Tag: Undeserved favor

About God’s Undeserved Favor

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Salvation, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Monday, 2022-10-03
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Ephesians 2:4-9
TRANSLATION: GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

BIBLE TEXT: 4 But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. 5 We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness that saved you.) 6 God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. 7 He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. 8 God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. 9 It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it.

APPLICATION: Please allow me to open your eyes of reasoning today. Think about the reason God made us. The Bible is clear that we were made in the image of God – perfect in every way and designed to live lives patterned after the example of Jesus Christ. However, we were privileged to have been given our own free will to decide if we will follow the commands of God and the example of Jesus Christ. Because of the tug that Satan has on residents of planet earth, he makes it a very tough decision for humans, because he wants the privilege of eternal torture in hell for as many as he could sway. But get this, dear friend, God not only showed us how to overcome Satan’s sway and avoid sin – disobedience to the commands of God, but He sent us His Son, Jesus, to be our Savior, or rescuer from sin, to all who ask for forgiveness and show a renewed desire to go to heaven. This was a gift that we didn’t deserve, but in His love for His creation, God provided this solitary, simple but sacrificial channel of forgiveness for those who ask for it. Isn’t that pretty much the type of grace that God shows to us every day? He is all-powerful and all-seeing, so He knows when we choose to ignore His goodness, His provisions and His perfect design for us. However, He still has such an undying, unbelievable love for us, that He puts His all into helping us remain pure and righteous, just as He is. Paul was challenged when he found the Ephesian church so far away from the design God had in mind for them. But today we have not learned from what Jesus taught us in His Word, nor from the experiences relayed in in His Word. We still insist on doing things ‘our way’, without any regard for what God dictated in His Word for our guidance. Do we have room to question God when we encounter disaster after disaster and see every appearance of being forgotten by a holy and righteous God? Friends let’s always remember that unless we invite Jesus to be our Savior and Lord, we have turned our heads away from His commands and His love for us. When we do this, we are saying ‘no thanks’ to the goodness of God and choosing to ‘wing it’ on our own, and at the pleasure of the Evil One. If you remember nothing else from my devotional today, please remember that God still wants you to know that He cares for you and will accept your request for salvation, if you are given the opportunity while alive. I had a 19-year-old friend found dead in her bed over the weekend, so that ‘IF‘ is bolded for your very special and urgent attention. Don’t delay precious friend, ask Jesus to come into your heart today, before it is eternally too late.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: I am forever thankful for the words ‘But God’, for it reassures me that God will do everything possible to move me beyond the sin of this world and the disappointments that arise every day because of sin.

PRAYER: Thank You heavenly Father for going the extra mile so that I could be saved from the ravishes of sin. Thank You for providing and sacrificing Your very own Son to settle the debt for my stubborn and sinful life. I pray that my readers and listeners will open their hearts and lives to accepting Your offer of salvation and forgiveness of their sin. Stir the hearts of the unsaved today, Lord. May they happen across this devotional and understand its intent as foretold by Paul to the church at Ephesus. Soften their hearts to accept Your call on their lives, for I’m sure that You are saddened by their rejection every day that goes by. May this be the day of salvation for many, I pray. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

God’s Undeserved Favor

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

DATE POSTED Sunday, 2022-04-24
WRITTEN AT: Citra, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Corinthians 1:4-5; 7:9;
TRANSLATION: Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

BIBLE TEXT: 4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace that he has given you through Christ Jesus. 5 In him you have been blessed in every way. You have been blessed in all your speaking and all your knowledge.
 7 Now you have every gift from God while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to come again. 8 He will keep you strong until the end so that on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, you will be free from all blame. 9 God is faithful. He is the one who has chosen you to share life with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

APPLICATION: Paul was overwhelmed that a church, such as the one at Corinth, who had not been very faithful at all, yet it was now evident that they had been graced by God, and it showed in their demeanor and in their love of him and others. Often in today’s churches, we seem to think that those who are graced by God’s favor, are the real religious ones. But I believe that God specifically chose to be glorified through the Corinthians so that it was obvious that it was His grace at work in them. Ever got disappointed when you attended a new church and discovered that it was just an ordinary kind’a looking guy who stood in the pulpit to bring the sermon for the day? Yet by the time he concluded his teaching and preaching you were floored at the amazing way that God used him! My mind goes back to a Father’s Day, when a layman was elected to bring the Word at church that day. He had no seminary training, he was seldom involved in teaching around the church, but because of his relationship with his Master, He opened himself up as God’s messenger for that day. It was evident that God’s grace was all over that man that day, for many left that service totally blessed by God and overwhelmed by His grace to His humble servant chosen to represent Him that day. Perhaps you might recall a time when you were challenged to visit a faithful member of the church who you always looked up to in their faith and knowledge of the Lord and His Word. You may have been humbled to make the visit, but you were probably exceedingly nervous about going to minister to them. I hope that you may have left that home, or hospital bed, that night feeling overwhelmed by the grace of God that overshadowed you and filled you during your visit. A time that I felt used of God, was in agreeing to teach a Sunday School class in a large church I attended. You see, I allowed Satan to make me nervous about ministering to a group that contained many retired missionaries and pastors. Not long afterwards I remember a missionary complimenting me for teaching that past Sunday. I then realized that when God gives us an opportunity to represent Him, we have no need to become nervous, for if He calls us to it, He will guide us and give us the wisdom to make it through that job in a way pleasing to Him. I was awaken to the fact that when we are called by the Master, we should humble ourselves before the Great I Am, and not worry about the accolades from our role models that may be in the class that day. There are words in a song that I love to sing ‘Jesus loves even me’! You see, we may put so much pressure on being perfect, that we overlook the fact that the only Perfect One is the one guiding us and giving us the opportunity to be His hands and His feet here on earth. Let’s learn to soak in His grace and allow Him to lead us. Because He is perfect, our efforts to reflect His majesty will be pleasing to Him. That’s all that matters! The lost will be saved because of their encounter with Jesus Christ, not because of their encounter with a pretender, like we may sometimes portray to others. God’s grace is sufficient for every need, if only we will humble ourselves to allow Him to minister through us!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Because of God’s faithfulness, many have become children of God. I believe He’s still working on the rest! His grace is sufficient for even you as you seek to follow His will!

PRAYER: Precious Lord, I thank You for Your wondrous grace that saved many who might read this devotional. My deepest prayer is that Your grace will be sufficient and meet the needs of the unsaved who might happen across this devotional today. I pray that it will be the answer to their prayers and fill the most important need of their lives. Thank You for Your grace to a sinner such as I, and for convicting me of my sin. Thank You for adopting me as your loving child! May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, my Savior and Lord. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!