Latest / Kate’s Devotional Podcast / Are You Struggling? Does it Mean Your Faith is Failing?

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Are You Struggling? Does it Mean Your Faith is Failing? · Kate’s Devotional Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever felt like if you're struggling in life,
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: it must mean that you're failing as a Christian?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure where that comes from because the Bible is full of people who went
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: through times where it seemed like their life was falling apart and
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: yet God used them.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give you three examples and I want to encourage you in your walk today,
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  SPEAKER_00: so stay tuned!
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hi guys!
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we think a successful Christian walk looks like us being strong
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: and confident all the time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we think maybe to be a good Christian,
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  SPEAKER_00: we have to have the right answers and have it all together.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the way the people in the Bible lived?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't think so.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Not even close.
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  SPEAKER_00: They were real people with real problems, just like us.
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  SPEAKER_00: So today I want to look at three of them.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number one, Moses.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: He had times when he was completely overwhelmed and sometimes he messed things up.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: You'll remember that God used Moses to lead the Israelite people for 40 years on
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: a journey that covered hundreds of miles.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And did you know that Moses probably led over a million people?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I get that number because Exodus 12:37 says that roughly 600,000 men on foot were counted.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you add the wives and the children, we're talking a lot of people.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine the pressure he was under?
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  SPEAKER_00: Not only was it overwhelming, but they weren't that great of followers.
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  SPEAKER_00: They were always blaming Moses for everything that they didn't like or whatever went wrong.
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  SPEAKER_00: And they often reminded him that they'd be better off if they just would have stayed
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: in Egypt as slaves.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine how hard it was to lead people like that?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one time when the Israelites complained that they were thirsty,
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: there was no water, God told Moses to speak to a rock to bring out the water.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, Moses lost his temper and he hit the rock.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And water came out, but Moses didn't follow God's instructions.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: So God punished him by not allowing him to ever enter the Promised Land.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, he messed up.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, number two, let's look at Peter.
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  SPEAKER_00: Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane?
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  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus asked them to sit with him while he prayed?
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  SPEAKER_00: But Peter fell asleep.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then,
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  SPEAKER_00: after they arrested Jesus,
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  SPEAKER_00: and he was facing the Sanhedrin,
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  SPEAKER_00: who were trying to find a way to put him to death,
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  SPEAKER_00: Peter was denying the fact that he was even associated with Jesus.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: You remember the little girl that came up to Peter and said, Hey, aren't you with that guy?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Peter choked.
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  SPEAKER_00: He denied it, and not only once, but three times.
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  SPEAKER_00: When it really mattered, Peter let Jesus down.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, number three.
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  SPEAKER_00: Samson.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was given all these incredible gifts, but he didn't handle them well.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was given this superhuman strength.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And did you know that in Judges 14, it says that he tore apart a young lion with his bare hands.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And in Judges 15,
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  SPEAKER_00: it talks about how he killed a thousand men at one time with a jawbone from
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  SPEAKER_00: a donkey.
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  SPEAKER_00: Each of those times, the Bible says the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him.
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  SPEAKER_00: So his strength was definitely from the Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: And he may have been physically strong, but his morals were weak.
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  SPEAKER_00: He spent time with a prostitute.
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  SPEAKER_00: He allowed his wife to sway him totally away from God.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember the story,
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: his wife Delilah kept trying to get him to tell her the secret to his strength.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Samson held out for a while,
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  SPEAKER_00: but eventually Delilah just wore him down,
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  SPEAKER_00: and he finally told her that if his hair was shaved,
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: he'd lose his strength and be like any other man.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, while he was asleep, Delilah had some men cut his hair and it was over for him.
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  SPEAKER_00: His mistake cost him his superhuman strength.
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  SPEAKER_00: They gouged out both his eyes and ultimately he lost his life.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can check out Judges 16 for that story.
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  SPEAKER_00: All these men believed in God.
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  SPEAKER_00: They wanted a relationship with God.
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  SPEAKER_00: But they also messed up.
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  SPEAKER_00: Does that sound familiar?
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  SPEAKER_00: It does to me because I've done my share of messing up.
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  SPEAKER_00: So what can we learn from these three guys?
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  SPEAKER_00: We know that we are less than perfect.
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  SPEAKER_00: But God corrects and forgives our mistakes.
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  SPEAKER_00: He works in our messy situations,
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  SPEAKER_00: and He continues writing this book that is our life story, one page at a time.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is there to teach us and guide us through these hard times.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Psalms 37:23 says,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I'm going to read out of the New King James Version,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in his way."
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: He delights in us.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So remember that when we fall apart or lose our way or get discouraged,
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  SPEAKER_00: God doesn't think we're more trouble than we're worth.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: We have to keep going, keep serving, keep strengthening our relationship with Him.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm going to be doing the same.
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  SPEAKER_00: Go make it a great day.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And thanks for listening.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can find all my written one minute devotionals and other five minute podcasts
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: at my website, www.katedreston.com.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Dreston is spelled D-R-E-S-T-O-N.