, or depend on, or confidently follow. As parents, and based on our experiences, we give lots of advice to our children, and we demonstrate life principles before them that they can follow, or at least take note of. This is the type faith demonstrated by those who have gone on before us. Think about Moses when he ran out of desert and only had the Red Sea ahead of him. He was leading thousands of people who were still doubtful of His leadership. He was under a lot of pressure to keep them safe, but through His faith in the God who first freed him and his people from slavery in Egypt, in continued faith, he followed God’s instructions and saw the miracle of the waters parting to make possible what man thought was impossible. This is just one example of what faith can do friends! However, we have access to the same strong hand of the same God who miraculously parted the Red Sea, knowing that He is as powerful today as He has ever been, and He is as effective in our ‘mountains/problems/challenges/’ as He has ever been in the past. For those of us who have a personal relationship with this awesome God, we know that we must simple surrender to the mighty works of His hand, and in faith, stand by to watch Him perform His mighty works. For my readers who may not know about this faith of which I speak, may I encourage you to read my Footnote for help on how to know my Friend, my Savior, in a personal and intimate way. It is only then that you will receive power to have the kind of faith of which I speak – one that You will then be willing to place your trust and obedience in. It’s your move friend. What will you do with Jesus?

PRAYER: Thank You for Your all-powerful hand dear Father. Thank You for loving me enough to welcome me into your family, and for giving me faith to believe in You and follow Your will and Your way for my life. Lord, You are well aware of the major challenges that face this audience today, and in the minds of many, these problems may seem larger than the challenge that Moses faced at the Red Sea. However, I am confident that Your promise to never leave us alone, and to meet our needs are as relevant today as when You first declared it in Your Word. Father, there is nothing in this world that can comfort us and give us confidence about our future, but I know who holds the future and who holds my hand through every circumstance of life, so I renew my faith in You and look forward to all that You will do in my life for Your ultimate glory! Please touch every reader of this devotional today and reassure them of Your power and the confidence that is theirs as they trust wholeheartedly in You. I ask all this in the all powerful name of Jesus, my Savior and my King, in faith, 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 http://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!

Nuggets From God's Word

Tag: Trust