He's Still God - On the Mountain Tops and in The Valleys!

The Bible – Good News Translation

Psalm 116:10-11

 10 I kept on believing, even when I said,

“I am completely crushed,”

11 even when I was afraid and said,

“No one can be trusted.”

My Thoughts:

Friends, I believe that we often mistakenly void many of our commitments because of unrelated causes. Let me offer one or two ideas to explain my point: (1) You may work out at a gym, and after a few months you may not have lost any weight, so you quit going to the gym. Truth is, the volume of food that you have been eating has increased, but definitely not decreased, so although you are spending more calories, you are still taking in more. Nothing to do with the gym! (2) You are having an argument with an employee at work, so you quit your job of 10 years that paid you handsomely and gave you health benefits. Now consider the biblical application. In our Christian life, we must be in a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and therefore enjoy a daily walk and talk with Him. When this is in place, we mature in our relationship with Him and can easily handle a 'no' response to a prayer request that we may have asked of Him; or in another case, a friend relationship that went sour; or in another case, your faith may be restored in a friend that you thought you couldn't trust. Throughout our relationships and worldly activities our faith in Jesus should stay intact, if we remain strong in our relationship with Him. Think about it, nothing has changed in what He did for us at Calvary, or in what He continues to do for you and I. So we should be able to rejoice like the Psalmist did! Even throughout our trials and temptations, our faith should remain strong, and if we ask Jesus to help us in all aspects of our life, we should respond to situations like He would. Are you struggling in your faith because of issues other than your walk with Jesus? Be comforted today in knowing that our God never changes and will always love His kids! He is our God when we are on the mountaintop and also our Comforter and God when we feel like we are in the deepest valley of our life. He’s still God, friend! Trust Him!

My Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I pray that my readers and I might be reminded that: You are the One that we adore! You are the One that we raise our hands and our hearts in praise to when life is rocking along without any known challenges! And You are especially the One that we must look to at those times when we feel like we are ‘at the end of our rope’, or feeling like we are in a deep valley. I firmly believe that You are still God, regardless of the circumstances that may occur in our lives. Please give us strength and humility to depend on You during those times that we feel so low, so alone, so useless and so far away from You. In fact, it is those times in particular that we really need You by our side and Your outpouring of grace, mercy and loving-kindness. Even as a child of the King, as long as we are here on this earth, we will still be challenged with issues that we feel so incapable of handling. Praise God we know You, our King, and we can depend on You to help us through every circumstance in life! In the name of Your son, Jesus my Savior, I ask that You hear my prayer today and that Your continue to bless Your children who need You so desperately today and every day, AMEN!

**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.

Do It For The Glory of God!

The Bible – The Message

1 Corinthians10:31–33

^{31–33          So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you—you’re eating to God’s glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory. At the same time, don’t be callous in your exercise of freedom, thoughtlessly stepping on the toes of those who aren’t as free as you are. I try my best to be considerate of everyone’s feelings in all these matters; I hope you will be, too.}

Thoughts:

