Mark 4:35-41
35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
In life, we are bound to go through storms. Sometimes, the storm arrives right after the Lord has given us instruction and we begin to feel as though the Lord has abandoned us. We may feel as though He didn’t really tell us to do what He told us to do because of the storm around us. This is why remaining in the Lord is so crucial. This is why we must remain in intimacy with Him… so that we are able to rest in His promises and have confidence in knowing His voice.
It is actually in the midst of the storm we see the power of the one we serve. It is in the storm where the Lord tests our faith. It is in the storm that we come face to face with who we really are and what we truly believe. In this story, we can not only see the amount of trust that Jesus had for the Father but the lack of faith in the disciples. Jesus knew who he served, and because of that, He was able to sleep peacefully and comfortably through the storm. The disciples on the other hand lacked faith, and it led to their minds getting the best of them. They seemed to forget that the Messiah was on board with them.
We all have been in the place of the disciples. We forget that we have the power of the Holy Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead, living inside of us. We sometimes seem to forget everything the Lord has brought us through. We need to meditate on His promises. We need to meditate on His goodness. We need to remain in the secret place so we know what He is saying. When we lack faith, we begin to lack peace. One thing that the Lord has been showing me, is that when we lack faith, we give the enemy access to our mind by allowing fear to enter in. We need to understand that the Lord prophecies in part. He will never give us the full picture of what He is doing for a number of reasons. In verse 35: we see this story starts because of a simple instruction: ‘Let us pass over unto the other side’. When the Lord calls you to something, it might not make sense. You might not know why He is doing it. You might not even know what He is calling you to. A lot of the time this is what the Lord does with me. He will tell me to travel to a certain destination, and I don’t know what is waiting for me. But it was in these moments where I saw the miraculous power and authority of the Lord in my life. I saw the supernatural hand of the Lord move mightily. Without faith, I would not be able to see this. This is why faith is so important. You may not understand what God is doing at the moment, but you need to trust Him and have the faith to know that He will never leave nor forsake you. You need to remember all that He has done up until this point. If He has called you to it, He will bring you THROUGH IT! He will provide the right people, the right tools, connections, you name it. You need to trust that He has your best interest at heart.
That being said, it is very important to remain in His word, and in His presence, especially in the times that we are living in. There are certain things the Lord will tell YO
U and only YOU! Not everything is going to be based on a prophetic word from a man or woman of God. Yes, wise counsel is important, but sometimes the Lord will test your faith and give YOU the instruction to see if you truly trust His word and are willing to step out in faith, even when it doesn’t make sense. People around you may not understand it because they are not called to it. But you have to remember that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). The enemy can come in all shapes and sizes and ultimately he is after your faith because he knows that without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD. If you allow the enemy to have access to your seeds of faith, he can infiltrate and make you second guess and question what God has told you. People may see the storm around you and say ‘I told you the Lord didn’t tell you to do that… look at all the chaos happening around you’. This is when you have to rest in the promise that the Lord has told you. You need to understand that sometimes the storm is meant to mold you before you get to the other side.
Of course there may be times where you feel like the Lord called you to do something, and He really didn’t… This is why discernment is so important! His grace is sufficient. The Lord will allow us to go through situations like this so we can learn through experience. The only way to grow in discernment, is to grow in Christ and that is done through intimacy. The more you remain in His word, the more you will begin to see how God moves and operates. God operates in patterns and when you begin to have the ability to discern the season He is allowing you to go through, you will be
able to learn how to dance in the rain.
Notice in Matthew 14, the Lord puts the disciples through a similar testing, and all of the disciples except for Simon Peter lacked the faith to step out in faith and do the impossible.
Matthew 14:22-33
22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
It is so interesting to note that right before this storm, Jesus had done a miracle and the disciples had all witnessed it…Yet they still lacked faith. Notice how this time, Jesus intentionally sent the disciples ahead of Him. He needed His alone time with the Father, but also wanted them to learn how to maneuver through the storm even when ‘he wasn’t there’. I put that in quotations because we know that the Lord never leaves nor forsakes us.
He came during the fourth watch, which is roughly around 3-6 am meaning that the disciples had to be going through the storm for some time. The moment the disciples saw him walking on the sea they thought the worst and assumed that it was a spirit. Sometimes, God will use different ways to reach us, but because we aren’t use to them, we automatically assume it’s not God. Jesus was walking towards them on water… because they had never seen it before, they said to themselves that it was not possible, and assumed the worst.
The only disciple that had the faith to step out on the water was Peter. Yes.. he began to focus too much on the storm, and slowly started to sink. However, the moment Peter cried out for the Lord to save Him, verse 32 says IMMEDIATELY Jesus stretched forth His hand and CAUGHT HIM. Jesus will NEVER let us sink. The moment we openly allow Him into our lives with open arms, the storm will subside. The wind will cease, just as it did when they embraced him into the ship.
I know I am not the only one who has been going through a lot of warfare. Maybe you have been going through a storm and the winds around you seem to be growing louder and more fierce. I encourage you to close the door to all the distractions, block out the noise and rest in Him. Get into the secret place, and remember that the Lord will not compete for a spot in your life. He is a small, still quiet voice in the midst of the noise, and the only way to hear Him clearly is to seek Him.
Stay blessed, stay encouraged and stay in His presence.
Love you guys!