Guest blogger Stephen Foltz – Someone is watching you!
This week we have a guest blogger, Pastor Stephen Foltz, who preached at Crosspointe while I was in Fresno preaching at Ambassador Baptist Church.
Do you ever wonder why trials come into your life? 'Lord, I am doing what you want me to do, aren't I? Why is this happening to me?' Do these questions sound familiar? There are times in life when we are trying to do right and then out of nowhere a situation comes into our lives that takes us back. It is easy for us to give up in the hard times, but how do we keep going? How do we know that we are not alone? In Mark 4:35 Jesus and His disciples were on a ship in the middle of a stormy sea. The disciples were experienced fisherman and had been at sea many times before. However, nothing was anything like the storm that they were in with Jesus. Water was filling the boat and the men were fearful for their lives. They looked around and wondered where Jesus was in all of this. They were trying their best to save their own lives. Finally the disciples went to find Jesus. They found Jesus asleep, and they were amazed! They woke up Jesus and asked Him, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" (Mk 4:38) And it was at that moment the Jesus arose and commanded the sea to be still and the wind and the waves to cease. Wow! The men had done all they could do to save themselves, and it was the cry of Jesus children that calmed the storm. There is no doubt that the storm was creating a great noise on the sea and that the distress of the disciples could have woken Jesus from His sleep. But it wasn't the storm that caused Jesus to respond. It was the cry of His children. Then the storm was ceased with just the voice of Christ. Jesus had told the disciples that they would pass over to the other side, and yet when the storm came them men doubted they would live, and doubted they would make it across to sea. Here are a few reminders for us from this story as we go through the storms of life.
1.Remember Jesus is on board.
There is a reason for all that comes into our lives. There is nothing that comes into your life that has not been approved by the hand of God. He doesn't give us trials to see us fail or to have us suffer. The Lord uses trials to bring us closer to Him. He wants us to turn to Him through our storms and allow the trial to make us stronger. Jesus asked His disciples, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" (Mk 4:40) Don't let your trials get in the way of your faith. Trust God even when you can't see the outcome. He sees your circumstances and knows they may be difficult, but He wants to hear your voice calling out for Him before He comes to your side. It is all about your relationship with Him. God will use your trials to allow you to minister to others and to give Him glory.
The disciples called upon Jesus and He made a way for them to survive the storm. Now, I am not suggesting that when you pray that God will take the storm away from you. What I can say is that Jesus will give you a peace as you face your trials with grace and strength.
2.Remember someone is watching you.
The disciples needed to trust Jesus during their storm. Jesus knew that there were other people who had been affected by the storm who were not on the ship. Let's think about the people on the shore. They may have been affected by the storm and may have noticed the sudden stop. When Jesus came to the shore, the maniac of Gadara immediately came to Him. The maniac lived in the tombs off the shore, possibly overlooking the very sea that Jesus had calmed with His voice. It is possible that the maniac had seen the storm, how it had suddenly stopped, and then seen the ship come into the shore. The maniac knew that there was a man on that ship that had what he needed. He went to Jesus and asked for healing. And Jesus said "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." (Mk 5:8) The man was healed by Jesus and was a new man. People at work, in your family and those closest to you are watching you. They want to see if your faith is real. It is not difficult to have a positive spirit when nothing is going wrong. But when it feels like life is falling apart at the seams, is when people are able to see Jesus in you.
3.Remember you never know what you faith will produce.
Jesus told the man to go back to his home and tell them of the great things that the Lord has done for him. The maniac went back home and went to the 10 surrounding cities telling them of Jesus and what He had done for Him. If we quit in the trail, who wins? Satan gets the victory in our lives when we give up. Jesus will give you the strength to get through the trials to be a testimony for Him. People see Christ when we persevere through the hard times. God wants to use you. People are hurting. Everyone has a burden; the saved and the lost. So God wants to use his children to be a light to a lost people who do not know Him. There are people that God has placed in your life that He wants you to reach. How sad would it be that we would give up the fight and not be able to share the love of Christ. So try to take a step back in your life. Our viewpoint is foggy when we are up close. If you look at one small section of a large painting up close, it will most likely not look very good. You may be confused by what the painting even is. But when you take a few steps back you can see the picture clearly. Trust that God sees the whole picture of your life. We want to change the picture because we see it so closely and think we know better. But if we step back and look at what we tried to "fix" we will see that the picture of our life is ugly when we got involved. We think that life should be different because of our perspective. Trust God.
Are you experiencing God or observing God?
Don't live alone. Stay faithful. Sail the seas of life with Christ.