Peace, be still.

I know there have been several days I have not been online, but I have not skipped ahead.  I have read all the passages between where I left off and today's passages.  But I will limit my comments to what I have read today.

Today's Reading is from Genesis 24:52-27:46; Matthew 8:18-9:17; Psalm 10:1-18; Proverbs 3:7-10.

In today's passage from Matthew we find Jesus asleep in the back of the boat while a storm rages around it and His disciples struggle to keep the boat from capsizing.  Being Perfect Peace, He finds no difficulty in getting rested, though all is roiling as a cooking pot around Him.  But His students find no place of peace, even though Peace is their among them.  They are wrestling instead of taking comfort in the Peacefulness of Jesus presence.  their faith was small and weak, much like ours is  when we face difficulties.  Matthew 8:24-27 says; Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.  The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”   He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.  The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”  

I like Jesus' reply in Mark 4:39-40 the King James version a little better; it reads,  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?  And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?  Jesus stood up, taking His place of authority.  He said, 'Peace, be still,' proclaiming who He was [Peace], and told the sea and the storm exactly what to do [be still.]  And they obeyed!  But His students were full of doubt, fear and disbelief at what Jesus had done.  How like them we are!  Jesus does wonderful and awesome things for us, yet we say in our disbelief, 'How did He do that?'

But He taught His disciples that they and those would follow them would do greater things than they had seen Him do.  He gave them power to do likewise when He sent them the gift of the fullness of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  And He sent them out in His name, His authority, when He commissioned them.  This commission is spoken of in Matthew, Mark and Luke, each with different aspects of it.  Today I will quote from Mark's version.  He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”  Mark 16:15-18

When Jesus told them 'these signs will accompany those who believe,' He was telling them of some of the authority [power] they would have in His name when they walked in the faith He had given all believers.  Luke 24:49 told them how they would receive thiss power, 'And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.'

So the power and authority of Jesus are ours for the taking.  But we have to wait for the promise of the Father - the infilling of His Holy Spirit, as Jesus said in Luke 24:49.  This doesn't mean that He will repeat the happenings of the day of Pentecost every time He fills a believer with His Spirit.  But He did mean that it was for ALL Believers.  Peter learned this and told us of it in Acts chapter 10.

We all know the story, in fact it was our children's lesson in church just last Sunday.  Peter is praying on the roof  just before the  lunch.  God sends Him a vision of a sheet full of unclean animals.  Three times it comes down from heaven and God says to Peter to rise and eat and three times Peter refuses saying that he has never eaten anything that was unclean.  But God's reply to him is “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”   A few minutes later the servants of Cornelius arrive and request Peter to go with them back to Caesarea and the house of Cornelius, their master.  I can just see that lightbulb from cartoon appearing above Peter's head as he understands the visions he has had while praying on the roof, so he goes with them and speaks this lesson to the believers gathered in Cornelius home and preaches Jesus to them.  Right in the middle of his message these 'Gentiles' are all filled with the Holy Spirit, and were speaking in tongues.  Peter knew that this was Jesus at work in them so he and the other Jewish believers with him took them all down to the closest river and baptised them all into the family of God.

We must also trust.  Proverbs tells us this very plainly; Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6.  
 
When we trust with our whole heart, we will walk in the fullness of His gifts and promises.  But when we have doubt, we loose power and surrender our God given authority.  There are many who are taught, and fully believe, that the gift of speaking in tongues [and other spiritual gifts] was only for the church during the time that the New Testament was being written.  But this is not Biblically founded.  Yes they use the passage in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 which says; 'Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.'  They quote this without the rest of the passage, and they are clearly meant to be used together.  Verses 11-12 read, 'When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.' 

I don't know about you, but I still see the 'reflection' of God's completeness in my life.  He has not yet brought me into my completly perfected state.  So I think that I can safely believe that these gifts have not 'passed away' yet.  We still have them ALL for our use in growing His Kingdom.
 
Let us trust Him completely and use wisely His gifts of power and authority, and all that come with them, until He comes to bring us into complete perfection. 

Let us say with all of His might to the storms in our lives;

 'Peace, be still!'