Pastor Stephen Dedman

Tag: evil

Lead Me, O Lord

Faith, Trust

Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭5:8‬ ‭

David certainly had enemies that were plotting against him.  They had evil intentions and were manipulating him before king Saul.  King Saul was growing jealously aware that David could possibly steal his throne.  It was all false and made David look like the bad guy.

Can you can relate to this situation?  Have you ever had someone falsely accuse you of something or say something about you that wasn’t true?  

David responded with wisdom and reason.  He wanted God to lead him down the right path so he would not fail.  David wanted the tables turned and for his enemies to get what they were plotting for him. He wanted their own words to be their trap, to be caught in their lies so he could be cleared.

This still happens today. Even in the church, people gossip and slander each other. The Bible tells us that God hated this for David and hates it when we do this to one another or when people of the world do this to His children.

God hates wicked speech of any form.  The remarkable thing is that David displayed the mark of true discipline, the result of a God-centered life, following Him, His precepts and plan while seeking His purpose for his life.  

Walk in God’s righteousness and allow the Lord to lead you in the right path.

Pray

Lord, keep me in Your straight path. Give me wisdom and reason to respond righteously when I face evil people. Help me to seek Your righteousness.

Watch And Pray

Encouragement, Trust

Watch And Pray

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:41

 

The Spirit vs. The Flesh

Jesus warned Peter, James, and John to watch and pray as He went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray to the Father.  He had just celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples and was about to be betrayed by Judas.  The guards were seeking to arrest Him and He knew He only had a couple of hours to prepare Himself for the worst suffering and torture known to man. Three times Jesus went away to pray and three times He returned and found the three men slumbering.

Jesus tried warning the three disciples but they let their guard down.  Little did they know that they were about to be tested and tempted more than ever before.  They didn’t think all of this would happen on that night because it was a time of Jewish celebration.  In verse 33 Peter exhaust himself and exclaimed that he would never deny Him even if he were to die.  Three times Peter denied Jesus before the rooster crowed.

We all fall into similar slumbering.  We think all is well and life couldn’t be any better.  That is when Satan prowls like a lion to devour.  We must never let our guard down.  We must always be alert to the temptations of sin.  Jesus said the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.  We all have high regards to what we strive to do for Christ but in the end we each fall into the same category as Peter.  Good intentions are not good enough.

We can all relate to Paul and his dilemma in Romans 7:15-20.  He sums it up in verse 19, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

Prayer

Pray for the Lord to help you to stay alert keep you from the temptation of sin.

No Doubt

Encouragement, Faith, Trust

No Doubt

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

Casting out all fear and doubt

Satan uses tools of fear and doubt to keep us from doing extraordinary things.  God gives us power, love and a sound mind to do things that glorify Him.  But sometimes we limit God because of the fear and doubt we possess in our minds.

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 why they couldn’t cast it out and Jesus 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 are not aware of it.  We must protect our minds and be sure of what we are hearing and seeing is full of truth and not lies of Satan. 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 anything ungodly that you should eliminate by fasting and praying?

Prayer

Pray in the Name of Jesus to have all fear, unbelief and doubt removed from your mind and replaced with God’s power, love and truth.