It appears to me that the main purpose of Luke sharing this
experience of the disciples in the boat with Jesus going to the other side is
to show us how that Jesus was teaching His disciples to live by faith. If they
were going to going to obey His command to go into all the world and “disciple
all the nations” (Matthew 28:19), they would need a great faith! And my friend,
the same is true for us today!
The source and object of their faith, Jesus, was in the boat
with them all along! Did you notice that the storm with the terrible wind and
waves had brought great fear upon the disciples! They thought sure they were
going to perish! But when Jesus calmed the wind and waves, and He asked them
the question, “Where is your faith?”, we read, “And they were afraid,
and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be”. I believe they were
overwhelmed with the fact that they were in the presence of the Omnipotent God
and they were afraid!
Think about it! The very God Who spoke the universe into existence,
Who created the heavens and the earth, Who spoke and there was light, Who spoke
and there was animals, Who spoke and there was plant life, Who spoke and
breathe into a hunk of clay and there was a man, the Great I Am, was the same
voice that the disciples heard in the boat that day! “And they were afraid”
and they said, “Who can this be”. I’m not sure they fully understood who
Jesus really was until after His death, burial and resurrection and the Holy
Spirit came upon them fully opening their eyes to the deity of Jesus Christ!
But after that they were willing to go into all the world sharing His message
and die for Him.
They were leaning that they needed the “look of faith”. “Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”. (Hebrews 12:2). “By
faith, Moses saw Him who was invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). That they needed the
“walk of faith”. “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). That
they needed the “work of faith”. “By faith Noah built an ark…” (Hebrews
11:7). “Without works, faith is dead” (James 2:26). This would produce a
“life of faith” that would change the world! (2 Corinthians 4:16- 18).
Jesus might be asking you today, “Where is your faith?” We
need to remember that, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word of
God” (Romans 10:17). I’m convinced that the Lord primarily uses two things
to build and increase our faith. Learning Who Jesus, the Word, really is by
hearing, reading, studying, and mediating on the Written Word, the Bible. Then
God uses the storms and the trials of life to expose and reveal to us what kind
of faith we really have. These will drive us to “wake up” Jesus in our
lives and find Him in His Word. These storms will motivate us to spend time
every day with Jesus in His Word.
As we are coming to the close of an old year and preparing for
the new year, I want to challenge you to “increase your faith” by determining, by
God’s grace, to read through your whole Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation
22:21 in a systematic and consistent way! Jesus said that man does not live by bread
alone, but by “every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God”
“Every Word, All Scripture, which means every Word in our
Bible is needed for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ and to increase our faith! To help and assist you in fulfilling this
challenge to read though your entire Bible in 2025, we have prepared a Bible
reading calendar plan that is posted to our website each month.
We have posted two plans. Plan B will take you through the
entire Bible once and only take 10 plus minutes a day: https://www.pmiministries.org/bible-reading-calendar-plan-b
Plan A will take you through the Old Testament once and the
New Testament twice and take about 15 plus minutes a day: https://www.pmiministries.org/daily-bible-reading-calendar
These can be downloaded and printed for your convenience!
Where will your faith be next year? It is up to you!
God bless!
