The Secret To Being Beautiful!

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – 1 Peter 3:1-7): ¹ If you are a wife, you must put your husband first. Even if he opposes our message, you will win him over by what you do. No one else will have to say anything to him, ² because he will see how you honor God and live a pure life. ³ Don’t depend on things like fancy hairdos or gold jewelry or expensive clothes to make you look beautiful. ⁴ Be beautiful in your heart by being gentle and quiet. This kind of beauty will last, and God considers it very special. ⁵ Long ago those women who worshiped God and put their hope in him made themselves beautiful by putting their husbands first. ⁶ For example, Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her true children, if you do right and don’t let anything frighten you. ⁷ If you are a husband, you should be thoughtful of your wife. Treat her with honor, because she isn’t as strong as you are, and she shares with you in the gift of life. Then nothing will stand in the way of your prayers.

THOUGHTS: With all of today’s self-beautification cosmetics and/or tips and tricks, I smiled as I read this passage of scripture, because it’s all in the Book friend! For our females, there is no need for the frequent trips to the beauty salon and your favorite hairstylist, nor competing for the best gold jewelry or the most expensive clothes, in order to look beautiful. Instead, you are to have that inward beauty, through your gentle and quietness of mind and spirit. Your reward is that this kind of beauty will last throughout eternity - longer than any hairdo, and far exceeds the beauty of your expensive jewelry and clothes purchased. Most importantly, it is also especially pleasing to God as He considers a lady with those qualities very special! For our men, we are to be thoughtful of our wives; treat her with honor, especially after considering that she is not as strong as we are and that she shares with us the gift of life. The promised reward for us men, is that nothing will then stand in the way of our prayers. I believe this doesn’t just mean the answer to our prayers, but also means that we can communicate openly with God, without feeling like our prayers went no further than the ceiling, or that we hit a brick wall with our prayers. Friends, as we meditate on this today, I believe that it becomes clear why we see so many failed marriages; why we see so many marriage counselors today; why we see so many women, and men, doomed to fail in their endeavor to live godly lives. It is impossible to live godly lives, if we fail in important areas of our lives such as described in this devotional. I believe it is evident that because of our faith, our godliness, and our obedience to the Word of God, we can live godly lives pleasing to our Master. So I believe the challenge today is: How beautiful do we personally feel? How godly do we feel we are - when aligned with the expectations of the gospel? Have we attained true beauty, as described in this devotional? Is our relationship with God where it needs to be for us to experience true inner beauty? Individually we need to get before the Master and ask for His miracle working hand to endow us with power from above, so that we may see our faults and receive the necessary power and self-will to overcome the ‘ugly’ that has embedded itself in us. As children of the Most High God, we should be a thing of pure beauty!

PRAYER: Father God, You are beautiful in every way, and from this scripture today You have revealed to us that we can be beautiful also, as we strive to do Your perfect will and live more like You in every way. There are challenges given to both women and men, but because of the overpowering world that we live in, we sincerely need Your help, Your power and Your direction to achieve true holiness and godliness. Please humble us today to get over ourselves, and to accept the beauty tips offered in this passage, with the power of Your sweet Holy Spirit that You have blessed us with. Lord, we will not see much change in this world as long as we act just like Satan’s team. We need Your beauty to shine through our character, our actions, our attitudes and to overpower our self-will. Please humble us with the need and the desire to improve our inner beauty and to please You in every way, so that we might represent You well in this old world. Please bless my readers today as they meditate on this devotional. May their eyes be opened to the truth of Your Word and apply it to their lives. For I ask all this in the precious and strong name of Jesus, my Lord, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

Live Like A Child of God

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Century Version – I Peter 2:11-12): ¹¹ Dear friends, you are like foreigners and strangers in this world. I beg you to avoid the evil things your bodies want to do that fight against your soul. ¹² People who do not believe are living all around you and might say that you are doing wrong. Live such good lives that they will see the good things you do and will give glory to God on the day when Christ comes again.

