Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
My kids had a few nightmares when they were little. I would come to their rescue and calm their fears. Jesus calms our fears but in a much greater way. Today we hear one story of how he did it.
Scripture
John 6:20
Jesus(to the disciples): I am the One. Don’t be afraid.
Devotional
I remember when my kids were little, they would sometimes have nightmares in the middle of the night. I would hear them cry out and I would go to their room to see what was wrong. Sometimes they would see monsters in the shadows or they would just know that someone was peering in the window just waiting to come in and get them.
My presence calmed them
My voice let them know they were protected
My assurance took away their fear
Grandkids spend the night and do the same
Same thing happens
Simple explanation and presence takes away fear
Disciples found themselves alone in a storm
Real danger this time
Not their imagination
Expected to drown in the storm
Jesus comes walking calmly to their side
His presence calms their fears
His voice gives assurance that all will be okay
He lets them know He will protect them from the storm
We face storms in life
He will come and bring assurance to us the same way He did for His disciples
We must listen above the wail of the storm
We can trust Him to bring calm to the trouble waters in our lives
We do not need to be afraid
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 6:46-49 Jesus: What good is it to mouth the words, “Lord! Lord!” if you don’t live by My teachings? What matters is that you come to Me, hear My words, and actually live by them. If you do that, you’ll be like the man who wanted to build a sturdy house. He dug down deep and anchored his foundation to solid rock. During a violent storm, the floodwaters slammed against the house, but they couldn’t shake it because of solid craftsmanship.
It was built upon rock.
On the other hand, if you hear My teachings but don’t put them into practice, you’ll be like the careless builder who didn’t bother to build a foundation under his house. The floodwaters barely touched that pathetic house, and it crashed in ruins in the mud.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
As you listen to this podcast or read this blog, you might also be considering the aftermath of some of the damage hurricane Matthew caused as it made its way across the mid-Atlantic and wreaked havoc on Haiti, the Bahamas, and the southern coastal areas of the United States. As I watched with you the news reports of the devastation of the storm, I thought about these verses. They came at an opportune time to use hurricane Matthew as a good illustration.
Several of my friends retired to Florida after their service in the military. Some took positions in various companies related to government work dealing with digital training or South American relations or medical insurance support or a variety of other positions that took them to the Sunshine State. They enjoy the beach, the warm weather, the predictable weather. They don’t enjoy the autumn storms which bring hurricanes into their area.
Most bought or built homes guaranteed to withstand the storms, though. They have a piece of paper in their hand that tells them the size hurricane their house can handle before pieces of the structure begin to crumble under the onslaught of the powerful forces of the winds and waves that accompany those storms. But most of them are somewhat at the mercy of their builder since they are not construction engineers. I’m sure as some of them escape Matthew, they hope the guarantee on their piece of paper holds true.
For many other home owners on the Florida coast, they have no such assurances that their homes will withstand a hurricane of any force. They just hope it was built solidly and will not topple when the winds blow and the rains fall as they will over the next several days. With a category 4 hurricane, it will be pretty easy to see if the builders live up to their side of the bargain. 100+ mile per hour winds have a tendency to test the strongest structures and those that are not built to stand the test just don’t stand. They blow away in the wind.
Those houses that stand have foundations that go deep into the bedrock below the sand. The builders that have good reputations are well known to the residents in the area and give good recommendations to those who come into the area and are looking for good builders. Those who do shoddy work are also well known to residents in the area and also get reports for anyone who will take the time to search out reputable builders. It isn’t hard to determine who the good and bad builders are. The community will let you know.
The same is true of the people of good and bad character in a community. You know the people with shady character and those you trust. You know the ones with a character that stands the test of time and stress and success and loss and crisis. You know those who stand out in your community, good and bad.
But there is only One who teaches from a foundation that is absolutely rock solid. In fact, He made the rock He stands on. He is the foundation. He is the singular point from which everything else begins and ends. So when we build our character, our faith, our purpose, our very being on Him, we get it right. We can stand through the toughest storms life can throw at us, know that we will not just survive the storm, but come through it victoriously.
Some of the Florida and Georgia coast builders who put their names on their creations will lose a ton of money and their reputations as a result of the storm crushing the buildings they said would stand the stress of the winds and waves. Those who put their trust in those false credentials will find their houses in rubble or with roofs torn off and the contents spread over miles of territory. In building homes and other structures in hurricane prone areas, it pays to do your homework on the builder and know their reputation before the first shovel goes into the ground and the first form for the foundation is erected.
