Pastor Stephen Dedman

Category: Trust

Faith Makes A Way

Faith, Trust

“And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭2:4‬

Alexander Graham Bell once said, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

There is much truth to what Bell said. So often we are faced with “closed-doors” and we give up or wait for another opportunity to go a different direction. However, as we see in today’s Bible verse, our faith can take us to a higher ground where we see new opportunities.

Mark 2:1-12 tells us of an event when 4 men brought a paralyzed man to Jesus to be healed. As soon as they arrived to the house the crowd was so pressed that they could not enter through the door. Instead of giving up they carried the man up upon the roof and made an opening to lower the man down to Jesus.

It was an amazing event for the multitude of people to witness. They were all astonished when this man got up and walked away. Jesus not only healed him physically but He healed him spiritually by forgiving his sins.

These four men had such strong and courageous faith that they would not and could not give up. They were determined to get the crippled man to Jesus. They knew Jesus would do something to heal him. And He did.

But watch what happened. When they could not get through the door, they didn’t wait for another door to open. They went up to the rooftop and made a door. Their faith moved them to make a way. They got creative and got to work. Their faith moved them into action.

Is your faith strong enough to move you into action? Does your faith cause you to do courageous and extraordinary things? God does not give us faith just to sit and wait. He gives us faith that can move mountains.

Pray

Lord, give me courage to use my faith to show people Your glory. Let my faith shine today. Let my faith be noticed by You.

Every Detail Matters

Faith, Trust

“How great are your works, O Lord ! Your thoughts are very deep!”
Psalms 92:5

It doesn’t take much for someone to see that God’s works are wonderful. Wonderful doesn’t even begin to describe how great His works are. They are multitudinous. God made no mistakes from the time of creation nor has He held back any glorious design.

Think about the human body for a moment. How wonderful it is that the human body can heal itself. The earth is spinning in space at the exact speed and distance from the sun to sustain life. The stars in the heavens are so numerous they cannot all be identified. Consider the human brain. The storage capacity is an amount over 74 Terabytes (just in the cerebral cortex alone). That’s huge!

When we struggle with our faith or wonder if God cares we need to consider this verse as a reference that God knows and cares. He made us with much more detail than anything else. He loves us and cares for each and everyone of us. So when we consider His works and thoughts we may never comprehend the extent to His greatness. Maybe one day it will all be revealed to us when we get to Heaven.

If you are struggling today with the thought that you are not worthy or that God may not care about what you are going through, stop and consider what He has done for you. He sent His Son to die for you and to give you eternal life. He has prepared a way for you to spend eternity in His presence. That alone says enough.

Pray

Lord, help me to know that You care. As I face my struggles, give me comfort and peace that you are in control. I know you will work it all out.

Are You Aware Of Your Sin?

Salvation, Trust

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”
Psalm 51:1-2

Psalm 51 gives us a glimpse of how David saw his sin. To fully understand this Psalm we must realize that God caused David to see his sin from His point of view.

God made him aware of his sin and gave him the understanding of it. Psalm 51 is ultimately David’s response to God once he gained the knowledge of how greatly he had sinned against God.

David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then one sin led to another. Bathsheba sent word that she was pregnant so David developed a scheme to minimize the seriousness of what he had done. David sent Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, into a war zone to be certain that he would be killed and then David would take Bathsheba as his wife and everything would be alright. Not exactly.

God sent Nathan as a prophet to bring conviction to David’s heart. Sin spiritually blinded him and God had to intervene or else David would think he got away with it. David needed to be convicted of his sin and only God can do that. Once convicted, David realized the tragedy of his sin and needed God’s mercy.

How do you view your sin? Do you take it as serious as God does? God says the penalty of sin is death. That is serious business. God does not look lightly upon our sin and neither should we. If only we could see our sin as God sees it. We should never minimize the seriousness of our sin.

One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to convict the Believer of his or her wrongdoings. It’s not to shame you or embarrass you but to bring you to an understanding of what you did. You despised the truth of God. It is a great tragedy for a Christian to sin and not be brought to an understanding that we broke God’s commandment. It is up to us as to how we respond to the awareness and knowledge of our sin. Trust me, our sin is ever before us in our remembrance.

Will we continue in our sin or will we have an attitude of repentance? There are great consequences to those who do not repent.

Pray

Lord, will you bring me to the understanding and knowledge of my sin. Let me be aware of how I have sinned against You. Have mercy on me Lord, forgive me, and make me clean again.