Pastor Stephen Dedman

Tag: christ

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.

Are You The One

Trust

Are You The One

And John calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭7:19‬

No Need To Doubt

In Luke 7:28 Jesus says, “there is none greater than John.”  John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus who preached repentance of sin to prepare the way of the coming of the Messiah.  When John baptized Jesus, he heard the audible voice of God and saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove.  There was no doubt that John knew that Jesus was the Messiah.

After John was arrested and held in prison for a long period of time, he began to question if Jesus was really the Coming One.  There are three notable reasons that caused him to doubt and these can create doubt in our minds as well.  First, the circumstances he faced made him question if Jesus cared.  John was in prison because he stated the truth of Herod’s sin.  Sometimes the circumstances we endure make us wonder if Jesus really cares for us.  Second, listening to outsiders can cause doubt.  While in prison, John heard a report about Jesus and obviously it was in contrast to what he believed.  We must be careful to who and what we listen to.  If it’s not the truth, it can cause us to doubt.  Third, since we don’t have full knowledge, we question how things will work out.  Jesus was just the opposite of what everyone expected.  He was a humble servant instead of coming as one who would be treated like the king of the Jews.  Limited information causes us to doubt if all things will work out in our favor or not.

When John doubted, he searched for truth from Jesus.  We too should turn to Jesus when we start to doubt.  He will give us what we need.

Prayer

Search the Lord through the Word of God and ask Him to reveal the truths that you need to know.

Into A Pit

Encouragement, Faith, Trust

Into A Pit

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit.
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭37:23-24‬a

No Way Out

Joseph was a victim of circumstances.  He told his family about the dreams he had of them all bowing down before him.  His brothers were jealous and his father showed him favoritism by giving him a special colorful robe to wear. He was eleventh in line of inheritance but the first son of Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel.  No doubt Joseph was hated by his brothers and getting rid of him was their choice of action.  Instead of killing him they all agreed to throw him into a waterless pit.  He didn’t stay in the pit long though before he was sold to a passing caravan of Ishmaelites and then sold into Egyptian slavery.

God had a special plan and purpose for Joseph.  He was treated harshly for simply sharing about the dreams he was given. Sometimes we find ourselves in a pit just like Joseph.  We simply mind our own business and evil things happen to us while we don’t deserve them. This is the reality of life.  As we live in an evil world, evil things will happen to good people.  The most important thing we can do is keep our head up and our minds on Christ.  Even though we cannot control some of our circumstances, we can control our attitude and behavior.  We can keep shining the light of Jesus as we suffer so others will see Jesus in us.

God might have you in pit right now for a reason.  If you find yourself in a bad situation make sure to make the best of the situation by keeping a positive attitude and pointing others to Christ.

Prayer

Lord, I pray my life will be an example for others to see who You are and to show Your glory and grace.

Daily Devotional