To God Be The Glory!

I just wanted to thank God for filling my 6 year old son, David, with the glorious gift of the Holy Ghost! I was privileged to baptize him in Jesus Name on Father's Day. What a great Father's Day present!

I asked him if he understood why he needed to be baptized. He said "so my my sins will be washed away and I won't have to follow the devil's rules"

God is good!

God's Will- A Storm

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.
(Mat 14:22)

Jesus receives word that John has been beheaded at the whim of a young girl. He tries to sail away to have some time for himself to mourn the loss of his cousin but the multitude follows him on land to the other side.

Jesus looks on them with compassion and lays aside His own hurt and begins to heal them and minister to their needs. Then, after the day has passed and evening has come, He demonstrates His unselfishness and compassion by feeding those who have interrupted His quiet time.

If there is anything we need to learn from Jesus it is how to operate in the ministry of compassion

Jesus begins to make plans to feed the multitude that will involve all of his disciples, it is a time for the disciples to shine, but instead they complain

The disciples fail a critical test in two areas:

1. Instead of working to meet the needs of a hungry crowd they suggest to Jesus that He send them away. It always easier to send the multitude away than to deal with the problems.

2. Mar 6:37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? They are arguing with the bread of life, the creator of the soil, the one that causes a seed of wheat to germinate in the ground, to the one who causes to sun to shine and the rain to fall on the wheat to bring it to its fullness. And they have the audacity to argue with His command! Their focus is on their inability, not His all sufficiency

There is a definite need for a storm – the disciples are operating from self serving principles and the people will suffer from their inaction if Jesus does not intervene. Jesus takes the little lunch that has been brought to him, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to the disciples to distribute.

The disciples have now become the servants, the crowd are the guests of honor and the disciples are the kitchen staff!

The bread and fish have been distributed, the people are fed, the disciples are tired and Jesus is planning a storm.

The multitude quickly realize a prophet is in their midst and they began to proclaim Him as king. The crowd begins to push forward to take Him by force to make Him king.

Jesus immediately sends the multitude away and commands the disciples to take the ship to the other side and Jesus again looks for the place of solitude to rest and pray.

Jesus took the disciples out of the midst of a praising multitude right into a storm. The will of God was not the adoring crowd, not the accolades of the throng. His will was a life changing boat ride, alone, in the midst of a storm.

In our human thinking and intellect the fulfillment of the will of God is going to be a public acceptance of who and what we are. The limelight, the sound of clapping hands, the voices lifted, declaring all the good things we have done.

The crowd would not have furthered the disciples walk with God. The last thing they needed was somebody to bolster their ego. Jesus spent a great amount of time trying to keep their feet on the ground and their eyes on the purpose. They needed something to test their faith, something to bring them back into focus about what was really important.

So God prepared a storm................................

Nobody was waving on the shore as they pulled out, no bands were playing, no grand send off, just 12 men, a wooden boat and a prepared storm. The perfect will of God

There are time in our lives, that the only thing that will bring our thought process into line with his, is a storm. When you are fighting for your very existence, it has a way of changing your priorities. I have heard it said, if you want to know what is really important in this life, ask somebody who is about to leave it.

The disciples find themselves in just that predicament – the wind is too strong, the waves are too high, the boat is too small, the sky is too dark and the shore is too far away. They cannot judge their direction, they are simply at the mercy of the storm.

Suddenly, there is a glimpse of a figure walking through the center of the waves. By now it is between 3 and 6 in the morning, the disciples are exhausted, the storm continues unabated and they are questioning everything. Their first response is that what they are seeing is a ghost and they cry out in fear.

Then Jesus speaks, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” They may not recognize him in this form as the sea walker but they do recognize His voice. But Peter needs more confirmation, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”. I am not sure why Peter said what he did. Maybe it was because it was more calm where Jesus was than the environment in the boat, maybe it was a step of faith and simple trust that Jesus would keep him afloat. Or maybe there was a desperation to walk with Jesus, to be close to Him.

Whatever his motive, what occurred next was something he would remember the rest of his life. Peter stepped out of the boat, eyes fastened on Jesus and began walking toward Jesus. Imagine! For the first time being able to walk on water, every step bringing you closer to Jesus. The storm is still raging around him, the wind is still blowing, but the path is clear, the goal is in sight. Jesus is here!

Suddenly the facts attack Peter, “you can't walk on water, you were not designed to interact with this environment this way” Peter for one second looks way from Jesus at at his surroundings and immediately begins to sink. Even though Peter was walking to Jesus the storm was still all around him. The wind continued to blow and the waves were still surging around him. Kind of has a way of affection your faith doesn't it?.

Some of the greatest experiences that you will have in God will occur in the midst of a storm. It will not be in the applause of the crowd, or in the fleeting words of praise or recognition. It will be in the darkest of times, after the greatest of times, after you have climbed the highest mountain and are ascending into the lowest valley.

You will question why God put you here, you will doubt everything you believe in, the storm will seem to be too much, the winds will seem to be too strong. But somewhere in the midst of the storm there will be a revelation, a divine visitation that will change you forever. You need this storm, God has a plan for you and woven into the details of the plan, He placed a storm.

You had gotten a little off course, you had questioned God and complained about his way of doing things. You had said, as the disciples did about the hungry crowd, “send them away”

Don't worry the storm, it will not destroy you, it will instead develop you. You compassion will increase, you faith will be renewed, the storm will not cause you to fear anymore. On the other side you will have a story to tell. You will never look at Jesus the same way again, you will be forever impacted by the storm and the sea walker. Go ahead keep bailing, try the sail one more time, hold on to the rudder. But keep your eyes on the horizon. The maker of the storm is on his way!