THOUGHTS: Apparently there are very strict laws in the US for anyone who defects and works with an enemy to harm this country. I fully endorse that, because after all, this country has provided a place of safety, security and comfortable living for its residents over the hundreds of years since its inception. I believe this is what Peter was trying to emphasize to us here in these verses today. He warned us that Satan and his cohorts (the world) will be tugging away at our lives every day trying to convince us that we made a mistake in following Christ, and that the 'fun things' really come from him (Satan). He fights against our soul and the decision we made in response to Jesus Christ. He further warned that we will see lots of folk following the way described by Satan – the opposite from what we are to follow in response to God's Word. You can only imagine how convincing that gets when multiple friends tell you the same thing about those 'godly' actions you are guilty of, right? Friends, remember this: most folk today are so caught up in their own little world of sin, evil and selfish desires that they are anxious to see someone who is actually living out the Word of God, that might help convince them and really help them to accept, believe and obey. Please don't disappoint them! The last thing they need is to look at you as just another one of those hypocrites. If you believe it and say it, then please for heaven's sake live it out in your decisions, your words and your actions. Let them see and hear Jesus in everything there is about you. I would love to know that my living is having a godly impact on many of my unsaved family and friends today, won't you? With God's help, we can do this Christian friends!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, there is a battle brewing every day in the world we live in. We want to live in obedience to You, but this is in a world where so many are challenging us and persuading us to live like them. The enemy is very prevalent and is busy at work in every walk of life. Father, we committed to live for You until You call us home. Please be our constant Guide, our Deliver from the Evil One, and our Encourager when we begin to question our committed walk of faith. Please be very bold in our lives today, and so evident that we will walk without wavering and in full confidence knowing that the One we serve is right there with us. Thank for loving us enough to not only die for us, but to keep on showing us the way every day of our lives. We always need You Jesus, and we thank you for Your promise that You will be with us always, even until the end of the world! You are glorious, Heavenly Father, and I praise You for all that You are to me! I ask these things in the magnificent name of Jesus, my Lord, 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 so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

Maturity in Your Salvation

THE HOLY BIBLE (New Century Version – 1 Peter 2:1-3): ¹ So then, rid yourselves of all evil, all lying, hypocrisy, jealousy, and evil speech. ² As newborn babies want milk, you should want the pure and simple teaching. By it you can mature in your salvation, ³ because you have already examined and seen how good the Lord is.

THOUGHTS: I believe that a very basic difference between an infant and an adult is that the infant is totally dependent on others, while the mature adult has experienced a lot, and looks for ways to share their experiences and/or knowledge with others. If we're not careful, often we (adults) will become so independent that it becomes challenging to listen to advice and or follow good, sound advice. There are so many references in the Bible for us to consider the ways of a child, that I believe God is telling us to get over 'self' and be willing to listen to Him and or other saints that He may place in our path. Through Peter, God is warning us today that we should rid ourselves of some obvious sins that tend to impact our need for Him and/or His teachings. These include: all kinds of evil (think about this as a soiled garment that you should shed); all lying, all hypocrisy; all jealously and all evil speech. On the last item, I once heard: from the heart, the mouth speaketh. If your heart is full of Christ then You will speak of the One who was crucified, arose, and lives inside of us giving us hope and anticipation of one day living eternally with Him. I believe another way of saying this is that what's inside will come out in our actions and/or our speech. In our group Bible study yesterday we learned from James 3:13-18 what we should look for in identifying our worldly actions vs our godly actions. I would urge you to read those verses in conjunction with this study today, because the sooner we could recognize Satan's effect on our lives, the sooner we can realign ourselves with God and draw close to Him. When I think of maturing in our faith, I think of us realizing the futility in trying to solve all of the issues of the world ourselves, but instead realizing our dependence on God, who has proven Himself to us over and over again throughout our Christian life. So friends, I believe this is a message for all Christians today, let us shed off our cloak of evil, let us draw close to God, allow Him to draw close to us, and let's be willing to stop and listen to Him as He works out His will and way in our lives. It is only then that we will be of any godly good to others.

