Tag: With God’s help

Expect the Unexpected From God, and Respond Quickly To Him!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Miracles, Needs, Praise, Promise, Recognize GodLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Friday, 2021-09-24
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Judges 13:3-4; 13-14
TRANSLATION: Contemporary English Version (CEV)

BIBLE TEXT: 3-5 …. an angel from the Lord appeared to her and said: You have never been able to have any children, but very soon you will be pregnant and have a son. He will belong to God from the day he is born, so ….
13 “Your wife must be careful to do everything I told her,” the Lord’s angel answered. 14 “She must not eat or drink anything made from grapes. She must not drink wine or beer or eat anything forbidden by God’s laws. I told her exactly what to do.”

APPLICATION: There are times that we are given instructions that really surprise us, and we may ask for the instructions to be repeated so we could make sure we heard right. I actually smiled as I read this story today, because I identified with it in the lives of my wife and I! Manoah, from the tribe of Dan, was married and had not been blessed with children. In preparation for a future king for Israel, God had one of His angels appear to Manoah’s wife and give her the good news of a baby that she will give birth to – a very special baby. Of course this came as a shock to Manoah, and despite being told of all the special conditions given to his wife, Manoah needed to ask some questions of his own, and hear the instructions first hand, just in case his wife may have misunderstood anything. God agreed to this, and allowed the angel to reappear to Manoah and his dear wife. I’m of the opinion that the angel told Manoah that the instructions are precisely as he told his wife! This made me think of how I question my dear wife when she relays an encounter, or instructions, with me. Poor lady, right?? But I bet that many of my readers/listeners are very similar. When we find it challenging to believe something, we tend to question the message, and/or the messenger, and/or the originator! During my employment, it became comical when someone would come with interpretation of a new regulation, because we often found that we could get almost any answer we want, if we ask the question in the right way! But it didn’t seem like this may have been Manoah’s expectation, as the angel just confirmed exactly what was told to his wife. I believe the point of caution in this Scripture is that accepting the word, much like Mary did when she heard from the angel, and not doubting it’s origination or its intention, like Zachariah did when he was told that he and Elizabeth would bear a child in their old age, might actually help is to show God that we believe in His awesome power, no matter how impossible His end result seems to us. For you see dear friends, I believe that if God tells us to do something, only He has the power to help us accomplish that, and we would do best to not stand in the way. I believe that part of building our faith in the instructions given by God, is to know Him in such a powerful manner that we are ready to jump when He tells us to. When we doubt Him, we are actually saying ‘well I’m not so sure about that, could that really be God ordering me to do this, or that?’ Have faith in God my friends, for His power is unlimited, and His ways are way different to our ways. Expect the unexpected, but be ready to respond to His calling, no matter what His orders consist of.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Miracles will always seem impossible to us, because they are not our ideas nor performed under our power. Trust God, and do what He says!

PRAYER: Precious Lord, we often ask for things that only You can do, yet we tend to question Your response and Your awesome power to do miraculous things through us and for us. Please forgive us when we doubt, and help us to stay focused on Your great love for us, as You will always do what’s best for us, and for the things that will enrich Your Kingdom. Thank You for working miraculously in the lives of Manoah and his wife to produce a son named Samuel, that we study so much about even today. Lord, I know that You are still our mircale-worker today, and that You still have great things in store for Your people even today. Please help us to be open to Your call and to Your miracles that You may do through us. May we always be available for Your miraculous work. 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!

Our Incentive Not Needed

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

DATE POSTED Thursday, 2021-09-23
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Joshua 11:29-31; 34
TRANSLATION: Contemporary English Version (CEV)

BIBLE TEXT: 29 Then the Lord’s Spirit took control of Jephthah, and Jephthah went through Gilead and Manasseh, raising an army. Finally, he arrived at Mizpah in Gilead, where 30 he promised the Lord, “If you will let me defeat the Ammonites 31 and come home safely, I will sacrifice to you whoever comes out to meet me first.”
34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, the first one to meet him was his daughter. She was playing a tambourine and dancing to celebrate his victory, and she was his only child.

APPLICATION: Often when we are given the right incentive, we will gain the confidence needed to accomplish much more than normal. But God is much greater than anything we could dream or imagine. It is not necessary for us to promise Him something in return for His favor, nor is it necessary for us to reassure Him of our good intentions, for He knows us by name and He also knows our very thoughts, word and actions. He will therefore give to us that which He knows is best for us and for those His blessings will touch. We cannot incentivize God to honor our request. I had a pastor who, while in the heat of battle overseas, made a promise as he petitioned God in desperation for his safe return to his homeland. Fortunately that pastor served out his promise to God and is still faithful to this very day. In today’s Scripture, Jephthah was very anxious about leading his people in war against the ammonites, because their king had mocked the idea of Jephthah ever facing such an army as his. So I would imagine that Jephthah was not just asking for victory, but also wanting to retain his pride before such a powerful king. But regardless of the reason, Jephthah made a very wild and potentially dangerous promise in the heat of the moment, for only those very near and dear to his heart would exit his house to greet him home after a tough battle. Regardless of the reason he did this, Jephthah was determined to live up to his promise. His beloved daughter, who was the first to exit his home, encouraged him to live up to his promise, and neither of them tried to wiggle their way out of the promise. Some may wonder, why didn’t God intervene and excuse Jephthah from his promise? Notice that God played no part in the promise. God didn’t condition His response on the promise, nor was He approached when Jephthah found himself in the dilemma of having to sacrifice his own daughter. I believe that our lesson here is to avoid the practice of, or the need for, swearing on anything to guarantee our word, or the need to promise something unrelated, to reinforce our request for something. God created us, and He loves us very much. He wants nothing but His very best for those who have accepted His lordship and honors Him in all that we do and say. Simply ask, and wait to see His response – the answer that is best for our good!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: God heard the cry of Jephthah and honored his request to win the battle against the ammonites. It is so unfortunate that Jephthah saw the need to try and incentivize God.

