"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
Ephesians 6:11, KJV
Search This Blog
Experiencing Jesus in a Storm
Tony Evans
In
the book of Mark, chapter six, we read that the disciples got into a
boat, at night, and took out across the sea. In their obedience to
Jesus, the disciples ran directly into a storm. Their obedience
literally took them into the nucleus of a disaster.
I
wish I could tell you that following Jesus means you will never have to
face any storms. I wish I could tell you that following Jesus means
that the waters of life will always be calm. I wish I could tell you
that following Jesus means life will be rosy and all of your days sweet.
But I can’t. These disciples were following Jesus, and they ran right into rough
seas. The disciples discovered, as many of us have also discovered, that
you can be both in the center of God’s will, and still in a storm.
There
is a lot of preaching today as well as many Christian books that tell
you that if you follow Jesus, then you will never have to face any
challenges in life. That wasn’t true for Jesus or for anyone else I know
who has followed Him. Following Jesus doesn’t offer immunity from
troubles. What it does give is the opportunity to experience Him in the
midst of the trouble. Life comes with troubles, regardless of whether or not you follow
Jesus. You get to choose if you want Him to join you in your troubles,
or if you’d rather go through them alone.
Experiencing Jesus in the
storm allows you the chance to see His power over whatever it is you are
facing in your life. Keep your eyes focused on Him, and experience the
calm that focus brings your way.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks you have probably seen, heard, and read about the coronavirus that is disrupting life all over the globe. And it is quite likely that it has had a direct impact on you, even if you have not yet gotten sick from it. Social distancing has become a new by-word in the past few days. The banning of large gatherings, including churches, and the closing of many establishments where people gather are common. Empty shelves at the grocery store are a normal sight. And there is the expectation that things will get worse before they begin to improve. Many people automatically look to connect any large-scale disaster to Revelation and see in it a sign of the end. But should we? This article will look at this virus and its relationship to Revelation. And then at how, as Christians, we should respond to it. What Is This Coronavirus? There seems to be a lot of confusion about this virus, starting with its name. Cor...
Prayer is a response to promises, that is, to the assurances of God’s future grace. Prayer is drawing on the account where God has deposited all his stores of future grace. Prayer is not hoping in the dark that there might be a God of good intentions out there. Prayer banks on the promise of God, and goes to the bank every day and draws on stores of future grace needed for that day. Don’t miss the connection between the two halves of this great verse. Notice the “that is why”: “All the promises of God are Yes in Christ. That is why (therefore) we pray Amen through him, to God’s glory.” To make sure we see it, let’s turn the two halves around: When we pray, we say Amen to God through Christ, because God has said a decisive Amen to all his promises in Christ. Prayer is the confident plea for God to make good on his promises of future grace — for Christ’s sake. Prayer links our faith in future grace with the foundation of it all, Jesus Chr...
When you look in the dictionary the word fear has two main definitions: A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, threat or evil whether the threat is real or imagined; and a reverential awe, as in the fear of the Lord. With this in mind, what does the verse “God has not given us a spirit of fear” mean? Let’s start by looking at the whole verse which is found in 2 Timothy 1:7: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” The New King James says it this way – “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Based on the definition of the word, it can’t mean reverential awe because that wouldn’t make sense. Clearly fear means something else so let’s dig deeper to understand what it means. Let’s also consider the proper response we should have to fear. Photo credit: Unsplash/Aziz Acharki ...
Comments
Post a Comment