PRAYER: Lord God, You are merciful to us, in spite of our littleness, our weaknesses and our selfish attitudes. Thank You for loving us in spite of ourselves. Thank You for Your Word that is so alive and applicable to our lives every day. There is so much to be done with this child of Yours, and I am pretty sure that there are many out there in similar condition to myself. So Lord, I place myself at Your feet once again today and pray that Your perfect will might be accomplished in me, so that it might also be accomplished through me, and have an eternal impact on those that I come into contact with. I have a strong suspicion that my readers might all be in a similar condition today, so I pray for their total surrender and obedience also. Lord, we are Your hands and Your feet on the ground here, may we represent You well, and without wavering. May You be exampled in our lives so that the unsaved might catch a glimpse of Jesus. Like a baby, I need You Every Hour. Like an adult, I need Your wisdom, protection, direction, love and boldness to touch lives in the same way that You have been merciful to me. I ask these things in faith, and in the awesome name of Jesus, my Lord and my Savior, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

Chosen To Live Holy Lives

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version  - 1 Peter 1:13-16): 13 Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears. 14 Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. 15 Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. 16 That’s why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”

THOUGHTS: One of the major differences between the way that parents think of their children today and how God thinks of His children, is that most worldly parents want to see their children excel and do way better than they did in life. We are often ashamed of some of the things that we did in our lifetime, so we try to impress upon our kids the importance of doing so much better than we ever found possible. God’s Word shows us how different God is in His expectations of us, for He was, and is, the only truly holy One that ever lived, and because He loves us so much, He wants us to be just like Him, especially in holiness. I find it beyond comprehension that God would look down over billions of people on this earth, and yet choose me. Friends, if you have ever surrendered your life to Jesus and accepted Him as Lord and Savior, then you have accepted the call of the One who also chose you. Think about that friend. In spite of our obstinate, disagreeable,  sinful acts and thoughts and our unworthiness, yet God chose us! Wow! So if the holy God chose us, would it not make sense that He chose us to conform us to His likeness, His holiness, His attitude towards life and each other? Friends, if we act unholy and unrighteous and sinful in every way – characteristics totally opposite to our Father, should we not reassess our relationship to our Father? Did we truly answer the call of God on our life? Often we just need a wake-up call such as this scripture, or a sermon orchestrated by God, or something similar to draw our attention to our weakened spirit. God said that He is holy, and we must be holy also. So what needs to change in your life to enable you to stand before our all-knowing God and proclaim “Yes Lord, I feel like I am holy, much like I know of Your perfect and holy life”. This takes a lot of personal assessment, and constant realigning of our attitudes and actions, that seem so easily distracted by Satan and his cohorts. We live in a world that does not conform to the ways of God, but just as God has set us aside as His chosen vessel, we too can make deliberate choices to refrain from sinful acts and instead live like God has ordained – holy and righteous. It’s a choice, but can only be attained with the help of our Lord and Savior.

PRAYER: Father I thank You for Your Word, and its content, because It is orchestrated and inspired by You, therefore it allows You to speak directly to the hardened hearts of Your children. Thank You for choosing me to be Your precious chosen one! I believe that some will read this devotional today that may be a Brother or Sister in the faith, because they have also felt the touch of Your hand on their life, and accepted You as their Savior. We are daily challenged to stay strong in the faith Lord, but I believe that in choosing us, You have set us apart from this world and is available to us daily to help us deal with the Evil One. I also feel like You are still dealing with folk even today, for I have family and friends who have yet to accept Your call on their life. I pray that today might be the day of salvation for them. Please do Your miracle working thing in their lives and redirect their attention towards You. For Your children that should be living holy lives as indicated by Your servant Peter, I pray that You would not give up on us, but daily instruct, guide and strengthen us for the challenge of holiness in an unholy world that we are a part of. We need You Father, and we want You to be our God. Our desire is to be just like you in every way, especially in holiness. I ask this humbly in the precious and holy name of Jesus, and for His sake, 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 so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

Help In Seeing The Good in Your Trials

THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation - 1 Peter 1:6-7): ⁶ So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. ⁷ These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

 