PRAYER: Here I am Lord. Just me, with no hidden agendas or pride to mend. Please control my anxious fears and my pride to win in order to better my selfish gain. Many reading this devotional may be like Jephthah, and tempted to offer anything in order to win a battle they are fighting, or a job promotion they are wishing for, or a family situation they want desperately to see resolved. Lord, I believe that You know our hearts and You therefore know whether our intentions or our request is genuine, and You will respond lovingly without any further incentive thrown in by us. Forgive us Lord when we try to use our tactics to win Your approval and Your action. You know us way too intimately to need any more than our word in its simplest form. Thank You that Jephthah kept his promise, regardless of the outcome. I pray that You will help us to learn from his experience and just trust You with our requests. 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!

Yes You Can – I Am God

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

DATE WRITTEN: Thursday, 2020-07-30
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

BIBLE REFERENCE: Jeremiah 1:6-9
TRANSLATION: Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

BIBLE TEXT: 6 Then I said, “But, Lord God, I don’t know how to speak. I am only a boy.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am only a boy.’ You must go everywhere I send you and say everything I tell you to say. 8 Don’t be afraid of anyone. I am with you, and I will protect you.” This message is from the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out with his hand and touched my mouth. He said to me, “Jeremiah, I am putting my words in your mouth.

OBSERVATION: Way too often we throw up an excuse to avoid taking on added responsibility or accepting a challenge for something we have never done before, yet we claim to the world that we serve the all-powerful God of this universe. I am no exception to this, so don’t feel like I am writing this as an outsider. As we study these verses today, I would like for us to be reminded of a time you asked God to give you the boldness to deal with a situation that may have ordinarily intimidated you. If God helped you then, why don’t you always depend on Him?

APPLICATION: I’m sure you will recall the story about David, who could not believe his eyes, when he went to the battle field to take food for his brothers, because a whole army was standing back afraid of the giant. Knowing that his God was with Him, David went forth and slew the giant. Like Jeremiah at a very young age, no doubt you each may have experiences that remind you of times where you also felt very intimidated by an audience you are about to teach, or speak to. Do you ever stop to think about what/who gave you the bravery to complete the task and helped you walk away with a feeling of accomplishment? Jeremiah felt like God was really putting a lot on him at a very young age, so he felt compelled to remind God about this. Some of this may have been because of his lack of exposure and experience with the Master, and therefore questionable on Jeremiah’s part as to whether he could really handle his assignment. And friends, I believe that this is where we need to dwell for a moment and reflect on whose power Jeremiah was looking at. For far too often we tend to look only on our own abilities and self worth to accomplish a God-sized assignment. Let’s be reminded that those two things don’t mix. If God gives us an assignment, then He alone has the wisdom and the power to see us through that assignment. From a human perspective, we see many obstacles that other men and women have tried and failed at. We tend to look at whether we have done anything similar to the task being asked of us, to determine if we think we could accomplish it. But as we concentrate on the words of God here today, please join me in allowing the words spoken to Jeremiah by God, to always echo in our minds as we feel led by God to complete a kingdom task. God said ‘I am putting the words in your mouth’. Now dear friend of God, what possible excuse might we dream up after hearing God say these words? Don’t you know that your biggest obstacle might be to wonder where on earth will you find the right words to win the lost, to convince the unbelievers, to soften the hearts of the bullies? But to be told that Father God has already dealt with that challenge and has given you the right words to speak, wouldn’t that ease the largest burden you could imagine? What if you prayed to God for a job to do around His church that may bring Him glory, then shortly afterwards you were asked to teach in the Children’s Ministry, what do you suppose your response might, or should be? You might be frightened enough to say not, but I was blown away with a verse this morning: Jeremiah 2:5 and in my own words, God said to Jeremiah: what unrighteousness did your ancestors find in me that caused them to wander away from my statutes and characteristics? So as you consider the decisions to make, and you ponder the One from whom you will gain your strength, please be reminded that your God has always been there for you, and As we know from His Word, He was powerful enough to create the world and you and I. Remember also the miracles told in the Bible, now why would you possibly not trust in Him for the knowledge and boldness to accomplish the work He has assigned to You? Yes we can do this Brothers! Of course you have the confidence in knowIng that you can do all things through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Sisters! No excuses friends, if He leads us to it, He will lead us through it!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for who You are, and for all that You have done through our ancestors and even through us in our short lives. In spite of this, yet we tend to be so much like Jeremiah and look for excuses to avoid stepping out of our comfort zone. Lord, I am convinced that there is nothing that You can’t do, and as I place my faith and trust in You, I see absolutely nothing that You can’t do through me, if You have assigned something to me. Please forgive my readers and I for failing to trust in You fully. Please give us a fresh new boldness to trust You in giving us the right assignments and the power, boldness and willingness to accomplish Your work in our churches, our communities, in our families and in everything that You might lead us towards. 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!