Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of the group Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing the song All Is Well, expressing the hope that we have in Christ no matter what storms we may face in life.
Highlight Passage Mark 4: 39 [ESV] …
39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
… Jesus arises from a nap on a boat in a storm and shows His disciples that He has reign over the wind/waves.
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Highlight Context - Mark 4: 35-41 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus teaches a faith lesson to His Disciples in a storm
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Reference Passage #1 - 4 - Job 38: 8-11, Psalms 65: 5-7, Isaiah 51: 10, Nahum 1: 3-5 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… In the times of the Bible, man’s idea of nature had God in total control of the elements
Reference Passage #2 - John 16: 33 [ESV] …
33 “… I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
… Jesus teaching that He alone has overcome the world and the trials we will face in life.
Reference Passage #3 - 1st Peter 5: 6-7 [ESV] …
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
… Peter expresses the only viable strategy in handling the “storms” (trials) of life.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Marvin Williams, opened his ODB teaching today with a story of a family who learned to trust God after hurricane Katrina had devastated their home. And Williams was teaching that we all face “storms” in our lives, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, … any/all of which can challenge our faith.
And that’s very likely why Jesus used a storm in the story related by Mark in the highlight passage linked above (see Mark 4: 35-41). And when the boat the Disciples were in was engulfed in a life-threatening storm, Jesus was somehow sleeping in the boat, and when He was risen by His fearful crew, He waved His hand (as in the attached photo of a painting which hangs in my living room), and the storm was calmed. And the Disciples were dumb-founded, asking, “Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?”
You see, in those times all good Jews, of which all of Jesus’ men were, believed that ONLY GOD controlled the elements of nature [see the links to the Old Testament passages referred to above under Reference #1]; and here was Jesus, demonstrating that He had total control over those elements in that storm. So, Jesus took His men through a faith lesson in that storm that day. The only conclusion they could assume was that the Teacher they were following was God, which was a hard lesson for them to learn and accept.
But the lesson these men were exposed to in that storm, we all must also learn in our lives; … because we are going to face “storms” (i.e., trials) in life and we must be willing and able - in faith - as Jesus taught, and Peter reinforced (see John 16: 33 and 1st Peter 5: 6-7 above) … that in the midst of any storm, we must look to let Jesus be our salvation. Yes, … Jesus - and only Jesus - is in control of the storms of life; and if we face such storms, He is allowing them, and/or using them, to teach us of His sovereignty in the storms.
In a storm right now? … If not, we may be tomorrow; so, let’s be ready to let Jesus be our “Overcomer!”
My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … In the storm I face right now, I yield to You as You are in my boat with me. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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