“And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat
into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern,
asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
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. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful?
How is it that you have no
faith?”” Mark 4: 37-40
Jesus used His faith to make the sea stay
calm. The fearless faith does not arise in times of calm, but in times of
adversity. God often allows His servants to go through trials and deserts so
that their faith develops and they achieve a higher level of spiritual
maturity, as well as perseverance and confidence. At a time of turbulence Jesus
did not despair, instead He used faith to obtain results. To talk to the wind
and the sea are results of the supernatural faith. He wanted to show that
through faith we can achieve even the most unlikely.
In contrast to fear Jesus establishes
faith. He rebuked the timidity of the disciples, that is their lack of courage,
then we cannot think that He would compliment our fears. Concern is without
doubts, a fierce opponent. The struggles are inevitable, but the question is:
how have your faith been when things get out of control, when the wind blows
stronger and the sea wants to drown you? Consider the following questions:
* You despair and cannot use your faith
* You do not have confidence that God is
in control and try to solve the situation with the strength of your arm
* You get sad and show to everyone that you’re
going through something difficult
* You get revolted with God like the
disciples at that moment, they were rude to say to Jesus “do you not care that we are perishing?”
Your answers show you what has been your
faith. Your reactions demonstrate the level of your confidence. Perhaps the
easiest thing to do when reading the above message would be to criticize the
disciples. But do we not act like them?
How many times we should have been strong
and we were weak?
How many times we should have trusted but
got despaired?
How many times we should have waited in
God but we wanted to take the lead?
How many times we should have used our
faith but we were feeding our emotions?
Let us reflect on how we have served God
and what we have passed on to the people, for those who live in emotion surely
will not pass on faith to anyone. Tell us your experience related to this
topic.
Kisses to all!
Tânia Rubim
Tânia Rubim
Translation by: Márcia Sebastião
7 comments:
Well Mrs. Tania, reading this post made me to realize that I've been having a faith that is not bold and fearless, because when am in a difficult situation, i usually revolt against God, asking God 'WHY' questions, but now that i know the kind of faith i have, am gonna have to work on having a bold and fearless faith, the one i will put to action in difficult situations. Thanks.
Good day MTS Tania reading this post made me reflect on my reactions of today. I was dissapointed in how things turned out, being without the best food I want and growing out of the clothing. I then held my tithe and said " God it is not fair, being faithful and my situation like this?" After that prayer, I became calm and trusted in God. Thank you for the message.
From this post i learnt that i have been lacking faith in God because sometimes when i face storms in life instead of rebuking the problem i do what the disciples did, i run to the Lord and complain.
As i meditated on the verse, i criticized the disciples for not using their faith while going through the storm but like you said, we sometimes do the exact same thing in not using our faith during our own storm. I have a problem of anxiety, overthinking, doubts and emotions and when i would be attacked by all four at the same time i would curl up in a little ball and cry myself to sleep. But one day God revealed to me that as i do that, I'm not using my faith and I'm giving in to what the devil wants and instead of that battle strengthening my faith it would literally weaken it to the point where i no longer wanted to keep going thinking the Holy Spirit is so out of my reach. So everytime i go through a battle that puts my faith to test like that, as soon as a want to cry, i kneel down before God and ask for His strength and i read the bible or in the footsteps of Jesus and i think to myself, Jackie, you will overcome and this fast is yours! God promised His spirit, His word says it so then why doubt or be anxious. Don't think, just do it and stop trying to feel! But as i was reading this post it made me to stop and think that there's times where i still lack in using my faith. I don't cry but i do get frustrated and try to solve things with my own strength. After reading this, now my current battles i always remember this post and i stop to think before i take any decision. For the decision i take can weaken me or strengthen me. Thank you mrs Tania, you are very used my the Holy Spirit.
i learnt that when you have the spirit of God you become fearless and bold to face the entire world no challenge can break you down
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