THE OTHER SIDE / DAY 4

BIBLE READING

Mark 4: 35-38

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

Ephesians 1: 18-23

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

REFLECTION

The disciples are stuck in a hurricane-force storm, the boat is rocking violently on the water about to capsize and where is Jesus - He’s in back fast asleep.

Most commentators explain this by stating that it showed just how totally exhausted Jesus was from all the ministry He had been carrying out.  Really – is that what’s going on here?  Imagine you’re at your very most tired you’ve ever been,  you’re in a smallish boat which maybe holds 20 people in the middle of a hurricane and you’re being tossed about everywhere – do you think you’d be sleeping through it.  You’d need to either be dead or in a coma to sleep through that!

So what’s going on, how can Jesus sleep through the storm?  As I studied this passage, I sensed the Holy Spirit say this:

Jesus was able to sleep through the storm because that which was within him was greater than that which was around him.

The storm was powerful, but there was more power inside Jesus.  

Just because there is a storm around you, doesn’t mean there has to be a storm within you.  It’s one thing to be in a storm, but it’s a totally different thing to allow the storm to be in you.

It doesn’t take much effort to find a storm.  You don’t have to look for them, they're everywhere: economic storms, financial storms, relationship storms, marriage storms, sickness storms, the storms of life which seem to come suddenly from nowhere.  We’re surrounded by storms.  But there’s a huge difference between you being in a storm, and the storm being in you.

What goes on around us does not have to control us.  The chaos out there, doesn’t have to be replicated in you.  As God’s people, we have Someone living inside us who is greater than any storm.  We have a power stronger than any wind.  We have a mighty force more powerful than any wave.  We have a light which can’t be consumed by any darkness.

The Bible says that he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4). You have God living inside you.  And nothing or no one even comes close to having His power and authority.

The disciples have allowed the storm out there to become the storm in here – and in doing so, they’ve stopped trusting Jesus.  They’ve forgotten that if Jesus tells you to go to the other side, and you obey Him, He will make sure He gets you there.

You don't have to panic, He's got all authority over any storm you are facing today.