Pastor Stephen Dedman

Tag: fear

My Light And Salvation

Faith, Trust

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27:1‬

Have you ever been so afraid that you thought things wouldn’t work out?  Maybe it was a time of bad weather, a time of illness, or even in a time of war. Don’t think you’re alone. Many have feared for their life.

In this psalm, David was crying out to the Lord for help.  This could have been the time when David was running for his life from King Saul (1 Samuel 18:8).  David is talking to the Lord as he fears for his life.  

There are a couple of truths that can be learned as we face fears in our life.

We need to remember that the Lord is very near and personal to those who trust in Him.  Notice the personal relationship that David had with the Lord: “my light and my salvation”.  

Light represents God’s presence which breaks through every darkness.  Salvation is a word for God’s deliverance.  It is “yeshua” the Hebrew name for Jesus.  As David prayed, he had faith that the Lord was going to save him from harm.  His complete trust was in the Lord.

We also need to remember that our strength comes from the Lord.  David said, “the Lord is my stronghold.” He knew not to rely on his own strength but rather the strength of the Lord.  He trusted in the Lord to provide the strength necessary to get through the uncertain circumstances.

Even in the most dreadful and darkest hours, the Lord is present to lift us up and save us.

When you find yourself in troublesome times, trust in the Lord to give you strength and grace to carry on.

Do you trust God to see you through?

Pray

Lord, help me to remember to place my full trust in You. Strengthen me with Your Word and wisdom to endure the evil one. I rest in Your presence and power.

Turn It Over To The Lord

Trust

‘And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”’
Mark 4:37-38

It feels great when you are in control of your circumstances. But what about when God allows things to happen around us that are completely out of our control?

Sometimes (many times) we tend to forget how big God really is. We also tend to forget how much He loves and cares for us.

The disciples found themselves in a helpless situation in the middle of the lake. Little did they know they were about to learn a very important lesson.

They were very familiar with the Sea of Galilee as they sailed many times before. But on this day the unthinkable happened! The disciples were experiencing hurricane force winds that were threatening their lives.

Where was Jesus in all the chaos? Mark tells us that Jesus was in the stern, fast asleep! Have you ever felt like God didn’t care about what was happening in your life?

They woke Jesus up and said, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Worry and fear will control you when you forget how much God cares and loves you. As soon as Jesus calmed the winds and waves, the disciples knew that God was right there in their midst.

When we find ourselves in the middle of difficult situations we need to immediately admit our helplessness to God and trust in His care and love and know that He is right here with us.

What is out of your control that you need to give over to the Lord? Trust God to take care of it.

Pray

Lord, I admit my weakness and helplessness to You right now. I need to experience Your love and care. Remove my fear and worry and give me peace. Let me know that You are with me.

Living Extraordinary

Faith

‘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.