THOUGHTS: We must be extremely careful not to doubt our salvation when we, as Christians, have troubles and trials arise in our earthly lives. Think about it friend, if we didn't have these, what kind of witness would we be to those who need a Savior. For God would not have opportunity to show the unsaved how gracious He truly is to His earthly servants, and the handiwork of His miraculous hands in the lives of His children. Secondly, if we were spared from trials, how might we experience the graciousness of God to be especially loving, caring and powerful in helping us to overcome these things that are way beyond our reach and/or resolution? In this scripture today, this analogy is compared to the proving process used in the precious metal 'gold'. For when it is brought to extreme heat, it is maximized in strength and durability. Likewise, when we face trials, it's not that God doesn't love us or care for us, for it is then that He is preparing us for battle, or to use the phrase of an old TV star, God is preparing us for the 'big one'! Probably the most challenging thing for us to do, is to praise God, even in the midst of our trials, because we understand, and have faith to believe that He is strengthening us. Friends, when we say that we are Christian and we truly believe that we have placed our hand in the hands of the Almighty God, we must then hang on for the ride of our lifetime, knowing that we are under His control, His protection and His will, knowing full well that He loves us way too much to see any harm or hurt impact us. Can you imagine the admiration and pride that must come across the face of Jesus when He looks on His creation (us) and see us living in full submission to Him, and we finally get the scripture that indicates - all things work together for good, to those who love and have surrendered their lives totally to Jesus? My challenge today is first of all for self, that I may be totally surrendered to the Savior and allow Him full control over my life. Only then can I truly desire to see each of you do the same. However, for yourself, if it's to be, it's up to you! Therefore align yourself with the Lord of all lords and the King of all kings, who loved you enough to personally sacrifice His very best so that You might trust in Him, handle life's circumstances and look forward to spending eternity with Him in glory!

 

PRAYER: Father God, I adore You, I love You and I praise You for who You are and for all that You have helped me through already in my short life. However, You have taught me through Your Word that I am not perfect, so I surrender my total self to You today and pray that You might use me in ways that might allow Your kingdom work to increase and flourish here on this earth. I am equally concerned for my friends who will read this devotional today, for I always want Your very best for them also. Please satisfy every doubt or weakness in commitment and/or total surrender. Please provoke decisions in their personal lives that will cause Your name to be lifted high and every soul be drawn closer to You in full obedience. May we learn to celebrate You in all aspects of our lives, even when going through tough times. You alone are worthy of our praise in all aspects of our lives, so I worship You and ask all these things in Your precious and holy name, Lord 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

We Have A Hope!

THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – 1 Peter 1:3-6): ³ All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God's own family. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. ⁴ And God has reserved for his children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. ⁵ And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. ⁶ So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.

THOUGHTS: When the world looks at a bad day, or the end of life for someone, there is nothing but despair, depression and a deep absence of hope. Peter wanted to make sure that Christians living in provinces that he served knew that there was more to this life than merely meets the eye. I believe that God led Peter to pen these words so that Christians today – you and I, would know that we need to look beyond our circumstances, no matter how bleak they may seem, and to stand encouraged to know that there is a whole lot more to look forward to, especially after all that we go through on a daily basis here on this earth. Friends, may I encourage you with the words directed by God? Based on the words through Peter, I believe God is telling us that we are to look beyond our temporary issues and challenges, whether it be medical, financial, family related or whatever - look beyond life as we know it today, and remember that the same God who sacrificed His one and only Son to save us from our sin, that He rose again from the dead and sits at the right hand of His Father. This serves as a foresight for us to envision how we also will one day rise from the dead and bow humbly at the feet of Jesus and His Father, where there will no longer be strife, worries, health issues or quarreling, for there will be no more sorrow there, nor sickness, nor parting over there, but peace forevermore on that happy, glorious day! The logical question by any reading this might be "So when, where or how do I get my ticket, or pass, for this great event?" I'm so glad you went there friend, because unlike any other destination where you may have traveled before, this destination is set aside for those who have made preparation here on earth. You see, it's because of your choice today that will determine whether you spend eternity in heaven with Jesus, or if you will be faced with an even deeper wrath of Satan than you face daily here on earth. Have a look at the link in my 'Footnote' called "How to Know Jesus". I believe you will find evidence there about what you can expect. Fortunately, if you are reading this, it means that you still have the option to change your destination choice. Unless you already know Jesus as your personal Savior, then if you do nothing you will continue your unfortunate destination to Hell. However, if you act on the information available to you in the referenced document using God's Word, then you will be assured of your final destination in glory with Jesus and all His precious saints. It's a matter of choice, friend. You must make that choice personally.

