When Life Gets MESSY!

 

Read:  Psalm 29 and Mark 4

 

S.O.A.P.

Scripture – Observation – Application – Prayer

 

S:  With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.  Mark 4:33

 

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”  Mark 4:40

 

O:  Psalm 29 talks about the voice of God (the qowl [voice] of YHVH – the covenant keeping name of God) which is described as majestic and something to invoke in us awe and even fear.  A couple of nights ago we had a thunder storm.  I happened to sleep through it without hearing a thing.  But the next day at work people were describing the storm as “loud”.  One lady said one of the claps of thunder made her sit up in bed and gasp for air because it startled her so much.  Another one said it sounded like “a bomb going off”.  I was amazed at all of their descriptions because literally I heard nothing.  I slept through it like a baby.

 

The words here used to describe the qowl of YHVH are similar.  A voice that breaks cedars and strips the trees of their bark and divides the flames of fire; this is a voice of authority and power.  But it is the last verse that I love the most, “The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace [shalom = wholeness].” (verse 11)  The voice of the LORD strengthens us and blesses us!  As my friend Sandra would say, Ah-Main!

 

As we flip over to Mark chapter 4.  Again we see the authority and power of the qowl of YHVH through Jesus Christ our Lord – Yeshua HaMashiach as he speaks to the wind and the waves.  Ever since I heard Joyce Meyer teach on this passage I have a great affection for it. 

 

First of all Jesus says to his disciples in verse 35, “That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’”  I love what Joyce brought out that I had never seen before in this passage.  Jesus said “Let’s go over to the other side.”  If Jesus says we are going to go to the other side of the lake, we are going to go over!  What Jesus says to us we can believe!!!  Which is one reason He rebuked His disciples after everything was said and done when He asked them where their faith was.  Basically He was asking them, “Don’t you believe Me?”  It is like a parent telling a child, “I said I would do it and you can trust my word!” 

 

“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.”  Verse 37-38 tells us Jesus was sleeping through the storm just like I was the other night, in the meantime the disciples were very awake and very scared!  They weren’t thinking about Jesus’ words that they were going to the other side, no, they were looking at the waves and the water in the boat and thinking, “we are going to drown” (verse 38b).  Joyce points out here that sometimes the middle is messy! 

 

 

 

You may have received a promise from the LORD and you know you are going to the other side of it, but often times the middle is messy!  We as parents know that by the grace of God we will get through potty training, their first days of school, learning to read and write and into middle school and finally graduation, but we also know there is going to be some MESS in the middle of all that.  Potty training is not for the faint of heart and there are going to be some MESSY days (literally!).  Learning new things at school and in life for our kids are hard and MESSY!  Middle school years and hormonal changes are MESSY!  But we get through them and we do get to the other side.

 

Life is MESSY!  Let’s face it!  But with Jesus in our proverbial boats of life we will get to the other side!  Even when you think He is being silent and “not caring”.  That’s what the disciple thought and even asked him, “Don’t you even care that we are going to drown???????”  They were probably screaming at Him because they were scared.  Jesus even asked them, “What are you afraid of?”

 

So I pose that question to you, “What are you afraid of today?”  Where does life seem messy to you right now?  I used the example of raising kids, but I know there are A LOT of other “messy middles” that some of you are going through.  Some of you reading this today may be going through or have experienced cancer, some of you are dealing with deaths of loved ones, some are possibly going through divorces or other messy situations.  And if you are not experiencing them yourself then you know of those who are.  Life is MESSY! 

 

 

 

I would love to hear your comments below.  What messes are you experiencing?  Let us as a group lift those up to the LORD in prayer and let His Powerful Voice speak to those situations.  Where has God strengthen your faith in the middle of current or past messes?  Your testimony may be the encouragement someone needs to hear today.  Comment on times when you felt God was silent and you possibly felt like you were about to drown, but then how you saw Him work through the mess and get you to the other side.

 

A:  My application for myself today is to remember to trust God in the MESS!  And to cling to the promise that we will get to the other side in this life or the next we are going to get through it!

