Pastor Stephen Dedman

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The Prayer Of Faith

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.

The Lord Appointed

Trust

The Lord Appointed

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
‭‭Jonah‬ ‭1:17‬

Obedience Brings Blessings

Jonah was appointed by God to go to Ninevah to share the love of God. Instead of obeying and doing as the Lord instructed, Jonah chose to go the opposite way and do what he thought was best. So God also appointed a great fish to save him. Jonah was a man of God but had a few things wrong.

First, he had a problem with forgiveness. He didnt want God to forgive the Ninevites. Some scholars believe Jonah’s family was victimized by the Ninevites. Nevertheless, Jonah didn’t want God showing mercy on them.

Second, Jonah had a problem with obedience. When God told him to go to Ninevah he went down to Tarshish. He went where he wanted to go. He thought he could run away from God. After God got his attention he ended doing what God told him to do.

Third, Jonah had a problem with repentance. Through this entire story we never read that Jonah repented of his sin. He went and had a pity party and never made things right with God. One day we will know the whole story when we get to Heaven.

Let’s learn from Jonah’s bad experience and do what God tells us to do and go where God tells us to go. Sometimes our obedience to God will save our life and save the lives of others. We should learn trust God because He knows what is best.

Prayer

Pray and seek God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit. Ask God if there is anything He desires for you to do or anywhere for you to go.

Hidden With Christ

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.