“Peace Be Still!”
Pastor Larry Gatlin, So Oregon
Have you ever
noticed that life can at times become Blustery? It reminds me of the story in
Matthew 8:24-27
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea,
insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came
to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of
little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a
great calm.
27 But the men marveled, saying, what manner of man is
this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! (KJV)
There had to be something special happened to cause
such a great storm to cease its activity. What was it?
Well, you might reply, Pastor Larry, it's simple. Jesus
was on board. That's true yet it goes much deeper. Jesus was on board but there
is something very significant that took place before the trip. No it isn't
mentioned here in Matt 8, but it is mentioned other times. Jesus had taken the
time to be in communion with the Father. He prayed and talked to the Father
often. Here then is the lesson that I want us to see today.
We are living in perilous, (dangerous) times. There
have been reports of possible further Terrorist attacks on America and other
People groups of the World. We are living in a time that is filled with storms.
And let us not forget the daily storms of life that we all face. With all of
these things happening, how do we maintain a life of Peace, Hope, and Joy?
We follow the example of Jesus. We make the time to
have communion and fellowship with our Heavenly Father.
Mark 6:45-46
45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get
into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent
away the people.
46 And when he had sent
them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
Spending intimate time with the Lord is the key to
having the assurance, that when we face the Storms of Life, we'll have the,
Peace, Joy, Hope, and Power that we need to be able to speak to the Storms and
say, "Peace be still."
Oh it won't be easy. There will always time constraints
and scheduling problems. But remember, I said that we must make time to be with
the lord. For some you'll need to get your Day Timer or your Palm Pilot out and
write in, "Daily time with the Lord" priority one. For others it will
require you to just stop and take the time to be with the Lord. But regardless
of what you have to do, in order to be alone with the Lord, when the Storms
come your way and the winds of adversity are blowing hard against you, You'll
be able to stand in the Peace that you have found by spending time with the
Lord.
And who knows, when you make the time to be with Him,
it might just bring about a whole NEW BEGINNING for you.
Pastor Larry