PRAYER: Praise the powerful name of Jesus, my Savior, I Have A Hope! It's written in this scripture today, and so beautifully sung by Tommy Walker in the hyper-linked title. I praise You Heavenly Father for that wonderful hope, and I thank You from the depths of my heart for impacting my life some 39 years ago by helping me make the most important decision of my life. Father, I pray that each one that You will cause to read this devotional today might examine their heart closely and either be reminded of that hope which is theirs, or be provoked by Your precious Holy Spirit into accepting You as Lord and Savior today. Lord, may they make the right decision today, because doing nothing equates to a decision to continue their path towards hell. For the family that I love, the friends that I admire and the friends that I care so deeply about, I humble plead with You Lord to move in their hearts today. May You be honored repeatedly today as more of your children make decisions to accept the sacrifice You made at Calvary for our good. I ask this all in the precious 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

The Prescription For Help

THE HOLY BIBLE (God's Word Translation – James 5:13-18): ¹³ If any of you are having trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing psalms. ¹⁴ If you are sick, call for the church leaders. Have them pray for you and anoint you with olive oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ (Prayers offered in faith will save those who are sick, and the Lord will cure them.) If you have sinned, you will be forgiven. ¹⁶ So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed. Prayers offered by those who have God's approval are effective. ¹⁷ Elijah was human like us. Yet, when he prayed that it wouldn't rain, no rain fell on the ground for three-and-a-half years. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again. It rained, and the ground produced crops.

THOUGHTS: Most of us feel a whole lot better if we leave our doctor with a prescription in hand, don't we? I believe that most of us also feel better when we read God's Word, and walk away to face our day with renewed strength, encouragement or boldness to share the Word with others, or the joy that fills our heart! I've heard older folk offer me certain homemade remedies and they would say, take this for anything that ails you! I always thought that was funny, but I am more and more convinced that we can take in the Word of God, apply it to our lives (not the life of another sinner who, we feel, needs it worse than us!!!!) and then stand amazed of its many applications. I will break these verses apart to emphasize the prescription of each problem mentioned, with hopes that we will reflect on this as we are affected today, or sometime in the future:

In times of trouble		Pray to your Father in heaven;
In happiness		Sing praises to the Father, the instigator of our happiness;
In sickness		Ask your church leaders to anoint you with olive oil and pray for you (olive oil was used in setting one aside for special attention by God);

Friends, we are further assured that the prayers of a righteous person (a person who has God's approval) are effective, and the example of Elijah is a reminder of just how effective our prayers can be. So these are tried and proven actions that we can depend on, but just like any doctor or pharmacy today – if you don't know them, or use their services, it is impossible to get the help that friends might tell you they received from them. So please allow me to introduce you to my Father, my Lord, my Provider, my Healer, my Counselor who will listen to my troubles and direct me in the right path, but most of all, He's my Savior - for Jesus saved me in spite of my sinful life, when I invited Him to. Prescriptions are only acceptable by my pharmacy, if they come from my doctor. Similarly, the prescriptions noted above are only applicable to those associated with the 'Doctor' – Jesus Christ. He is within your reach friend! Please read my 'Footnote' below, especially the link to 'How to Know Jesus' and act on the instructions today friend. Let me know about your decision, so that I may pray with you as you make this change in your life! Jesus loves you, and so do I!

PRAYER: Father, You are my Rock – a firm foundation in which I can depend and lean on in all aspects of my life. Thank You Lord God for being there with me through the good times of life and through the challenging times. My faith has been strengthened when my prescriptions have been filled and followed as You prescribed in Your Word. Thank You for caring for Your children, even when it has been impossible to get in to my primary care physician, or when we can no longer afford medical insurance or attention. Your love for us goes way beyond the cross of Calvary, for it is shown daily in Your watchful care and concern for us. Thank You heavenly Father! Please touch the heart of each one that may take time to meditate on this devotional today, or even to the one that might 'stumble across this' (divinely led by You!!) in search of help for circumstances beyond their control. Lead them to the Cross, dear God. Ignite within us a new flame that will be evident to those that we come into contact with today, so that they may have a burning desire to know the source of our true happiness. All this for Your glory oh God, for I ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, with thanksgiving, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

Don’t Give Up, Strengthen Your Resolve!

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Voice – James 5:7-8): ⁷ For this reason, my brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the return of the Lord. Look! The farmer knows how to wait patiently for the land to produce vegetables and fruits. He cannot harvest a freshly planted seed. Instead, he waits for the early and the late showers to nourish the soil. ⁸ You need this same kind of patience, so in the meantime, strengthen your resolve because the Lord will be coming soon.

