The Calm Assurance Of Faith
One of the greatest joys is to find ourselves with “The Calm Assurance Of Faith!”
Life has a way of stretching us in multiple directions at the same time, which can leave us with a sense of something missing or with the question in the back of our minds asking: “What did I forget?”
As we have heard said: “Hindsight is 20/20.” As I push the replay of my life, it becomes very clear that I am so loved by God and that truly He has been with me through every step of this journey called life! His protection, His provision, His love and comfort have been there all along. Yet I also see in looking back, there had been many times I saw myself as one deeply concerned about the circumstances or stressed out over how things were unfolding.
This poses the question in my spirit: “Why?” when Jesus is so faithful and His love steadfast, and His provision for all that pertains to life and godliness so clear. Why then do we find ourselves faltering and in stress? I believe it is because like the account in the Bible - when the disciples of Jesus were on the stormy sea and found themselves more focused on the storm than on the reality that Jesus was with them in the boat - we also discover our frailty as humans and our great need for our Savior. Rather than “Calm Assurance Of Faith” these disciples were in the mode of: “We got to survive this storm!”
Luke 8:22-26 “Now it came to pass on a certain day that he went into a ship with His disciples and said to them; “Let us go to the other side of the lake!” and they launched forth. But as they sailed He fell asleep and there came down a storm of wind on the lake and the boat was filled with water and they were in jeopardy. They came to Jesus and woke Him up saying; “Master, Master, we perish!” Then Jesus arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and there was a calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Where is your faith?” and they being afraid wondered, saying to each other, “What manner of man is this! For He commanded even the winds and the water and they obey Him”! And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes…
The disciples found themselves in a place of frustration towards Jesus as they began to realize that the storm was bigger than they could handle. They cried “Jesus! We are going to perish! Here we are in this big storm, and you’re not helping us bail out water or keep the boat in the right direction. You’re just sleeping, resting. Help!!!”
Jesus stood up, rebukes the winds and the waves caused by the storm and instant peace came into the circumstance. Then He turns to His disciples and asks them: “Where is your faith?” Their faith was not focused on the words Jesus had spoken: “Let’s go to the other side of the lake.” They were not focused on Jesus and His strength, love, and grace towards them. Their faith was focused on the storm and their own natural abilities and experience - it was focused on what they knew they could do. This brought great stress to them, even fear that they may not survive the storm, and anger towards Jesus for appearing to be unconcerned about their situation.
Jesus carried a “Calm Assurance Of Faith” because He understood that God His Father always heard Him when He prayed! He also understood that when He spoke the Word, His Father did the work. Notice that this account began by Jesus saying, “Let’s go to the other side of the lake” and ends with, “They arrived right where He said they would be.”
In the natural, all seemed lost. They had lost focus on the reality that Jesus is our faith and that He will never leave us or forsake us. Because of the finished work that He did at the cross, we now have this same kind of position in Him!
1John 5:14-15 “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will he hears us and if we know that He hears us whatever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him.”
Confidence: full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing:
Through the Bible, we discover that by His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension being seated at the right hand of the Father, and in His sending the Holy Spirit, the New Covenant began. In that covenant we discover His will and we have confidence in Him that when we ask anything according to His will, He not only hears but he also gives us what we are asking for!
Here are some incredible realties that are His will for our lives!
Jesus made peace with God for us!
He took our sin and gave us His righteousness!
He took our poverty and gave us blessings so that we can be a blessing to others!
He took our sickness and disease and gave us His health and vitality!
He took loneliness and is a friend who will never leave or forsake us!
He took our confusion and became our wisdom!
He totally defeated all the demonic spiritual powers!
This is His will: We can ask with confidence in Him that we will have whatsoever our petitions that we desire of Him! Whatever storm you may be in at this moment or whatever comes down the road to meet you in your journey, remember Jesus said: “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” With Jesus on board, we can focus our faith towards Him!
As we continue moving forward in life’s journey let’s have “The Calm Assurance Of Faith!”
