{"id":843,"date":"2011-12-08T14:28:39","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T14:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/?p=843"},"modified":"2011-12-08T14:28:39","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T14:28:39","slug":"fear-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=843","title":{"rendered":"Fear Not"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Why are you so afraid?\u00a0 Jesus spoke those words to his followers after he calmed a storm.\u00a0 It’s a question he is still asking all of us.\u00a0 Why are you so afraid?\u00a0 Do you still have no faith?<\/p>\n

Here is what was happening at that time.\u00a0 Jesus had been building his ministry and had attracted many people.\u00a0 He had just spent most of the day teaching the people gathered about the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 He was teaching in stories, and many of the people had trouble understanding the stories and their full meaning.\u00a0 He would always take time to fully explain his stories to his closest followers.\u00a0 The Bible tells us that when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.<\/p>\n

So after a day of teaching and then explaining the teaching in simple terms to his disciples, he said to his disciples “Let’s go over the other side.”\u00a0 So off they go to cross the Sea of Galilee.\u00a0 This sea is known for having violent and unexpected storms.\u00a0 When the storm hit, these seasoned fishermen panicked, thinking the storm was going to sink the boats and they would drown.\u00a0 This was no ordinary storm it was bigger than any of them had experienced before.\u00a0 As this storm began, Jesus was sleeping.\u00a0 He was tired from a long day of teaching.<\/p>\n

Jesus knew this storm was coming, yet he chose to go to sleep.\u00a0 That really bothered his followers.\u00a0 How could he sleep at a time like this!<\/p>\n

They finally woke him up and said; don’t you care if we drown?<\/p>\n

Does any of this sound familiar?\u00a0 Our lives are full of unexpected violent storms.\u00a0 It often feels like Jesus is sleeping and does not care that we are in this sorm.\u00a0 We feel like we need to cry out and wake him up.\u00a0 We want him to keep us safe and take the storm away.<\/p>\n

The disciples knew who Jesus was, they believed what he was teaching them, yet they underestimated his power.\u00a0 They did not fully trust that he would not let them drown.\u00a0 We often get spiritual amnesia and don\u2019t remember all the things God has done for us and how He has helped us in the past.<\/p>\n

\u00a0We are the same way, we believe in God and may even have read and studied what he has to teach us; yet we don’t fully trust him with the storms that come up in our lives.\u00a0 We often equate our lives being out of control as God not being able to control.<\/p>\n

Think about the storms in your life-the situations that cause you great anxiety.\u00a0 Whatever your difficulty or challenge, you have two options:<\/p>\n