Pastor Stephen Dedman

Category: Trust

Teach Me To Do Your Will

Encouragement, Faith, Trust

Teach Me To Do Your Will

Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God! Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
Psalm 143:10

God’s Will and God’s Way

Learning something new can be challenging at times.  But once you discover how to do something new it can be rewarding and great.  Learning to do God’s will can be challenging but the reward is worth it all.

In Psalm 143 David is crying out to God for assistance.  It’s a desperate cry for help indeed.  But right in the middle of this song, David seeks to know the will of God because he knows it is the best thing.  He knows that God is in control of all things but he wants God to reveal His will to him.  Obviously he knows he is going through this storm for a reason but he wants God to show him what he needs to learn from it.  This is the best attitude to have when we face difficult and trying times.  Instead of praying for God to remove our trials we should face them with a perspective that God is trying to teach us something.

Just think about all of the challenges that David faced during his life.  He was the youngest and smallest of his brothers but still knew he had a purpose.  He took on the biggest and strongest giant and experienced victory.  He committed many sins but found forgiveness through God’s love and grace.  He lost a child who was only a few days old but knew the child was with God in Heaven.  The list can go on and on but David was always aware that God was deepening his faith and increasing his spiritual strength.  That is how we need to look at our own life.

Prayer

As you seek to learn God’s will and way for your life, count it all joy when you suffer for the cause of Christ.

They Glorified God

Encouragement, Trust

They Glorified God

Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭7:16‬

Touching People

In Luke 7:11-17 Jesus stops a funeral procession when He saw a widowed woman who was just moments away from laying her only son to rest. This woman had lost her husband and now has lost all hope of any future because her only son has died. But Jesus saw her and had compassion for her. He touched the casket and told the dead man to get up. Immediately the man sat up and began speaking. The large crowd was amazed at what they saw but most importantly verse 16 says they glorified God because they knew Jesus was God.

This passage of Scripture gives us a perfect a portrait of how a church is to minister to people.

We must realize that the church is who represents Jesus in today’s society. We must do as Jesus did and see the needs of others and reach out and touch them with compassion and love. When the lost are touched with the love of Jesus, they come alive, spiritually. A church will glorify God when they are on mission and ministering to His people. We can’t miss any opportunities of serving people because we lose focus of the mission.

An encouraged church congregation is required to fulfill its mission. A discouraged church is not effective. Every church needs faithful members using their God-given gifts. Members who are not using their gifts are wasting them. Compassion brings people together and to the cross of Jesus. If a church is not loving people it’s not a real church.

Prayer

Pray and ask God how you can be the hands and feet of Jesus.

You Have Been Healed

Faith, Salvation, Trust

You Have Been Healed

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭2:24‬ ‭

Take Up Your Cross Daily

Many people wear a cross as jewelry to symbolize their love and devotion to Jesus. Indeed a picture a cross makes us remember Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. The empty cross even proves He is alive and forever our Redeemer.

2,000 years ago the cross meant much more than forgiveness. Crucifixion was the most horrible and gruesome way to die. It was the suffering that was so brutal to the victim upon the tree. If we were to go back in time and visualize the suffering and shame that Jesus endured upon the cross we probably wouldn’t consider it as art and jewelry. Instead we would remember it as a tragedy and horrific death of the person who took our place and satisfied our debt of sin.  If we really focus on the cross it would make us live a more righteous and holy life as we consider what Jesus went through on our behalf.

Peter is not referring to a physical healing but instead a spiritual healing due to our sin nature.  Jesus has given us a spiritual healing that sets us free from the wages of sin and from the burden that it brings.  As a Christian consider yourself healed from the sickness of sin.  Just as leprosy and blindness was considered to be brought about due to sinful behavior, we are healed from the dreadful effects that sin brings into our life.  We all seek physical healing from our Lord but the death of Jesus upon the cross graces us with spiritual healing for eternity.  Consider the cross and die daily to your sin and submit to the authority of Jesus Christ.

Prayer

Lord, I give myself as a living sacrifice and submit to your ways and to your will. You are my Master and Savior.