THOUGHTS: One of the toughest things in life is 'to wait'! Imagine in a written test when you finish first – you sit worried about whether you must have barreled into the test and possibly missed the point. In picking up someone from the airport and you arrive early – you may tend to beat up on yourself for not having gone the speed limit and possibly been more kind to those drivers who just seemed to have poked along. In Christendom we may tend to do something similar – we may become impatient with those who are struggling to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ, or we may lose identity with the unsaved and therefore be challenged to understand their reasoning for delaying their salvation decision. Similarly, for those who easily meet all the bills and have lots of extra to do all those things that some of us can only dream about, they may tend to look down their noses and find many reasons why someone is possibly struggling financially. I believe that James is telling us that, in life we have choices and each of those should really lead towards the ultimate goal of spending eternity in heaven with our Father God, and many saints that have gone on before us. Meanwhile, we each have a personal responsibility – one that applies only to our heart and our life – how can we draw even closer to God? How can we do even more towards our relationship with God and all those that He loves? Try looking at a groom waiting for his bride to walk the isle, he is either in deep thought about what he might do to make his bride more proud of him, or how much more can he do to provide for their wellbeing and happiness, or even what else can he smooth over in his appearance at that moment to look his very best for his bride. So it is with saints of God, while we wait for our 'BIG DAY' when we shall see our Savior face to face, we are to be patiently striving to be more like Him; trying to be His hands extended to those around us, by blessing the rich and/or the poor; we are to be deeper into the Word than ever before as we build anticipation of seeing Jesus! Friends, there's no time to coast along, or get impatient, or even feel like an over-achiever, for we are to be busy about the Master's work and never give up. Constantly working towards being more like Jesus – the author and finisher of our faith. Let us therefore strengthen our resolve to be as much like Jesus as we can; yearn for His Word daily, ask Him to grant you faith, knowledge and wisdom to be more like Him in every way. Constantly remind yourself and sing.. 'You're the One I live for Jesus', and look forward to pleasing every day!

PRAYER: Thank You Lord God for providing the means to salvation! Thank You for reaching deep into my heart and convicting me of my sin, causing me to surrender my life to You. Having heard the call by James, I humbly plead with You dear Lord, to touch the hearts of my readers and myself to never think more of ourselves than we are, to never look down on others, but to constantly look for ways to offer a 'hand-up' to them. Please help us to look at their soul and not their circumstances dealt to them by this cruel and selfish world. Please help us to never be anxious about tomorrow, while still keeping our eye, and our goal on the prize that lies ahead of us. Your Word is clear, that we are to strengthen our resolve to be more like You every day, as we prepare for that great union with You in glory! Oh, What A Day that Will be, when my Jesus I shall see!! Praise the wonderful name of Jesus! I humbly place these petitions at Your feet oh Lord, for it's in Your magnificent name that I ask all this, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

If You… Then God will…

THE HOLY BIBLE (The Contemporary English Version – James 4:8, 10): ⁸ Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can't make up your mind……... ¹⁰ Be humble in the Lord's presence, and he will honor you.

THOUGHTS: God loves us unconditionally, but there are some things that He will not do unless He is invited/asked, or until He recognizes our seriousness in asking, by doing our part. Let's think about this in everyday living. We may love to have company in our home, but unless we invite friends over, or unless we open the door to let them in when they arrive, we will never have friends in our home. God designed us with our own free will, and He respects that so much that He will not intrude into our personal space, or our lives, unless we invite Him to and accept Him with open arms. God is very aware of those times that our mouths may say one thing but our heart feels differently. So while we may say, especially in church, that we want God in control of our lives, but deep inside we expect to hang on to the world, or at least our worldly traits, then this verse is clarifying that God is very willing to wait on drawing close to us until He knows that we seriously want Him to be intimate with us. Friends, unlike other relationships where you may say one thing and mean something differently, remember that with God you are dealing with your very Designer and Creator. He knows how you are put together and He knows the intent of your heart. To meet the conditions placed in vs 8, we must wash our hands and our divided hearts (our inner attitudes and motives) by confessing our sin and repenting of our sin and asking God's help to remove the filth of sin from our lives. Our hearts are divided when we want to hang on to our worldly desires (sin) yet we know we need a Savior and want to receive His blessings. Friends, this act of surrendering life as you may know it today, for a life fully committed to Jesus Christ, requires a deep humbleness and a total surrender to the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it worth it? I can irrevocably say that after some 40 years of walking with the Lord, I cannot imagine how I would have handled life without the awesome love, protection, care and concern of my Savior, for He Walks with me, and He Talks with me, and He Tells me I am His Own! My life is complete know that Jesus is in control! I would urge you like James did in these verses, to draw close to God and enjoy His presence as He draws close to you!

