The Anchor part 2
Sometimes it feels like you're a ship tossed on the ocean. The winds are blowing, the rain is coming down, and you don't know what to do. But guys... that's just life. It's not always smooth sailing. You can't control everything in your life. But what you can control... is yourself. What you can control is how you react to what happens to you in your life. Look at Mark 4:37-40, "And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that is was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" They had the anchor right there in the boat. Resting. Sleeping. Totally unconcerned. And yet they still freaked out. But at least they took their problem to the solution. We can say that about the disciples. In their moment of need... they went to Jesus. That's always a good call. That's always the best call. And the first thing He did was not to rebuke the disciples. That came later. The first thing He did was rebuke the storm. Told it to knock it off. Didn't freak out, just spoke a word of power. Ecclesiastes 8:4 tells us that, "Where the word of a king is, there is power..." What we say matters. What we do matters. If you speak fear, fear will manifest. If you speak life, life will manifest. What you feed is what will grow in your life. If you don't want something in your life you simply have to stop feeding it. Starve it. And watch it wither and die. Because not everything belongs in your life. Not everything should get your three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure). If you're anything like me you only have so much energy to give. Which means you need to prioritize things. Jesus didn't struggle with the problem. He simply spoke a word and that was that. Then, once the crisis was over, He was able to deal with His disciples. Because, realistically, they should have been able to handle that without waking Him up. They had the same power He did. Jesus identified Himself as the light of the world, and He identified US as the light of the world. It's the same light. The same life. The same love. He is the anchor to our soul. And catch this: We think it's so important that we hold onto Jesus as long as we can, as strong as we can. When the truth of the matter is... He is holding on to us. And He will never let us go. He swore that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He even went so far as to say, "My Father, whih gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one" (John 10:29-30). Paul wrote at length about how nothing--NOTHING--can separate us from the love of God. Nothing we do, or nothing anybody else does. What others mean for evil, God uses for God. That's the anchor. That's what equips and empowers us to stand fast no matter what's happening. The ocean can try to toss us, but we aren't going anywhere. God's arm is holding us up. We are standing firm on the Rock that is Christ. On the only foundation that can truly be built upon. He is our refuge. Our safe place. He is where we go when we need... anything, really. He is our "break glass in case of emergency." And, as we learn to trust Him and include Him in every aspect of our lives, we will find that we get into less and less emergency situations. When you try to do things by yourself you find yourself needing God. When you include God from the start you find things going the way they were always supposed to go!