Tag: victorious

You Will See The Lord Give You Victory!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Faith, Faith in Action, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, Victory, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Monday, 2022-05-02
WRITTEN AT: Citra, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 2 Chronicles 20:15–17
TRANSLATION: Good News Translation (GNT)

BIBLE TEXT: Jahaziel said, “Your Majesty and all you people of Judah and Jerusalem, the LORD says that you must not be discouraged or be afraid to face this large army. The battle depends on God, not on you. Attack them tomorrow as they come up the pass at Ziz. You will meet them at the end of the valley that leads to the wild country near Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Just take up your positions and wait; you will see the LORD give you victory. People of Judah and Jerusalem, do not hesitate or be afraid. Go out to battle, and the LORD will be with you!”

APPLICATION: King Jehoshaphat faced the reality of an approaching army that was superior to his and overwhelmingly outnumbered his army. He was accustomed to prayer, leadership by God, and the awesome power of God. And, true to form, the king took full advantage of petitioning the help of the God who promised to be with His children in their time of need! Jehoshaphat gathered his people in the temple courtyard and he personally led the prayer to God on behalf of his people. After bragging on the known accomplishments of God, in vs 7 and again in vs 12 the king acknowledged that “You are our God”, meaning that You are the proven One that we depend on; You are the One that is powerful enough to bring us victory! In response to this intense, yet humble time of prayer, God spoke through an unknown prophet in their midst, Jahaziel. The prophet shared with the king and his people that they are not to be afraid or discouraged, the battle depends on God, not on them! Wow, we serve the same great God that gave this promise to Jahaziel! What an awesome and reassuring reality when we face our battles today. When we have placed the battle in God’s hands, we can rest peacefully knowing that the battle is not ours, but His! What an all-powerful, protective and awesome God we serve, fellow Christian! Take time to give Him praise, adoration and glory today! If you are facing a battle, no matter how huge, please consider reading the full chapter 20 of 2 Chronicles (30 verses), and be encourage to surrender that battle over to God. Imagine the peace of knowing that the God who created this vast universe, now has the issue that has been troubling you, under His control. The battle is no longer yours, my friend, but His! He will be glorified for the way that He handles this! Just surrender it to God, my friend! For He alone is our God!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Surrendered hearts of believing Christians will seek God and surrender their battles to the Master of the sea; the healer of the blind, deaf and mute; the Victor of battles brought on against Jehoshaphat, and the One who loves, cares and waits for us in Glory. Our battles belong to Him!

PRAYER: Lord God, You know the mountains that we need to cross, and I believe that You know the challenges that seem overwhelming to us. Please comfort the hearts of Your children tuned in to this devotional today, and give us the reassurance that we need to help us face today, and tomorrow, knowing that You are still God and that our ‘mountains’ are very crossable with You as our Guide and our Deliverer. Praise be to God for the assurance of knowing teh God on the mountain is also God of our deepest valley. May we place our faith and trust in You at all times, for all things. 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!

Press On – God Is Victorious!

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

DATE POSTED Saturday, 2022-04-30
WRITTEN AT: Citra, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Joshua 8:1-2
TRANSLATION: Contemporary English Version (CEV)

BIBLE TEXT: 1-2 The Lord told Joshua: Don’t be afraid, and don’t be discouraged by what happened at the town of Ai. Take the army and attack again. But first, order part of the army to set up an ambush on the other side of the town. I will help you defeat the king of Ai and his army, and you will capture the town and the land around it. Destroy Ai and kill its king as you did at Jericho. But you may keep the livestock and everything else you want.

