Abet to Cherish
Broken and abscessed tooth…
To abet is to assist or encourage, normally in some wrongdoing.
To cherish is to be fond of or attached to.
Psalm 66:16-20 16 Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me. 17 I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. 18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; 19 but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. 20 Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
James 5:13-20 13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Understand this: we have taken incredible and positive strides over the past year as a church. But if we are going to see productive ministry take place, with lives changed and transformed by the moving of the Holy Spirit, we are going to have to engage in spiritually provoked actions. Our faith is not passive, relying on God to do all the work. The faith we have in Jesus Christ is alive, active and relevant for today. Reread v20.
I know that we are moving out of our comfort zones over the past few weeks, but Christianity is not comfortable. If you don’t feel the occasional adrenalin rush through your body, or the extra, leaping from your chest heartbeat from time to time, then God is calling you to refocus your sites.
There are times that we need God and someone else in our lives. We can’t fix all the decay in our lives alone. Let’s take a few minutes together, confess a sin or weakness that you know you have, and pray for each other. Let this be a time that you allow God’s Spirit to lead you in the prayer or in the words he may bring to your mind. Allow him to open you and challenge you tonight.