When Jesus' disciples awakened him in the ship when they believed their lives were in jeapardy because of the violent storm and the high waves, what do you think they were expecting him to do to save them?
In Jesus' day, boarding a ship for transportation across the lake was as common as us getting into our car. It was no less or more risky. It was just what they did. Why if Jesus cared enough to quiet the storm for himself and the disciples, why would he not do that for storms of today? Because it is not about the storm, it is about the perfect will of God.
Jesus stopped that storm, because he and his disciples were not supposed to die in a boat on the lake. In order for the perfect will of God, and all the prophecies that Jesus was intended to fulfil, to be carried to full term, they must not die in the storm. When Jesus prayed before his death in the garden he said to the Father that he had not lost any of his disciples, except the son of perdition, so that all could be fulfilled. Jesus knew the job he came to do, inside and out, and dying in a ship on a lake in a storm did not fit. So he just commanded the winds and waves to be still. Wouldn't you just love to know the perfect will of God in your life with such assurance? There have been times in life I was so assured, and have known the comfort that nothing else could befall me, regardless of what Satan threw in my path, even the the storm in which it appeared I would surely die. It is easy to have faith while knowing God's perfect will. What about when you don't? Aren't we more often exactly like the disciples, who go to Jesus, feeling more like he doesn't care that the waves are crashing about them with threats that overwhelm. At least they sought Jesus to know what he would do.
And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Mark 4:36-41.
Have you ever thought that Satan sent that storm to Jesus when he was weary, just as he sends storms into our own lives. He hoped to catch Jesus off guard perhaps? Satan certainly hopes to catch us off guard. No doubts. But Jesus doesn't always calm the wind and waves. Instead, we are allowed to know the great power of these elements. The Spirit of God is compared to both the wind and the water. Knowing how these elements can move huge stationary things, helps us have a clear understanding why the comparison is made.*
Imagine what we might move forward to do, if we totally believed that the Spirit of God was able to move in our lives with the power of a Katrina or a Sandy. Is there something stationary in your life, in mine, an obstacle that we have just decided can't be moved. Envision the Spirit of God being incredible enough to do what has never been done before, able to move upon our circumstances with a mighty force.
There are a lot of people who have survived a mighty storm, and possibly are in limbo as to what their futures hold. The need of the people who were victims of Sandy, is a metphor for the greater need of our nation. We need a shaking from the Spirit of God. Not a disciplinary shaking, but rather an empowering grip on our spirits to cause us to want to know the best God has planned for us. There is one thing that I would hope to think of if I were one of those incredibly injured people. I would want to believe that if God brought me through that storm, he could bring me through anything. And also that if God brought me through that kind of devastation alive, He had a future for me, and was waiting with grace and power to set me on the path to that plan. There it is! A reason to have faith, the kind that you have when you know that God will take you there no matter what Satan throws at you. True faith is faith without a reason, but God wants us to know that his plan for us is worthy of the faith he asks us to place in it.
Please Lord, give these dear people, whatever their heart needs to strengthen their faith. And may they see the Holy Spirit as able to move upon their storm ridden lives with something far greater. But send to us leaders with a heart secure in your will for our country. May they seek the plan and the power that will bring a change worthy of our Faith. Make your will clear to the people of this nation. Let us not be decieved. by the evil one. In Jesus name, AMEN
*The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8
*For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: Isaiah 44:3
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