PRAYER: Lord God, thank You for loving a sinner like me so much that You actually sacrificed Your very own Son so that I might have a way, and the means, to receive forgiveness of my sin, resulting in the promise of life everlasting with You! What a glorious day that was, when You called me to Yourself, and what an even sweeter life this has been with You in control of my life while here on this earth! Thank You Father! I have many family members and friends who have not seen the value of making this important decision yet in their life, so this morning I plead with You to tender the hearts of these ones and all those who will read this devotional with doubts and/or uncertainties about their relationship with You. May Your miracle working hand touch their lives today, incenting them to draw close to You and accept You as Lord, so that You may draw close to them and bless them in miraculous ways. Please have Your will and way in their lives so that they may rid their minds of any divisiveness, and therefore completely surrender to You. I humbly ask all this in the wonderful and all-powerful name of Jesus, my Savior and Lord, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!

How to Shoo the Devil Away

THE HOLY BIBLE (Contemporary English Version – James 4:4-7): ⁴ You people aren't faithful to God! Don't you know that if you love the world, you are God's enemies? And if you decide to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. ⁵ Do you doubt the Scriptures that say, "God truly cares about the Spirit he has put in us"? ⁶ In fact, God treats us with even greater kindness, just as the Scriptures say, "God opposes everyone who is proud, but he is kind to everyone who is humble." ⁷ Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you.

THOUGHTS: Isn't it interesting how we get so fed up with Satan, but yet we are unwilling to change anything about our own character and/or life to change that? I was drawn to these verses, especially after just reading Ezekiel 20 – which I would encourage you to read if you are touched in any way by this passage in James. For God gave the Israelites rules and instructions on how to please Him and live together in peace and harmony. After the parents failed, God attempted to help the children become different in their endeavors, but they also failed, and faced destruction. Here in James, God saw where the problem was continuing and He once again gave instructions on how children of God can draw closer to Him and resist the devil. Friends, I would dare say that even in our day, after all that has gone on before us, we still are faced with selfish motives and greed, to the extent that old Satan is attacking us from every side. Unfortunately this appeal especially pertains to Christians, because Satan fears that we may be too involved with Jesus Christ. In this scripture, James is warning us that our relationship with God is weakened when: a). We are unfaithful to God; b). We love the world; c). We are God's enemies, because He will not reside where sin abounds; d). We doubt the scripture too often and try to handle obedience to it under our own terms; and e). We are proud – assuming that there is something personally that accounts for all we have accomplished or are enjoying. Friends, the return of Jesus is near, and the Bible is clear that we will either face a welcoming smile from our Savior, or we will be turned over to Satan, because of our disobedience and lack of regard for the Savior who died to bring us life everlasting. Are you successful in shooing Satan away? Are you prepared to totally surrender your life to Jesus Christ and allow Him to save you from your sin, and guide you into life everlasting in His presence? If it's to be, it's up to you! Please read the help in my 'Footnote' on how to make a change in your life. The benefits are 'out of this world'!

PRAYER: Thanks for being so patient with us dear God. I can't imagine how our lack of appreciation, and lack of desire to please You, must hurt You, especially considering all that You have done for us and our ancestors. Thank You for Your forgiveness, Your undying love and Your amazing grace. Thank You for loving us in spite of our failures. I pray that You will especially ignite a renewed fire within the lives of my readers and myself, so that we may totally surrender ourselves to You and subsequently reap the rewards of being a child of the King. Oh how I look forward to one day being in Your holy presence and worshiping before You in person! Please impact the lives of my readers and I today, is my humble and sincere prayer that I ask in the name of Jesus, the Christ, 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 read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will 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 blogger.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely 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, Sebring, FL! 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!