Tag: What we deserve

What If We Are Given As We Deserve?

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

DATE WRITTEN: Sunday, 2020-11-29
WRITTEN AT: Paul B Johnson State Park, Hattiesburg, MS

BIBLE REFERENCE: Revelation 2:23-25
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: 23 ….. And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches deep within men’s hearts, and minds; I will give to each of you whatever you deserve. 24-25 “As for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (‘deeper truths,’ as they call them—depths of Satan, really), I will ask nothing further of you; only hold tightly to what you have until I come.

OBSERVATION: Imagine if God called you home at the very moment that you read this words, (very unexpected) and He told you that He will give you exactly what you deserve. What might that be? Would you cry out to Him to please proceed, as you can hardly wait for whatever God will dish out to you? I am a child forgiven by my Father, through the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, but I would tremble at such words from my Father, as I know that sin is eminent while here on earth. Think about this with me as we study these verses.

APPLICATION: I remember as a child hearing similar words from my parents – just wait until I get you home! Oh my, I still try not to think of the anxiety I endured, especially as I rehearsed the crazy acts of disobedience they witnessed from me in the presence of their friends. But I’m afraid that it is extremely challenging for us to consider our Lord being so rough on us. I believe that we often teach, and learn about the goodness of God, and we are so looking forward to His goodness for the rest of our time here on earth and even as we meet Him in glory, but in these verses we must try to understand what John shared about God planning do to the church at Thyatira. God was clear in His reasons for such action. It is important for us to remember that we have a God who loves us beyond any earthly description or imagination, but He is a just God who will do what He promised. We could read story after story in the Bible of God’s goodness, and we are blessed every time we read those accounts. However, we can also find numerous stories where God also allowed tremendous grief to individuals, families, cities and even countries when His frustration had reached His point of readiness for action. As in our story today, we must be reminded that God not only sees our actions and hears our outspoken words, but He knows our very thoughts. In other words, He knows the whole man/woman. He knows us as we are, not what we try to pretend we are in mixed company. So today, I believe we must put aside what position we might hold in church, or what size congregation we preach or teach to, and truly look inside of ourselves while asking God to enlighten us to our wicked ways, or our angry words, or our pretense of love shown to others. I believe that as long as we still have breath, we have time for God to begin a new work in us and make us more like Him. But only God can make a brand new man/woman. It is way too convenient for us to go easy on ourselves and overlook sin, because we have so many excuses as to why we did or said certain things. Let’s ask God for a pure heart and for the very presence of God inside of our dirty selves while we try to live out our days here on earth. People need the Lord, my friends, but it will do them no good to see His representatives acting like the devil and in opposition to all that God teaches us in His Word. Let go and let God, my friend.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, You are merciful and full of grace. Thank You for allowing Your precious Son to die on Calvary for my sin, even while I was yet a sinner. You showed pure love for me. Many of my friends reading this devotional will probably join hearts and voices in praising You Lord, for your goodness. And We will all agree that in spite of inviting You into our heart and asking for Your forgiveness, yet we are still so disrupted by the filth and sin of this world. Lord, we want so badly to be like You, so that the hearts of our circle of influence will be stirred up and touched while in our presence. Please work on us so that we may never fall into the category of the church at Thyatira. Help us Lord that as others encounter us, they will truly see enough attributes of our Savior that they will feel like they’ve been with the Lord. Have Your will and way in our lives 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!

God Will Give Us What We Deserve

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

DATE WRITTEN: Thursday, 2020-03-19
WRITTEN AT: Paul B Johnson State Park, Hattiesburg, MS

BIBLE REFERENCE: Romans 2:5-8
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: 5 But no, you won’t listen; and so you are saving up terrible punishment for yourselves because of your stubbornness in refusing to turn from your sin; for there is going to come a day of wrath when God will be the just Judge of all the world. 6 He will give each one whatever his deeds deserve. 7 He will give eternal life to those who patiently do the will of God,[a] seeking for the unseen glory and honor and eternal life that he offers.* 8 But he will terribly punish those who fight against the truth of God and walk in evil ways—God’s anger will be poured out upon them.

OBSERVATION: A good worker is compensated and promoted in their job place, but for the one who cuts corners, shows no ambition, and constantly opposes every thing the boss asks of them, they may receive no extra remuneration, or be placed on probation. According to our Scripture, God will judge us in similar ways to that of our boss, but may not offer probation. Meditate with me and assess your own life. If you are honest with yourself, you will know exactly what to expect from God.

APPLICATION: As a working supervisor who used self-appraisals during my employee’s annual review process, I was intrigued to discover how employees rated themselves less than I would in almost all areas of their appraisal! I believe that their good deeds had such an impression on me, that I rated them high in recognition of those times. However, I believe that deep inside they knew that they had a lot more to offer at times, and therefore rated themselves lower. In His Word, God shares with us that He knows more than any supervisor we ever had, and whether we are a favorite or not, He will judge us based on how well we did with the gifts and blessings that He gave to us. Not sure about you, but I believe that I could beat up on myself pretty bad when I consider the times that I failed my Lord in so many areas of my life. But I believe that God, knowing our hearts, will look at our intent. For example: if we are children of the King, we will give of ourselves just as He gave; we will love others unconditionally, just as He loved even us; we will always be conscious of the things we do and the places we visit, because we know that we are children of the King who wants nothing but the best from His children so that others might be drawn to Him. I don’t believe that this is something we need to be paranoid about, because just as we walk in the footsteps of our parents and try to never let them down, so shall we do with our Lord who hung on Calvary’s cross with outstretched arms to show us how much He truly loves us. If we are followers of Christ, others will often see that, feel that, and know that they are safe in following our footsteps straight to the cross. Friends, we dodge the troopers with our fuzz-busters; we hide or disguise our cell phones when we don’t want the boss/teacher/preacher to know that we are checking on a personal email we were expecting; but notice that our Scripture didn’t say that God would have to check His ‘little black book’ where He wrote down our good and bad deeds, it said that He will judge us based on who we truly were as His ambassadors. How do you think you will do? I know that we are not perfect, friends, but because we serve One who is, then we should always seek to honor Him by following His commands and His example, so that we might be recognized as ‘His’ child and therefore increase the desire for others to know our King also. Please pray for me as I ambitiously seek to honor my Lord in all that I do or say, and I will do the same for you, Gob being our Helper and our Guide.

PRAYER: Precious Lord, I am weak but You are strong; I fail, but you have never failed, nor is it possible for You to fail. You know the hearts of my readers and myself, our desires and our weaknesses. We are incapable of living this life in the same way You did, but praise to our Almighty God, all things are possible with You. So today I pray that every reader of this devotional will stop, and seek Your holy and righteousness name as we ask You once again to be our strength and our guide through this old sinful world. Oh that we may represent You and follow Your commands, so that others may desire a relationship with You, so that one day soon when we bow at Your feet, it will be easy to commend us for being Your good and faithful servant. 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!