Tuesday, May 24, 2016

May 24, 2016: Calming My Storm

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2016 - Day 145

Devotional Song:  … GO TO THIS LINK …   Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing their song, All Is Well, declaring the reality and result of our faith in the God-man, our Messiah, King Jesus … that no matter the storms of life, our Lord is in control.


Highlight Passage:  Mark 4:39 [NKJV] …
39 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. 
… If Jesus is in our boat, why should we be afraid of anything?
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Highlight Context – Mark 4:35-5:1 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK 
… The wind and waves obey Jesus in the boat.
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Reference Passage #1 - Romans 8:28 [NKJV] …
28 And we know that ALL THINGS work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purposes. 
… Yes, ALL THINGS!!!

Reference Passage #2 - 1st Corinthians 10:13 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK 
… Paul’s exhortation of our power, thru God’s grace in Christ, to overcome the trials and temptations of this life.

Reference Passage #3 - 1st John 4:4 [NKJV] …
4 … He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 
 … The power we have in Christ to overcome the powers that be in the world.

My Journal for Today:  … Our Daily Bread author, C.P. Hia, used the highlight story of Jesus rebuking the winds of a storm in a fishing boat with His disciples to illustrate why we need not fear rough storms in this life. In today’s ODB entry, Hia writes: Though Jesus’ disciples were seasoned fishermen, they were terrified the day a storm threatened to swamp their boat. They were following Jesus instructions. Why was this happening? (Mark 4:35-38). He was with them but He was asleep at the stern of the craft. They learned that day that it is not true that when we do as our Lord says there will be no storms in our lives. Yet because He was with them, they also learned that storms don’t stop us from getting to where our Lord wants us to go (5:1). 

Once again I use a photo of a painting which hangs in our living room, … a depiction of Jesus calming the storm in the Mark 4 story. If you look closely in the attached photo, you can see my reflection taking the picture of this powerful Dave McGraw painting, which depicts an even more powerful story of Jesus showing His inner disciples how He was God, … even having control of the wind/waves in that little boat.

 And my friend, that’s the power that we have in our boat of life, isn’t it? But aren’t we, so often, like the disciples, having little faith, and not recognizing that we actually have the power of God in our life boat to deal with the waves of fear resulting from life’s storms (see the reference passages above).

How about it, my friend? … Let’s just give Jesus the reign of our boat today; and let Him calm the waves which rage in our life.

My Prayer Today:  O, Heavenly Father, … I beg You, Lord. … Forgive my unbelief; … calm my storm of fear.     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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