This morning, we continue our series, “The Miracles of Jesus.”
Before we get into the miracle, let’s look at the foundational scripture I will share be sharing with you all year.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us. I pray you get refreshed and restored as we study each miracle.
(Mark 4:35-40 ERV)
35 That day, at evening, Jesus said to his followers, “Come with me across the lake.”
36 So they left the crowd behind and went with Jesus in the boat he was already in. There were also other boats that went with them.
37 A very bad wind came up on the lake. The waves were coming over the sides and into the boat, and it was almost full of water.
38 Jesus was inside the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The followers went and woke him. They said, “Teacher, don’t you care about us? We are going to drown!”
39 Jesus stood up and gave a command to the wind and the water. He said, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind stopped, and the lake became calm.
40 He said to his followers, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. The goal is to be led by God’s Spirit in all things and at all times.
As we study the miracles of Jesus, one thing that will stick out is how Jesus lived. Jesus was led by the Spirit every moment of every day. He relied on the Holy Spirit to give them insight concerning what to do and how to do it, concerning where to go and what to do when they got there. There were times when Jesus healed everyone who is sick. There were times when Jesus only healed one person in the middle of a crowd of sick people. There were times when Jesus avoided the Pharisees and Sadducees. There were times when Jesus confronted them. The bottom line is that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit and all things. This is how we are supposed to live.
In the case of Jesus speaking to the storm, Jesus was in the middle of a busy day. He had spent hours teaching multiple parables earlier in the day, and the Holy Spirit had already revealed to Him all the things He still needed to do that day, and since He was physically tired, he was glad to get some rest. Jesus was sleeping through a terrible storm when the disciples woke him up. He did not pacify their fear. He was frustrated with the fact that they were not seeing life the way He was. Jesus had an expectation of the disciples. What was he looking for from them? He was looking for faith. He expected them to live by faith, and he has the same expectation of us.
To live by faith effectively, the way Jesus did, we must learn to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit, we must meditative on God’s Word (so we can learn His ways), and we must have the courage to believe God said, even when everything we see with our natural eyes is telling us something different. In the middle of a raging storm, Jesus expected the disciples to live by faith and not by fear. This is how we should live today, and it is how we will live if we are led by the Holy Spirit in all things.
2. You cannot allow your internal state to fluctuate based on external conditions.
— External circumstances and conditions change all the time. Not only that, but people change. Those closest to you today may not be there for you in the future. So if your internal state is contingent upon external conditions and the attitudes of people you cannot control, your life will be a constant roller-coaster because you will never be able to control everything that goes on externally to you.
— Jesus was not moved by external conditions. He was only moved by the Holy Spirit. This is why you must know what God is saying to you, and then circumstances change around you, faith requires you to go back to what God said. That’s what Jesus did. Jesus knew the Father had work for him on the other side of the lake. So He said, “Hey guys, we are going to the other side.” So, no matter what happened in between, Jesus was more focused on what God said (or revealed, in this case) than what the external conditions were. This is how we are supposed to live.
— While everything around you is changing, the only way to remain steadfast and unmovable is to constantly remind yourself of what God said. If you believe God has spoken, and if you believe God is not a man (meaning, that He cannot lie), then you cannot be moved by what you see with your natural eyes. You can acknowledge what is happening, but you cannot be moved by it. Jesus looked at His disciples who were full of ear, and He then looked at the storm while He was full of peace (on the inside), and He spoke TO THE OUTSIDE what He had ON THE INSIDE. He spoke PEACE and the storm stopped. Jesus did not allow what was on the OUTSIDE to get INSIDE of Him. He did the opposite. He released what was IN HIM into the ENVIRONMENT. This is exactly how we are supposed to live!
— When you live by faith, empowered by God’s grace, then you are the influencer and not the influenced. You release what is IN YOU into the environment, and you do not allow the environment to GET INSIDE of you!
Jesus was upset with His disciples for many reasons.
— They did not believe what He said about going to the other side.
— They had more confidence in the storm (fear) than confidence in God (faith).
— They did not even have confidence in Jesus’ presence. They had seen, with their own eyes, what Jesus could do. And even though Jesus was with them on the boat, they thought they were going to die.
— Jesus expressed His frustrations with them because they were living beneath God’s best, and they were not learning to live by faith.
Learning to live by faith is a process. It will not happen overnight. But you can get to the point where what is happening on the OUTSIDE does not move you on the INSIDE at all. That’s the point we all want to get to.
3. God wants you to deal with the root of the issue.
Jesus always dealt with the root and not the fruit. Jesus looked at a boy who was having epileptic seizures that were so bad that sometimes he would fall into a fire and burn himself, and he looked at a woman who was bent over and could not straighten up herself for 18 years, and in both cases, Jesus saw the root. Both were demon-possessed. So Jesus did not deal with the symptoms. Jesus dealt with the cause. He cast the demons out, and in both cases, the people were set free.
Our text says that Jesus rebuked the wind first and then spoke to the waves. The waves were only reacting to the wind. So whenever storms rage in your life — in your marriage, business, workplace, with your children, etc. — ask the Holy Spirit to show you the root of the issue first, and deal with that. Once you deal with the root problem, everything else will fall into place. But if you get caught up addressing the fruit (the symptoms), you will battle the situation far longer than you need to. When you cut something off at the root, the situation is stifled and you experience victory over it quickly. Once Jesus spoke to the wind, the waves had to stop.
We serve a God who will reveal to you the root of the issue so you can exercise divine power and authority over it. So, no matter what you are facing this morning, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the root of the matter. Once you address the root, the fruit will die.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I believe this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me!
As I study the miracles of Jesus, my faith is increased!
I am led by Your Spirit in all things and at all times. I am Your child, I hear Your voice, and the voice of a stranger, I will not follow.
Since I am led by Your Spirit, I am able to live a solid, strong, and stable life. I am not moved by what happens around me. I am only moved by what You say and reveal.
Instead of allowing what is AROUND ME to get IN ME, I release what is IN ME into every room I walk into, every meeting I take part in, and every virtual call I dial into. I am an influencer who is extending heaven to the earth, and I refuse to be influenced by the things of this present world.
And lastly, Father, You bless me to see and address the root of every issue in my life. As I address the root, the fruit has to die, and the symptoms must stop. Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
