Faith Through The Storm

I feel like it's taken me absolutely forever to post about last week's message... Sorry about that.

May 6th, Richie talked about when Jesus calmed the storm. This event takes place in Luke 8-22-25. I recommend you take the time to read it. It's pretty amazing.
This is the story when Jesus and His disciples were out in a boat upon the water. Jesus fell asleep and a fierce storm came. The disciples freaked out and panicked. They called to Jesus, waking Him up, to save them. Jesus calmed the waters and stopped the storm, but He then questioned their faith.

A few things about the story:

• Jesus slept - Yep. He needs rest too. 
• The storm came quickly
• The Disciples cried out to Jesus
• Jesus calmed this storm

What I gathered from these points is that the Disciples first cried out to Jesus when they were overtaken by the storm, and rightly so. We should always look to Jesus instead of turning to ourselves. Also, sometimes we just really need to chill out and rest. Jesus rested, so why shouldn't we? 

There was one more point that was brought up...

Where is your faith?

The Disciples freaked out, like, lost their marbles and went bazurk. They clearly didn't have faith that Jesus was going to take care of them regardless of the storm. Jesus knew this too, that's why He called them out after He calmed the storm. 

In relation to my life, I've definitely had a lack of faith at times, most recently with school. You see, finals were going to be fine, then a few things happened that caused me to lose my confidence and faith that I would get through them just fine. 

I got a couple not-so-hot grades near the end of the semester. They seriously affected my mental state and I flipped. I was prepared for finals up until that point. I realized something though...Before I got those grades, I was doing just fine on my own, believing in myself that I could do it. After I got those grades, I lost it and realized that I had my faith in myself, and myself only. It was only after the problem that I realized I had my faith in the wrong place. 

We do that, though. We put our faith in things that we're comfortable with. Things we can usually predict pretty easily. But when something happens that we're not prepared for, we find ourselves in a helpless situation. But not really.. Jesus can provide exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. Which, by the way, does not mean that we're going to get what we need when we want it. It's all in God's timing. 

 

There's something about this, though, that you need to understand. He isn't always going to calm the storm. However, He will always be with you during the storm. That's what we need to focus on; Him. When we put Christ at the center of our attention, the storm becomes less of a problem. 

Are you putting your faith in Jesus or the storm?

I've also come to the conclusion that where you put your faith is where your foundation starts. If you put your faith in something temporary, or of this world, it's going to fail and falter. Jesus won't.

Where's your heart gone, and where's your soul?

Where did all of your faith go? 

Here's some tunes:

• "In No Time" - MUTEMATH [I know I've put this song up here several times, but please listen to it for this. Please.]
• "Battle" - Chris August
• "The Stand" - Hillsong United
• "Chaos" - MUTEMATH
• "These Hard Times" - NEEDTOBREATHE
• "Lay Em Down" - NEEDTOBREATHE
• "Balance" - Deas Vail
• "In Christ Alone" - Owl City
• "Meteor Shower" - Owl City
• "By Your Side" - Tenth Avenue North
• "Garden" - NEEDTOBREATHE
• "Always" - Switchfoot
• "Ships In The Night" - Mat Kearney

Have a fantastic week and if you need prayer or encouragement, know that we are always here for you guys.