Mark 5:36 “Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
Do you ever feel like this synagogue ruler? This could be my motto; I’m ashamed to say that far too often in my life I allow fear to speak louder than faith. When things are going good I have no problem talking about faith, taking risk, being obedient, but when things are rocky I immediately turn to fear; what am I going to do, what if I fail, this is all going to explode…..fear becomes greater than faith. Oh how I long to have faith in the midst of chaos; I long to have peace that all I need to do is believe; that there is no reason to be afraid. After all, if I really believe that Jesus is who He claims to be then I should know that Jesus works by a different set of rules then our world and even when the world says that all hope is gone it is in those moments that I must expect Jesus to show up, it is in those moments that I need to not be afraid but just believe.
Lord, take away my bent towards sinning; I am afraid by nature and whenever storms of life come my way my first instinct is to be afraid and that only leads to doubt. May you give me the grace to not be afraid but to believe that you are who you say you are. Give me the strength to know that you will show up and even if everything else says that death has happened, you are able to bring life out of that apparent death. May I know down deep in my soul this morning that you don’t view death, pain, hurting, brokenness, or failure as something to fear but you view these things as invitations for me to believe that your resurrecting power may be known in my life, in your church, and in the world. Thank you for this promise this morning; may you give me the grace not just to write it but to truly live it in my life. Amen!!!
I learn today that setbacks, seemingly failures, risks are not something to fear but are environments for faith to thrive.
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