The Prayer Of Faith

September 14, 2019 Pastor Stephen Dedman Encouragement, Faith, Trust

The Prayer Of Faith

And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
James 5:15

The Cure For Spiritual Weakness

There are times in our life when we can become spiritually sick. Just as our physical bodies get sick with a virus or an infection our faith can also become weak and feeble. We can take an antibiotic for our bodies to help fight infections but what do we do when we are spiritually sick? Is there a prescription for spiritual weakness?

We must understand that there are seasons in life when we are faithful and strong and then there are times when our faith is weak. It’s during these times of weak faith when we are most vulnerable. This is when we quit reading and studying our Bible and we don’t pray as much as we did before. This is what James is referring to in James 5:13-18. He is writing to Believers who have been persecuted and are at their point of giving up and giving in. It takes a lot of strength to stay spiritually strong in our walk with the Lord. Jesus never promised us that it would be easy. However, James gives great advice for us to get spiritually healed.

The first step of spiritual healing is to recognize that you are sick and weak. Until you recognize your spiritual condition, nothing will change. The second step is to surround yourself with strong, spiritual people. These are the ones whose faith is so strong that it rubs off on others. Everyone needs a strong faithful person in their life. Third, you need to rely on the Holy Spirit to nourish your mind and soul through the Word of God. God wants to restore you to be the person He has called you to be. Stay strong and be encouraged.

Prayer

If you are spiritually weak pray for God to send you someone who can lift you up in faith and encouragement. If you are spiritually strong, pray for God to help you find someone who is weak and help them get back to where they need to be.

Hidden With Christ

September 10, 2019 Pastor Stephen Dedman Encouragement, Faith, Salvation, Trust

Hidden With Christ

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:3‬ ‭

New Life

Before we were saved by the grace of God, we lived for ourselves. It was self-merit and self-righteousness that brought us what we thought was justifiable. As long as we were good people and as long as we did good things, we were ok. But that was not the truth.

When our eyes were spiritually opened to the things of God, we were changed. As Scripture says, “For you have died.” When we come to Christ we die to our old ways and to our old self. No longer do we live for ourselves but we live for Christ. He is our Lord and Master and we submit to Him in all of our ways. Our actions and words reflect who we belong to. You may be thinking… “But sometimes I say and do things that are not aligned with Christ-likeness.” Just because we are Christians does not mean that we will never sin again. We all sin and come short of God’s glory.

The difference is in the next part of the verse… “and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” What this means is we are justified by the blood of Christ. When we come to Jesus through faith, we die to ourselves. We take up our cross and follow Him. We are born again. We are reborn into the likeness of Christ. When God looks at us He sees the righteousness of Christ and not the righteousness of ourselves. When we believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior we take on a new life and new characteristics. The Holy Spirit comes to our rescue and gives us power to live as Christ would have us to live. In other words we require the Holy Spirit to live holy and acceptable to God. Romans 12:1-2 gives us great insight of how we should live everyday. As we live holy lives we no longer live according to the world but according to the Word of God.

Prayer

Lord, I submit to you and live today for You. Show me what You want me to do for You today.

Cry For Help

September 3, 2019 Pastor Stephen Dedman Faith, Trust

Cry For Help

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34:17‬ ‭

Right With God

The key word in today’s verse is righteous. When the righteous cry for help the Lord hears and delivers. To be righteous, one must be right with God. To be right with God you must have a relationship with Jesus who makes us right with God. To have a relationship with Jesus you must believe in Him as Lord and Savior.

We all face situations that seem too overwhelming or out of our control. This is what we call a crisis situation. It is at this point that we feel helpless, hopeless and alone. God wants us to cry out to Him and He wants to deliver us from our troubles. However, sometimes we get in our minds that we got ourself in the problem so we must get ourself out of the problem. This is called “stinkin’ Thinkin’”. We soon feel exhausted and out of energy. Guess who wants you to feel this way? That’s right, your adversary, the devil. The devil wants you to feel that God is nowhere near and is avoiding you. He even wants you to feel that your prayers are not being heard.

It is at this moment that you need to get on your knees and cry out to the Lord. He has never left you. But He is waiting for you to submit to Him as Lord and Master. When He is in control He can do wonderful and miraculous things. Don’t ever think you can live life without God. Without God, you’re not living; you’re dying. Only the righteous can be heard by God.

Prayer

Lord, I cry out to You for help. Cleanse my heart and make me new. Deliver me from my troubles.