Storms...

The book of John is my favorite book in the bible because of the eye witness accounts of Jesus' miracles. Today I was reading John 6 because I heard a pastor on the radio talking about this chapter so I decided to do my own personal devotion. Here's what the book of John says:

"When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” 15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

16 That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. 17 But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. 18 Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. 19 They had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, 20 but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” 21 Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!" (John 6:14-21 NLT)

There is so much good news and teaching in these few verses it's sort of overwhelming. In verse 14 the "miraculous sign" that Jesus did was feed five thousand people. Surely, if I were to see Jesus feed 5,000 people from a few fish and loaves of bread I would want to make him my king also. It is interesting that Jesus would feed these people because a few days later these very people who saw his miracles and wanted to make him king later deserted him. How many times are we like that? God does something great for us and we're all about giving thanks but a day goes by and we desert God once again until another miracle comes along. It says that Jesus "slipped away into the hills by himself" and I could go on and on about the significance of that, but instead I would like to focus on what happens to his disciples after Jesus does slip away.

Jesus realizing that the masses wanted to make him a king he sent his disciple away into the sea knowing that there would be a storm brewing. This storm would make them forget about the fiasco the crowd was making about making Jesus king. Jesus realizing that his disciple were being tempted by the whole crowd issue sent them in the storm. Jesus is not only the Savior in the storm but also the sender of the storm and he will send you in to a storm if he sees that you are getting tempted, or sucked in by the crowd or world mentality. Here's the problem, they are now in the storm and Jesus was on the mountain praying not coming to their aid. Sometimes we feel like that, in darkness calling out to Jesus. Where is he? Jesus is all powerful, and he has perfect timing where he will whisper to you like he did to his disciples, "Do not be afraid. I am here." When he came they were "eager" or willingly let him in. He didn't force himself in, they made the choice to let him in. They could have easily said,"No, Lord we'll make it on our own." but they didn't and "immediately" they made it to shore.

If and when the Lord sends a storm in my life, I have to learn the lesson that I must let the Lord come in and take me to the shore. If not, I believe the storm will get worse. What storm in your life do you need to let Jesus in? I hope you and I will learn the lesson.

Peace!

Mentors...

This past week I've been praying about having a mentor to help guide me along in my walk. This past Thursday I went out to lunch with my boss and a co worker and had a nice chat over lunch about God and our relationship with him. It seemed to me that each of them has had or currently does have a person that they go to for spiritual advice and guidance. It was very encouraging to me because this subject of having a mentor has been on my heart for awhile. Also, I'm a little behind on my Lifechurch.tv messages/podcast and when I listened to the last message of Kaleo, Pastor Craig suggested that we should evangelize by mentoring to other whether they be Christians or not. So, once again I felt as if God was telling me to start praying about the right person to have to be my mentor. Lastly, during my devotions this week I prayed before I opened up my bible for God to speak to me about this whole mentor thing and what I should do. I opened up my bible exactly to this verse: "You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.3Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.6Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us." (Titus 2:1-8)
I'm continually praying for this subject among other things. I have a women from my church in mind that I know that would be a good influence for me. The point of me writing this is to encourage you to find someone that can guide you on your journey with Christ and also to show you that through prayer and reading God can speak to you. I hope somehow this encourages you or touches you in some way. Peace!

David...

A week later I have some time and something to post.

The other day I was reading 1 Samuel 16 & 17 about David. Most people know David as the boy who defeated Goliath but reading this I noticed other things that I've never noticed before about the story. First off, Samuel anointed Saul as king before David was chosen to be king but Saul was doing such a bad job of obeying God that He decide to anoint David king over Saul. In verse 13 is what I found interesting, "So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah." (1 Samuel 16:13) The last sentence of that verse is what struck me as weird. God anointed David king and Samuel made it known by anointing him with the oil, but when Samuel left David stayed. He didn't leave with Samuel and go to claim his throne. He stayed and still tended to the sheep. Then it made me think about how we are anointed children of His and we still tend to the sheep here at home. Yes, some of us follow Samuel and claim our throne, and there is nothing wrong with that, but there is also nothing wrong with staying back and using your gifts from God at home.
Another thing I noticed was in chapter 17. David was now going back and forth between working for his father and working for Saul by playing the harp to calm Saul down. "Now Jesse said to his son David, "Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines." (1 Samuel 17:17-19) What I like about this verse is the face that David, though anointed king now, still took orders from his father. I love how it's the image of Christ in this verse. Jesus is King, but yet he came down here and lived a life that a no king would yet he still obeyed His father in heaven and suffered and died for our sins. I just love it because the same applies to us too. We too are to obey our Father and to still be Christ like.

That's what is on my mind. I hope that encourages you in some way. If anything, I hope you got a small glimpse of the God that I love and serve.

Peace!