Winds, Waves, Rescue.

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea; “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. [Mark 4:39 New King James Version]

It is evident and goes without saying that severe weather threatens lives. A lot of people have been killed this year by storms. Just for a moment with me today let your mind wander, (a dangerous thing for me to do as mine forgets how to get back), and let's put ourselves in the boat that evening with the disciples. The wind is blowing rain into our faces as we struggle to stay in the boat. The waves are tossing us to and fro and water from the sea is filling the boat each time the bow dips under the waves! Water up around our ankles, the boat rocking, the wind whistling, our stomachs upset and our hearts pounding! I am glad I am only imagining this scene and not actually there, how about you?

Now let’s change gears and compare that scene to one in our everyday life here on land. With one phone call, a doctor’s diagnosis, or the confession from a spouse, our emotions are tossed about and our mind starts filling up with thoughts which upset our stomach and grip our hearts. What went wrong? What did we miss? How did this happen? Why me, why us? You know those feelings and have asked those questions; I know I have.

Go back to the storm on the Sea of Galilee just a moment and look at the words in red (if your Bible has that). “Peace, be still!” Did you notice the exclamation point? That punctuation mark indicates to us that Jesus did not waste any time in answering the call of the frantic cries of the seasoned fishermen who could not save the ship. He arose to do it Mark says.

He arose to save us too. He will speak to the wind and waves that batter our emotions and thoughts as well. When the wind left the ocean became calm and the disciples let out a sigh of relief. Their heart rate returned to normal and their hope of survival increased a hundred percent. “Who is this man?”  They asked.

Do you know who He is? He is the Master of the Sea. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Commander in Chief of the wind and rain. He is your Friend. He is your refuge. He is your Savior.

Jesus Smiled.

²¹ At that, Jesus rejoiced, exuberant in the Holy Spirit. “I thank you, Father, Master of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the know-it-alls and showed them to these innocent newcomers. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.  (Luke 10:21  The Message)

Jesus smiled. That sounds like a good Bible verse to me, how about you? I wonder why we never read it anywhere in the Scripture? We read where He wept and where He was angry but I cannot recollect anywhere that we read He smiled. I am sure that He did. I am sure that He smiled a lot. Why is it important to know whether or not He smiled? To help us relate to His humanity.

The Church has a way of portraying Jesus in one of two ways. One picture depicts Him as being serious all the time; holy and reverent. Walking around with His hands clasped together with a look of sternness on His face. This picture sets Him apart from defiled humanity and puts Him out of touch with the regular folk. The other picture sometimes portrays Him as that of a good man that went about doing good all of the time. Healing people, showing them compassion, forgiving there mistakes. Sort of like a “good old boy” relationship. Being buddy, buddy with everyone; even those who opposed Him. The truth is both pictures are distorted.

Jesus was very serious about His mission and never took it lightly. He is Holy and was always reverent toward His Father. This seriousness drove Him to be compassionate and He is very understanding of our humanness; but He never excused us for being “just human.” Jesus came to take our sins upon Himself and die for them. He was more than just a good man. God filled a human body in order to relate to other humans. His being in a human body allowed Him to experience human emotions, human desires, human fears, and human frustrations. Therefore He is able to relate to us. His Divinity as God allowed Jesus to overcome the fallen human nature and thereby had no sin. You and I are forgiven when we allow Him to impart His Divinity unto us by way of the Cross. Being human does not excuse our sin.

Jesus is as human as you and I are. What we feel, He feels. He was joyful and happy because God sent Him into the world that the world might be saved through Him! Yeah, He smiled. He smiled when people believed in Him and accepted Him; and He still does.

A Fragmented Life

“Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” (John 6:12 NKJV)

While in a shop on vacation I was reading little signs on a rack while Hannah and my wife were shopping. One I really liked read, “Humpty Dumpty was pushed.” We all know Humpty and his fate but to think that he did not just fall but was rather pushed off the wall stretches the limits of our imaginations when it comes to reading things into fairy tales! Knowing that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put him back together leaves us feeling sorry for an egg.

Reading the account of Jesus feeding the thousands on the sea shore that day gives us some insight into how He thinks. I know He was talking about the scraps left over from the fish and bread when He made this statement but I also know it can be related to His heart toward us. There are hundreds, even thousands of people today that have broken lives. Families that have split up, a relationship that has ended, a job that has been taken away, a chronic diagnosis, a loved one that has died, can all cause a life to be disintegrated. All that is left over sometimes are fragments.

I am glad to know that Jesus cares about the fragments! Jesus wants nothing to be lost. That is why He came and died on the Cross to begin with; that we may be saved. He can put lives back together. He could have put Humpty Dumpty back together. Wouldn’t that be a better ending to the tale? All the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put Humpty together again; but a Man named Jesus came along and did it.

He has a fix for you today. His grace can glue you back together and is sufficient enough to keep you in one piece. He can heal a broken heart, a broken bone, or a broken life. Let Him gather up the fragments and make you whole once again.

Conviction Anger

So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!”  (2 Samuel 12:5 NKJV)

I used to teach anger management in my former job before becoming a pastor. I was handing out notes to the class when I came up one short at one table of participants. The guy jokingly said, “That’s it! I’m mad now!”