APPLICATION: We can grieve the Spirit by sin. We can quench the Spirit when we fail to wait on the Lord to receive direction. But the Lord never gives up on us! God exposed Achan’s sin as the reason Joshua and his army met with failure, but at just the right time, God said to Joshua: “Don’t be dismayed. I will now give you the victory!” Praise God, He doesn’t give up on us either, even when we were careless in following His orders, or not at all. Dear friend, the successful person in life is the one who gets up one more time than he or she is knocked down. Too many Christians, when they are dealt a blow, lay in the dust day after day and don’t get up. But Paul dealt with this when he addressed the church at Philippi. He told them: “Forgetting the things which lie behind, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”! Among all the people in the world, how could Paul possibly accomplish what he did? By forgetting that which was behind him, and looking ahead, instead. Fortunately God does not judge quite like we do. He didn’t set Paul aside and give up on him, instead God had a great work prepared for Paul. Just as Joshua learned a very humbling lesson from his first attempt at conquering the king and people of Ai, Paul also learned that God could use even a persecutor of Christians to forgive and use in His service. Doesn’t it seem well within reason for God to also use you and I in His service here on earth? You see, only wicked man will look at our lives before Christ became a part of it, for in their eyes we could never become holy enough to represent the God of all righteousness and hope. But God yes, BUT GOD, in all His mercy and grace, sent His only Son to die for folk like us, so that our old, disgusting life of sin could be cleansed, made white as snow, purified, in the eyes of our Creator. So if we are ‘right’ in the eyes of God, of course we could be used by Him to reach folk that may doubt and fear the possibility of restoration, renewal, or even salvation in the holy name of Jesus. Joshua didn’t stay down, but God was able to teach him a lesson and give him the opportunity to try it again, this time letting God take the lead and give him the winning instructions. Perhaps we need to surrender ourselves to the King of all kings as well, and allow Him to work in, and through us, to do all that He has planned for us in the work of growing His Kingdom here on earth.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: God used the same man who forged ahead into battle without God, to send back into battle, but this time insuring that he would let God be in control. When our battle belongs to God, we win!!

PRAYER: Lord, we normally plead for help with our forgetfulness, but in accordance with the words You gave to Paul for us, please help us to forget what is behind us, so that we may stay focused on all that You have in store ahead for us. Our battle belongs to You Lord. Please teach us as we proceed ahead, and give us victories that will glorify You in every way. Many are struggling, and even more are holding back in committing themselves fully to You, please show them vividly how mighty and awesome You are, so that they may be drawn to You. Use us completely in every way for Your glory oh 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!

This Life of Contradictions

On By Ed AlgreenIn Discern Truth, Holiness, Holy, Holy Living, Moment of Truth, TruthLeave a comment

DATE WRITTEN: Wednesday, 2020-04-01
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

Bible Reference: Romans 7:21-25
Translation: The Message (Message)

Bible Text: 21    …The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 24          I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?
25          The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

OBSERVATION: I was happy to be reminded of the struggle that Paul faced, because it is very prevalent in my life. And because I’m pretty sure that you have not attained perfection yet either, I believe that it is probably the same in your life. We struggle daily with having the good intentions of doing what pleases God, yet plagued with the temptations, ill feelings and conniving of this wicked world in which we live. In fact, way too often we tend to walking right out of our prayer closets and immediately follow the trend of what the world is doing around us.

APPLICATION: Like Paul, we especially look back at our day and sometimes say that we are ‘at the end of our rope’ with mere efforts and ‘want-to’s’ and we wonder if there is anything that could be done. I absolutely love verse 25 where Paul reminds us that the answer to this dilemma is Jesus Christ. For He died for us even while we were yet sinners and still persecuting Him. We find it extremely frustrating when we have committed to obedience to God’s Word, when we have every intention to follow the ways of God, yet we are so easily swayed to follow the ways of our old lifestyle, the joys of our friends and neighbors, and to be popular in their eyes. However in our Scripture today we are given the formula, or the solution, or the answer to our lives of contradictions. Like an alcoholic seeking to overcome that dreaded disease, we must first acknowledge that we have a problem. Our education is of no help to us, nor is our strength from personal workouts. In fact, we can’t seem to personally overcome this type of life. However, the Word of God reminds us that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. So do we dare look into God’s face and say that the sin within us is greater? If we do say that, we are actually saying that he that is in the world is greater than He that is in me, and that’s an incorrect statement. Friends, let’s be careful to give God full freedom in our lives so that He could be our God. Satan is very conniving and can easily take advantage of our personal weaknesses, but he has no power over our God! Amen? Today let us put Satan in his place – behind God. Let’s give God thanks for being our deliverer from the evil of this world; let’s praise Him for send His Son Jesus to provide the means of us getting to Heaven and enjoying life everlasting in Him. He cares for us, dear child of God and He wants to see us succeed in our commitment to Him. If you truly want to succeed in your commitment to God, ask for His help and His strength, and through His power, be willing to give it all that your have. For I truly believe that greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I need You today. I battle the same challenges that Paul battled, and I need the same help that he did. You have shown me in Your Word how to live. You have set the example for me through the life and character of Your precious Son. Please work steadfastly in my life so that I may overcome the negative pull of the evil one, the sinful nature of this world and the ungodly attitudes of many that I come into contact with. Please touch the hearts of Your people today, so that we may have power to overcome evil, and that we may live according to Your perfect will and design. You are holy, oh God, and if we are to be followers of Your precious Son, then we too must strive for holiness. Thank You for being the source of that power that we need to live like this! For I ask all this in Your most holy name, Jesus my Lord, AMEN!

