Devotional Time with God

In Mark 4:35-41, Jesus’ disciples went through a storm on a boat.  They were scared and wondered why Jesus was calm.  Then, Jesus calmly commanded the wind to die down and asked that difficult question, “Where is your faith?”

I picture myself as one of the disciples, panicking over the turbulence of my life. I see difficulty, and I will get that panic attack.  I will get that unsettling feeling that something needs to be done.

I will try to fix it myself.

But, as a believer of Christ, I don’t try to fix it by myself. I don’t question God’s will.  I must have faith that God will do something. I must know the storms in my life are temporary. I know God is there to help me.

Every word of God is flawless;  he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Proverbs 30:5

There are moments where I have doubts.  There are moments where I worry.  There are moments where I’m just not sure about anything.  This is especially true with the Bible. I don’t read it as much as I ought to.  This is why I have these lingering thoughts on the validity of God’s words.

But the Bible itself said God’s words are flawless. God only speaks the truth. He has promised me that if I believe in Him, I can do all things, in Christ Jesus.  So, I do read His words. I do believe His words are true and eternal. Powerful enough to protect me, in any circumstances, in any doubt, in any of my weak moments.

I will take refuge in God’s words for He shall comfort me.

These days, everything needs to be visualized or presented in-the-flesh for anyone to accept.  Even then, with advance editing tools, photos and videos can be altered to deceive the viewers.

Same thing with my belief.  I sometimes demand God to show me what I have to do. I demand God to present something, in front of my eyes, before I can believe it.  But the scripture tells me otherwise:

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:29

To have faith, I must start believing in order to start seeing.  I will be more blessed.

This week is a special week.  It is Easter and it’s the time to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.  He has conquered death and took away our sins, so we can all have the promises of heaven.  This is the time to believe in Jesus.  For me, this is the time to reinforce my faith by doing these:

• Follow His example
• Accept His grace
• Invest my life for Him
• Trust His wisdom and strength
• Hold on to His promises

When I follow Jesus, I’m given the clarity for my future and He’ll provide the stability when storms happen in my life.  I must also cry out to God whenever I need help, and without fail, He’ll provide His grace because it’s what I need.  I don’t deserve God’s grace but He gives it no matter what.  With His grace I must then give my life to serve God and others.  It’s an investment with high returns.  Believing in God means trusting Him with everything.  Not just try to believe… I must wholeheartedly trust Him.  When I trust Him, I’ll have no worries.  I love that God has given me a promise of eternal life, and it gives me hope and purpose to live in this broken world.

Dear Jesus, I want to have a real faith in you, not a fake faith.  Thank you for dying for my sins and showing me the way to live.  Today I want to become a true believer in you.  I want to follow your example.  I want to accept your gift of grace.  I need your forgiveness and mercy.  You made me for a purpose and I want to invest my life in serving you.  I want to trust your wisdom and strength.  And I want to hold on to your promises when times are tough.   Amen. 

I was listening to one of my old CD in the car this morning, and I heard a very familiar tune from Maranatha 30 Years of Hope CD called “You’re Worthy of My Praise”. I reminded me of a time, in late 2001, I was in an unfortunate situation where I was out of a job for a few months. The support from my church and family were tremendous, but it was still a test of our faith in God. Pastor Greg in San Diego gave my wife and I, a scripture, Hebrew 11:1 which simply said,

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Having faith in God will give us hope for the future. Sure, we still have our worries, we are only human, but Jesus has never let us down. We kept believing God will give us something good. In May 2002, I received the baffling call from my current employer: they were offering me a position with an increase in salary! We couldn’t be any more excited and the first thing I did was to play the Maranatha song and gave praises to God. That was one of the significant turning point of our lives, the one that we will never forget.

I will give you all my worship.
I will give you all my praise.
You alone, I long to worship.
You alone are worthy of my praise.

- Maranatha Singers, “You’re worthy of my praise”