Anger is usually aroused in us when things do not go our way, or in the case of David, it would be considered moral anger. Moral anger causes us to get angry when someone else has been wronged. In the case of David however the anger he felt was designed to exemplify the anger God feels toward us when we transgress His law. We sometimes forget that because God is a loving and forgiving God that He somehow overlooks our sin without it affecting Him personally. But He does not. He is a jealous God and His anger is aroused when we ignore His commands and do our own thing.

I do not know about you but sometimes hearing the truth about me can arouse my anger. When I think I am doing well and the Lord sends conviction upon my heart it causes me to place blame before taking the blame. The truth will set us free Jesus taught. Hearing the truth is Gods way of delivering us from bondage. David had been hiding his sin for quite sometime but when the truth came out, and it always will, he was ready to kill another man for doing the same thing he had done on a larger scale!

Next time the Holy Spirit brings conviction upon you, either through His word, or by way of a witness, before you give place to the anger and blame someone or something else, repent and allow the truth to set you free also.

Trials and Temptations

³¹ And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. ³² But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” (Luke 22 NKJV)

Who would have ever thought that Jesus would have let the devil have any of His followers? Judas was allowed to be tempted by the devil just as Peter was. What is the difference between the two men that Jesus prayed for the one and yet there is no indication in Scripture that He prayed for Judas. It could be there was a difference in the men’s hearts.

God knew from the beginning that Judas would be Christ’s betrayer. He planned it that way. Predestined you may ask. No; foreknowledge. Just because God knows who will do what does not mean He makes them do it. The only predestination God tells us about is that we all have been predestined to be like His Son. Some disregard their God given choice and choose poorly.

Does Jesus pray for us? Of course He does. Does He allow Satan to tempt us? Of course He does. From the beginning God has allowed man to be tempted by Satan. Jesus was as well. Jesus overcame the temptations and thereby has the authority to intercede for us.  He took our place on the Cross and He takes our place in temptations; if we are willing to let Him. If we have never accepted Him as our Savior we cannot expect Him to be our intercessor in temptation.

How about you today? Are you tempted beyond measure? Can you not seem to shake that one temptation that you always give into? Could it be that you have never allowed Christ to intercede for your sins? Kneel at the Cross first then you will be able to stand in the face of temptation. Then you can give encouragement to someone else that needs it to overcome.

Lifetime Warranty

2 Corinthians 1:21-22   New King James Version (NKJV)

²¹ Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, ²² who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

If there is one thing we know about people it is this; they are unpredictable. Dr. Phil believes that a person’s past behavior is an indication of their future behavior. He is not alone as many psychiatrists and psychologists agree with him. They are usually right but there are exceptions. I was once involved in my previous job with a fellow that was sent out to be evaluated for violent behavior stemming from a workplace incident. When the psychiatrist wrote his evaluation one of the sentences read, “I can only confirm what I see in him at the moment, as I cannot give you a warranty on this individual.” How true! People do not come with warranties!

God is willing to give us a warranty though if we allow Him to “fix” us. When we become established in Christ, which means we put our full trust in Him and submit to Him with our whole heart and will, that God accepts us as we are but has plans to repair our sin damaged soul. We become a new creation in Christ when we totally submit to Him. Even our countenance will be changed when we allow Jesus to cleanse our hearts and protect our minds.

When we are willing to come to Christ for cleansing and repair, God will begin a good work in us that He will one day complete. We are not perfect when we come to Him as the sign on our life reads, “As is.” However He takes us in that condition, reforms and renews, and then puts His seal of approval upon us; the Holy Spirit. A guarantee from God that He has accepted us and considers us one of His own.

Hello up there . . . . .

My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. ³ He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. ⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. (Psalm 121: 2 – 4 New King James Version)

Overall, the National Transportation Safety Board says "operator fatigue" has been tied to 39 major accidents involving planes, trains, buses and big rigs in the last 15 years, killing or injuring more than 1,000 people. (CBS News, Copyright © 2012 CBS Interactive Inc.) This is from a report about people falling asleep on the job.

It seems to us sometimes like God may have taken a nap. We pray and it seems our prayers never get past the ceiling. We have others to pray only to experience the same troubles. Where is God when we need Him? If you have asked that question you are not the first. David had the same thought. “I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me?”(Psalm 42:9 New King James Version).

Maybe we are like the little girl that was afraid to sleep in her bed. Her dad would tell her, “Honey its okay, Jesus is with you.” Only to have her say, “But I want someone with a face.” Because we cannot see the face of God looking down upon us it is hard to believe sometimes that He is. Another fellow said one time; “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; ⁹ When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. (Job 23:8, 9 New King James Version)

 Faith my friend encompasses much more than just belief. Faith requires trust. We humans are not good at trusting because we have been betrayed a lot. Let down by those we never thought would let us down. We have been trained not to trust. Depend on someone and you will end up disappointed sooner or later experience teaches. We carry that same attitude over into the faith we have in God. We pretend we trust Him but do we really? If we do then fear and worry should not dominate our lives.