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

Revive Us Again Oh Lord

On By Ed AlgreenIn Forgiveness, Revival, WitnessLeave a comment

May I encourage you to get your spiritual ‘Nuggets’ to start your day off right? Pretty amazing that our awesome God would consider feeding even us with His Word! May I encourage you to read the whole devotional, and look for a blessing, friend!………

Today’s Bible Reference: Psalm 85:4-7
Today’s Bible Text: Now restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more. Will you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations? Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
The Bible Translation: New Living Translation (NLT)

My Take Away: Having just read a passage from 1 Chronicles 18, I saw how victorious David had been in battle. In fact, twice in that chapter we are told that God made David victorious in everything he did. Yet I turned to this passage and read about how David pleaded with God for revival. In much the same way, I believe that each of us meditating on this today will acknowledge that we have seen fairly good successes in our marriages, our work, our churches and even in our own lives, yet there are times that we feel like we have reached a plateau and  for some reason we have just stopped moving ahead. Like David, we sometimes stop and question what would it take for us, or our people to rejoice again. Friends, David quickly discovered that it was sin that was holding back the hand of God from continuing to bless His people. For you see, something must have died, or seriously soured, for David to feel the need for God to ‘revive’ he and his people again. Asking God to give us something, means that we never had it. Asking Him to ‘revive us’, means that we had it, but for some reason it is no longer vibrant; or perhaps effective; or perhaps exciting, or perhaps no longer working for us. Do you suppose that’s where our churches are today? Is that why people are comfortable attending church because they could leave without being challenged with the sin in their lives? Friends, if we want our families saved, or our coworkers drawn closer to the Lord, and we don’t seem to be effective in doing that any longer, then we had best follow David’s example and ask God to forgive us of our sin. Oh that God would draw closer to us once again so that He might show His power through us as individuals, and corporately as we join together at our church buildings. Perhaps then, we might become the hands of Jesus outstretched to the poor and needy. Perhaps then, sinners will rejoice and seek forgiveness, because they see a living example of what Jesus truly looks like. Perhaps then Christians will seek the face of Jesus, and not just His hands to meet their needs. Where do you stand friend? Do you need Jesus, or do you need His reviving touch again?

Prayer: Father God, we have become such a needy people, but yet we seem more interested in Your outstretched hand, than we are in drawing closer to Your side and worshipping You in total transparency. You are our creator, and You are the Almighty God, from whom nothing is hidden. Please help us to get honest with ourselves, and stay transparent before You, for I believe that it is only then that our spirits might one with Yours, and that we would constantly seek Your face and not just Your hand. Please forgive us when we become weak and distant from You. Please help us to always seek a reviving touch from You so that we might get downright honest with ourselves and before You. Lord, we want to be just like You, yet it is so obvious that we are stained constantly by the sin in this world. Please draw us close to You so that we might be effective in our witness for You while here on this planet. I ask all this in faith, 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 contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. 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 could 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 to 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, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! 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!

2016