God STILL
Calm’s The Storm!
Winter
weather here in Southern Oregon can be "Blustery" - according to that
famous philosopher, "POOH-BEAR". Have you ever noticed that life can at times become Blustery?
It
reminds me of the story in Matthew 8:24-27
24 And,
behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was
covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we
perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then
he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the
winds and the sea obey him!
There had to be something special happen to cause
such a great storm to cease its activity. What was it?
Well,
you might reply, Pastor Larry, it's simple. Jesus was on board. That's true yet
it goes much deeper. Jesus, was on board but, there is something very
significant that took place before the trip. No it isn't mentioned here in Matt
8, but it is mentioned other times. Jesus had taken the time to be in communion
with the Father. He prayed and talked to the Father often. Here then is the
lesson that I want us to see today.
We
are living in perilous, (dangerous) times. There have been reports of possible
further Terrorist attacks on America and other People groups of the World. We
are living in a time that is filled with storms. And let us not forget the
daily storms of life that we all face. With all of these things happening, how
do we maintain a life of Peace, Hope, and Joy?
We
follow the example of Jesus. We make the time to have communion and fellowship
with our Heavenly Father.
Mark
6:45-46
45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and
to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
(KJV)
Spending intimate
time with the Lord is the key to having the assurance, that when we face the Storms
of Life, we'll have the, Peace, Joy, Hope, and Power that we need to be able to
speak to the Storms and say, "Peace be still!”.
Oh
it won't be easy. There will always time constraints and scheduling problems.
But remember, I said that we must make time to be with the lord. For some
you'll need to get your Day Timer or your Palm Pilot out and write in,
"Daily time with the Lord" priority one. For others it will require
you to just stop and take the time to be with the Lord. But regardless of what
you have to do, in order to be alone with the Lord, when the Storms come your
way and the winds of adversity are blowing hard against you, You'll be able to
stand in the Peace that you have found by spending time with the Lord.
And
who knows, when you make the time to be with Him, it might just bring about a
whole NEW BEGINNING for you.
