Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video and lyrics from Ryan Stevenson singing … Eye of the Storm …poignantly singing of the truth that God is always in control as the Lord of ALL.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Mark 4:41 [NLT] … 41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”
… It would take Jesus’ resurrection to allow them to have God’s Spirit to see WHOM they had walked with for 3 years.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Mark 4:35-41 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus shows His disciples who He is in the midst of a storm.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Deuteronomy 31:6 [NLT] … 6 So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
… Moses encourages God’s people that the Lord will go ahead of them and NEVER forsake them (or us).
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Matthew 16:13-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God gives Peter a moment of insight to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, … the Son of God.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Arthur Jackson, used a personal example to illustrate how we can often let fear get in the way of recognizing the reality of Jesus in our lives. The ODB author wrote: “Remove everything from your desks, take out a piece of paper and pencil.” When I was a student these dreaded words announced that “test time” had come. In Mark 4, we read that Jesus’s day, which started with teaching by the seaside, ending with a time of testing on the sea (see highlight passage).
The attached picture you see hangs in my living room and was painted by a friend of mine. It reminds me of that scene in Mark 4 where fear got in the way of Jesus’ disciples being able to see Whom He really was (and is).
Like the personal scene used by the author in today’s ODB, our fears or panic can often get in the way of our faith, can’t they? We get in the midst of come threatening scenario; and even we Christians balk on our faith, seeing the storm of circumstances rather than believing that Jesus is in control and that He will NEVER leave us or forsake us [see Deut. 31:6 (and also Heb. 13:5).
Also in another time later, as the Disciples were following Jesus, He asked them whom they said He was; and Peter in a moment of insight (see Matt. 16:13-17) declared that He was “the Messiah, … the Son of God.” But then later as Jesus was captured and taken off to be crucified, we know that Peter and the other Disciples bolted and ran, … Peter even denying Whom Jesus was.
So, we need to keep the truth of Whom we follow out in front of us at all times … with our faith that we follow and serve the Son of the living God, … King Jesus, our Messiah, and LORD, … the Lord Who is ALWAYS in control of any storm we may be in, testing our faith in the midst of our fears.
That’s why my wife and I have that painting in our living room (again, see photo); … and it’s why you find me here, EVERY MORNING, starting off each day reminding myself thru prayer and from God’s word, that I follow King Jesus, the LORD of all storms which may come into my life.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Help me to always recognize that You’re in control of all the storms in my life; and that You’ll never forsake 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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