We often refer to Jesus as being in the boat and not letting the boat sink. In reference to the time when Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat during the big storm.
However, there is another painting involving Jesus and a boat.
When Jesus caused the nets of the disciples to fill to overflowing. In that instance, Jesus being in the boat (or at least close by) kept the boat from sinking from the blessings, not the storm. My mom often says do not allow your blessings to become your burdens. The fact is, our blessings are sometimes more than we can handle, and we feel like we are going to sink. When Jesus is in our boat, he will never permit us to sink. Even if we feel we are sinking from blessings, Jesus knows what our blessings entail. He knows the effort that has to go into them. When Jesus filled the nets of the disciples, he knew that there was help close by to help Peter and Andrew pull the fish in because they were afraid that the fish we’re going to capsize the boat. It is easy for your blessings to become burdens due to the simple fact that blessings don’t come without effort. There’s always something you have to put into them. But Jesus is there in the boat with you and he will help guide you. He will not let the boat roll over. He will get you through, and once you can finally haul your blessings in, you will rejoice at what God has done.
Month: January 2025
Invisible weapons
There are so many people we meet in a day. Shopping. At work. In traffic. At school.
Have you ever found that people have the comfort of speaking with you about their problems and you really just don’t know why?
I’m not a terribly social person, but I find that people often want to speak with me about their lives. Randomly. I make a point now of going to self checkouts. It’s not that I don’t care. But my response is rarely what they want to hear. “Would you like me to pray for you?” Then they get uncomfortable and we have a nice long awkward silence. But really. There’s nothing else I can do. I can talk to God and He can fix your problem, but me, myself and I not only can’t help with your problem, but I probably don’t even really understand it.
As Christians people will seek us out something about us draws them to us, and they want to talk to us about what’s going on in their lives as though we can help. The fact is we can’t help but we can talk to the one who can Jesus can help these people? He can solve all their problems and we can lead them to him. But a lot of the times people get upset when you bring God up and then I kind of wonder, well if you don’t want me to talk to God about it, then why are you talking to me about it?
I have learned a lovely thing.Praying in secret. At my job, one of the ladies said to me, I have no problem with you but i’m not into that whole God and Christian thing.I want nothing to do with it.I feel if I walked into a church.It would probably burn down because of my sins. In my mind I went, ” those are fighting words where I come from.” Verbally I just said, “okay.” People don’t always want you to pray for them, but that will never be able to stop you from praying for them. You don’t have to pray for them out loud. Jesus can even hear the thoughts of Your Heart. Pray for them in your mind. Especially if they don’t want you praying for them. They bring you they’re troubles because they don’t know who wants to go to. They realize that somehow, deep within their spirits that you have a connection to Jesus and that he can fix things, but they are afraid they are afraid to find Jesus.
They’re afraid of all he stands for and how he will change their lives. Just because you are not telling someone that you will pray for them, and just because you are not praying out loud with them. Standing there does not mean that God is not hearing you. You can pray at home on your knees. You can pray in your car. You can pray right there in that moment. Inside your own mind and soul. And God will hear. You never know when a person will have a breakthrough. And you never know how your prayers will help them, so don’t stop praying. Especially when someone tells you, they don’t want to be prayed for pray harder than even if they never know that you are doing so.
Keep Marching!
Joshua 6:2-5 ESV
[2] And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. [3] You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. [4] Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. [5] And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”
https://bible.com/bible/59/jos.6.2-5.ESV
God gave us music for when the battles come. When the storms reach high and when darkness seems to encroach, God gave us a song. We have been given music that reminds us of gods holy power, his goodness, his grace, and the fact that he will never leave us.
Who would have thought that Jericho would be destroyed by music and a shout? God did. He knew it work, but it didn’t work the first time. It didn’t even work the second or the third time.I’m quite certain that by the time jerichos walls actually felt the people were starting to wonder at God’s plan. We all have a jericho, and we all have a weapon, and sometimes we wonder at God’s plan. But then we pick ourselves up, grab our instruments and march one more time, and that is the time when the walls fall. Turn your music up and keep marching.God will make a way.
I’ve got my own giants
I’ve got my own giants.
We had a pastor who used to say that you need to get out of only praying for yourself. But that’s hard. We pray for other people’s problems, but we become distracted by our own problems. Our giants are big too.
We worry over ourselves because we are on the frontline of our own lives. We don’t feel what others feel, but we definitely feel what we feel. Then, one day, a person goes through what you have been through, and you pray harder for that person than for any of the others because you understand. You have met their giants, and you know how awful they are. Sometimes, God let’s us go through things so we are prepared from the battle to help others with their battle. Perhaps God knows that we have the strength to endure with only Him, and the person we will meet will need a physical hand to hold. It’s what is grown in the battle that makes us who we are. But we get to choose if anything grows. Do we turn to binge watching TV? I know I do more than I should. Do we turn to friends? What is your escape plan for when the fight comes?
It is when we turn to Jesus that we grow. When we say, “I’m fighting through this because God is on my side!”
We say that you can do anything you put your mind to, but the fact is no, you can’t. There are things you can not do on your own. But there is nothing that God can not do. It’s when you give the battle to Him and follow behind His sword and shield that you see victory. We have our own giants. But don’t go saying that your sling and stone won the fight because you were a great shot. Or because you had better technology than the dead champion who had won countless battles and most likely met fighters as good as you and sling shots as fast and powerful. When you walk away from the fight, know it’s because God walked with you into the fight. Your giants are big. But your God is bigger.
What does it mean to trust?
What does it mean to trust?
I was asked recently how to release all one’s fears to God and to rest. In truth. I was in a dark space and the typical pat answers we usually give people did not feel like enough. I said, “I don’t really know. I’m still figuring it out.” For me. If I go out for a hike or a long walk and put on my power praise music I find the Holy Spirit’s presence drives out the dark. But as soon as I go back inside and turn the music off the clouds come again.
Recently I had a terrible case of covid. This new strain is no joke. I truly felt I would die about four times before the sun started peaking through and I began to recover. My case has been so bad that for a week I physically did not have the strength to move around much. I was too dizzy to do anything for myself and I spent two weeks on the couch watching Christmas movies and sleeping. Never have I been sick like this. Next week I have my first math exam for my college courses. It has been a terrifying challenge for me and the reason I fell into such a slump of depression. Over Christmas we were supposed to study for our exam. I couldn’t. I tried to. Really hard. But I was too sick. I couldn’t figure it out. Why would God let me get sick? Yet during this time of forced rest I learned the answer to the question I had been asked earlier. To truly let go and rest in God’s peace, you have to actually let go. Release it all. Stop striving and let it slip into God’s hands. A devotional I read once said, to rest is to trust God. We feel rest is lazy. We feel we should be doing something. But rest is letting God take over, trusting that God will take care of it all even when we do nothing. Does that mean I am not studying hard these days to make up for the time missed? No. But I am not trusting in myself for the success. I am trusting that God will help me succeed with His power. I am doing what I am doing because I trust His will. It is in His hands.
To trust is to rest in God’s peace and strength. He does not need our fear and striving. He wants our trust.
Carried in the cross 