John 6:17 the disciples got into the boat, and went over the sea..And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. v.18 the sea arose...great wind was blowing v.20 they had rowed 3 or 4 miles...they saw Jesus v.20 He said 'It is I, do not be afraid.' v.21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat.
Does it seem 'that it is already dark'? Does it feel like Jesus has not come to you? Are the winds howling and everything is tossed up in the air and threatening to overturn your world? Have you rowed and rowed, you've kept going, gone forward, made some headway, then been pushed back by the waves and lost ground, so you have to keep rowing harder and harder?
The disciples knew just how you felt. They were in the same boat!
In Mark 6:48 Mark tells us Jesus came to them walking on the sea and would have passed them by. That's terrible you say, why would He pass them by when He could see their desperate struggle and could see their fear?
But He does speak to them. He must have shouted actually for them to hear Him over the storm and He shouts 'It is I, be not afraid'. At that point they had a choice - do we carry on in our own efforts and being fearful, or do we invite Him into our boat?
You see Jesus will never force Himself on us and even though He sees our struggles, our fears, He always waits to be invited in.
Jesus is shouting to us today over our storm we're all in at the moment. He says the same thing IT IS I, BE NOT AFRAID. Remember this is the Great I AM declaring HE IS HERE, HE IS CLOSE BY, DON'T BE AFRAID.
The thing is, is our storm shouting so loud in our minds we're not hearing Jesus?
He is waiting for us to willingly invite Him into our boat, where the virus is tossing things upside down, or whatever your storm might be. He wants to bring our lives safe to shore, to the other side of it all.
As soon as Jesus got in their boat He did bring them safely to the other side. But they had to willingly invite Him in. When they thought Jesus hadn't come to them He was already on the waves but they just hadn't seen Him yet. Jesus by His Holy Spirit is already here, but He's waiting for our invitation to come in and still our fears and uncertainties again today. Will you join with me?
Lord, we invite You once again to come into our individual boats where the storm is trying to toss us up and down. Come in and calm us down and bring us safely through and out the other side of it all. Thank You Lord You are here to uphold us, strengthen us and help us. There is nothing to fear when You are involved. We praise You for victory over the virus. We praise You for the vaccine on it's way. We praise You for deliverance for our nation. We praise You for giving wisdom to our leaders in authority over us. We praise You because You are our Waymaker, our Miracle Worker. We praise You Jesus because we know our praises bring down the enemy's strongholds and stops the mouth of the destroyer. So we praise You and praise You again and will carry on praising You. Amen.
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