It is I, be not afraid.

I have a job where I have to speak to people on a daily basis and sometimes, by the end of the week I like to take time to be silent.  I am able to spend time quietly if I feel the need arise.  Life can be very demanding and when we are constantly trying to force ourselves to be happy and fighting off our emotions, we can become exhausted and need to just unplug for a day. 

In that time I will try to be very calm and in touch with what is happening inside my mind and body.  I try to sleep, so that I am well rested.  I have learned that when I lack sleep my defenses are down to fight off the advances of the enemy.  I try to read a book that will strengthen my spirit and keep me in the right mind set.  I will pray, meditate and read the Bible.   I guess this could be considered to be a selfish thing for me to do, but as I see it, sometimes I just need to disconnect from the world.

I can usually feel this starting to happen in me.  I feel less patient, tired, and my tolerance for people is shortened, so that means my behavior is not at the level I desire it to be.  When I am not handling myself properly I am allowing Satan to enter into my mind and for me that is a very dangerous thing.

I am saying all of this, one, in hopes that someone else can relate, but mainly because I saw in John 6:15 that after Jesus fed and spoke to the people he retreated to the hillside, alone.   I thought it was interesting that the Bible needed to point out that he withdrew to the hillside himself, alone. 

I can assume that Jesus felt that he needed to be refreshed and refueled for the next day.  This is how I feel at times.  Jesus needed to experience some alone time so that he could heal himself from the day(s) that he had just spent dealing with other people’s lives.  He needed to take time to stay connected to God, but disconnected from being on display.  

There is a balance that we all need to maintain in our lives and when something happens to disrupt your balance, it can send everything reeling, until balance is created again.  When we are not in balance with our lives, example, someone could work too much and neglect their family.  This would then have a trickle down effect and cause dysfunction and distress upon the rest of the family members.  This then will come right back to your ability to do your work properly, because you will now be focused on the issues with your home life.

If we manage, though, I know it is extremely difficult to do, but if we manage to keep a balance and harmony in our lives there will be fewer ripples in our lives and the lives of the people around us. 

Jesus knew this and knew that he needed to take some time to spend alone.  Not only does this build you up for your next day but it also allows you time for preparation for the next task assigned to him. 

He must have spent quite some time on that mountain side, because it says in John 6:16-18, the disciples came looking for Jesus at evening time, and still Jesus had not come.   They decided to carry on with their plans to cross the sea en route to Capernaum.   As they were a couple miles off the shore line a violent storm came upon them and brought fear to them, for their safety. 

In John 6:19 we see that Jesus was approaching the boat, which was miles from the coast.  Jesus was walking on water to reach them and get into the boat.  At this time there was a great fear that came to the disciples and it actually says they were terrified, in the Amplified Bible.  Jesus’ responded to their fear with a simple it is I, be not afraid, in John 6:20.

Those five words ended their fear and they were no longer terrified. 

The point I feel being led to make is this, how many times have we come upon a storm in our lives?  How many times were you looking around and thinking finally, everything is calming down and I get a moment to regroup and enjoy the peace and them BAM… here comes another storm in your life. 

 I know this happens to me.  I will be in stride with my life, feeling strong, powerful, and possibly capable of handling anything and BAM…storm.  I am sure there is someone that can relate to this.  The degree of the storm or problem may be anything from mild to severe but it’s a disruption to my easy going season in life. 

Many times, like the season I am presently in, the storm is spending some time with me and I, like the disciples on the boat, will have times of fear.  Fear of the situation, fear of not knowing what to do, fear of not hearing properly from God and fear of failing.   I am sure these fears were different from the disciples in the boat, but I am certain they are similar to feelings that you have had. 

I think like the disciples if we would shout out to God in those moments, at the onset of the storm and say Lord, I am scared, Lord I am in Fear, Lord Help Me!  We would receive the same answer that the disciples did from Jesus, It is I, be not afraid.   We would be rescued by God at the onset of our storm.  This might not only change the severity of the storm but it might also change how long the storm will be coming to visit. 

This is something I am slowly learning.  I believe a lot of people are like me and think OK, here is a problem, and how am I going to solve it.  I can solve it one of many ways, and then we begin to ponder how we are going to solve the problem.  Did you notice how many times in the sentence I used the word I or me?  Do you see the problem with this paragraph? 

There are many problems with how I begin to handle a storm in my life.  The main problem is, when I begin to feel that there is a problem, I decide to handle it myself, instead of turning to God.  If I would take a moment to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide me and show me how to handle this storm, I probably would save myself a lot of energy trying to fix something I don’t know how to fix. 

My problem is, I think, I should try to fix the problem before I hand the problem over to God.  Here let me have a swing at it first, get it good and messy, when it didn’t need to be, and then when I’ve exhausted myself, now I’ll hand it over to God to take care of. 

This is not how any of us should be handling a problem.  Whether your problem is minor or if your problem is big, we should always take them to God first.   Remember that all of our problems are small to God, he is the creator! 

We should take advice from Jesus, remove ourselves from the situation, if possible, and get alone.  When you are alone start talking to God.  Start telling him what’s going on and start asking him for his wisdom on how to handle whatever the issue may be.  Then get back in the boat.  Even if the waves are higher than they were before you took time to pray, you will be better equipped to handle them now, than you were before.   Give God a chance to say It is I, be not afraid. 

Allow God to guide you through your storm.  Allow him to show you what you should do and not do and then do it.  Take time to spend with God so that you can stay connected and strengthened during this time and turn to God in prayer, constantly.  We must stay connected to be able to be effective.   Soon you will see, just as I will, that the storms will become little blips in our lives instead of destructive typhoons.