Tag: Your choice

Choose Life!

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

DATE POSTED Saturday, 2021-08-14
WRITTEN AT: Hattiesburg, MS

SCRIPTURE FROM: Deuteronomy 30:19-20
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long….

APPLICATION: Some may take my subject for today’s devotional as a pro-life theme, while others may ask ‘who wouldn’t want to choose life over death?’ But I would encourage you to look beyond your assumptions today and consider the message that Moses gave to his people. He not only gave them the choice of life over death, but he clearly showed them what they needed to do in order to have life, and have life more abundantly. Since these things still apply to us today, I believe that it is worth our while to spend some time to understand them and to seek ways that we might apply them in our lives:
——> Loving the Lord – In other Scriptures, Jesus admonishes us that if we love Him: We will serve Him; We will worship Him; We will tell others about Him; We will desire to be with Him. These words are not strange to us, for our spouse will frequently tell us that if we love them, we would…. You see, there is always evidence of our love for God, and for each other. So love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind, and all these things will be given to you!
——> Obeying the Lord – To disobey your God, your spouse, your boss or your friend, shows that you have no respect for them or their authority over you. To obey what they ask or tell you to do, shows that you love, respect and honor them, so you will do whatever they ask. So show you love for the Lord by obeying His commands!
——> Committing yourself firmly to the Lord – To whom do you belong? If it’s God, then firmly commit to Him in every aspect of life. I don’t know that it’s possible to say that you love the Lord and you obey the Lord, but you have not fully committed your life to Him. Show me an uncommitted ‘Christian’ and I believe you will show someone who follows Jesus when it is convenient, otherwise it’s all about him or herself. I always got a kick out of politicians who showed up at community groups right before election time. At other times of the year they were no where to be found. They showed up when they needed the people, not when the people really needed them to serve!
Moses told his people, and I believe the Scripture supports a very similar promise for those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ – do these things and you are choosing life eternal – in heaven. Continue your selfish desires and ignore the commands of Jesus, and you will receive your heart’s desire – curses and damnation in a place especially designed for folk like you – Hell. Just as Moses did in our Scripture, let me repeat the same plea ‘Choose life’ my dear friends!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: We can escape the damnation of eternity in Hell, by loving the Lord our God, obeying Him, and committing ourselves firmly to Him. By doing these things we are promised eternity in heaven with the Father and His precious Son!

PRAYER: Thank You precious Lord for calling me to Yourself many years ago, and for granting me peace to obediently follow You today and every day until You call me home to glory. Please touch the hearts of each reader/listener with Your Word today and may every word shared by Your faithful servant be acceptable in Your sight and in the hearts of every reader or listener. May we enjoy Your blessings today and every day, until You call us home for even more intimacy with You and the Father. Please draw the unbeliever to You very powerfully today, as this may very well be the last day we have here on earth. 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!

Your Choice – Blessing or Curse!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Blessings, Choice, Choices, Curses, Needs, Needs of others, Recognize NeedsLeave a comment

Post Date:

 Tuesday, 2017-07-11
SCRIPTURE

From:

 Deuteronomy 11:26-28 (ERV)

Text:

 26 “Today I am giving you a choice. You may choose the blessing or the curse. 27 You will get the blessing if you listen and obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have told you today. 28 But you will get the curse if you refuse to listen and obey the commands of the Lord your God….. 
OBSERVATION:
In previous chapters Moses shared with his people what God had ordained for them to do when they entered into the land He had promised them. Kind of ironic that in spite of them being led for 40 years through the wilderness, where they witnessed miracle after miracle, and they still continued their bad habits at every turn, yet God didn’t give up on them, and He had His servant Moses warn them of the consequences of their decisions, even now that they arrived at their destination. I don’t believe there’s a whole lot of difference between what the consequences the Israelites could expect versus what we could expect if we are obedient or not. Let’s examine that further…
APPLICATION:
It seems like mankind is made to test the system, no matter what aspect of like you are getting involved in. Children test every rule set by their parents to see which ones are for real and which ones the parents are more tolerable with. In marriages, we encounter fights, and often separation, because we keep pushing our spouse to the limit and beyond. The Israelites had already tested the system while in the wilderness, but their spiritual ‘father’ was now giving them some great advice from God about what will make their lives in their new country more acceptable with Him, and what might provoke them to evil and therefore align themselves more with Satan. The Word says that individually we have a choice on whether we will do everything possible that leads to a flood of blessings back from God, or whether we continue to live life like we feel comfortable doing, and that pleases most people. So based on the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the holy Word of God that you allowed to soak into your mind this morning, do you feel like you are on the right track for a blessing from God? I believe that blessings in you, will allow you to share ‘blessings’ with others. My deep desire for all my readers today is that there will not result an ounce of curses to destroy your witness and disappoint our Savior.
PRAYER:
Lord, please touch the lives of Your children today, and like You did through Moses, please remind and convince your children to be obedient to Your voice and follow Your commands. We love You Lord Jesus. 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 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 Nuggets From God’s Word 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!