A Lesson #6

Perhaps the writer of Psalm 93 understood what the disciples -- in the storm, in the boat, with Jesus -- didn't quite get:


The floods have risen up, O LORD. The floods have roared like thunder; the floods have lifted their pounding waves.  But mightier than the violent raging of the seas, mightier than the breakers on the shore— the LORD above is mightier than these! 

Psalm 93:3-4 (NLT) 

A Lesson #5

Luke 8:22-25

After He calmed the waves and winds, Jesus asked His disciples, "Where is your faith?" He didn't ask, "Why don't you have faith?" He asked them where had they put their faith. Was it in what the winds were saying? Or in what the waves were threatening? Apparently they had not put their faith in what Jesus had said -- that they would go across the sea.

When struggles overwhelm us, Jesus asks the same question of us: "Where have you put your faith?" We can put our faith in the winds and the waves that batter and badger -- and find ourselves trembling with fear and assured of failure. Or we can trust in the One who said we would get to the other side of the sea, and find ourselves at rest in His arms throughout the storm.

A Lesson #4

Luke 8:22-25

Jesus calmed the storm. He could have just helped the boat get through the storm. I can't always know which he'll do with the storms in my life. But I can know He will get me through them.

A Lesson #3

Luke 8:22-25

The disciples were experienced fishermen. For them to be afraid of the storm meant it was a very big, very bad storm. It was bigger than they could handle. Sometimes I don't acknowledge how big the storm is. I don't admit  how bad the storm has become. Therefore I don't recognize how much help I need.

RANDOM #3

Luke 8:22-25


Really?  The disciples woke up GOD to tell Him that He was going to die in the storm?  Really?



Other "random" blogs:
#7, #6,
#5,  #4,  #2,  #1

A Lesson #2

Luke 8:22-25


Don't trust the bluster of the wind and the waves. Trust the power of the God who is at rest in the boat.

A Lesson #1

Luke 8:22-25


Jesus said, " “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”  I can trust him to get us to the destination, despite the storms along the way.

My mistake

Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God." Mark 12:24

Christ's comment to the Sadducees is His answer to me when I bring Him the confusions of my beliefs. He doesn't argue with me in the twists and turns of my own thinking. Instead He takes me back to basics: Know the Scriptures. Know the power of God.

God made THIS day

This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 

 

Silly me. I look at the day ahead and think it is mine.

But God made this day. It is His.

Wonder what He has planned?

How to pray the Lord's Prayer

STEP 1: Remind myself Who I am talking to.
a. He is mine: Our Father
b. He is God: which art in heaven, 
c. He is good: Hallowed be thy name.
d. He is great: Thy kingdom come.
e. He is able. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. 

STEP 2: Request what I need:
a. Provision:     Give us this day our daily bread. 
b. Pardon:        And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
c. Protection:   And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. 

STEP 3: Remind myself Who I am talking to.
For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever. Amen.

REALLY Wanting Wisdom

Proverbs 2:1-4   Personalized and elaborated.

Lord, help me listen [but not the way I listen to the radio while driving, or how I pay attention to the child tugging at my shirt while I talk on the phone]

to what You say [through Your Word, through Your people, through Your Spirit] [whether or not I like what you say],

and treasure [like the one thing I'd grab if the house was on fire] Your commands [which aren't suggestions, or wise ideas, but are required of me as your child].

Help me to tune my ears to [like I acutely hear the cry of my baby among all the other sounds in  crowded nursery] Your wisdom [YOUR wisdom -- the wisdom that is from above and "is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy" (James 3:17)]  and concentrate on [focus on, like I do when learning something new] understanding.

Hear me as I cry out [plead and beg as though my life depended on it] for insight, and ask for understanding. Enable me to search for them as I would for silver [for that which is precious to me, as I would for my lost child]; seek them like hidden treasures [recognizing that Your insight and understanding are not always obvious or easy to spot].

Wisdom to know the difference

For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6)

I am reminded of the famous prayer of serenity:

GOD, grant me

the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Seems like the key thing here may not be 'serenity' or 'courage' but 'wisdom'.  If I am serene when I could be courageous, or courageous when I should be serene, things get really messed up.  I either miss opportunities to influence for good, or waste time and energy.  The wisdom of discernment is the greater gift.

OUR Father (yet again)

Matthew 6:9-13

OUR Father.  Who is included in OUR?  It is the generations of believers before us. The God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.  Esther, Ruth, and Mary Magdalene. St. Augustine, Mother Teresa, and my grandmother.  It is the generations after us. The God of Justin, Drake, Christena, Esther. He is the Father of all of us who have become his children by faith. And when we pray to OUR father, we join a great chorus none can count -- greater than the stars of the heavens or sands of the sea.

OUR Father (again)

Matthew 6:9-13


OUR Father.  Who is included in OUR?  Well, since Jesus is the one speaking, then we are to pray to the same Father Jesus prayed to. He says, "you pray to the Father that you and I share." Then he teaches us the ropes on how to approach Him.  Isn't it just like an elder brother to teach his kid sister how to talk to their dad?

See also previous blogs including: Our Father; Bless the Children;