These verses sounds very similar to what we studied yesterday, but we looked at the aspect of being considerate of others as we celebrate the liberties of being a Christian. Today I want us to think about the phrase that I bolded in the above verses: “whatever we do, do it heartily and freely to the glory of God”. The first thing that I believe God prompted me to consider and that is my behavior at work. Friends, it is very easy to act godly inside the church walls, but as one church displayed over their exit doors, “You are now entering your mission field”. It would probably be frowned on by most employers to walk in to work with our Bibles under our arms, or for us to have our first sermon in the lounge while others stop in for their morning coffee. In fact, we would display our dishonesty in doing certain things at work, because we would encroach on the time that we are being paid to work, and that equals cheating our employers. In my opinion, being a representative of God at work means that we stand up for honesty – both in being a role model setting an example for those we work for, and in keeping our employees honest in giving of their best to our employer. Christians should be the best employees, in that they are to be honest, hardworking and setting an example for others to follow. Some might question why they should act this way when so many are taking long breaks, doing personal business at work, and not giving a solid day’s work? May I remind you from the word of God (above) that whatever we do, we must do it for the glory of God! Let’s not disappoint Him in seeing us acting or being anything other than following His footsteps, His commands and His will for our lives. Remember, non-Christians looking on at our behavior – in deed or word, will show them what God looks like, so that they may be encouraged to also want to know Him personally! Are you proud of the example you are displaying at work, or at any place where non-Christians are looking on? It’s not too late to change that attitude friend, or shall I say, not too late to seek God’s help and direction for ways you can change that. I would encourage you to call on Him while He may be found.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I wish that You would look on me today and be proud of my actions and/or words, because I have followed Your plan and Your design for this humble servant. Please work on me for a constant and consistent walk with You, especially in the midst of non-Christians. Of course, I also desire to be more like You in all aspects of my life, because I could be of encouragement to my fellow Christians in areas that they are struggling. Therefore I ask that You give me the qualities that I need to demonstrate Your love and Your example to all that I come into contact with. May You be glorified from all that I may do or say today, is my humble prayer and request. Please be especially strong in touching the lives of those that may meditate on this devotional today so that Your people will learn to be like You in all areas of life. I ask all this in Your precious and holy name, Jesus, my Savior, AMEN!

NOTE: 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.

Be Considerate of Others

The Bible – New Century Version

1 Corinthians10:23–24

^{23 “We are allowed to do all things,” but not all things are good for us to do. “We are allowed to do all things,” but not all things help others grow stronger. 24 Do not look out only for yourselves. Look out for the good of others also.}

Thoughts:

I believe that anytime we feel that we have an advantage over another person, whether it be in education; or popularity; or financially; or the house/area we live in; or yes, even in our Christianity, that unless we are super careful and humble, we could easily inflate our value and/or our pride to feel like we are above another brother’s level, or better than that sister over there. Paul had to address this problem with the Corinthian church, because just as in our case today, if we are to be the image of Christ, we must remember that He was probably known more for His humility than He was for His power, or His place in the holy Trinity. I also believe that although we may sometime feel like being around a smarter person, for example, as it might help us to become smarter, we are never comfortable around them for very long because we feel intimidated by them. Friends, if we are to reach the rich and the poor, then we must be neutral in our feelings about worldly standings and concentrate solely on the condition of the person’s soul. You see, the lack, or the excess of finances is not a condition of, or a requirement of, getting into heaven. Jesus said, unless a man humbles himself, acknowledges his sin, recognizes the only One who could forgive sin, Jesus Christ, and ask for forgiveness of sin, it is only then that they will become a child of the King. They can’t buy their way into heaven, nor will Jesus feel sorry for their lack of finances and automatically accept them into heaven, they each must come to the foot of the cross and ask for forgiveness of their sin and invite Jesus into their heart. Friends, whatever we do, whether we feel we are at liberty to do it because of the freedom of our religion, or just for selfish reasons, if we do it without regard for our brother who may not be as fortunate as we are in any area of life, then I believe that God will hold us accountable. As the verse above says, we are to look out for the good of others, not just ourselves. Talk to God about it today friend, He will show you any areas of your life that is not aligned with His will or His character, and direct you on how to correct that. If you have an empty prayer life, please use the information in the footnote to get the help of another Christian.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for reaching down Your awesome, powerful, loving hand to touch the life of this old sinner, bringing me to my senses, forgiving me of my sin, and crowning me as a child of the King of all kings. Just as You humbled Yourself to touch me, I pray for wisdom, boldness, humility and love to also touch the lives of those around me with the love of Jesus. Who am I that a King would bleed and die for? Who am I to then think that I am superior to any other human being, I’m just a humble sinner saved by grace who wants to see as many of my family and friends also know my Savior, so that together we may walk through Heaven’s portals and be welcomed by our Master! Oh, what a glorious day that will be!!! Lord, I humbly ask all this in Your precious name, even as I praise You for all You have done for me already, AMEN!

NOTE: 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.