Pastor Stephen Dedman

Tag: christ

The Triumphal Entry

Encouragement

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!”
‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭

Today begins Passion Week. On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey that had never been ridden. This was prophesied in Zechariah 9:9 which says, “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.” (NLT)

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, He was greeted by a multitude of people who rejoiced at His presence. His entry was unexpected as He entered as a humble king. The people were expecting their king to come and conquer Rome and give them freedom and peace.

Sadly, these same people who were singing praise to the king were shouting, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” on Friday. They wanted a Messiah to bless them with power and glory instantly. They didn’t realize that indeed He was the Christ.

When Jesus comes back in the Second Coming at the end of the seven-year Tribulation, He will be riding on a white horse symbolizing His kingship. He came as a humble servant the first time but when He returns in the Millennium Reign, He is the righteous Judge and King. He comes to conquer.

Humility is a sign of being like Jesus. We must humble ourselves before the Lord and set the example of humility to others. We must serve others like Jesus did. We must treat others like Jesus did. We must be the picture of Jesus that others see.

What can you do today for others to see that you serve Jesus? Surprisingly, when we humble ourselves we lift up others who need to be encouraged. Be a blessing to someone today.

Pray

Lord, help me to put others before myself. I sing praises to You as You are my Lord and Savior. Let my life be a blessing to others.

No Doubt

Encouragement

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
II Timothy 1:7

Satan uses tools of fear and doubt to keep us from doing and witnessing extraordinary things.  Satan does not want us experiencing God’s power and love. Instead, he will try to paralyze our faith.

God gives us power, love and a sound mind to do things that glorify Him.  We are capable of doing powerful things through Jesus when we put our faith to the test. Without Him we are nothing.

In Matthew 17:14-21 a man came to Jesus and begged for his son to be healed from demonic convulsions associated with epilepsy. Previously the man brought his son before the disciples but they couldn’t heal him. Immediately Jesus cast the demon out and the boy was healed. 

The disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast it out and He replied, “Because of your unbelief.”  He said if they had mustard seed-sized faith they could move mountains and nothing would be impossible for them. The problem wasn’t with their faith.  They had faith.  The problem was with their unbelief or doubt.  He gave them a solution: “this kind (of unbelief) does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” 

The devil plants seeds of doubt into our minds subconsciously and sometimes we’re not even aware of it.  We must protect our minds and be sure that what we are hearing and seeing is full of truth and not the lies of the devil. Jesus said to fast and pray.  Fasting and praying starves the flesh of self desires and feeds our souls with the Spirit of God.

Is there any unbelief that is keeping you from living an extraordinary life? Is your unbelief keeping you from witnessing God’s great things? Remove your unbelief.

Prayer

Lord, I pray in the Name of Jesus to have all fear, unbelief and doubt removed from my mind and replaced with God’s power, love and truth. Give me the knowledge of what I can do through Jesus.

Effective Prayers

Encouragement

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:7‬

Some people say that praying is useless because God is going to do what He wants to do. What’s the point of praying?  Sadly, those people are missing out on a blessing. Prayer is the most powerful and wonderful tool that we have to use. Prayer is powerful and miraculous when we are connected to Jesus. 

Jesus says that when we abide or remain in Him and if His words remain in us we can ask anything and it will happen. That is the secret to prayer. If we want our prayers to be heard and answered by God we need to know him and know Him closely. 

The more we know God the more we know the things of God. We won’t be asking for a million dollars to be in our bank account tomorrow morning. We will be more mindful of what others need more than what we want. 

We will be more aware of what God is already doing in our life and we will be in His will. We can expect our prayers to be answered because they are according to the Spirit of God. What are you praying for today?  

There’s nothing wrong about praying selfishly for the things that glorify God and praise His name. Prayer is effective and powerful when we abide in Him and His words abide in us. 

Pray

Lord, I seek you will all of my heart. I want to know you and honor you. Please lay on my heart what I need to pray for.