Pastor Stephen Dedman

Tag: daily devotional

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.

Jesus Knows

Encouragement

‘But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” ‘
Luke 5:5

Have you ever failed at something that you were good at? Do you remember that feeling of failure and frustration?

No one knows how to help you in times of discouragement like Jesus does. He will not just encourage you to do better next time, instead, He gives you a recipe for victory.

Peter was cleaning up after an all night fishing failure. It wasn’t like he had just caught a few fish; he had nothing, and he was a profession. There was nothing to show for his effort. He was ready to throw in the towel and give up. Needless to say, what he needed was a victory.

Jesus could have said to Peter, “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be in a different line of work soon.” Instead, Jesus instructed him to launch back out into the deep and let the nets down. That sounds crazy! A carpenter instructing a skilled professional fisherman where and how to catch fish! But even crazier was the fact that they caught so many fish that the nets were breaking and they had to call for help to carry in the weight of so many fish.

This is how Jesus works in our life. He will take us right back to where we were unsuccessful in order to build us back up. The problem may have been that you were relying on your own strength and understanding and He wanted you to rely and trust in Him. We must learn from our faults and failures so that next time we will experience victory in the supernatural, spiritual strength of God.

Pray

Lord, I know that I need Your help and Your strength. Comfort me with Your Holy Spirit and show me what to do next. Your ways and plans are much better than mine and I will follow Your lead.

A Transformed Heart

Encouragement

‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ‘ Ezekiel 36:26

Your attitude towards God comes directly from your heart. At the moment of salvation when the Holy Spirit comes into your life, your heart is permanently transformed. God’s greatest desire is to see that His people love Him with all of their hearts.

Apart from the cleaning work of the Holy Spirit of God, our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). In Psalm 51, David prayed that God would cleanse him and create in him a clean heart (Psalm 51:10). Jesus said we are blessed when our hearts are made pure (Matthew 5:8).

We know that sin hardens our heart the more we sin. The longer we hold on to unconfessed sin the harder our hearts become. Even to the point when people around us can tell a difference in our demeanor.

Sometimes we go through seasons when our hearts grow cold and we become desensitized to the important things of God. Much of the time we have a feeling of despair or “I don’t care”. The good news is that the Holy Spirit can change our hearts and soften our heart of stone.

Make sure to check your heart’s condition today. If your love for God and others is not what it should be then you should ask Him to renew your heart and restore your devotion to Him.

Pray

Lord, there are things that are not right in my heart and I need Your help. Change my heart and help me to love like You love. Set my heart on fire for the things that are important to You.