“AND THEY WERE AFRAID!”

 Luke 8:25                                                          (ESV)

“HE said to them, "Where is your FAITH?" “AND THEY WERE AFRAID”, and they marveled, saying to one another, "WHO then is this, that HE commands even winds and water, and they obey HIM?"”

As I am fervently seeking direction from THE LORD on some decisions in my life, I am praying that these decisions be used to bring me closer to HIM.  Not wanting to “miss GOD”, I am desperate to know exactly what HE wants for me to do, how HE wants it be done, and if and when HE wants me to help HIS Plan come to be?  Exodus 14:14, “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent”, keeps ringing in my ears!  Why is it then that I always “feel” as though I must “do” things for HIM?

Why do I think that HE needs me to help me HIM when HE controls the wind and the water!  JESUS could have caused the windstorm (Luke 8:23) NOT to have happened, but growing the FAITH of HIS disciples required TESTING them!  Being reminded that “AND THEY WERE AFRAID” usually (like in the verse above) comes right after we are asked “Where is your FAITH?”  Apparently FEAR is the favorite weapon of “the enemy”, as it is used on us, EVEN WHEN WE ARE LOOKING FOR IT!  

JESUS embodies PEACE and ASSURANCE!   HE cannot abide in the same dwelling place of FEAR!  Why then do I “default” to FEAR when JESUS IS PEACE and ASSURANCE?  The answer is located in Romans 7:22-24, which says “, “For I delight in the law of GOD, in my inner being, BUT I see in my members another law WAGING WAR against the LAW OF MY MIND and MAKING ME CAPTIVE to the law of sin that DWELLS IN MY MEMBERS.  WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! WHO will deliver me from this body of death?”  Paul was CAPTIVE TO THE LAW OF SIN!  I am CAPTIVE TO THE LAW OF SIN!  How can I escape this enemy???

JESUS is asking me, “Where is your FAITH?”  Please LORD, DON’T let it be said of me “AND THEY WERE AFRAID”!  Let me be able to RECOGNIZE and IDENTIFY “the enemy” and remember that JESUS has already defeated him!  Let we whose FAITH is strong and proven never be accused of “AND THEY WERE AFRAID”!!!