 

 

 

P:  Father in Heaven, thank you so much that Your voice is powerful!  Thank you that You can speak to any situation with Authority!  Father I thank You that with You ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!  God with You we know that we can make it through to the other side of all things.  We may go through feelings like the disciples when we think You are not there seeing what we are seeing or that perhaps You don’t care, but God we know that You do care for us.  God You know the numbers of the hairs on our head.  You know EVERYTHING about us and our situations.  God thank You that we can trust You to get us to the other side even when things look really, really, really MESSY and even scary LORD!  Father I pray that each one reading this today would have their faith strengthened.  God that You would speak into each of their situations strength and blessing.  Thank You LORD that You are ever present with us and that You love us so very much!  Through Christ I pray, Amen & Amen.

We are more than Conqueorers!

 

Read:  Numbers 13

 

S.O.A.P.

Scripture – Observation – Application – Prayer

 

S:  “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.  Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large …” Numbers 13:27-28

 

O:  They spied out the land and it was good and full of large ripe fruit … nevertheless …

 

Nevertheless is a conjunction – joining two ideas together.  Yes it’s full of good fruit, BUUUUUTTT wait there’s more!  There are giants in the land!  And that’s not all.  Their cities are fortified with big walls. 

 

The people bringing the report back to the Israelites were basically telling “ghost stories around a campfire”.  You know the stories, the kind meant to instill fear in those who were listening.

 

BUT Caleb.  Here is another conjunction.  Caleb stilled the people.  He hushed them and commanded them to be quiet.  Caleb brought good news.  He encouraged them in the midst of all the objections that they were OVERCOMERS!  We are well able to overcome it! (v. 30)

 

That word in Hebrew is yakol.  It means to prevail, to overcome, to endure, to have power, to be able.  This isn’t a “can’t” word this is a “can” word.  Another meaning is “to be able to bring oneself to do anything, to be powerful, to prevail, to master anything difficult”.

 

BUT THE MEN.  Here is yet another conjunction and objection.  Verse 31 – The men who were with them said, “We will not be able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we are.”  L  So (verse 32) they brought an evil report of the land.

 

First of all, it wasn’t them who needed to be strong!  In verse 33 it says We were in our own sight as grasshoppers.  They saw themselves as small and weak.  But where should their eyes have been looking?

 

These people should have been as brave as the boy David, “David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”  I Samuel 17:45

 

They needed to remember whose they were!  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.  I John 4:4

 

I was listening to Joyce Meyer yesterday as I was riding my exercise bike and she was talking about how we are really Superheros and we just need to put on our cape and face the enemy head on.  As part of her message she used these verses from Romans 8:

35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,

“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

One of the points she made was this:  We will go through tribulation and distress and persecution and all of these other big, trying things, BUT (another wonderful conjunction!) IN ALL THESE THINGS WE OVERWHELMINGLY CONQUER!  That is such good news!  How do we conquer, “through HIM who loved us so!”  There is NOTHING that can separate us from His love friends, nothing!  Whatever it is you are fearing, whether it be giants in the land or an unknown future know this today:  You are held in the hands of an Almighty, All Powerful, All Knowing God!  You are His precious one.  He sings over you and loves you so very much.  I’m not saying there won’t be trials and tribulations.  Goodness knows I have heard some stories over the last week that breaks my heart for the things people are going through, but know this – it breaks His heart just as much and more!  But if you will just trust Him to see you through this thing HE WILL!  He is more than able and in the end friends, we WIN!  This thing here, on this earth, this is just temporary, BUT HE!  He is forever and HE is the One we get to be with forever!  Nothing can separate you from that love!  Nothing!

 

 

A:  Today I want to live as an overcomer.  I do not need to be fearful or afraid of my circumstances.  For GREATER is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.  God is the GREATEST!  Anything I face I face with God on my side!  What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  Romans 8:31

 

P:  Our Father which art in Heaven, thank You that because You overcame death we can overcome as well.  Thank You that no matter what we face we can go into that situation knowing that You are with us and that You love us more than we could ever possibly imagine.  Though we may be put to death all day long, we can overwhelmingly conquer!  Father help us not to be like those who brought the evil report back being teeny tiny in our own eyes, but God let us see ourselves through YOUR eyes!  Father I thank you that You are a good, good Father!  I know there are those today who are hurting from losses and other situations that they are or have faced, but God please wrap Your loving arms around each one today and let them know that they are Yours and that You love them so very much!  I lift all these things up to You.  Through Christ I pray.  Amen & Amen.

 

Here are 20 verses about being an overcomer:  http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Overcomers