For building your character, it is equally important to know the reputation of your teacher. To know the one who give you instruction has the credentials to lead you down the path you need to go for a sound and secure future, not just for the few years you have in this physical space and time, but for eternity. My teacher inspired the book that has been the best seller in almost every language for centuries. I hope you’ve adopted Him as your instructor, too.
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 8:26 Jesus: Please! What are you so afraid of, you of little faith?
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Fear, one of those deep-rooted emotions that keeps us alive at times, but also keeps us from accomplishing much if we don’t learn to control it. It’s interesting that the second most common fear in the world in the fear of death. The first is the fear of public speaking. Strange that we fear talking to a group of people more than we fear dying, but that’s what the literature tells us. And from those two phobias come a long list of things we fear.
Some of our fears just seem silly to most people, but if you suffer from them, they can be debilitating. You’ve probably heard stories, if you don’t know someone with the fear of the heights, or the fear flying, or the fear of roller coasters, or the fear of the dark. Those are just the tip of the iceberg, though. We fear almost everything as the human race. Someone, somewhere will be afraid of just about anything you can think of, so we can’t slap around the disciples too much since they were in the middle of a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
More than half of these guys were seasoned fishermen. They knew how to handle storms. They’d been caught out on the Sea of Galilee before when a storm came up. Storms weren’t anything new to them. But this one must have been a whopper. They were afraid. They didn’t know if they would make it to shore. And here was Jesus, the Son of God, just sleeping in the back of the boat. Maybe even snoring a little.
So they wake Him up. “Don’t you care that we’re going to die? How can you sleep when we’re risking our lives here? Can’t you help us keep this rickety boat afloat? Do something!”
I can imagine their angst in the middle of that stormy situation. Have you ever been there? Wondering what would happen next? Wondering how you would survive the next blows that came your way? If you live long enough, you’ll go through some of those times. No one is exempt from the troubles of the world. It doesn’t matter how rich or how poor you might be, everyone faces those times. Maybe it’s a financial crisis. Maybe the doctor just spoke the big “C” word. Maybe you don’t know where your next meal is coming from. Maybe your best friend and partner for life just passed away. We all face those storms in our life. Jesus promised we would. It’s part of the curse of Adam’s race. Sin entered the world and from the time we’re born this physical frame begins the process of dying in this physical realm.
And along that journey of life, we learn to fear. Some people fear more than others. But we all fear.
I find it fascinating, though, that every time God sends one of His messengers to earth to talk to one of His followers, and every time Jesus talks to someone in crisis, their first words are usually, “Don’t be afraid.” Fear can have a strangle hold on us and freeze us in place. It can paralyze us into inactivity so we are good for nothing. It can keep us from taking that necessary next step that leads to the release and freedom we so desperately seek. But we are afraid.
I love to watch little kids at playgrounds. They show us what’s it’s like not to fear. Watch them. They hang on the bars upside-down without a care. They race and climb and jump and sometimes they fall. It’s not until adults intervene and tell them something isn’t safe that they begin to curb their appetite for play. Little kids will do just about anything within their ability with no fear. They just do stuff. They exercise faith in their ability and their invincibility. We parents are the ones that instill that fear in them. We stop them cold and tell them they’ll get hurt. Don’t climb too high. Don’t swing too far. Don’t run too fast. Don’t … Don’t… Don’t… And so we build fear into them.
I’m told the only fear infants have is the fear of falling. Everything else we teach them with our constraints and dire warnings. Have you ever thought about had sad that is sometimes. So maybe we have taught out children, by our actions, to fear coming to Christ for salvation. Maybe our actions tell our children it’s not safe to give your all to the Master. Maybe we have demonstrated those dire warnings to our children that you better fear doing too much for Christ.
Can you trust Him with everything you have and everything you are? Can you get rid of the fear that keeps you from serving Him completely? Can you avoid the words His disciples heard in the boat, “What are you so afraid of, you of little faith”? Are you ready to act like a child and boldly step out and do the unthinkable when and where He leads you? I promise you, Jesus will never ask you to do something He and you cannot do together because He never fails. Never! So what are you so afraid of?
